UKC

To start a discussion on this miserable Saturday, too wet to even go indoors.
I'm going with;

- if it became a mainstream sport, I couldn't see it being presented on tv by men in suits.
- I don't need to book an appointment, pay 20£, travel 30 miles to receive a bit of paper telling me I am getting better
- it's intense enough to be all consuming, but fun enough not to forget about everythng else
- there are pretty much no rules to fall out with each other about
- it's more sociable than it is competitive
- it just feels AMAZING!

Thats my 2 pennies worth anyway, you?

The view from the top is worth it.

In reply to TheHorroffice: Attracts Women.

In reply to TheHorroffice:


You haven't been doing this long, have you? :0)


For me, I like that there's no running involved, the merciless p*ss taking and the cake.

Other than that, I like the rush you get from doing a move you might not pull off but making it and not dying.

In reply to TheHorroffice:


We fall out over ethics, which is much worse. You can only interpret rules, but you can just invent ethics off the top of your head.

In reply to teflonpete:
Wurd! Other moments I like are hoping screaming at my legs to stop them shaking will work. Those balency, smearing, all friction, holy crap I can't believe I'm not falling moments staring as my toe scrambles fruitlessly at a positive hold.
I also like finding a bilberry bush next to my belay.

In reply to TheHorroffice:


to piss onto, yes?

In reply to TheHorroffice:

You never have to grow up and, so even while queueing for your pension you still feel like a rebellious teenager. Sadly, you do still look like a pensioner, albeit a very scruffy one in a tee shirt with a silly - though hopefully not a gratuitously offensive - slogan on it.

In reply to TheHorroffice:
Good thread; I like its to wet to be indoors; never have I faced a scarier moment than contemplating what looks like a lifetime of chores that I call my living space. Mountaineering skills required here and a do or die attitude.
I pause to say hello to UKC before tackling the crux pitch; well they are all cruxy. I better stop before I scare people.
I went rope soloing yesterday and came back with greater knowledge of Avon limestone. There is a board on top of the cliff at Sea Walls that tells you about the carboniferous; that's the time when Bristol was in a shallow sea
near the equator. Not many people know (or are interested in) that sort of fact. There's also a train tunnel that goes underneath the cliff there.
I went climbing in the rain at Swanage once. I got wet; not from the rain but a freak wave that took me unawares. My climbing partner commented that if the rope went tight he would assume I had been washed out to sea...

In reply to TheHorroffice:

There is nothing else like it - It's being outdoors in so many fantastic settings, the friendly people you meet, the sheer physical effort you make (but because your having such fun/cacking yourself ) you don't even realise. The special friendship you make with your climbing partner (ohh,err sounds a bit dodgy). Also the fear/managing the fear. Falling off and realising some of you gear held. Going to the pub after and looking at the normal people, thinking what have you done with yourselves today (garden centre nice was it ?).
But one of the best bits is pushing through the comfort zone and topping out thinking thank f@$k for that I'm still very much alive !!!!!!

In reply to mysterion:
ey? you can eat them right?!?! Seriously?

In reply to TheHorroffice:Good thread. For me it's the places you may never have been otherwise. It's sitting at the top of an amazing route high on life with a brilliant view, waiting to rave on to your second about it. It's being in places only available to climbers(like the belay ledge on castle helen).Last but not least it's the mix of attributes required. Not just power or stamina but both as well as endurance, a strong head, tecnique,good rope work,route reading. Probably lots more too!

In reply to TheHorroffice:


yes, bilberries taste great and should be in season anytime now. they are pretty much the same as the lingonberries you get in an ikea cafe.

In reply to TheHorroffice: Climbing is only amazing when you are climbing well, when not performing it is utter pants.
What makes it unique is that there are few sports that people truly so not understand AT ALL. People who don't climb simply have no idea what climbing is, and I don't mean in some kind of deep spiritual experience, I mean is it walking up and hill, climbing vertical cliffs without ropes, in the snow, on ice, in the sun. It is a sport very few people even think about or are bothered about what it is come to think about it.

In reply to Dominicandave: I could rewrite that so it made sense but you get my drift!

In reply to Dominicandave:

This thread was not why you are not understood or why climbing is crap!We all climb badly sometimes or just make silly mistakes. Have partners who only want to go where they want,don't turn up, won't climb harder than VS.Also to tell a none climbing mate you climbed 7b or soloed E4 and expect praise or glory is just looking for disapointment.The bad points of climbing are worth enjoying and enduring because when it comes good again it is so good. I like the fact that nobody knows anything about our sport except us the climbers, that makes it better for me.

