Excessive profanity always helps.squeezindlemmon wrote:I found that I still have the profanity-at-the-crux down to a T.
Fear of falling
I guess I'm lucky that my first lead fall was good (pumped out at the anchors on To Defy, with the old bolt setup) and I haven't really taken any 'bad' falls.* I'm typically afraid to take falls, but once in a while I'm totally calm and just come off (like botching the sequence to the anchors on AWOL and taking a nice ride...) The other thing that freaks me out is that at times I'm so chill about leading that I basically forget that I'm leading - with all the potential to get into messed up situations.
But for the most part, I can tell that my fear of even taking 'good' falls holds me back.
Just thinking about TRing - I think that sometimes, I TR something and as I'm doing it say to myself "damn! this would be scary to lead!" I'm probably psyching myself out doing that!
(OK, so I did blow out of a crack out of control, get the rope behind my leg, flip over and come within two feet of decking on a pointy boulder out in Yosemite, but I'm strangely cool with that. It was trad, after all)
But for the most part, I can tell that my fear of even taking 'good' falls holds me back.
Just thinking about TRing - I think that sometimes, I TR something and as I'm doing it say to myself "damn! this would be scary to lead!" I'm probably psyching myself out doing that!
(OK, so I did blow out of a crack out of control, get the rope behind my leg, flip over and come within two feet of decking on a pointy boulder out in Yosemite, but I'm strangely cool with that. It was trad, after all)
Bacon is meat candy.
Excellent sig line Tom. The Myth of Sisyphus was one of my favorite reads.tomdarch's sig line wrote:"The struggle itself toward the heights is enough to fill a man's heart. One must imagine Sisyphus happy." Albert Camus (We climb up, we get scared and tired, we fall down, we do it again. If climbers aren't like Sisyphus, who is?)
hey! i have that book and i keep getting into it just a little then get distracted.. is the rest of book like the first twenty pages or so?
on a note more related to the topic, i can vouch that kneebar took some falls on monday and was very chill about it. he even got scrappy afterwards and worked it out despite him being concerned about his gear. we're all proud
on a note more related to the topic, i can vouch that kneebar took some falls on monday and was very chill about it. he even got scrappy afterwards and worked it out despite him being concerned about his gear. we're all proud
and great loves will one day have to part -smashing pumpkins
I smell hijack potential........
Yeah, Paul3eb, it's not so much a story as an extended philosophical essay that really spoke to me when I was into that kind of reading. Exploring the nature of absurdity in the human condition (see also Kafka's Michael K or the Hunger Artist) Camus worked to convince us Sisypus had it pretty good. Locked into an ongoing struggle where he never has the potential to make any progress regardless of his efforts, he is free to not have to worry about consequence or external forces or even any sort of uncertainty. He just keeps toiling away for all of eternity, comfortable in the never ceasing struggle to roll the rock to the top of the hill.
Essentially we as humans just keep rolling the rock up the hill until it rolls back down. Then we get to walk back down the hill and work on rolling it back up to the top, so we can watch it roll back down again. It's kind of an enjoy the process sort of thing. If you come to terms with how absurd the human condition is life's pretty easy.
Anyway that's what I remember, but I haven't read it in a long time and I used to be much smarter than I am now.
Yeah, Paul3eb, it's not so much a story as an extended philosophical essay that really spoke to me when I was into that kind of reading. Exploring the nature of absurdity in the human condition (see also Kafka's Michael K or the Hunger Artist) Camus worked to convince us Sisypus had it pretty good. Locked into an ongoing struggle where he never has the potential to make any progress regardless of his efforts, he is free to not have to worry about consequence or external forces or even any sort of uncertainty. He just keeps toiling away for all of eternity, comfortable in the never ceasing struggle to roll the rock to the top of the hill.
Essentially we as humans just keep rolling the rock up the hill until it rolls back down. Then we get to walk back down the hill and work on rolling it back up to the top, so we can watch it roll back down again. It's kind of an enjoy the process sort of thing. If you come to terms with how absurd the human condition is life's pretty easy.
Anyway that's what I remember, but I haven't read it in a long time and I used to be much smarter than I am now.
I think fear of falling is good up to a point. I had the "no fear" attitude when I used to skydive, cliff dive, bungee jump, free solo etc. Then, my second lead climb with a rope and trad gear, I took my first lead fall--shattered both ankles and now have to live being totally debilitated and being in pain 24/7. So, I have worked on my fear of falling by only taking 100% safe falls (e.g., at places like the motherlode with a belayer who knows how to give a soft catch.) Go at your own pace and don't let people make you feel like a wimp just because you don't want to fall in a particular place. I know for sure that falling at the top of the motherlode with a soft catch will be safe--try that.
Hauling a big ego up a route adds at least a full grade.