Why we climb...
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Interested in the philosophies of others...what motivates you to climb? Why do you do it? Why, in most cases, do you rearrange your life in order to climb? |
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i do it because its the only thing ive found that completely makes sense. |
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Two interesting books on this topic, very different, one fictional, one not, both fantastic: |
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Fun and intense certainly... the "puzzle solving" aspect also gives the mind a workout along with the muscles. For me, climbing is as much a "practice" (yoga, dance, etc.) as it is a sport or an adventure. This makes it worthwhile (and worth rearranging my life for) even if I'm not climbing as hard as I'd hoped to, if the project is still a project, etc. When I'm among other climbers (indoors and out) I tend to meet interesting, individualistic, self-motivated people... maybe more than I've encountered in other sports. |
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We climb because it is our hunter/gatherer heritage. That's also why we recreationally fish, hunt, garden, underwater basketweaving, fighting football, etc... Sports are remnants and training grounds for our primitive past. May come in handy someday again... |
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I ask myself this question periodically but have never really come up with a concise answer. I just like it. The whole climbing experience. I think I've grown into it over the years, because I started way back in junior-high when my personality was more mutable. Here's some of the main reasons I keep getting back on the rock: |
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There is no WHY, since the moment simply is, and since all of us are simply trapped in the moment, like bugs in Amber. |
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johnL wrote:I have a 3:1 policy on threads like this. For each thread like this, I give a sarcastic answer 3 times. Every 4th thread I'll actually post why I climb. Let me check my post history to see what kind of answer to give you.We should set up a pool to guess how many "why do you climb" threads we've had thru the years. I'd handicap the over/under at 8 |
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because I can't afford a helicopter ride to the top |
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We've all been asked this question many times. A more interesting topic would be how the motivation and love of climbing has changed for climbers as climbing as gone from trad to sport. |
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I totally relate, Jimbo. For me, climbing days used to be all about facing fear and commitment. I used to have an onsight free-solo tick list when I was at CU-Boulder. A buddy would ask me to do a route, and sometimes I turned him down because I was saving it for the osfs. |
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"The secret to life is enjoying the passing of time." |
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David Sahalie wrote:I do it for the sceneryDavid,I've noticed recently that when you are posting a photo it doesn't load properly.The little tag that says "loading image" just hangs there,indefinitely.Not sure what the issue is,but I thought you should know. |
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muttonface wrote: If you're viewing it at work, there are filter restrictions that networks sometimes implement on certain types of files, or files from a certain type of source. Happens on mine all the time. Not definitive, but a possibility.Yeah,that's not it-I'm at home,and Sahalie is the only guy I've noticed this with.I feel cheated 'cause I'm sure this must be a picture of a pretty girl that I'm missing. |
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Same thing for me. The link loads when gone to directly, but not when I click it as a link, so I suspect some restriction of embedding/redirection by the photo hosting site. |
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muttonface wrote: You might be thinking of Killis Howard. I don't blame you though, I don't want to miss any of those pics either.I hear he even has a girlfriend-makes me hot just thinking about it...almost as good as autoeroticism a la Sharma Here Kitty Kitty! |
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btw I climb because caving is dark and muddy |
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David Sahalie wrote:sorry for the bad link, I loaded it at home, and it showed on the preview. it is worth a look: google.com/imgres?hl=en&sa=…I knew you'd come through!Sharma can pound sand! |
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Because It's There (of course). |
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I always think of a quote from my favorite guidebook, Roper's 1971 Yosemite guide: |
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why we climb..? I never couldnt an answer for this question but I like it, climbing is everything for me :) |