UKC

Why do you climb?

New Topic
This topic has been archived, and won't accept reply postings.
 Sam Maher 09 Jan 2014
Having battled with this question myself a lot recently, looking at articles and asking friends, I was wondering why other people climb. I know many people climb for many different reasons, but is one more popular than the other or have your reasons for climbing changed over time or after significant life events?

Any responses would be greatly received.

Sam
 The Pylon King 09 Jan 2014
In reply to Sam Maher:

Escape from our ultra-controlled modern existence.
 Cheese Monkey 09 Jan 2014
In reply to Sam Maher:

Because I like climbing. I dont understand why would you do it for any other reason?
 ianstevens 09 Jan 2014
In reply to Sam Maher:

Because it's fun? I'd suggest that if you don't enjoy it any more, it's not exactly the be all and end all of life...
 Franco Cookson 09 Jan 2014
In reply to Sam Maher:

I think most people climb for the spiritual and philosophical quest of making the North York Moors the pinnacle of world-wide climbing. Some people I know climb instead just for fun, but they're generally total idiots with no hope of ever achieving anything meaningful.
Removed User 09 Jan 2014
In reply to Sam Maher:

It makes me feel free!
In reply to Franco Cookson:

Thanks, Franco, for clarifying this. That is, for those of us who don't regard the North York Moors as the pinnacle of world-wide climbing, or of anything, for that matter.
aleshaleksey 09 Jan 2014
In reply to Sam Maher:

The Little Prince* came to a planet with a cliff. It was a small planet, so as it rotated, it looked like the hand of a clock**. He noticed that there was a man on the cliff. He looked like was hanging on desperately with everything he had.

The little prince asked asked, "Do you need help?"
"Nah, I'm fine," the man replied.
"Then what are you doing?" The Little Prince asked.
"I'm climbing." The climber replied and reached for the next hold.
"Aren't you scared of climbing so high?" The Little Prince noticed.
"Yes." The climber admitted.
"Then why do you climb?"
"I climb to forget."
"To forget what?"
"To forget how far off the ground I've climbed..."

*I'm sorry Exupery- it had to be done.
**It must have been a very dense small planet or it wouldn't have had enough gravity to make climbing worth it...
 Choss 09 Jan 2014
In reply to Sam Maher:

Someat to do?
johnj 09 Jan 2014
In reply to Franco Cookson:

Excellent post Zenrock master Franco, I'm one of those Nazi arseholes who only climbs v diff and mods to get radical and I don't understand the spiritual side of the rock, maybe I need to find my self again on the North York moors, where do you recommend I should go?
 Jon Stewart 09 Jan 2014
In reply to Sam Maher:

I like this question, it's the kind of thing I like thinking about.

Climbing is really important to me, it provides an intensity of experience that I just don't get out of anything else in life. I sometimes have a nice time with friends or feel satisfied by achieving something at work, but it is absolutely nothing compared to the intensity of positive experience I get from climbing.

For me it's all about the buzz. I don't get a buzz from doing a hard boulder problem after a thousand tries, I get a mild sense of achievement, similar to doing well in an exam. I don't have the patience for sport climbing because that's pretty much the same process, but even more drawn out and tedious. But I get a huge buzz from onsight trad, especially on big spectacular beautiful cliffs with truckloads of exposure and intimidation factor. When I climb something at my limit, that's of the utmost quality, like say a big Gogarth E3, the "buzz" while I'm on the crux is not very pleasant: I'm scared. Scared of falling, and scared of failure, and scared of having an epic. It is VERY intense though. Once I've done the crux, the buzz of the route is a euphoric one and it lasts for days.

Someone posted a link recently to book which examines "the biology of the buzz" - the surge of norepinephrine and whatever else in the synapses that constitutes the buzz, just as it does with drugs. This buzz is the state of being fully in the moment, experiencing everything through your senses with your internal chatter silenced. On the crux, everything except the holds and how to use them disappears. The complicated world of responsibilities and politics and self-criticism and the long-term and the past is absent. It is a break, although it doesn't feel like one.

