How do you know you are hopelessly hooked on climbing?

skelldify wrote:When you've come back from a serious injury and started climbing again.

Dislocated my right elbow pretty bad. Doctor said I should refrain from climbing for three or four months. Within one month I was already trying to get up 5.10's & 11's.

When you have to charge your phone multiple times a day from MP, gear searches and route research.

At least it isn't Pokemon or Ingress.

When you get to the base of the ice route and see the big spot of blood soaked snow from the accident(death) earlier that day and only pause for a moment before you rope up for multi-pitch ice climbing at night.

When you are trying to figure out if the scenery in the movie you are watching is climbable, knowing full well it doesn't even exist.

1) When you're rafting/canoeing/kayaking and are more focused on the cliff line instead of the river.

2) When you see anything vertical (e.g., buildings) and you wonder if you can climb it. Then you start thinking about the movements and spotting holds.

When you clean your gutters on belay, then rap off your roof, you know you're addicted.

When you spend your 35th anniversary belaying your wife on a route she's been itching to try, you know you're an addict married to an addict.

When you text your kids a picture of their mom 600 ft off the deck on a multipitch route, and they text back "in normal families the parents worry about their children", you know everyone knows you're married addicts.

... when the gear in your trunk is worth more than the vehicle itself.

When you miss your moms birthday dinner :O

When you go to a climbing film festival and you realize its just a typical weekday night

When you are at the crag from 730 am to midnight

When you dont buy napkins and paper towels so you have money for more gear

When you use your climbing helmet for mountain biking, white water sport and everything else.

When you use your climbing equipment for trivial things. like installing a hammock, christmas lights or tie stuff.

When you pack your climbing shoes to a trip you are sure there are no rocks but still expect a miracle from nature.

When you look for parallel cracks in your office between furnitures and try to jam your hands or imagine how to protect them.

When upon finishing a climbing session your first thought is about your next session

When the neighbor finally calls the cops on you because you keep traversing his stone house.
"But dude, your house is so bomber!"

When every edge in your home and office is a potential hang board workout.

When on Sunday after a full weekend of climbing and you're thrashed, you're emailing potential partners for the following weekend.

You apply to grad shool and international programs based on MP rating & number of closest crags & you set your laptop background to cycle between awesome climbing photos

When you get a tattoo that "psychologically" helps you when your way run out!!

When you take a three dollar an hour pay cut bucause your new job allows you to climb at work.

Damn, I am guilty of so many of these things.

It is good to know I am not alone.

My contribution: when you practice making two-point anchors using the knobs on your kitchen cabinets.

When you have been climbing most of your seventy years with a serious heart condition, but instead of lying in bed counting sheep you try to count summits and who you shared them with?

When you are 63 and teaching a young 20-something learn trad so he can push you harder and garner yourself another climbing partner. When you are 63 and hang with younger folks because your peer group age-wise just does nothing exciting and you are afraid of 'getting old'. Shit, I'm already old but refuse to admit it...my wife says I've never really 'grown up' either.

A few more from my short career:

When your (climbing partner) child is in deep, deep doodoo for climbing with someone else on mother's day.

When you ask for (and recieve) a pair of nice draws with steel lockers for the subsequent Mother's Day.

And, embarrassingly, when, driving around in Boise, Idaho, you come up behind a Sprinter van with Nevada plates. First thought, climbers??!!!?? Then, see the passenger seats filling the whole van, and immediately think "rich shmucks who wasted far too much money on a van just to haul people". At least I started laughing at myself instantly!