The evolution of a climber

Boulderer
Sport climber
Trad climber
Ice climber
Mixed climber
Alpinist

Big wall climbers are like the dreggs of the climbing world. we'll just disenfranchise them here.

Please don't take this seriously!

I did...

Hiking/backpacking
Snowshoeing
Ice climbing
Alpine snow field climbing (lead me to mountaineering)
Sport climbing
Mountaineering (glacial traversing & class 4 scrambling)
Trad climbing (I'm a newb here)
Boulderer (still not committed)

10/10 would recommend this sequence

Person hikes from parking lot and realizes that the people scaling the cliff are having more fun than they are - sport climber.

Person sits around a campfire after a sport climbing session and then realizes that people with a rack of nuts and cams seems to have had more adventure than they did - trad climber.

Person drinks a beer in a parking lot after three pitches of trad climbing and realizes that those who pack a portaledge and a haul bag have better stories than they do - big wall climber.

Person sits around a campfire at Camp 4 listening to better stories than they have and then realizes that carrying an oxygen tank is more of a challenge than carrying up a haul bag - alpinist.

Person checks their bank account and realizes that there is no way that they can afford all that adventure - boulderer.

Person learns that you can get better at sports climbing by practicing in a climbing gym -gym climber
Person pushes hard in climbing gym and destroys rotator cuff - couch potato

Rock evolution...
Boulderer
Sport climber
Trad climber
Multipitch/Big walls

Ice evolution...
Ice climber
Mixed climber
Alpinist
Cerebral edema

There, I fixed it.....

When I started everything was "Trad" in fact, you didn't have to say "Trad" bouldering was exercise/entertainment not a sub-category, "sport routes" hadn't been invented and wasn't a sub category either. We just got up there in our loincloths and did it.

How's that for "evolution"? JB

Climber.
Climber with mountain project account.
Troll.
Elanor.

1) Tree climber (long-term)

2) Skier

3) Mt. climber

4) Rock climber

5) Ice climber (very brief)

6) Route developer

7) Building and tree climber (intermittent)

8) Indoor gym climber

Coming next: boulderer and then alpinist

Honestly, I was racing my mountain bike across the country... and by the *second* time I did this, I just wished I could stop and climb all the mountains I was riding past, as fast as I could. And that's how I got into mountaineering. and of course you wanna do funner (harder) routes, so let's check out the gym.

And that's where I now collect my mail!

BBQ, I would say carrying an oxygen tank disqualifies someone from being an Alpinist. But, that's my rule, not everyone's rule.

Ah, geez. I think I got it backwards.

0-57, mind my own business, have average, normal, boring life.

57, learn self rescue skills on rope
57+ days, learn to rap on tallest cliff in the area, free hanging
57+ hours, head out to cliffs to climb
57+, learn to belay
58, starting gym climber
59, trail walking
60-, walking the living room forwards and backwards with resistance band around ankles, per physical therapist, for knees.

Dang.

These are awesome!

Tree climber
Rappeller
Builderer (not boulderer)
Peakbagger
Trad climber
Ice climber
Sport climber
Indoor boulderer

12-16: much time in the canyon of Ennis Creek fishing, bush whacking. walking the creek tunnels under highway 101, bicycling from town out to the Elwha or Dungemess Spits.

16-22: backpacking in the Olympics, glacier travel, numerous ascents of Mt Olympus, increasing interest in off-trail backpacking, lots of scrambling.

22-42: young sons and daughters; serious off-trail backpacking in Olympics and Cascades; a bit more glacier travel.

42-55: technical climbing; discovery of love of long moderate routes; introduction to the meaning of bivouac; learning to be comfortable with navigating before and after sunset.

55+: TBD. Wondering when and how I need to gracefully start winding down.

By location, especially for this generation:

Climbing Gym with lots of people
Climbing Crags with lots of people (read: moderates)
Climbing crags with fewer people
Longer climbs with fewer people
Shitty climbs with no people (the classics are crowded!)
Long hikes to classics
Long hikes to classics on short weather days
Despair at a lack of improvement, lack of social interaction, and crustiness
Posting on Mountainproject