In reply to TheHorroffice: The fact that it is a total waste of time and energy when there are much easier ways of getting to the top of a bit of rock, and the fact we all seem to take the path of most resistance.

In reply to phill mitchell:


I kind of understand what the thread is about, and gave a reply accordingly. It is unique because it is not understood. You can tell someone Liverpool won 1-0 and anyone will understand you. Tell them you climbed a Vdiff and they are clueless. This is a unique point of a sport unknown, and the fact it makes it better for you, only means this is a good point, no.
As to it not being amazing when not climbing well, well that is an opinion, but if you enjoy climbing terribly then good for you. I prefer to climb as well as I can, then it is amazing.

Does that make my response any less clearer for you?

In reply to Dominicandave:Yes but I don't like climbing badly , what I am saying is climbing badly makes the sport so much better because when you climb well you enjoy it so much more.

In reply to phill mitchell:

So you agree with my points? Good, you know it makes sense!!

In reply to dan:I love that too,you could spend your time so much more productive but prefer to waste your time getting feelings of glad to be alive or a rush of adrenaline, you just would not get if you walked the easy way around.We are still playing out, but grown ups.Every time I climb I feel like I have had an adventure.

In reply to Dominicandave:I agree totaly yes. But the bad things in climbing just seem to make me want to do it more.Dose that make sense?

In reply to phill mitchell:

I must admit that if I am climbing crap i tend to take a month off and come back to it. My bad stints are always mental and not physical and unfortunately I can't control that part of my brain (fear and lack of commitment) so it isn't worth pushing through it, can't be done!

In reply to mysterion: Nope, way better than lingonberries...

In reply to TheHorroffice:

Hmm, you have yet to live... They are delicious.

In reply to stonemaster:
No, I have eaten them lots, I was worried after someones response that they were poisonous. Maybe a new thread though - best bilberry bush in the north?!

In reply to TheHorroffice:

The good news is, there's plenty of purple birdie-poo in the Lakes already.


The bad news is, the discarded orange peel season is about to start in earnest.

In reply to TheHorroffice: So many things, here's a few:

- Getting really involved in amazing settings/environments. The belay at the bottom of Castle Helen is a great example, as is Mother Carey's, or the stance before the crux on Eliminate A.

- The experience of total focus or 'flow' where you're completely absorbed in the present and everything else temporarily vanishes. On a good day, this can be for an entire 40m pitch. Or for a second at the crux of a boulder problem.

- The buzz of doing something hard/scary. I don't know what the actual physiology of it is, but there's a certain rush I get quite often (not all the time by any means) which is a lot like doing really good drugs (so it's probably got something to do with dopamine release). Highball boulder problems seem to do this (the crack cocaine of climbing?), but about 5mins after finishing Brazen Buttress recently I got the same total rush of euphoria. And no comedown, great (but still massive addiction potential and objective dangers, obviously).

- Meeting people who are mainly really cool when you've got a really strong shared passion for something. And having a laugh with mates.

- Time on the lead is one kind of time on your own, as above with all attention on the holds and nothing else. But time on your own on belay ledges with the leader somewhere out of sight for an hour, with the sea crashing about and birds and seals and stuff to look at is, I reckon, really good for the soul.

- Learning, improving, overcoming challenges etc is something a lot of people get from work. A lot of climbers seem to find that climbing gives them enough of this and toss it off all day at work posting on UKC (I'm not doing this, I left my job because it was sh!t boring and gave me no sense of satisfaction).

In reply to TheHorroffice:

I love that you don't have to wait for a 'team' to turn up, and you 'can go climbing', have a fantastic day, and not even do a climb.
Bilberries are brilliant.........and a good excuse for a prolonged rest...

In reply to Jon Stewart: The other worldly moments you get on the crags. Abseiling down 'blue sky' at low tide to purple craters and swishing seas. Watching a peregrine dancing in the wind below you. Having chats with seals

The sense of satisfaction from pulling of an unlikely move involving a high toe hook and crank through a bulge.

Going to interesting places, meeting fascinating people and not shooting them.

Keeping all over fit even at my age

As some others have said the zone you reach when you cannot even remember the moves of a hard sequence because you were so focussed.

