There are only three sports: mountain climbing, bullfighting, and motor racing -- all the rest are games.
-- Ernest Hemingway
The best climber in the world is the one who's having the most fun.
-- Alex Lowe
I can't understand why men make all this fuss about Everest--it's only a mountain.
--Junko Tabei (first woman to summit Everest)
It has now been nearly three years since I have made any kind of serious attempt on any serious mountain -- much less thought about an expedition -- and I'm starting to get itchy. I led a route up a 5.easy this summer so that Laura could get out on the rock, and it was fun -- but my lead head is definitely gone. This is a dangerous combination: rusty on technique, but itching to get out on some steeps. So I'm telling myself to calm down and just wait until she gets out here, and then we can get out on a more regular basis and start the process of reacquiring lead confidence.
The deal is, everyone is afraid of heights. Everyone. You show me a person who can look at 2000 feet of air between her legs while she stands on dime-sized toeholds with her last piece of protection 30 feet below her without feeling some trepidation, and I'll show you someone with a mental disorder. No, the point is that the fear is there, but after enough time on the rock, or ice, or steep snow, or whatever, you learn to compartmentalize it. The next move is what matters, and even if you're at a rest stance, you know that you need to make it soon. Carefully and confidently, but soon*. And if you're not at a rest stance, you know that your muscles are going to fail in short order, so "soon" takes on a whole new meaning. Nobody can stand on a flexed calf, or stick to even a straight-arm hang, for more than a couple of minutes. If it's taking you that long to figure out the moves, you'd best french free the thing and recover.
So I'll get it back. A goal of mine for several years now has been Chopicalqui. The Andes (and the Cordillera Blanca in particular) are simply amazing, and I need to get back there. Huge, huge mountains in desperate wilderness, but perfect weather (mostly) and not too far away from me! Peruvians are pretty awesome people, too (the spanish elitists notwithstanding). And I know where the good pizza joint in Huaraz is, as well as the gear store.
Patience and practice, patience and practice.
And now for your weekly Finn. Laura sends me these things on a regular basis, and I die from Teh Cute, so I take every opportunity to kill others as well. He's like Medusa, slaying the hordes with his very appearance.
And now for your weekly Finn. Laura sends me these things on a regular basis, and I die from Teh Cute, so I take every opportunity to kill others as well. He's like Medusa, slaying the hordes with his very appearance.
*My first lead was a vertical wall, about one pitch, with a ledge halfway up. The crux move was off the ledge. I psyched myself out, and sat on that ledge for nearly an hour while I tried to summon the courage to make the move; my belayer had godlike patience. I went back to that climb, a few years ago, and climbed the entire pitch in 10 minutes. I remember moving over the crux and thinking "wow, this used to be hard." Proper perspective with experience.
UPDATE: Oh, I forgot. I did make an attempt not long ago on a moderate route on Rainier, but a guy on my rope bonked and so I turned the rope around. I guess I just blanked that from my memory because (a) I was pissed off that we turned around 1000' from the summit after all the hard climbing was done, and (b) I had to leave behind $150 in ice screws in the rappels back to camp. Grumble.
UPDATE: Oh, I forgot. I did make an attempt not long ago on a moderate route on Rainier, but a guy on my rope bonked and so I turned the rope around. I guess I just blanked that from my memory because (a) I was pissed off that we turned around 1000' from the summit after all the hard climbing was done, and (b) I had to leave behind $150 in ice screws in the rappels back to camp. Grumble.
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I was shocked at how scared I was the first time just CLIMBING outside, let alone on lead, which I have never come up with the cojones for. I could climb very difficult pitches in the gym, but real rock? Real heights? Real pain? Yeesh, that's a whole other kind of endorphin.
ReplyDeleteI once travelled to China to climb and chickened out on a chimney. I was so mad at myself the whole way home (I lived in HK at the time) that as soon as I got back to my flat, I booked a trip BACK to China the following weekend to have another go at it. It was a *fabulous* climb and worth every penny I spent getting back to it. I realised then that some climbs are all the better for the number of approaches - patience is such a virtue.
Also slayed.
ReplyDeleteFinn be cool.
That's a great story, DG! I like your attitude and obstinance at going back to redo the climb in China -- I bet that you're a great climbing partner. You should learn to lead! You've got the right outlook. There's a really good book by Heidi Pesterfield that I reviewed once, titled "Traditional Lead Climbing: Surviving the Learning Years." It's full of all insider tips that took me years to learn (like tripling a standard-length sling before handing it back to the leader, protecting traverses, etc.). Also, it really helps to take a lead class. They'll teach you about the physics and the danger of factor-2 falls, show you how a 'biner gate can open and release the rope if it impacts the rock, and why daisy chains are inherently evil. Not to mention how to place gear! You'd love it: leading trad rock is SUCH a different game from purely following (or toproping), and when you get a good partner and and swing the lead on pitch after pitch it is just amazing. That connection between climbers, nature, and the rock just does not get any more intimate and fulfulling.
ReplyDeleteThank ye, Wombat (I almost typed "Wombs" there, and quickly corrected myself), you are right: Finn is Teh Cool. T-minus four days and counting before I fly out to help move him to my house in B'ham!
Although I only commented on Mr Finn, I should say that the YouTube is excellent, as are your ponderings on climbing. They allow me to live vicariously, until mountains are closer than a day's drive away.
ReplyDeleteWhy, thank you, Wombat, those are kind words.
ReplyDeleteI guess your passion drives your words, and it shows, which is not to say that you don't do other topics justice and oh dear I seem to be tying myself up nicely in string and fishing line.
ReplyDeleteI forgot: the Teddy R book is 'Theodore Rex' by Edmund Morris. It's the sequel to 'The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt' which I have not read. This volume begins with the death of President McKinley. Slightly dry, it's still a damn good read, and a wonderful picture of America one-hundred years ago.
Thank you again, W. I guess that there are as many different reasons to blog as there are bloggers themselves. For example, I appreciate KnB. Its character may have changed (several times), but what you keep writing about keeps my attention. I write what is on my mind, in that moment. Given the disjointed nature of my thoughts, I suppose I'm happy that they seem to strike the occasional chord.
ReplyDeleteI'm totally checking out that autobio. TR is one of my favorites!