Heroes? !!

Who inspired you? It's not just the big faces, empty places that inspired me.. it was people like J.Mid-Mugs. Just to name a few of my heroes that what they did and accomplished got me frothing. Let's hear who or what motivated you when your questioning what you were doing and thinking of bailing. To (ALL) you out there pushing yourself and your parner.
Thank you its keeping my dream bigger than ever.. And because so, makes my life very fulfilling.
ALOHA!

Whenever the conditions start to get bad I just think back to that video of TC cruising that icy 5.12 crack like it was nothing and drive on with my mission.

I tend to think about those that are doing (or have done) something a bit more hard core than climbing.

e.g. bbc.co.uk/news/health-29680400

gets ebola, lives, returns to Africa.

That last piece doesn't look so bad after that.

Don Ferris wrote:Whenever the conditions start to get bad I just think back to that video of TC cruising that icy 5.12 crack like it was nothing and drive on with my mission.

Kevin Daniels - All-around hardman, extremo-sapien, endurance athlete and straight up legit human being. Living hard whether he is racing in baja, climbing, cycling, working, running one of his companies, or training. Totally committed to all endeavors.

Rob Mulligan - Completely devoted and committed to the art and science of movement.

Rico Miledi - Wild man! Laughs in the face of what all of us would consider reckless.

John Rosendthal RIP - Dude got some shit done. Held/holds the record for the John Muir trail, climbed hard with fused vertebrae, solo'd shit all over the place, and was uber smart. Super tenacious and stubborn.

Mike Brady wrote:Kevin Daniels - All-around hardman, extremo-sapien, endurance athlete and straight up legit human being. Living hard whether he is racing in baja, climbing, cycling, working, running one of his companies, or training.

He is definitely focusing a lot of his time on racing his motorcycle. He has had a couple bad accidents on his bike which has not helped his already ravaged body. He has had both his shoulders and knees "rebuilt" from damage done from climbing/snowboarding/working and because of the accidents on his bike has had to have further rebuilding. He is have bionic at this point. With that said he could probably hold his own with climbing even in his current state of disrepair.

Last time I saw him I recommended he do something safer like BASE jumping.

Pretty much everyone climbing is an inspiration, from a little kid climbing a stone wall for the first time, to TM Herbert, who I met while he was working out the moves on a boulder problem. People who work hard at their craft and keep their egos from getting too big at the same time, are an inspiration. And as my friend Roland said

"If you've gotten to be such a hard-man you can't enjoy the classics, you've lost something. You're not climbing for fun anymore". He went from weighing 220# at 5'9" to climbing at Rifle, and said "the hardest move is off the couch".

but the bottom line is, as Iron Maven said to Bliss in the movie "Whip It!":

"Get some skates; be your own hero"

Mike. wrote:Formations and routes provide plenty of inspiration. Accomplishments can be noteworthy. Climbers? No. Mike B: LTNS – I hope you are well.

He may not know it (or me), but rgold played a part in my formative years of climbing. He probably wouldn't remember me but I was a pimply brat that went to the inner wall in new paltz almost everyday , middle school through high school. He was there all the time, climbing harder than me, and warmed up by jumping rope. To this day I don't workout much but I do jump rope to warm up for gym climbing thanks to him haha.

Maybe different than a dramatic hero, but it stuck with me.

Bridwell
Lowe

Holy crap man. Good to here from ya'. Hope you are livin' easy behind the orange curtain. I miss that era we had going on down there! Oregon has been a gauntlet for staying stoked on climbing but I really enjoy it up here.

Your name surely belongs in the Hall of Hero's.:) I included you in my interview request list for the Enormo.

Sean Warren and Brad Gobright, for showing me that normal people can do incredible things on big walls.

George Mallory.

Chris Sharma was the first pro climber that I really knew by name and followed. I also remember being blown away by a video of Lynn Hill bouldering in Hueco Tanks that really made me want to get GOOD at climbing and appreciate the technical/"flow" aspects of climbing.

Nowadays, it's Tommy C.

Really started climbing after reading Kiss or Kill. The stuff that Twight, Blanchard, Cheesemond, House, Alex Lowe, Mugs Stump, etc., were doing is pretty incredible. Also inspired by Jeff Lowe, George Lowe, John Bouchard, Jim Donini, Jack Tackle, Michael Kennedy... Again, lotta balls to do what they were doing at that time. Taking the light and fast mantra to new levels in an age where gear wasn't at all light takes serious commitment to an ideal.

Peter Croft. Is there anyone more accomplished yet more humble than he? And not just for his groundbreaking free solo ascents. He just exudes Joy when he's climbung. As if he can be happy climbung 5.8 or 5.12. Even today. Just listen to him after he climbs the Crux pitch on the Venturi effect with Lisa Rands. Even after Decades of climbung, he climbs because he just loves it.

He inspires me to never lose that joy in climbing. No matter what I'm climbing.

Inspiring people? Absolutely. The 'hero' thing? Not sure about that being a positive cultural development.

Charlie fowler.
Steve hong

Wow, not sure I'd refer to them as heroes, but definitely people who have inspired me over the years: Dean Potter, Steph Davis, Alex Lowe, Lynn Hill, Scott Baxter, Karl Karlstrom, George Bain, Deuce, Ron Kauk, DanO, Largo, Dave Ganci, Salathe, Chirring Dorje Sherpa, Layton Kor, Fred Beckey, Chouinard, Robbins, Pete Athens, Jimmy Chin, Conrad, Bachar, Tim O'Connor and many others I'm not thinking of right now.

Seconding Healyje. I don't do the hero worship thing, I just respect people who have earned it.

Such as climbing partners who have really upped their game, or people like rgold and bearbreeder who foster the development of less experienced people, or people like Arnaud Petit demonstrating excellent skill and planning in the video at Ceüse on totem cams.