Discussion Topic |
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k-man
Gym climber
SCruz
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Topic Author's Original Post - Dec 21, 2014 - 09:09am PT
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Physical and mental is the game of climbing.
What have you learned?
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MisterE
Gym climber
Bishop, CA
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Dec 21, 2014 - 09:12am PT
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You need a partner you can trust...with a lot of things.
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clinker
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, California
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Dec 21, 2014 - 09:18am PT
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Climbing is a crucible in which great friendships may be forged.
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Dec 21, 2014 - 09:19am PT
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Climbing is a crucible in wich Life, is formed!!
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Dec 21, 2014 - 09:33am PT
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Climbing wasn't a 'choice' or decision for me any more than breathing, as I was doing it constantly from infancy on I was told.
THE most important lesson I've learned over a life time of it?
Go with it when it's happening, walk away when it's not, and know the difference between the two...
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Dec 21, 2014 - 09:34am PT
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Climbing is just another kind of junk.
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skcreidc
Social climber
SD, CA
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Dec 21, 2014 - 09:38am PT
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Yer gonna die
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clinker
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, California
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Dec 21, 2014 - 09:50am PT
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In the beginning the rock had a few cracks and was void of bolts.
Clink and friends created routes and it was so damn good.
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apogee
climber
Technically expert, safe belayer, can lead if easy
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Dec 21, 2014 - 10:06am PT
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That climbing is not the most important thing in life, and I was pretty damn selfish to think that it was.
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graniteclimber
Trad climber
The Illuminati -- S.P.E.C.T.R.E. Division
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Dec 21, 2014 - 10:14am PT
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That climbing is not the most important thing in life, and I was pretty damn selfish to think that it was.
I came here to say that, but Apogee said it better than I could have.
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Norwegian
Trad climber
dancin on the tip of god's middle finger
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Dec 21, 2014 - 10:37am PT
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,
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Wayno
Big Wall climber
Seattle, WA
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Dec 21, 2014 - 10:43am PT
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the really good stuff doesn't come easy
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Sierra Ledge Rat
Mountain climber
Old and Broken Down in Appalachia
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Dec 21, 2014 - 11:00am PT
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How to not only endure long periods of intense discomfort & pain, but also how to enjoy it
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WBraun
climber
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Dec 21, 2014 - 11:08am PT
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That it's impossible to put into words .......
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pud
climber
Sportbikeville & Yucca brevifolia
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Dec 21, 2014 - 11:15am PT
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Fear is imagined.
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dirhk
Trad climber
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Dec 21, 2014 - 11:43am PT
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F*#k bitches get money.
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Happiegrrrl2
Trad climber
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Dec 21, 2014 - 11:49am PT
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It has shown me how easily I give up. When I am leading, I don't give up, but then, I don't lead very hard and I saty well within my comfort zone. On TR though..... "Lower please" I say, practically the moment I worry I may not be able to do a sequence. I don't even TRY half the time.
Is it the same with life in general for me? Perhaps it is.
Maybe my 2015 resolution should be to eliminate requests for TR lower off.
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Marlow
Sport climber
OSLO
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Dec 21, 2014 - 11:51am PT
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Breath...
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Studly
Trad climber
WA
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Dec 21, 2014 - 12:10pm PT
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Algebra, I never understood it in the classroom.
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Daphne
Trad climber
Northern California
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Dec 21, 2014 - 12:17pm PT
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I used to say, "what's the worst thing that could happen? I could fall." My whole "jump into the deep end without checking out the water depth" orientation to life got me into big trouble in climbing, and I finally have learned to be really f**king careful with my body and with other people's bodies.
Climbing has actually made me more risk aversive, and that has spread to all the aspects of my life so that I am a healthier person today than ever before.
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jgill
Boulder climber
Colorado
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Dec 21, 2014 - 12:18pm PT
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Jump to conclusions.
;>)
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hellroaring
Trad climber
San Francisco
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Dec 21, 2014 - 12:33pm PT
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There r no guarantees...other than u better be focused on the task at hand or else...