But as well as that, there is the laying down of big, dense memories, associated with a sense of achievement and positive self-image. Plus the camaraderie, being in a beautiful place with friends, setting and achieving goals and all the rest of it. Everything about the experience of onsighting a quality trad route at my limit is positive for me - and there aren't many things I can say that about.

I climb because it gives the intensity that I need from life. I find most other things pretty boring, to be honest.
 Franco Cookson 09 Jan 2014
In reply to johnj:

Nowt wrong with climbing V Diffs - as long as they're in the Moors! Get down to the Smuggler's terrace and pick yourself a brand new line - piles of severes down there to go at...
 Skyfall 09 Jan 2014
In reply to Jon Stewart:

Great post. Yes, that's climbing at it's best.
 Dan Jam 09 Jan 2014
In reply to Sam Maher:

it's the only way I can get a girlfriend?
johnj 09 Jan 2014
In reply to Franco Cookson:

Ok cheers, will check it out some day when I can manage a trip North.
 Ian Miller 09 Jan 2014
In reply to Sam Maher:

I must be the odd one out here, but for me the climbing is only a small part of why I do it. I'm terrified when I lead and generally only ever lead stuff that is so easy I would feel comfortable soloing it. For this reason most of the climbing I do is seconding.

For me I enjoy the places climbing takes me. I love looking through definitive quide books for the places people seldom visit. Climbing has taken me to places that I have never heard of and would never have visited.

 Owen W-G 09 Jan 2014
In reply to Jon Stewart:

Very neatly articulated how I feel about climbing. In a word, I climb for the mental intensity it brings. Serves much the same function as raving did for me in the 90s!

I definitely do not trad climb 'for fun'. For clmbing to give me what I need, it has to be too mentally taxing to be fun.
 daniel_c_baron 09 Jan 2014
In reply to Sam Maher:

To get to the top
In reply to Jon Stewart:

Good eloquent reply, life can be pretty anhedonic without climbing and it's associated resonant memories and close relationships.
 Jon Stewart 09 Jan 2014
In reply to daniel_c_baron:

> To get to the top

Have you ever climbed at Malham?
 Kafoozalem 09 Jan 2014
In reply to Jon Stewart:

Yeah - what he said. Nicely put John. The pinnacle of climbing is the buzz of leading trad onsight (sorry Franco not the N Yorks Moors). However as I get older I am not always up for scaring myself silly so much of the time I settle for the beautiful places, the joy of movement and the camaraderie.
 JonLongshanks 09 Jan 2014
In reply to Sam Maher:

Quite simply, it's scary. And that fear is interesting.
 Skip 09 Jan 2014
In reply to Sam Maher:

Puts me in totally in the moment.

Gets me out to beautiful places.

Puts me in amazing situations only realistically reachable by climbing. I love being on belay stances on multi-pitch climbs, especially at Bosigran.

 Chris Craggs Global Crag Moderator 09 Jan 2014
In reply to Sam Maher:


Because I have to.



Chris
 jcw 09 Jan 2014
In reply to Sam Maher:
I have jus finished typing up my climbing diary kept over 50 years. And I summed it all up in one phrase "it's been fun".
 coreybennett 15 Jan 2014
In reply to Sam Maher:

To escape, its a way of life.
 nastyned 15 Jan 2014
In reply to Jon Stewart:

> On the crux, everything except the holds and how to use them disappears. The complicated world of responsibilities and politics and self-criticism and the long-term and the past is absent.

I can rarely remember crux moves, but losing all the day to day worries like this is a big plus for me.
 Jon Stewart 15 Jan 2014
In reply to nastyned:

I can very often remember them when they take ages to work out. Of course whenever I go back to repeat them, all the holds have changed and it's harder than before.
In reply to Sam Maher:

What Jon Stewart says......
 aln 15 Jan 2014
In reply to andy farnell:


> Oh, and having the ability to spot a youth spouting crap about his own goldfish bowl.

> Andy F

FFS! It's a bit sad you're still referencing that.

 ebdon 16 Jan 2014
In reply to Sam Maher:

To drown out out the constant voices in my head
 Oogachooga 16 Jan 2014
In reply to Sam Maher:

I agree to all of what has been said.

Its the complete package; fitness ability, agility, mental focus, adventure, travel, social, anti x factor/capitalist xbox materialistic culture, an escape, character building and scary.