The gentle competition with your mates and the fact there is usually something you can do better than them.

In reply to JBlackout:

Sometimes ethics conversations look and sound like a game of Mornington Crescent....

In reply to TheHorroffice:

It's all the above plus visiting amazing places around the world.
Also, even after 50 years, believing that the next time I go climbing I will climb better than the last time.
I've also had the thrill of being taken up climbs by my father and my son, and taking both of them up climbs though it may be decades apart.

In reply to teflonpete:

I saw this comment without reading who it is from and thought "my kind of person", then realised it was you Pete and that I'm often one of the merciless!

In reply to TheHorroffice:I must admit that the wildlife I have seen in or around the places I have climbed, has been worth seeing in its own right.When climbing I sometimes feel that nothing feels threatened by us and thus seeing things not normaly witnessed by the noisy public.

In reply to TheHorroffice:
Got to add - its climbers themselves that make it. Always found an abundance of people willing to help and excited to share the sport with others. Yes there is the odd bit of elitism, but the horrendous pretentiousness I have found in other sports is much worse. For example, I just realized the only bit of climbing gear I have bought is chalk + shoes. My full rack, ropes, harness, belay stuff, bag etc have all been on permanent 'loan'by people keen to help get me involved. Incredible!

Call me naive but I've done a heck of allot of sports and to me Climbing definitely tops out!

In reply to TheHorroffice: For me I have found a hobby which I can enjoy within the full spectrum of my motivation.
I love to be outside to be within the world, a sense of being part of it in a way I have yet to experience as well in other circumstances.
I love to try hard indoor climbs which stretch me gymnastically and physically.
I love that there is a space to have a discussion like this.
That feeling when you succeed on a move that feels only 50/50 that you make it.
That feeling you get when you don't make the same move but you're not hurt.

More than any of that I love what I perceive to be a genuine sense of community. Mrs the Dog strolls through the forums sometimes and has observed the same, genuine care and intent to help and support others. Odd times people are tits and I'm sure I wouldn't be friends with everyone but there is a camaraderie, a bond. I often think that the arguments on here are actually a reflection of how much climbing and its community means to people.

Oh yeah and I've put on 1 and 1/2 stone in weight (healthy weight I was too thin), I'm stronger and have positive things to reflect upon in terms of memories and achievements.

In reply to TheHorroffice:

For me it's moments like these,
youtube.com/watch?v=5V09d9Lk-Sg&
youtube.com/watch?v=iT4SdLiZ3M8&
youtube.com/watch?v=ugftDv-y1Qg&
Being the owner of a length of rope has allowed many, many days out like the above, without which such experiences would be missed.

In reply to TheHorroffice:


Heheheh

In reply to TheHorroffice:

because you know that at dinner parties, when the conversation comes round to it, you have a high chance of momentarily being the coolest person in the room.
(unless theres a BASEjumper present and you will look like a try-hard - but what are the chances of that?)

for all its rise in popularity, climbing is still obscure enough and dangerous enough in the non-climbers imagination to have a degree of wow-factor.

sounds superficial, but it think its directly related to those moments at the sharp end, alone, on the hill, when you know deep in your bones you do it because it sets you apart from the everyday, and coming home means really having been somewhere. the factors are present enough that not every one always comes home from climbing.

i think too theres a buzz with playing for keeps - being into something enough to factor in the potential hazards.

you just dont get that with tennis.

In reply to stonemaster:
The sort of rules I was thinking about were the ones that would ruin your sport in the moment. Those 'that was in' 'no it wasn't, it was well out' 'its only a game mate' 'no its not!' 'down wiv the reds' etc etc etc etc. It seems to me in most sports its those sort of conversations that are the sport, the ball is only an accessory to having a bloody good barny about something. Climbing seems more about climbing and staying alive to do it again.

In reply to TheHorroffice:I think it's the fact of climbing not realy being a spectator sport. Too many people say they like sport , or a sport, but only go to watch it. Oh and wear the kit!
When I first met my brother in law (who is a footie fan).He asked me if my rook sack and rope was a prop. 15 years later I am still carrying the same prop.To me it is unimportant what that prop looks like, it's the adventure it holds that is.It's not me that feels mighty, or important carrying it.But it is me that treats the said prop with respect for it's might and importance in my life. I wonder how many none climbers could relate to their sports equipment in that manor?

In reply to phill mitchell: Your BIL was probably used to footie types going around with props all the time...