Why can't we all just get along?

[DPS]

This game we all play is just that, a game. It is a way to make our tedious, workaday lives more interesting and fun. Some people golf, some people run marathons, we are driven to climb. For some of us it is a way to channel our ambitions and our sport has no shortage of ambitious people. Ambition is the fuel we burn that gets us up difficult climbs. The flip side of ambition is judgment. It is a balancing act; we walk a razor thin wire. Sometimes we make mistakes and get hurt or need to be rescued. There are people still breathing because I have rescued them, some are members on cc.com. I have also been rescued by others here on cc.com. I have put other’s lives at risk. In turn, I have put my neck on the line for strangers.

 

It is easy to point fingers and say to ourselves that we would never make the mistakes that others have made. We are too smart, too experienced, or too skilled for that to happen. Perhaps that is how we are able to continue playing this dangerous game, we fool ourselves into thinking we are immune. Nobody is immune to a lapse in judgment, an unforeseen circumstance, or just plain back luck. There are two kinds of climbers; those that have had an epic and those that will have an epic.

 

I have made momentous mistakes and had huge lapses in judgment. I am a flawed human. Yet people still rope up with me. It is an act of grace I suppose. It certainly is not because I can guarantee them a hard summit or that I am even a particularly reliable or skilled partner. The euphoria of a hard fought summit, the feeling of perfectly balancing strength and skill against gravity, and our sturm and drang years are all too brief and fleeting. At the end of the day, it is the relationships that last. It is the friendships forged in the mountains that are important.

 

Perhaps some of us don’t realize this or disagree. We bicker over petty issues on the internet. We puff our chests out at the crag. There is no shortage of posturing and posing in our game. I am perhaps guiltier of this than most; driven by deep insecurities and a lack of any notable achievement in climbing or other aspects of my life. But at least I respect my partners and hold them all in high esteem for they have deigned to climb with me, a deeply flawed human. Because of this I don’t ‘kiss and tell’.

 

I have read a number of frank, honest trip reports where the OP is harshly criticized for decisions that were made on the mountain. This seems to be more than the usual armchair quarterbacking or rational analysis of possible errors. From where I am standing there are folks who are bent on character assassination. I don’t know why, perhaps it is because they are threatened by other climbers's successes. I just want those responsible to know their shit stinks, just like everybody else’s. Nobody is perfect and if you continue to climb your time is coming. When it does you better hope your partner shines grace on you and doesn’t out you in a public forum. It may just be the internet, but being second guessed or even outright attacked still hurts.

 

 

Edited May 7, 2012 by DPS

[genepires]

finally something worth reading on cc.com. well the 12 year old sending 5.14 and the whole grain thing is good too.

 

from the guy who used to "be mean to dogs"

 

thanks Dan.

Edited May 7, 2012 by genepires

[dougd]

I dare say, such honesty, and humility are indeed rare, a very notable achievement indeed.

 

JMHO of course,

 

d

[Hugh Conway]

Perhaps partly because the internet is a relatively shitty way to communicate complex experiences? It best rewards simplistic narratives that can be beaten over and over and over and over. Even those extremely skilled in written communication can, and will, be raked over the coals either through miscontruction or assholity.

[KaskadskyjKozak]

 

DPS has always struck me as a cool guy, and this post only confirms that. Hopefully we can rope up some day. The closest we've come in the wild is being on Fuhrer Finger on the same day several years ago. :-)

[JasonG]

Well said Dan. The longer I climb, and the more very solid climbers/friends I've seen hurt or killed, the more I realize that it could have been me.

 

"He who is without sin should cast the first stone." This is as good counsel now as when it was written, and I should heed it more than I often do.

[G-spotter]

But what if Uncle Tricky had just said that "Elmer" was a great climber he'd rope up with again?

[G-spotter]

http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Main/14107/Number/204189

[Dane]

"This game we all play is just that, a game."

 

Back from the undead to offer an opinion

 

Life is a game. And there is an end to every game.

 

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

Edmund Burke (1729 - 1797)

 

"He was a man who looked at what ought to be done, not to the reputation which is got by a man's acts." Marcus Aurelius (121-180AD)

 

Two simple reasons why we can't all get along. And a third...I often mutter under my breath.

 

"Unreasonable men make life difficult."

[Ed_Hobbick]

Dane can we join hands and sing com-by-ya, I think http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D1YIrVjK5KCU%26feature%3Dshare&h=SAQG3zL7OAQHppWyUA3FsrKsWpt-MkQQwn_sqQPT57tmumAit would help.

Edited May 14, 2012 by Ed_Hobbick