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MisterE
Gym climber
Bishop, CA
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Dec 21, 2014 - 12:47pm PT
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That I really do love to dance, just not on a horizontal surface.
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Ksolem
Trad climber
Monrovia, California
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Dec 21, 2014 - 12:51pm PT
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Don't let go.
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TWP
Trad climber
Mancos, CO
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Dec 21, 2014 - 02:46pm PT
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No commitment; no accomplishment.
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johntp
Trad climber
socal
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Dec 21, 2014 - 02:54pm PT
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I don't want to be extruded through a carabiner.
edit: and wear a helmet even when belaying,
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hooblie
climber
from out where the anecdotes roam
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Dec 21, 2014 - 03:08pm PT
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the planet tolerates my antics in her uniquely dispassionate way ... so i effuse: this is a full on affair!
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Gary
Social climber
Desolation Basin, Calif.
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Dec 21, 2014 - 03:14pm PT
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It's all about the team.
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Lorenzo
Trad climber
Oregon
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Dec 21, 2014 - 04:10pm PT
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The list of people I'm willing to climb with has shrunk way back.
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
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Dec 21, 2014 - 04:11pm PT
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To go sailing.
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steve s
Trad climber
eldo
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Dec 21, 2014 - 04:49pm PT
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That work SUCKS! Now puke!
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k-man
Gym climber
SCruz
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 21, 2014 - 05:51pm PT
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That when your feet are 10' above your last pro, you're gonna fall farther than you'd imagined.
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Charlie B
Social climber
Santa Rosa, Ca
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Dec 21, 2014 - 05:56pm PT
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That climbing girls have better bodies than snowboard girls.
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stunewberry
Trad climber
Spokane, WA
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Dec 21, 2014 - 05:59pm PT
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"Climbing would be a great, truly wonderful thing if it weren't for all that damn climbing." — John Ohrenschall
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Mark Force
Trad climber
Cave Creek, AZ
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Dec 21, 2014 - 06:09pm PT
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That it's more important to be clear about my weaknesses than my strengths and to make sure to always pay attention!
Edit: and, I'm not nearly as tough as I wish I was!
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tradmanclimbs
Ice climber
Pomfert VT
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Dec 21, 2014 - 06:27pm PT
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Chicks dig rock stars :)
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Bushman
Social climber
The island of Tristan da Cunha
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Dec 21, 2014 - 06:28pm PT
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There is no easy answer for me to that question but here goes.
Along with the obvious confrontations with my own mortality and with that of friends and close family members (coming close to and facing death), it has taught me that the trust and loyalty I developed with my best climbing partners could also be extended to family and friends outside of climbing life.
Before and during my early climbing years I had problems with trusting people and cultivating lasting friendships. It was more than just accomplishing some of the goals that I set for myself in climbing whereby I finally began to cultivate a sense of self worth, it was also by realizing that I needed to begin to practice some selflessness. I began to realize I had no true understanding of the word, and it did not come to me naturally. Climbing taught me some, but beyond climbing, experiencing adversity and seeing the suffering of others has taught me more.
In climbing and in life my ego has also served as a double edged sword, spurring me on towards personal achievements, but at the same time rendering me oblivious to the feelings and suffering of others.
Apart from all this, climbing has taught me that we all have enormous untapped potential for extreme acts of courage, perseverance, and kindness that we might otherwise be unaware of.
Of course age is the great equalizer, teaching me every day that as much as I think I know I really don't know sh#t, that there will always me more to learn, and that when I've stopped learning I've stopped living.
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climbski2
Mountain climber
Anchorage AK, Reno NV
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Dec 21, 2014 - 06:42pm PT
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A good plan with good gear even takes care of problems you were not aware of.
and then..Sometimes you just have to go for it. There are no guarantees.
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Charlie D.
Trad climber
Western Slope, Tahoe Sierra
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Dec 21, 2014 - 07:20pm PT
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Climbing has taught me two things:
1. How to suffer with grace.
2. Skiing is much more fun and not as continuously serious.
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docsavage
Trad climber
Albuquerque, NM
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Dec 21, 2014 - 07:30pm PT
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You don't suck other people in to your drama ...
