Why climb?

[Crillz]

Why climb?

 

So I can brag about it on the interwebs.

[chirp]

1. freedom

2. escape

3. personal challenge

4. a life focus other than my job

5. the carrot at the end of the stick

6. building closer and stronger bonds with friends

7. experiencing the power of nature that today is so easy to numb yourself from

8. nature is a beautiful thing, and so is climbing.

 

:tup:

[tvashtarkatena]

The question isn't so much why we climb as why we come back down again.

[summitchaserCJB]

So we can go back into society, get restless, and go back out again.

[Stonehead]

I've heard the answers described as varying from noble to mundane, and even to the pathological. I'd have to say that for me when I was more actively involved, it was a mental thing. Not to say that it wasn't a bodily kinetic thing but something about it (maybe the mtn solitude) always brought it back to the inner dialogue. Sometimes I moved immersed in a state of concentration, other times in a slip stream of consciousness. THe word I might use to describe it is: meditative. I'm sure tho there was some physio-chemical aspect that fed the repetition of this activity.

 

It seems to me if I ever figure anything out in this constant but everychanging life (or a bit thereof), then the time spent was well worth it.

[Bogen]

" It is not the goal of grand alpinisme to face peril, but it is one of the tests one must undergo to deserve the joy of rising for an instant above the state of crawling grubs. On this proud and beautiful mountain we have lived hours of fraternal, warm and exalting nobility. Here for a few days we have ceased to be slaves and have really been men. It is hard to return to servitude."

 

Lionel Terray

[ivan]

terray didn't see to toil in servitude much at all

[LostCamKenny]

terray didn't see to toil in servitude much at all

...nor in studies

[TrailRunFreak]

I can see where you are coming from and why you might think that. Accidents happen all the time. I have had my fare share on the mtns and running. I was hit by a car crossing the street 3 years ago that took me out for over a year. No climbing and no running. I'm now alot more carefull about everything. But I run to stay on shape for climbing.

[YocumRidge]

It makes me happy.

It's that simple.

[jlawrence10]

Q: Why climb?

 

A:

[markwebster]

wife and I got into hiking first. We'd stop and take pictures at the high point of the trail, and the climbers kept going. They got better pictures because they got higher.

 

Once I learned to climb, I found that it brought back the pleasure of climbing trees from my boyhood. We are built for it. It uses all your muscles. Climbing forces you to overcome many of your fears: the unknown, fear of height, etc. It sort of opens your mind.

 

Climbing well can lead to "getting in the zone" where you forget about all your workaday problems and live in the moment of moving over stone, a state of grace. It's addictive, and it

keeps you in shape.

 

And the photography is awesome.