UKC

How do you share a passion with someone who doesn't understand? Climbing addicts try hard to spread the word – usually to their nearest and dearest, but sadly, often with disappointing results.

Sarah Flint investigates...

Read more at http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=3152

In reply to UKC Articles:
The author writes with such astonishingly assured confidence about the lives and thoughts of others. It is quite remarkable and also very grating indeed.
The sexist undertone in the first paragraph that has been seen in another of her articles is simply absurd.

Yawn.

In reply to UKC Articles:
'At least look like you're interested in keeping me alive'

Must remember that one

In reply to Will Hunt:

I disagree. It read to me as a very personal account. I don't think the examples given were intended as a comprehensive politically correct and balanced survey but to convey and enhance the author's personal experience.

In reply to UKC Articles:

Got three kids and try very hard to spread the love regarding the stunning outdoor world but climbing is for me. If they chose to join me when they are older then great. I prefere to try to be interested and passionate and supportive of their interests instead of ramming mine down their throats.

Each to their own.

ps still prefere this to 9a sport roue news

In reply to quadmyre:

I disagree also. It's a good article and a pleasure to read. Keep up the good work!

Jamie

In reply to UKC Articles:

I hope that people can relate to this article in some way & enjoyed it, but I didn't I'm afraid.

As a fellow scribe, I don't like to dish out criticism, but sometimes its part & parcel of the game.

Sarah, you tell a personal tale & it's interesting to a point - but I'm sorry it sounds like a blog entry.

The article doesn't really have a structure in regards of how we are supposed to understand it's beginning, middle & end. It's not that I disagree with the subject per-see as I have been experienced in this matter many times, but the writing doesn't inspire for me. I'm afraid the photo's are much better than the article...

Si

In reply to Will Hunt:



what - how b/f's treat their g/f's at the crag and generally how many women get into climbing, and sometimes drop out? I'm afraid it's pretty accurate in my experience.

In reply to UKC Articles:

So true, my mother started bringing me to the crags when I was about 8, and kept dragging me along until I was 13, when I decided climbing was boring.
Picked it up again on my own two years ago, and am now wishing she wouldn't have let me quit, irritating to think of the years lost on boozing and videogames when I should have been climbing

Also agree that it read more like a blog post than an article as such, but don't view that as a bad thing necessarily.

Stephan

In reply to UKC Articles:
Good article, focusing on the rarely explored perspective of the parent.

As for partners, most climbers I know (mostly male but some female) seem to have very understanding partners but clearly compromises have to be made and there's much talk of 'having a pass for the day/weekend'. Of course if you're really interested in a relationship, presumably you actually want to spend some time with your partner and hence a day or weekend at home should in principle be as appealing as a day or weekend at the crag. If it isn't, why bother having the relationship?

I suspect a non-climbing relationshp just wouldn't work for me as I wouldn't want to compromise, having got used over the past few years to spending pretty much all my free time climbing. At least that's my excuse for being single! (Which means I have no excuse for not climbing E5, but that's another subject...)

In reply to Misha:

If only life were that simple...

In reply to Simon:

Thats because it is a blog entry, taken from her Climb blog word for word:
http://www.climber.co.uk/blogs/blogShow.asp?blog=123&post=1059

I also agree with the comment that its a much more interesting read than the latest 9a/Ewhatever that someone has climbed. Nothing wrong with a personal tale that people (including me) can identify with.

In reply to UKC Articles:

It's an interesting article, but, like Will, I'm uncomfortable with the assumption that the 'climber' is the man and the 'terrified/reluctant newbie' is the woman.

Gotta love competitive parenting though!

@Simon - as a fellow scribe, I'd steer away from using ampersands in the way that you did in your post.

In reply to Simon:

She certainly writes better than you (in your post).

I thought the article was quite good, even if I hated the title but I suppose that's just me being old and not liking mushy-sweet Americanisms.
The relationship described made me a bit sad - so many folk seem to have disjointed relationships with their children. Where does it all go wrong?
And somehow the title itself, "Spreading the love", gives me a vague intuative inkling that maybe the problem lies here, burried within the obtuse complexity that this expression drags behind it, like tin cans tied onto a wedding car.

In reply to UKC Articles:

I liked the article.

In my own experience these sorts of parental obsessions are rarely successfully transferred onto their off-spring. Over-exposure to any one sport/ pastime will usually lead to a negative reaction on the part of the child/ adolescent.

Gentle exposure may lead to a re-awakening interest in their later life though.

Girlfriends/ boyfriends and other potential spouses give more scope - presumably you don't choose someone who doesn't share your interests. (And if you do, you've only got yourself to blame)

as I said, in my experience. (Newbie GF got chosen for summit attempt over me - not that I'm still bitter you'll understand)

In reply to Gavin Taylor:


I would hope so for an article wouldn't you?

In reply to UKC Articles:

Having read some of the comments, I read this expecting it to be crap.

But no! I really liked the piece and I recognise all the things Sarah is getting at and am guilty of many!

In reply to UKC Articles:

The photo caption "Halldrine Cove" is incorrect. The picture shows Porthmoina Cove, with Bosigran (Commando) Ridge on the left silhouetted by the sea and on the right is the top of Porthmoina Island beneath Bosigran Face.

In reply to UKC Articles: Haha, that made me smile. I've been there, but with girlfriend instead of son...

a great read

as the parent of a teenage (daughter) alot of this resonates

nicely written

many thanks

In reply to Tall Clare:




Only if you don't use an @ symbol instead of addressing me properly - its a deal!

;0)

In reply to UKC Articles:

Good read and thought provoking for an expectant father! Made me think of the other thread that was kicking about "How did you get into climbing".

"Welcome to parenthood where passion comes second place". That's why I will never be a father...

In reply to UKC Articles:

I agree with Will. Most of these assumptions in the article seemed to be based on a tiny test group and are given as facts. Almost all the serious climbers I know who have children, have children interested in climbing.

Climbing is a fundementally 'cool' activity, and if kids don't enjoy it you're either doing something a bit wrong or there's something a bit 'wrong' with the kid.

In reply to UKC Articles:

It's a blog entry - no big deal.

The topic is fine and the start does try to give some context, but is a bit exaggerated - I don't see much of that at the crag at all.

My missus and I met through climbing and have stuck with it. I took her on her first outdoor experiences, first lead, first winter climb etc etc and we are still going strong. For every view there is a counter.

Simon - if you are a scribe you should know that it is photos, not photo's.

In reply to Franco Cookson SPA:

I would love to agree with you there but if you look at it in terms of numbers then climbing clearly isn't fundamentally cool, and there is something wrong with us.