In reply to Greenbanks:
I'll try and give the alternative view to most on here, in that I gave up climbing a few years ago, (but haunt the place due to the really interesting and challenging views expressed on UKC, rather than enjoying the comfort of frequenting an internet echo chamber).
Climbing is in essence a very psychological thing. Yes, you have to train hard to climb to a high standard, but if your head isn't in the right place then all the strength and technique in the world won't make you a better climber.
Unfortunately my head is anything but right, in many ways. I won't try to explore the dark recesses of my mind here, but I'll try and articulate it as well as I can.
I've never been good at anything. Sports, academia, the arts, anything. Never utterly crap though, I was always picked second or third to last when teams were picked in the playground, so not too bad. So I'm pretty comfortable in mediocrity, but I went to the sort of school portrayed in 'Kes', where being less than mediocre didn't end well.
As a result of the above, I have to be at least average at something to really enjoy it. If not, then I find it just starts reinforcing the negative, depressive side of my personality.
Unfortunately, much as I loved those rare times when everything really flowed on a climb, the fear, the failure, the fear of failure just became a negative feedback loop.
That doesn't really matter in other physical pursuits. Just keep running until you puke, then keep going some more. Keep going through that whiteout, trust your nav. I just couldn't get there with climbing.
Probably the final nail was watching 'E11'. At that point I thought why am I even bothering faffing around as a very low grade punter and stressing about leading S/VS tomorrow? Time to accept defeat and move on.
Which is what I did. Possibly not the most uplifting of stories, but that's the way it turned out.