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john bald
climber
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Dec 21, 2014 - 07:32pm PT
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Slow down and enjoy life.
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Flip Flop
Trad climber
Truckee, CA
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Dec 21, 2014 - 07:39pm PT
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"Climbing in the mountains is a game. If you die then you lose the game." - some climber guy.
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mucci
Trad climber
The pitch of Bagalaar above you
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Dec 21, 2014 - 07:40pm PT
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To find my own path.
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JOEY.F
Gym climber
It's not rocket surgery
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Dec 21, 2014 - 07:41pm PT
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Focus
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dave729
Trad climber
Western America
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Dec 21, 2014 - 07:47pm PT
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How fast oxygen is converted into pain in my arms.
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SC seagoat
Trad climber
In What Time Zone Am I?
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Dec 21, 2014 - 08:09pm PT
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That there was a whole new world of shoes. Yes.
Susan
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Seamstress
Trad climber
Yacolt, WA
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Dec 21, 2014 - 08:35pm PT
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Gravity always wins
Be in the moment. Focus!
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Dec 21, 2014 - 09:16pm PT
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I'm tougher than I thought.
I'm a lot weaker than I realized.
I'm pretty damn smart.
I can't believe the dumb things I did.
Conditioning makes you better.
Conditioning is never enough.
Skill trumps strength.
Except when it doesn't.
With experience comes wisdom.
But only if you actually pay attention to experience.
Neither experience nor wisdom will be enough to keep you alive.
For that you also need luck.
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Mark Force
Trad climber
Cave Creek, AZ
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Dec 21, 2014 - 09:21pm PT
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Rgold, that was beautiful and real.
I want to add that climbing has proven the adage that "Good judgement comes from experience and experience comes from bad judgement."
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jplotz!
climber
Wenatchee, WA
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Dec 21, 2014 - 09:23pm PT
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There's no sport or pursuit even remotely comparable and addicting as climbing, in all its forms. You only truly understand it when you do it. As much as it's been commercialized, it's still fringe when embraced fully.
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gunsmoke
Mountain climber
Clackamas, Oregon
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Dec 21, 2014 - 09:27pm PT
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Climbing brings one face to face with one's perceived limits. Confronting difficult circumstances and persevering, especially when it isn't clear that one can succeed, creates a mentality that carries over to other aspects of life.
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Dingus McGee
Social climber
Where Safety trumps Leaving No Trace
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Dec 22, 2014 - 06:33am PT
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most important thing climbing has taught you?
Thing? [ for climbing]= systems, but I wasn't taught systems from climbing.
All necessary systems must be in working order.
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Dingus McGee
Social climber
Where Safety trumps Leaving No Trace
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Dec 22, 2014 - 07:27am PT
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Chief,
our experiential minds do not work with infinitesimals, they are accumulators and can be trained to be quite good differentiators over some finite interval. The Instantaneous Pure Now is totally elusive to any detectors.
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MH2
Boulder climber
Andy Cairns
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Dec 22, 2014 - 07:46am PT
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The Instantaneous Pure Now is totally elusive to any detectors.
Even to BS detectors??
The most general thing climbing has taught me is that people act and think differently but many agree to spend time climbing. That has been important to me.
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Inner City
Trad climber
East Bay
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Dec 22, 2014 - 09:56am PT
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To know my limits...good judgement is everything!
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Cragar
climber
MSLA - MT
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Dec 22, 2014 - 10:04am PT
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I agree with The Chief. When climbing the NOW 'moves' and anything else will just add to lubrication that might aid the skate/slip loss of focus etc.
Climbing will help you keep it simple if you want to move up. Personally, I have overcome/grooved with my most difficult challenges in this way. Start simple in the NOW and let it go where it takes you.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Dec 22, 2014 - 10:11am PT
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Always check that you both remembered yer crampons before driving hundreds of miles.
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Michelle
Social climber
1187 Hunterwasser
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Dec 22, 2014 - 10:11am PT
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That OE tastes good.
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Captain...or Skully
climber
in the oil patch...Fricken Bakken, that's where
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Dec 22, 2014 - 11:34am PT
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Talk is cheap.
