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fingerjam
May 24, 2002, 10:25 PM
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Registered: May 22, 2002
Posts: 131
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I went to a summer camp at the local gym. After that, well, i was hooked.
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toobigtoclimb
May 24, 2002, 10:40 PM
Post #27 of 50
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Registered: Dec 14, 2001
Posts: 426
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We had a cool program in our high school called Outdoor Education. I took it my freshmen year and then got to be an assistant instructor for Soph, Jr, & Sr. years. We did camping, orienteering, snow camping, glacier travel, x-country skiing, rock climbing, etc. In those days it was gold line and vibram-soled boots. Once I did my first climb I was hooked.
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ktwo
May 25, 2002, 12:49 AM
Post #28 of 50
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Registered: May 10, 2002
Posts: 443
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When I was little, I always thought that rock climbing was cool, and then when I was about 12, my scout troop took us out climbing, and the first time I hauled my @ss up a 5.5, I was hooked. I now climb 5.11c after about 1 year. I hope to climb my @ss off again this summer 2.
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suprepopps
May 26, 2002, 5:51 AM
Post #29 of 50
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Registered: Nov 7, 2001
Posts: 74
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My first real exposure was in Boy Scouts but I've always been compeled to climb on things for as long as I can remember. I was always climbing everything - clapsible bleachers, stone walls, trees, even shimmying my way up tall doorways.
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spydermonkey
Aug 4, 2002, 12:04 AM
Post #30 of 50
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Registered: Jul 21, 2002
Posts: 1151
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I was born in the trees and learned to climb before I could walk. Hense my name "Spydermonkey!" hehehehehe
spydermonkey
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chrisshaeffer
Aug 4, 2002, 1:35 AM
Post #31 of 50
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Registered: Jul 15, 2002
Posts: 86
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Part 1: Age 6.
Like most 6 year olds, I climbed EVERYTHING. Trees, rocks, walls, furniture, etc. Fortunately had understanding parents who didn't keep me from doing it. This passtime continued until age 16 when I got a car and looked more at girls than rocks and walls...
Part 2: Age 28.
Met a wonderful lady who is really into climbing. Remembered how much I loved climbing as a kid and signed up for a local class. (sigh. the lady, unfortunately, is NOT local.) Lo! Its even MORE fun with ropes making it safe(r) to do crazy stuff I wouldn't have dared to try as a kid.
So yeah, its genetic... Er, yeah.
Chris
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rush
Aug 4, 2002, 3:51 AM
Post #32 of 50
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Registered: May 26, 2002
Posts: 92
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I always liked the sport, by never knew how to start. One day some friends started watching some videos and there was one of them climbing. I asked "can you guys take me climbing some day?" Hooked ever since...
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kristin
Aug 4, 2002, 1:41 PM
Post #33 of 50
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Registered: Aug 4, 2002
Posts: 1
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how can one not get addicted once youve tried it?
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lostangel
Aug 4, 2002, 1:42 PM
Post #34 of 50
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Registered: Jul 27, 2001
Posts: 444
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8yrs ago I went climbing at a church camp I was stuck at, It was a very simple climb, but ever since I have wanted to and was unable to because my parents wouldnt allow it for the sake of my safety.. Blah Blah Blah 2yrs ago I got a car and set out with intentions to find someone who would climb with me, and have been climbing ever since, the passion seems to grow with every accent.
As for the genetics thing... I met a girl whos parents climb and she was having a problem with a 5.7 so I highly doubt it genetics if you really have a desire for it. or unless you are blessed with remarkable strenth and a light weight ect ect which is possable, but I dont think that has anything to do with your parents climbing. Its alllllll attitude!!
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terss
Aug 4, 2002, 8:28 PM
Post #35 of 50
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Registered: Jul 31, 2002
Posts: 45
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Like spike_in_milton I went to an outdoor climbing trip w/ a group from my gym in order to conquer my fear of heights. Been hooked since, even though the fear hasn't really gone away.
