You tell me

There are few reasons for why I climb that I can put into words. There are many more reasons which are unconsciously ingrained that I won't bother trying to describe. Mainly because I wouldn't know how to.

I realize that I often do things with haste just to get them done and I always try to do everything quickly. I can't remember the last time I walked up or down a staircase. I either run up or run down. A few weeks ago I was moving quickly (downhill) through a talus field when a small boulder I was moving off of shifted, took my feet out from under me, and I flew up in the air and landed on another boulder on my hip....ouch. In pain for the next two weeks. Lesson learned.

Climbing forces me to slow down and not be distracted when completing a task. If I am distracted, I can't focus on keeping myself and my partner safe.

To me, it is a more exciting form of meditation than other things I have tried. It allows me to be fully in the moment, while gaining a perspective of the world that most people will never experience.

Thats just one reason. I hope I win!

I've never told anyone why I climb. I guess you could say it's a bit too embarrassing. But I'm tired of living in the dark. I'm tired of keeping my silence when I'm out there, when I'm pulling on a deep pocket thinking in ecstasy, dreaming. This is my story. It's true - no matter what you think. Like life, it's unbelievable at times. Where else could I start but from the beginning?

April 22nd 1997
I don't remember the day of the week, but I remember the place; an old dilapidated train trestle that dragged on and on, passing broken glass and phallic spray-painted images and discolored, aged warning signs. "Private land." "No trespassing." What can I say, there was a buzz about it. I was thirteen years old and my dad was taking me climbing for the first time. He was an old haggard mountaineer turned rock climber, but he could hold his own with the youthful, which was precisely why I had said yes to going on this outing; he had a new girlfriend 30 years his junior and he was 55.

The crag jutted out at a bend in the rusted tracks. Moss covered rock, broken bottles and cigarette butts at its base. The day was hot and humid and as I walked my eyes followed the backside of Naleena, my dad's girlfriend, who walked just a few paces ahead. I knew in my head what my dad was secretly planning; for my eighteenth birthday I expected Naleena (whom my dad would have already reared in every womanly manner a man could desire) as my gift. "Here son," he would say, "I got you Naleena-the-babe." That's what I thought, but who doesn't think these things at thirteen?

At the crag we geared up. I watched as Naleena bent down to put on her harness, small droplets of sweat gathering between her cleavage, soaking her sports bra, which was about to burst at any moment. I felt the blood rush to my head. I became slightly dizzy. It was hot out though and I hadn't had anything to drink - I told myself that I just needed some water.

"You ready to climb?" my dad asked. "No, no," I said, my head swaying. "Why doesn't Naleena go first?" And so she tied in and at "on belay" my attention focused, my head settled, and my senses became magnified. I watched as Naleena struggled up the cliff band, grunting, thrusting her hips into the wall. I was delirious with pleasure, sopping with the sweat of the spring day. Almost two-thirds of the way up Naleena shouted, "watch me," and I did. Her hands clenched down and the muscles in her legs tensed and a long, drawn out sigh flowed from her. I had never felt like this before. The ecstasy, the thrill, the adventure. Was it climbing? I knew at the point Naleena wailed her beautiful sigh that I would always remember this moment - it was what I needed.

Naleena came down and untied and my dad hollered "you're up sonny." I approached the wall, shaking slightly. "You feeling okay?" my dad asked. "Yeah, I'm great," I said. And just then I slight smile crossed my dads face and then he flushed an embarrassing red. He was looking down and so my eyes followed his to the wet spot that had blossomed at the top of my pants. "Climbing sure is fun," he said and all I could do was nod in agreement. Climbing sure is fun.

For the Mountain Project points, duh!

Climbing and sex are the two things that make you really feel alive... and it is much easier to find a partner for climbing.

Quinn Lee wrote:Everything everyone else said (except the peeing in the pants one). And I'm too cheap for golf.

I don't think he was talking about peeing...

For the challenge, and the joy of accomplishing something.

"Most climbers aren’t in fact deranged, they’re just infected with a particularly virulent strain of the Human Condition."
Jon Krakauer -Eiger Dreams

I'm a thinker, but every time I come back from climbing I try to think about what was on my mind at that point. Every time I come up blank, that chance to think about nothing but a goal, it's simply incredible.

Why do I climb??? Why not?!

I've never learned so much about myself as when I climb and push myself to my physical limits, only to find that it was a mental limit that was holding me back, and to be able to break through.

I've never learned so much about my friends as the time that I spend with those people I climb with, no matter where it is. Its not just watching them have their own special experiences about climbing, but just having people to be with.

