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rotten
Jan 15, 2005, 8:40 AM
Post #1 of 26
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Registered: Jan 5, 2005
Posts: 32
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I'd like to hear other people's tales and aspirations on why you climb and how you got started.
Personally I started climbing after a trip with my uncle (who has been climbing since i think the activity started) to yosemite. I was just inspired by the rock and after my first climb I was hooked. I've always been an outdoor person, and climbing has just taken that love of mine to an uncomprehensible level. Well thats my start and what it means to me, so why do you climb?
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sedodd
Jan 15, 2005, 9:12 AM
Post #2 of 26
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Registered: Oct 17, 2003
Posts: 6
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i started a new job and there was this guy who asked me if i wanted to go out one day. sounded like something fun to do, besides i had a silly fear of heights that i wanted to end, so i went. it was a load of fun and i enjoyed being outside so i went more. as i got better and really started getting into the movement and all, and my fear of heights was obliterated i became hooked. five years later i still got the sickness. it has become something i never dreamed it would, something that defines my life. the metaphors that transcendend from experience on the rock...wow! it just tickles me to death.
funny thing is, i never thought of myself as a climber...i just became one. now theres no looking back, ill be seventy and chillin somewhere on a rock, big or small.
hell...its the funnest thing in the world, especially when you find yourself scared to death.
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mcolombo
Jan 15, 2005, 10:37 AM
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Registered: Jun 23, 2003
Posts: 40
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I was at Alamitos bay sailing a Finn in the olympic classes regatta.
I was staying in my old Nissan pickup in the parking lot. next to me was a sailor from Colorado in another old Nissan. we got to know each over a few beers and joints. He offered to take me climbing if I ever came to Colorado. I never went but a few years later he moved to San Diego and was working as a rigger in a sailing shop where I had preiviously worked. we went once to Mission Gorge then to Tahquitz, after following the north buttress I was pretty much hooked.
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jackhammer
Jan 15, 2005, 1:11 PM
Post #4 of 26
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Registered: Dec 22, 2004
Posts: 255
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I took it as a class in College, and was instantabeously hooked. I have this intense fear of heights, but climbing has just has all but killed it. I never want to do anything else. I guess it's just the focus and the intensity. The fact that you just have to put so much concentration into...YOU. It's just amazing, and zen-like.
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rendog
Jan 15, 2005, 2:12 PM
Post #5 of 26
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Registered: Jun 30, 2002
Posts: 2468
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found out chicks thought it was cool. I need to desparetely increase my coolness level so i took it up.
didn't work though
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fishbelly
Jan 15, 2005, 2:43 PM
Post #6 of 26
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Registered: Oct 31, 2004
Posts: 273
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Eiger Sanction. Saw the movie in High School then spent 2 yr, in Sardinia.
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corpse
Jan 15, 2005, 3:27 PM
Post #7 of 26
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Registered: Jan 17, 2003
Posts: 822
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In reply to: didn't work though
Brushing your teeth might help :)
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chitowngirl
Jan 15, 2005, 3:41 PM
Post #8 of 26
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Registered: Nov 5, 2004
Posts: 140
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My boyfriend and I were really into hiking and low grade mounatin climbing and we decided that we needed to take it a step up. When we were hiking out in Moab we saw some people climbing and stopped and watched. I was totally fascinated and totally jealous and thought "I just HAVE to do that!". Been hooked ever since.
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greyicewater
Jan 15, 2005, 4:12 PM
Post #9 of 26
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Registered: Dec 8, 2003
Posts: 419
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to get with some chick, then i fell in love ... WITH CLIMBING!!
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roadside_will
Jan 15, 2005, 4:15 PM
Post #10 of 26
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Registered: Dec 17, 2004
Posts: 12
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Most guys climbs to get the women. The problem is with climbing comes smoking the pot and drinking lots of beer. That and somewhere between the fact that our hobby takes up all our time and money. Therefore it ends up hurting us much more than it benefits us. And to add, no brushing your teeth doesn't help; Finding a new hobby does.
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flhoodoo
Jan 15, 2005, 4:36 PM
Post #11 of 26
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Registered: Nov 10, 2004
Posts: 11
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Used to live in Florida where rocks don't exist. Moved to Utah, saw some rocks and thought it would be fun to climb them. Sure is fun to climb rocks.
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rendog
Jan 15, 2005, 4:58 PM
Post #12 of 26
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Registered: Jun 30, 2002
Posts: 2468
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In reply to: In reply to: didn't work though Brushing your teeth might help :)
forget that!
I'll just tilll they all fall out, then go get a job with 100% dental and get the old felah to give me a new set of chompers...I've got 'er all planed out here
hehehe
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sleepy
Jan 15, 2005, 5:11 PM
Post #13 of 26
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Registered: Oct 5, 2003
Posts: 69
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I was at Blue Mounds State Park in Minnesota. I worked my butt off for 3 days and then packed up my trailor and headed out. I needto get away and have some quite time. I was going nuts!!! Long story short, the guys next to me inveted me over to their fire and were climbers. They had an extra harness and I climbed with them the next 2 days. Even though I was climbing barefoot and had trouble griping the quartzite I was at home. Everything that was bothering me or on my mind disappeared. I had always wanted to climb, but never got around to it. It changed my life. If I am not at work I am doing something with climbing. I owe my life to Dann and Les. With out those guys asking me over and to go climb with them, I don't know where my mental state would be today. Now I am just back to being crazy :D
Matt
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rckymntneer
Jan 15, 2005, 5:35 PM
Post #14 of 26
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Registered: Nov 10, 2004
Posts: 67
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I started climbing back in 1987 with a mountaineering search and rescue team. Hell, I figured, why do this for work, when I can do it for fun?
