archenemy Posted January 13, 2006 Share Posted January 13, 2006 Post of the day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weekend_Climberz Posted January 13, 2006 Share Posted January 13, 2006 I'm working out a deal now where Deja Vu is paying me to put their ads on my helmet. If that goes well, I'm hoping to convinve the owners to provide me with my own posse of strippers when I go to the crag. BS. I talked to my mom last night and she heard of no such deal. That's right bitches, my mom works for Deja Vu. No lie. Want some passes.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
archenemy Posted January 14, 2006 Share Posted January 14, 2006 hey, did you know there is a recall on Aliens? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ckouba Posted January 16, 2006 Share Posted January 16, 2006 Great post Chad. Some of the preceding comments are very poignant, and I’ll try my hand at it too. I know I’ll leave something out but it’s a start at what I know and don’t. What I know: climbing has changed my life. I didn’t always climb. Now I’m pretty sure I couldn’t live without it. It was something I literally one day “discovered,” and it hasn’t let me down ever since. I know that there are day-to-day challenges I face in life- mostly work crap. Stuff where effort, knowledge, skill and such have nothing to do with the outcome of a situation. What climbing provides me is an environment where I get to make decisions and live with their consequences, both good and bad. It provides me a touchstone to restore myself and my balance, and to feel (ever so briefly) as though I can be master of my own destiny. I know I used to climb the things that people would recognize so they would be impressed. This was when I first started climbing and I thought it validated the experience. That has changed. At this point I will drive hundreds of miles to try some route I probably read about here on CC and not be certain if I’ll get up it. Of course the competitive side of me wants to get up it, but the aesthetic side of me drives me more to climb the “cool route” with interest and flair rather than slog up some goat track. Either way, I don’t care if anyone knows where it is, what it looks like or if there is something else higher and/or more difficult. I know half the fun of climbing is all the planning and anticipation. The other half is reliving it on the drive home and later with friends (and spraying on CC.com) once it’s over. There is yet another half, which is that almost tangible moment when you’re basking in the radiant triumph of pulling off something you thought might just be a little bit beyond your abilities- calling "off belay" atop the last pitch of a stout (for me) multi-pitch alpine route, or finishing the last rappel to mild terrain off the summit massif of your first Grade V. You get the picture. If you had to pick the precise instant into which all the joy of climbing could be condensed, this would be it for me. It's the moment I know that I have met the challenge and will succeed, and it’s my own version of a climber’s high. This is my addiction. I know climbing introduces you to incredible, yet ordinary people just like you. You spend irreplaceable moments of your life with them and it forges friendships stronger than any others. I can’t say enough about the quality of the people I climb with. I know that the vivid memories I have from my ventures in the alpine will NEVER dim- watching spectacular Technicolor sunsets, hanging out at a phenomenal bivy, tagging the route I’ve always wanted to climb but never really thought I actually would, my first WI4 lead, lying in my bivy under a black velvet sky with a GAZILLION stars blazing above, the overwhelming physical and emotional torment of bailing from a climb simply because my feet had huge f****n’ blisters. Eldorado. Wedge. Jefferson. Johannesburg. Climbing anything with my dad. I know the more I climb, the more I want to climb more. And be better at it- but only for me. I do not care if someone at a party knows what or where I climb- unless they are climbers too and we can swap stories. I know I enjoy taking a newbie up something just as much as I enjoy climbing a hard route with a ropegun partner. The experiences are vastly different yet inherently similar and to me each is rewarding in its own right. I also really enjoy a climb of balanced responsibility, being able to swap leads and matching my partner with skills and route. “If you can't learn to do something well, learn to enjoy doing it poorly.” – Despair.com. I know that I’m not ___ ___ (insert any famous name here). I climb for me, for my personal challenge, to spend time with people I choose, and to experience the beauty of being out there. I’m not afraid to say I max out after small pitches of WI4 and only lead 5.8 trad on a good day, but I keep climbing and try to get better. If someone is better already- that’s great for them! I do this for me. Climbing elicits incredibly strong emotions from me. It IS an addiction and I am completely hooked. How else can you explain the willingness to endure sufferfests time and time again and yet still be stoked to go back out. It also can be incredibly selfish and I probably haven’t learned to effectively balance that in relationships yet. I know it took me 31 years to discover North Cascades National Park. Yes, it is proof of heaven for me too. It is our country’s greatest secret treasure and I hope it is never developed into one of those Yellowstone/Yosemite circuses. I can honestly say that I don’t need to climb anywhere else (though I still will). But please don’t tell anyone about it as I am selfish and want to keep it “just between us.” You know, hush-hush like… Seriously, keep it quiet. I wish I was Canadian, or at least lived in Canadia. It’s like NOCA, but bigger. I wish I was modestly independently wealthy. I really don’t need a lot, but I want to do a lot. There is so much to do in this life and work crap keeps getting in the way. But it forces me to choose purposefully what I do with my time here so I don’t waste it. And that is why I go climbing with my good friends in god’s country. Climb on! Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimL Posted January 16, 2006 Share Posted January 16, 2006 What I do know is that I want to spend half the year climbing in Spain and half the year climbing in the Cascades. What I don't know is what kind of job will allow me to climb in Spain during the winter and the Cascades in the summer. Any thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kix Posted January 16, 2006 Share Posted January 16, 2006 holy blogspot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chad_A Posted January 16, 2006 Author Share Posted January 16, 2006 Thanks for sharing, Chris. Nice post Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dechristo Posted January 24, 2006 Share Posted January 24, 2006 North Cascades National Park...It is our country’s greatest secret treasure and I hope it is never developed into one of those Yellowstone/Yosemite circuses. But please don’t tell anyone about it as I am selfish and want to keep it “just between us.” You know, hush-hush like… Seriously, keep it quiet. Back in the late '70's, a number of us kept this motto concerning the Wind River Range; particularly with Steve Quinlan. Whenever we were in a group and the name "Wind Rivers" was spoken, raised index fingers were touched to lips with a quiet emanation of "shhhhhhhhh". Anyone here know Steve? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dru Posted January 24, 2006 Share Posted January 24, 2006 I wish I was Canadian, or at least lived in Canadia. It’s like NOCA, but bigger. have you ever been to Saskatchewan, you might change your mind Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DirtyHarry Posted January 24, 2006 Share Posted January 24, 2006 Not if you've ever met any women from Saskatoon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dechristo Posted January 24, 2006 Share Posted January 24, 2006 Goin' back to Saskatoon? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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