What Climbing Has Given Me

"Why do you climb?"

The age old question, and one that most climbers I know struggle to give a simple answer to. I've had many a philosophical conversation around the campfire trying to formulate an easy answer to this question, but it usually comes out as an ethereal, jumbled mixture of personal goals and reflections, and we don't end up answering the question at all. The fact of the matter is that there is no simple answer - climbing has a far greater bearing on our lives and on the way we perceive the world than most of us are willing to admit or are able to explain. It is my personal belief that we don't fall in love with climbing just because it's fun, or because it helps us to set personal goals, or because it keeps us in shape, although all of those things factor into why we started to climb and why we continue to do so, but that we climb because of what it gives to us and because of what it teaches us about ourselves and about the world around us.

So here and now I will talk about what climbing has given to me, and perhaps some of these points will resonate with you, or will help you to understand your motivation behind your own climbing career.

Perseverance, Dedication, and Patience
One of the most important things that climbing has taught me is that through perseverance, dedication, and a whole lot of patience, I have the ability to overcome any obstacle. Think about the longest project you've ever worked on. How long did it take you to complete it? Weeks? Months? Years even? How often did you train for it? Think about it? How many times did you fail and get back up again to give it another burn?

Trust me when I say that it is not easy for a lot of people to continue to work on a project despite failing to complete it over and over and over again; despite training for it and coming back and not feeling strong enough to do it; despite feeling mentally prepared and then walking up to the climb and feeling more nervous than you ever have in your life to pull onto the rock; despite the super strong person who just came up and flashed it right before you've even made your first attempt; despite it feeling so far out of your reach sometimes that you're not sure if you'll ever be able to send it. But you keep trying it and you don't give up no matter the setbacks, and when you finally do send it you feel such a great sense of exhilaration and pride that you can't seem to get anywhere else.

But this doesn't just apply to sending a project or performing a hard move while climbing, this sentiment has impacted my personal and professional life in ways I never anticipated. When I am handed a daunting project at work I find that I am better able to organize my thoughts, plan ahead, and continue to work on the project with vigor despite the number of long hours I need to put in to complete it or the number of setbacks I face along the way. I have greater patience when dealing with complex or frustrating situations, and I am better able to step back, look at all of the information I've been given, and find a sensible solution to problems that arise.

Perseverance is key. Me on the infamous Bishop testpiece Go Granny Go, V5. While all of my friends sent this climb within a couple of trips, this took me about 5 months and countless trips to send. The day I just relaxed and began to believe in myself was the day I sent it. Never give up. Never surrender. Always believe in the impossible.

Humility
There is nothing more humbling than coming up to a climb you were crushing the day before and not being able to do a single move on it, or to coming up to a climb that's a few grades below your projecting level and get completely stumped by a portion of the climb that looked so simple and straightforward. For me, a climb that always humbles me is Birthday Direct, V3 in Bishop, CA. Despite the numerous times I've been to Bishop and hopped on this climb, I've only been able to do it once. Yes, I said it, one time. And it was one of the proudest sends of my life, even though at the time I was in the middle of projecting V7's. But I didn't care that one of my proudest sends was a V3 that most people normally loop into their Bishop warm up routine - I had accomplished something that was beyond my comfort zone, and the grade didn't matter one bit.

Birthday Direct, V3 in Bishop, CA. After all this time it still manages to stump me.

But that's the thing about climbing isn't it? The second your ego starts to inflate just a bit it finds a way to knock you back down to earth and remind you that you are human, that you are not perfect, and that you should be respectful of the rock, yourself, and of the people around you. And while admittedly I do not always understand this lesson in humility in the moment it's happening and instead find myself frustrated or upset, I do look back later on times where I've been humbled and smile at the ways in which I was being taught an important life lesson.


A Sense of Personal Accomplishment... And A Ton Of Self-Confidence
Climbing gives me an amazing sense of personal accomplishment that, let's face it, is difficult to get from any other sport or activity. I can set personal goals and see progress day to day, which is incredibly rewarding and is an aspect of this sport that I value deeply. Whether it's doing a move that I couldn't the day before, linking a sequence, sending a climb, or doing something on the hangboard or campus board I couldn't do before, progress is always tangible and it feels amazing! Especially after I've exercised that dedication, perseverance, and patience we discussed earlier. This is the pay off stage and victory is oh so sweet.

I can also safely say that my self-confidence, both at the crag and in my personal life, has increased drastically because of climbing. At the crag, I am more and more aware of how and when I can push my limits both physically and mentally. Physically, that may be confidently trying a move that is very taxing for me, and mentally that might be pushing the limits of my highballing ability to heights I never thought I'd reach (pun intended). In my personal life I feel more confident in my ability to confront difficult situations, work and relationship-wise, with honesty and clarity, and have become better able to express my feelings in a productive way.


Mental And Physical Strength
These should be obvious, but that doesn't mean they should be excluded from this list.

The physical aspect of climbing is clear. You climb more, you train more, you get stronger, you become more physically fit, you become an athlete. You value that strength and you feel a lot more confident and let's face it... you feel sexier. Don't pretend like you don't. After all, who doesn't like to feel strong and look good naked?

I kind of touched on this before, but I'm going to talk about it again: The mental aspect of climbing is far less obvious to those outside the sport and to those who are new to the sport. The more you climb, the more aware you become of the fact that sending a project often has more to do with what mental state you're in than what physical state you're in (not always true, but mostly). As you get deeper and deeper into the projecting stages, so many unexpected emotions crop up like fear, anxiety, and the general feeling that you just can't do something and that maybe it really is outside of your range of ability and that you should just give up. But you don't give up. And you won't. Because climbing teaches you to be strong and to push past your doubts and fears and anxieties and accomplish the seemingly impossible. And it teaches you to trust and believe in yourself and your abilities even when the going gets rough, and even when other people don't.

The ability to overcome fear and doubt can be applied to many aspects of your life. It can apply to giving a presentation, to walking into an interview, to asking that cute girl/guy you met at the coffee shop out, to confronting a someone who has hurt you, to getting up on stage and singing karaoke, to uprooting your life and moving/working elsewhere... the list is infinite. Once again, I find this mental strength to be one of the most beautiful and valuable things that climbing has given to me.


Some Of The Best Friends I Have Ever Had
Climbers are some of the most amazing people on Earth. They are intelligent, kind, passionately driven, endlessly supportive, and will push you to be the best that you can be. From day one I have felt nothing but love and support from the climbing community, and I have never felt a greater sense of belonging than I do in the gym or at the crag. The friendships I have made will be ever lasting, and that is something I am grateful for.

Goofing around with climbing friends old and new.

So now that I've run through my list you tell me: What has climbing given you? What is its importance in your life?