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Dec 22, 2014 - 11:35am PT
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Several great answers, but those of healeyje, apogee and rgold really struck home with me. I "like" climbing in the same sense that I "like" to breathe. I learned that with sufficient commitment, I can do much that I thought was impossible, but I also learned that "sufficient commitment" can produce terribly selfish behavior. Ultimately, though, I learned that I don't want to die climbing, so I repeat here the final portion of rgold's post:
With experience comes wisdom.
But only if you actually pay attention to experience.
Neither experience nor wisdom will be enough to keep you alive.
For that you also need luck.
I hope we all can experience that combination of wisdom and luck.
John
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this just in
climber
Justin Ross from North Fork
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Dec 22, 2014 - 11:45am PT
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To keep your friends close and your enemies closer.
To ride Westside till I die.
That out here in California we'll Bomb on you mother f*#kers.
Oh wait that was Tupac. Could be a good alternative thread.
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Vitaliy M.
Mountain climber
San Francisco
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Dec 23, 2014 - 10:00am PT
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Talk is cheap.
F*#K YES TO THAT!
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Captain...or Skully
climber
in the oil patch...Fricken Bakken, that's where
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Dec 23, 2014 - 10:03am PT
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And OE CAN be good, sometimes.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Dec 23, 2014 - 10:06am PT
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Skully, yer statement belongs on "The New Religion vs Science Thread".
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mike m
Trad climber
black hills
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Dec 23, 2014 - 10:08am PT
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to avoid traffic
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hobo_dan
Social climber
Minnesota
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Dec 23, 2014 - 03:44pm PT
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that I scare pretty easy
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duke of puke
climber
boulder, co
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Dec 23, 2014 - 04:43pm PT
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That work SUCKS! Now puke!
Close. Instead how about..
That it's recovery between puking sessions.
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hossjulia
Trad climber
Carson City, NV
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Dec 23, 2014 - 05:01pm PT
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That I am miserable without it.
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Gnome Ofthe Diabase
climber
Out Of Bed
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Dec 23, 2014 - 05:39pm PT
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Gravity is fair to all and favors few . . .
those it does favor must not fall
As it is not gravity's fault that you do not bounce at all!
and. . .
It takes all kinds. . .
there is more than one in every crowd. . .
a cure for what ailes me. . .
Metaphorically shadows life's elliptical path . . .
your gonna die . . .
Falling off is. . .easy . . . landing is hard and hurts
once you start. . .
stopping is hard
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tuolumne_tradster
Trad climber
Leading Edge of North American Plate
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Dec 23, 2014 - 07:37pm PT
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1) I'm not as tough as I thought...
[Click to View YouTube Video]
2) Remain calm, map out your moves between rest spots, make the moves, shake out, & repeat.
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snowhazed
Trad climber
Oaksterdam, CA
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Dec 23, 2014 - 07:44pm PT
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That anything is possible with enough time and dedication, even despite the false belief that I'm as good as I will ever be.
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Risk
Mountain climber
Olympia, WA
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Dec 23, 2014 - 09:44pm PT
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there's a very small difference between 100 feet and 2,000 feet when it comes to exposure; life is that way too
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throwpie
Trad climber
Berkeley
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Dec 23, 2014 - 10:08pm PT
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Pants first, THEN shoes.
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Dec 23, 2014 - 10:09pm PT
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Here's something I learned from climbing, not in the general way suggested by the thread title on on a very specific situation on a very specific day.
Sometime in the mid-sixties my friends Peter Gardiner and Steve Derenzo and I spent a week doing climbs from Garnet Canyon. One day we hiked up to the Lower Saddle to do the complete Exum Ridge the next day.
That never happened. Late in the afternoon, a rescue party of GTNP personnel arrived at the Lower Saddle. There had been a bad accident at the Upper Saddle. A grapefruit-sized rock had fallen from the top of the standard rappel and hit someone at the base of the rappel. He had a depressed skull fracture and there was apparently a lot of blood lost. The victim was still alive, and needed to be carried from the Upper Saddle to the Lower Saddle where a helicopter could get him off the mountain.
