Climbing Partner AND Significant Other?

[pigsteak]

ignore caribe..he is delusional.

[overhung]

My wife scraped her knee once and quit.

[steep4me]

My husband and I started climbing at the same time, but I was definitely more into it than he was (he likes to climb once a week, me 3-4). He was a much better trad climber than I was and I am better at the steep sport stuff. His main thing is ultra-distance trail running, so if I am climbing at a crag over his head--he will just do the warm ups and then take the dog running for a few hours. The only tension was right at the beginning of our relationship (18 yrs ago)--I was complaining about having to visit his family for Christmas in Mobile, Al, where there would be NO CLIMBING for 5 days. He said, "we can't go climbing every single weekend for the rest of our lives." I was mortified, "WHY NOT?"!!!!!!!!!!! Turned out NOT to be a deal breaker. He still climbs and runs and is willing to belay me anywhere if I am working on a project. That's because he is the perfect husband! And I sit outside for 12 hours at a time in the winter to crew for his trail runs. It's a trade off. you just have to value each others passions and help out/compromise.

[THB]

it's worked well for us, and we're going on 5 years strong... but i know it doesn't work out for everyone... you've gotta be willing to make some sacrifices. lately, we've been trying not to project the same routes which seems to help, but sometimes we work stuff together and this can go either way. it's tough when you and your significant other work the same route and then one sends but not the other... but, like i said, you've just gotta be flexible and easy going... when we started dating, i was climbing in the realm of 5.10a and my gf was brand new to the sport. a year later, i was breaking into 5.11's and she was already sending 5.10's... a year later i was breaking into easy 12's and she was breaking into 11's... a year later i sent my 1st 12d and she was right around 12a (pretty natural progression, right? here comes the kicker...) a year later, she sends a couple 12d's and my hardest send that year was a 12b... but, this past year we focused on putting a bunch of 5.12 projects to rest and now we are starting to project some 13's that will hopefully be our first of the grade... my point is, she might have held me back a little in the start of the relationship, but it was worth it because we started to push each other, and that's been a real joy. and now i feel like i'm the one holding us back... it can be tough, too, when your significant other starts sending harder than you, but you've just gotta keep your cool... that's what i mean when i say you've gotta be willing to make some sacrifices. but, overall, (and i think i can speak for both of us when i say this) it's really worked out well for us

[TankAzz]

thanks for the feedback, everyone; it's nice to see when those partnerships work

it's gotta be in the attitude of the person; i suspect that's why this particular relationship did not last....

[Meadows]

Tank, I think we're lucky that we have this discriminate method of filtering relationships.

[climb2core]

Good comments The little sacrifices I have had to make so far have well been worth the rewards of having a great partner... on and off the rock. Can't wait till she starts hanging my draws

[KD]

Keep all that shit separate if you ask me. Be at home at home, play when you play, all the right things in the right places. People get messed up when they cross wires and short circuit stuff.

[jamlawyer]

I taught my husband how to climb and it is evident he will be a great climber. My problem has become since we had a child.... I don't think I've ever been so nervous climbing in my life. The first time we went out and she was in day care, I was so scared when he was on lead. Just something about my baby's daddy being up there unnerved me. Prior to that I was a little nervous when he was on lead because I felt responsible for him since I was his teacher. It's all good, just going to take some new sense of calm i have to find since both of Kendal's parents are on the rock together.

[KD]

yep an then you gotta talk-about-your-day. "Did you have a good day today? How was your day today? I had a good day today. Today was a really good day."