 Jackwd 16 Jan 2014
In reply to Sam Maher:

As a skinny little toe rag I don't do well at most sports, put me on a route/wall and bam! WHO'S THE WEAKLING NOW!???
 JIMBO 16 Jan 2014
In reply to Sam Maher:
To escape from UKC...
 Al Evans 16 Jan 2014
In reply to Jon Stewart:

> Have you ever climbed at Malham?

Yeh quite a lot, but I always went to the top
 daniel_c_baron 21 Jan 2014
In reply to Jon Stewart:

Limited topping out potential so I've never bothered
 cuppatea 21 Jan 2014
In reply to Sam Maher:

I had to learn to walk again and I climb (sporadically!) because I used to and I once again CAN.

And in-between falling off plastic v diffs I like to collect shiny things. My preshuss.
 Nathan Adam 22 Jan 2014
In reply to Sam Maher:
Because once you've had a great day out with your mates up the hills or at the crag, everything else seems slightly/largely inferior.
Post edited at 02:02
 jkarran 22 Jan 2014
In reply to Sam Maher:

For pleasure.
 is2 22 Jan 2014
In reply to Jon Stewart:

Totally agree with the buzz and the fun ... but I get that doing boulder problems( indoors and out), sport routes, new traverses on "the bridge" and trad routes etc etc. In fact just going out putting my boots on chalking up and pulling onto rock, " plastic " or even wood on my board feels great... actually succeeding on things is a bonus and talking endlessly about these things with my mates is one of the great pleasures in life.
In reply to Sam Maher:

I have, as they say, never felt it necessary to apply myself directly to this limp and jaded question.

jcm
 tlm 22 Jan 2014
In reply to Sam Maher:
A whole stack of reasons.

To be outdoors in beautiful locations. Climbing takes you to some pretty spectacular places, hanging off a cliff, watching the waves crash up in massive plumes of spume, watching seagulls hang below you, watching the dusk across moors, or smelling the rosemary on sun baked limestone.

The people. I've met a certain type of person through climbing. Intelligent, independent, a bit of a rebel without a clue, thoughtful, gutsy, fun. Not every climber is like this, but lots of them are, and I've met some of my best mates through climbing.

The mental challenge. Be it trying to work out a way of making a move in a way that makes use of your own abilities, trying to find where a route goes, trying to overcome needless fear - it's like a crossword puzzle at times!

The physical side. To get to the end of a day and feel my muscles aching, through my abs and back, my fingers, my arms. Muscles I didn't know I had. To get exercise without even noticing that is what I am doing, I am so absorbed in it.

The culture. To meet people, and to instantly be mates. The black humour, the sarcasm, the sandbagging, the understating of your own ability, the enthusiasm, the obsessiveness, the huts, the cafes, the shops, the places that we all share, whether we live in Brighton or Glasgow.

and last but not least: so that I get to hear jcm's opinions.
Post edited at 10:50
 Ciderslider 22 Jan 2014
In reply to Sam Maher:

For sanity, physical wellbeing - for the outdoors from sea cliff to grit, for the craic and the pub, beers and banter with new and old friends afterwards.
For the fear and overcoming it, for the elation of reaching the top. For defeating those voices in your head that so often tell you that you just aren't good enough. For the next grade, and for the quest of the first onsight E1.
For that physically spent, totally smug and satisfied walk off of Stanage on a summers evening, thinking about that first of many beers.
The guilt free high fat snacks at the crag, the shiny gear.
The weeks spent indoor bouldering and the short lived elation on sending that problem (even if it is colour coded).
Hearing your mate screaming like a frightened schoolgirl (when he thinks he's gonna die - seconding a route you've just lead masterfully and without a fight).
Oh, and the million other reasons - if there is a god - he gave us mortals climbing
 Jon Stewart 22 Jan 2014
In reply to johncoxmysteriously:

> I have, as they say, never felt it necessary to apply myself directly to this limp and jaded question.

I think you might be inviting a response referring to your assessment of the OP as 'limp and jaded' and how that might also apply to matters other than the question in hand.

New Topic
This topic has been archived, and won't accept reply postings.
Loading Notifications...