I won't lie, I had a rough year this year. I was actually in such shape that I didn't climb for 2 months this fall, but the moment I got back into the gym, with those people, pushing my limits, it all melted away, even if for an instant.

Isn't that enough?

I climb to scare myself. Leading up, 20 feet past your last nut, sweating and shaking. It is real. It is the only true reality check. Nothing else in the world makes you get your shit together as quick as rock climbing.

I used to be a rude asshole-ish prick who only played video games.

Then I went to the gym, and found it kind of fun. I was able to get up some of the stuff that others struggled, and I was only a beginner!

As I started going more and more, I started having more of a positive outlook on life, and started treating people with respect instead of being a typical E-thugg douche bag.

Now I rarely get on the computer, only to Facebook / MP / ST.

I guess I climb because:

My body is better looking when climbing, then computering.
I have a more positive attitude.
I'm healthy.
I'm actually good at it.
Great way to meet people.
It humbles your mind, especially run outs and solos.
I got over my fear of heights. (not so much rattlesnakes, no matter how often I run into them)

it scares me. I am scared of heights, scared of falling. But Ive always wanted to be a decent climber. To climb well, I have to train physically, climb a lot to have better technique, and prepare mentally to not be afraid. Thats the part I like the most I think. That whole thing helped a lot when we were sent to iraq. same kind of fear, same kind of process to overcome. Maybe the stakes were a little higher.

Because gravity pulls downward. I'm grateful it's not otherwise; spelunking doesn't call me.

i
climb
because
it makes
my body look
good when i am
naked.

We all know that climbing is a challenge. what many dont notice is how it is the biggest and largest challenge we as human's can put our mind and body through.

Its obvious that climbing involves alot of mental work as well as pure strength with the body. there has been times when I was climbing where a seperation occurs between the mind and the body. my mind will give up and continuos negative thoughts will flow through my head telling me to stop and that i have no chance at accomplishing the great goal of heights, but at the exact same time my body will have a mind of its own and continue to try and find the holds, continue to pull up and hang on the rock.

Its the essence of pushing both the mind and body to the fullest extent it can go through. what will we see then? when both the inner and the outer are simultaneously pushed to there limits? what will i see then? thats why i climb.

And of course we can't forget the pure nature of escaping this world. when were out on remote crags with no sign of civilization and its just you and the rock, thats when everything disappears, it may only disappear for a few minutes or a couple of days but we need this to survive.

Society has fucked its self. there is little true natural places on this earth left. and we as climbers have a job to protect the areas we love, those areas are the natural areas of the element Earth. when were on a cliff its real, its true, its what life is all about. all the decisions are made by us, its our judgement that will take us to the top or drop us to the bottom. its all on the individual-thats why climbing is amazing.

Keep Climbing For Life

To pick up girls. Not climber girls mind you, just regular girls who think climbing is hot.

Mtn. Project is like being addicted to Crack.......

You keep coming back for more no matter how bad it makes you look......

July 2010, Tuolumne Meadows, belaying my partner on the 4th pitch of some incredible climb above Tenaya Lake. The sky is clear, the sun is warm, the breeze is gentle, and the view is stunning. I am watching the RVs crawl along the 120 and the tourists scrambling around like ants, dancing for photos. I am only a few pitches above them, but I am so far removed from their needs, wants, and their week long vacation that I feel sorry for them. I have never, in any part of my life outside of climbing, felt so utterly content.

Or, in the words of a random bumper sticker we saw in Moab: "My life is better than your vacation."

Chris90 wrote:I climb to scare myself. Leading up, 20 feet past your last nut, sweating and shaking. It is real. It is the only true reality check. Nothing else in the world makes you get your shit together as quick as rock climbing.

Awesome! That's the same reason I climb!

pooler wrote:So MPer’s you tell me why you climb. Here is the catch, I don’t want the usual I love to be outside shit( nothing wrong with that just not the right thread). I want creativity and passion. So you tell me and the person with the best response gets a special XMass gift. I will not be the only judge, my buddies will keep me in check. Make me proud MP I know we’re not all trolls. Merry X massss.... Pooler P.S. Let's see what you got...Don't be a Jerk

Because I work with a bunch of winy PHDs that try to sound extreme by describing how much effort their golf or tennis game was. Then because Im only an MS they like to see what lowly me did. I tell them of my 5 mile hike in followed by 6 pitches of beautiful splitter cracks with my best friend and the hike out, with mosquitoes and pictures of deer, elk, bears and and other wild life. Starting at 6am to 11 pm and hitting up our favorite bar afterward for a few beers and retelling the highlights of the day. It just doe not get any better than that.

if you need a reason, you are doing it wrong.