The rescue party was short-handed and clearly already tired from pounding up to the Lower Saddle. We offered to help and the offer was accepted. The rescue took all night. If anyone knows the terrain between the Upper and Lower Saddles, you know it is a tough place to carry down a litter, especially in the dark. It's basically a boulder field broken by short cliff bands. We had six people carrying the stretcher plus an absolutely essential belayer. Going over the cliff bands, two or four of the carriers were just hanging onto the belayed litter. It was exhausting and scary work.
But now we get to the part about learning something. With a lot of people now strung out in the dark between the two saddles, it was inevitable that a certain amount of rock fall would happen. Every time the cry of rock was heard from above, the six carriers, reflexively (certainly no one discussed this) leaned over the litter and shielded the victim with their bodies. This was a very severely injured patient who probably was not going to survive, and the carriers were all healthy young people in the prime of life, but sensible or not, no one protected themselves, everyone protected the victim.
Fifty years have passed since that night on the mountain, and I still find myself thinking about it regularly. We see terrible things happening in the world. Our nation is increasing polarized. Disagreements without rancor seems like a quaint memory. It is easy to think human nature is, at heart, fundamentally and fatally flawed. But I spent a night long ago with healthy people trying to save a stranger who probably was not going to make it, people who reflexively put used their bodies to intercept further harm to the victim.
What I learned that night was that there are some very powerful human instincts that are fundamentally both good and heroic, and these instincts are alive in us, ready to be awakened when someone is truly in need. Honestly, the totality of other insights of 58 years of climbing pale before this one, which continues to suggest to me over the years that we have something to live up to, something to aspire to, and we don't have to look around for it; it is in ourselves if only we can find it.
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Dec 23, 2014 - 10:50pm PT
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Thank you, Richie, for sharing that most inspiring post.
John
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nah000
climber
no/w/here
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Dec 23, 2014 - 11:04pm PT
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thanks rgold.
if you were a preacher man, i'd attend your church...
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tuolumne_tradster
Trad climber
Leading Edge of North American Plate
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Dec 23, 2014 - 11:51pm PT
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rgold: that's one of the best posts I've read here...thanks
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Gnome Ofthe Diabase
climber
Out Of Bed
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Dec 24, 2014 - 12:50am PT
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Balancing,
balance too
How to breath,
And To Breath
How to make do
and make doodo,
and
make doodo into lemonade
[Click to View YouTube Video]. . . .
Who I am and who I want to be
and the opposition to success is often determined mentally and emotionally, as much as physically.
As physical as climbing is it is still all about the entire mix of mental, emotional and chemical!
Chemical?
That is actually still a level of Physical that helps to explain the spiritual and addictive experience that climbing holds close to it's core.
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DanaB
climber
CT
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Dec 24, 2014 - 01:43am PT
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Climbing - it's nice to have a hobby.
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mcreel
climber
Barcelona
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Dec 24, 2014 - 01:58am PT
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Life is great when you're doing one thing 100%
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SeaToSky
Mountain climber
Vancouver, BC
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Dec 24, 2014 - 08:52am PT
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Climbing continually teaches me how joy comes from gratitude. Climbing always amplifies the things in my life I'm grateful for: friendship, beauty, mountains, exercise, challenges, nature's seasons, god, health, and many other things.
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feynman
Trad climber
chossberta
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Dec 24, 2014 - 09:47am PT
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Taught
Becoming obsessive is easier than balance.
Total commitment to reach high performance is enticing, addictive and validating. Acceptance of mediocrity, but not complacency to it, is, for me, fundamentally humbling and perhaps because of that - more challenging than any other difficulty.
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reptyle
Trad climber
Kali
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Dec 24, 2014 - 10:57am PT
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Really wanna hear? Could go on for a ways...
First thing came from Murphy's laws. Never climb with people who are crazier or braver than yourself. Good way to make a premature exit.
Second, you have the power to rise above your fears and limitations. I have always been a terrible acrophobe, and it took alot to overcome that. I never lost it.
Third, some sad things about human nature and the terrible power of the ego, and the simian that still lives on in all of us.
Sorry to bore.
D-<
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