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soulclimberchick
Aug 4, 2002, 11:26 PM
Post #36 of 50
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Registered: Jul 14, 2002
Posts: 151
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I have two friends that work at a climbing gym (where I now work) and they introduced me to rock climbing and I have been addicted ever since..and now I'm dating one of them** **
~*Kira*~
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wildtrail
Aug 4, 2002, 11:38 PM
Post #37 of 50
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Registered: Jul 6, 2002
Posts: 11063
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A friend I graduated went into the Army. He, obviously, learned how to rappel. He took myself and another friend of ours (the three of us graduated together) out to Devil's Lake to teach us how to rappel. The two of us learned how to rappel, but kept seeing all these guys going up and started wondering how that would be. Some gear, a couple of books and videos, tons of questions later, we were climbing*.
*For those who are new to climbing, this is not the proper way to learn climbing. Reading books and "trial and error" is the wrong way to do it. Frankly, looking back at times I am lucky to be here. Books, videos, and questions are not substitution for proper instruction.
Any way, seven or eight (?) years later, here I am. I've climbed things and done things I would have never imagined myself doing back in high school.
Steve
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eowyn1025
Aug 5, 2002, 1:48 AM
Post #38 of 50
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Registered: Jul 27, 2002
Posts: 267
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i met these two guys in an opera that we were singing in....they're now 2 of my best friends...and they invited me climbing. and of course, once you go once, you can't stop- so i'm still goin'! (funny....one of those guys also taught me to swing dance...hmmmm...all b/c of an opera)
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apollodorus
Aug 5, 2002, 2:48 AM
Post #39 of 50
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Registered: Feb 18, 2002
Posts: 2157
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I was 12 years old, and didn't want to get hurt. So, I figured that climbing was safer than football. I bought some gear with my younger brother, we read the two Rockcraft books by Royal Robbins, and climbed the local rock directly across from the high school. We'd be up there, and could hear the "ten-hut" of the practice field. People thought we were strange. Still do. But, I don't know anybody who is still playing football at the age of 40 who hasn't had knee surgery. A local guy, Lenny, ran into me recently, and he wants to go climbing. Notice: he didn't say he wanted to go out and play football. Guffigure.
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macc
Aug 5, 2002, 10:00 PM
Post #40 of 50
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Registered: Jun 23, 2002
Posts: 13
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Started out climbing to get in shape...now I'm getting in shape to climb!
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paintinhaler
Aug 5, 2002, 10:35 PM
Post #41 of 50
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Registered: Dec 12, 2000
Posts: 715
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trees, turned into rocks.
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scotia
Aug 6, 2002, 3:17 AM
Post #42 of 50
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Registered: Nov 6, 2001
Posts: 147
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I started climbing on an Outward Bound Trip in the summer of 2002, and I haven't stopped.
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mickey
Aug 6, 2002, 5:59 PM
Post #43 of 50
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Registered: May 21, 2002
Posts: 9
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I first tried it when I was in college. We had an activities assignment to complete and one of the activities was rock climbing. After the first try I had an interest but hadn't returned until over a year later on a double date. I ended up talking my buddy into climbing more than once and he was hooked. Actually, I would have to say he is more into it then I am. Oh, and the women didn't take to it as well!
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pamola
Aug 6, 2002, 6:17 PM
Post #44 of 50
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Registered: Mar 12, 2002
Posts: 171
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I ended up getting a random email one day at work from this girl who I had spoken to for a second the day before. She asked me if I had ever tried climbing and when I told her I hadn't she mentioned that I was a prime candidate to learn. I went to the gym that next day with her and I have been hooked ever since.
So I have to thank my friend Jess for getting me hooked.
She didn't believe me when I said you created a monster and now I have a new obsession. I think now she realized that I am in fact HOOKED!!!
Climb on!!
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rockclimberdude
Aug 6, 2002, 6:46 PM
Post #45 of 50
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Registered: May 25, 2001
Posts: 34
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My climbing partner got me into climbing. Neither of our parents climb and we have been climbing for a year 1/2 and we are about at the same rate of climbing. Although he is willing to try more stuff then me because he has a load of gut's.
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hishopper
Aug 9, 2002, 2:28 PM
Post #46 of 50
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Registered: Jan 10, 2002
Posts: 387
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I hate to admit it, but I had always been interested in mountaineering, so one day on a road trip through backwoods Idaho I decided to try my hand.