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lucas_timmer
Jan 15, 2005, 6:23 PM
Post #15 of 26
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Registered: Dec 28, 2004
Posts: 562
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My aunt gave me some old gear, I soon bougth the basic stuff and started climbing and got hooked.From the beginning I had a little bit of fear of heights, but the more I climbed the less I got fear of heights.
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simplesoul
Jan 15, 2005, 7:37 PM
Post #16 of 26
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Registered: Nov 10, 2004
Posts: 116
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I started climbing for the fun like all of us. but more so for the people that come with the climbing comunitee. I have been paddling for about 3 years and the paddling and climbing commuinitees are very similar in that everything is very chill and relaxed. I loved it from the start. So I got some gear got some friends and drove down to the RRG after that first trip I was hooked...
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climber_kid
Jan 15, 2005, 8:05 PM
Post #17 of 26
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Registered: Nov 10, 2004
Posts: 20
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Got tired of climbing trees.
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verticalcrag
Jan 15, 2005, 8:12 PM
Post #18 of 26
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Registered: Oct 23, 2004
Posts: 82
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Cause its the shit...................nothin better than a good climb.
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shandafin
Jan 15, 2005, 8:40 PM
Post #19 of 26
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Registered: Mar 8, 2004
Posts: 18
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Met a guy who was a climber. We rendezvoused at Seneca Rocks for our first date. I'd never been on a rock before but since he was so into it I thought I'd give it a try - maybe it was something we could share. The first day we did the via ferrata at Nelson Rocks and I didn't look down once I was so scared. The next day he put me on a top rope and I got halfway up the route and freaked - couldn't go up, couldn't go down. The words of his mentor (which he'd told me before I started up the route) kept running through my mind, "Girls - you either climb with them or you sleep with them. You don't do both." I decided I must be the 'sleep with them' variety! Fortunately, I'm also the analytical variety. When I finally got back down to the ground we did an assessment of the day. I realized that I'd done a lot more than I thought I could and that it actually felt great. We went to a climbing gym and I got even more confidence. That was the start and I haven't looked back since... Currently, I'm in the process of turning him into my belay bitch... :lol:
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numbnut
Jan 15, 2005, 9:02 PM
Post #20 of 26
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Registered: Aug 31, 2004
Posts: 144
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Was terribly lost. Had no direction or motivation. Went climbing and it made me feel better than anything I had ever tried. So I went again.....and again and again......... :D
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jumpingrock
Jan 15, 2005, 9:44 PM
Post #21 of 26
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Registered: Dec 16, 2002
Posts: 5692
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It was a dark and stormy night deep in the woods. I had been hiking all night beneath this overhanging rock in a secret location known only to me and sasquatch.
The problem was I was lost. I had been searching for the infamous sasquatch for many days and had run desprately low of food. I had decided to call the trip a miserable failure. Just as I was about to turn on my gps to get my location a massive thunderstorm rolled in and a bolt of lightening struck just 5 meters to my left. I was tossed off my feet and the gps jolted from my hand flying over the cliff I had been walking near. I needed that gps or I was lost, the grizzlies and wolves would feast on my tender-loins.
I searched despretly for a way down. Eventually I came upon an easy down climb and I was deposited at the bottom of this beautiful cliff that stretched for miles in both directions. It was still raining of course so I needed to walk close to the overhanging cliff as I slowly made my way back to the location where I had dropped my gps. My steps were slow and careful as I tried to pick my way through the darkness. I stoped. There was something in the darkness ahead. Devilish yellow eyes stared unblinking at me. It was the wolves to eat my tender-loins I thought. Lightnening flashed and I saw a huge outline. My heart lept to my throat. It was a grizzly I thought! There was no where to run. I looked to my right and the cliff becond to me and I lept to it. I grasped the inviting jugs and began to haul myself of the cliff. The strength of my adreniline propelled me up the steep moves. Unfortunatly as I climbed up 10, 20, 30 feet the holds started to get smaller and require body tension that I simply couldn't muster. My hands started to slip. I saw my life flash before my eyes. I remember the women I loved and the women I had lost. I remembered the last time I had made love to my wife and then I fell. The fall was sureal. I felt as though I was floating, all my earthly dreams and desires melted away as I rushed towards my doom.
Suddenly I was stopped... big gentle arms had caught me. A gruff animal like voice said "You are an amazing climber, I must train you." So I spent the next year with Sasquatch learning the ways of the ultimate hardman.
That's my story and I am sticking to it.
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jamaica
Jan 15, 2005, 11:11 PM
Post #22 of 26
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Registered: Jul 22, 2004
Posts: 188
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IT LOOKED COOL!!!
I've been completly hooked ever since the first time I roped up
Jamaica 8^)
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horribulas
Jan 15, 2005, 11:36 PM
Post #23 of 26
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Registered: Jan 15, 2005
Posts: 20
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My old prep school gave anyone who wanted free passes to the local crag, so i said yes, been doing ever since :D
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andrewbanandrew
Jan 17, 2005, 6:48 AM
Post #24 of 26
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Registered: Nov 10, 2004
Posts: 441
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I had always wanted to get into it but I didn't have a car. Then my school opened up a gym and it was $40/3 months to climb, so there you go. Still don't have a car, but I'll get outside someday.
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jcshaggy
Jan 17, 2005, 10:12 AM
Post #25 of 26
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Registered: Jun 4, 2004
Posts: 340
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Started climbing to stay away from all of the student pubs in the area. I went to a indoor venue and saw the hottest woman climber-that was the cherry on the cake.
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