I never thought of protection while climbing up (what a novel idea! ) but I thought I was Edmund Hillary when I figured out a munter-type knot that would allow me to put my weight on the 1/4" nylon rope I got from the nearest hardware store.
(Swami - type torture device also made of 1/4" nylon).
God is gracious!!!!!
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msecoda
Aug 9, 2002, 2:43 PM
Post #47 of 50
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Registered: Feb 14, 2001
Posts: 85
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It started with my passion for the outdoors. I love being outside. I love to backpack, hike, hunt, fish, basically anything you can do outside. Climbing was just another thing that I could do outside. So I tried it....
HOOKED ever since...
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cajunclimbere
Aug 9, 2002, 3:25 PM
Post #48 of 50
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Registered: Apr 26, 2002
Posts: 224
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Kind of corny but here goes.
Ok one day along time ago in a land far far away (depending on where your from). There was a young man named Eric he was a strapping young man with lots of potential and a bright future. One day Eric decided to go to a rave with his friends (this is where the story gets good) Eric was to weak minded and fell into a life of drugs and crime, this all came to a halt the day Eric went to jail he spent about a week there it was plenty enough for him. He got out and went to Rehab this place sucked big time they tried to stuff God down your throat and if you didn’t join you were an outcast needless to say Eric didn’t go for the whole God thing he has been there and done that. So he got kicked out of rehab and decided on his own that he wasn’t going to let himself fall back into the same lifestyle he was leading before all this happened. He picked his friends more wisely this time around and stuck with beer and Mary Jane. Later on in life he met a great girl named Lauren they spent time together and had two great kids they got married, this is when Eric decided that working at Blockbuster Video wasn’t paying the bills, so he moved to Houston Texas from Baton Rouge and got a job with a good company in telecommunications. The wife and I had our differences and she ended up back in Baton Rouge while Eric stayed in Houston to work. (This is where the climbing part comes in) So Eric’s new friends came into town one day and we all took a trip to Astro World where there was one of those outside climbing walls Eric stared in awl at the people scrambling up and down this weird wall with different colored plastic things sticking off the wall. Hummm Eric said wonder if I could do that so he paid 5 bucks strapped on a harness and went at it with all he had. Right then and there he said, “Damn this kicks ass”
The next day at work he was on the computer looking for places to go climb information on climbing basically anything he could find out. This is where he discovered Rock-climbing .com met a lot of very cool people. He bought a harness and shoes a few days later found a partner and started training in the gym got a little bit of experience then planed a road trip for E-rock. Finally got on some real rock and he was addicted and he thought to himself “this is so much better than crystal meth” and the rest is still to come.
So moral of this story is find what you love and embrace it and good things will come in time.
CLIMB HARD BUT SAFE
CAJUNCLIMBERE
AKA Eric J
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dembrunjs
Aug 9, 2002, 4:33 PM
Post #49 of 50
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Registered: Aug 7, 2002
Posts: 109
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Been climbing since I was little... Trees, ladders, stairs, fences... never got higher than say.. the roof of a house.
I've done portable walls at malls and such before and for some reason, when I did my last portable wall about 3 weeks ago in a park after a soccer game... It hooked me.
I think some of it has to do with the fact that I'm in [probably] the best shape of my life right now and was able to ascend the port. pretty easily. Feeling like I had "handled up" on the port; when the guy at the bottom handed me a flyer for the gym I needed to go there. Upon going there I learned two things:
1) I'm in love with this and will probably climb the rest of my life
2) The gym ain't no portable wall
Hopefully, I'll get to some real rock before the end of the year.
Peace
[ This Message was edited by: dembrunjs on 2002-08-09 09:40 ]
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atg200
Aug 9, 2002, 4:40 PM
Post #50 of 50
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Registered: Jul 27, 2001
Posts: 4317
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I've been hiking and scrambling in the mountains since I was 5, so climbing was just a natural extension of that so I could climb bigger and more interesting mountains. Somewhere along the way, I decided that rock climbing for its own sake was fun. I still mostly climb to reach summits and other inaccessible places rather than for the movement and difficulty of it, so I am definitely a mountaineer at heart.
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