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oh my gosh, i just realized this gives me the perfect chance to bitch about a book i read... anybody ever read "on the ridge between life and death" by david roberts? supposedly, this book tells why he climbs, in spite of the fact that he witnessed like three of his best friends die in the process. i read all 387 pages, waiting for him to explain it (which meant i had to read about every little FA he did on some peak most people have probably never heard of, featuring him almost always as the climber who led the most difficult/sketchy/pivotal pitch). basically what i got out of it was, he climbed because he liked the attention and respect he got from fellow climbers/mountaineers. never mind who he hurt on the way.
if anyone has read this and can perhaps provide more insight (especially old school mountaineers) i would appreciate it, because i thought it was a piss-poor literary example of why someone would climb.

you imply there is something other than a piss poor reason why someone would climb? interesting take on conquistidors of the useless I must say

lol i guess i hope for a more valid reason than ego

damnit Crank. that came out of right field. Now I'm all messed up again, just when I sold myself on spiderman envy.

seems charlie has the best answer...cause it's fun.

Don and Jules are also pretty much on base as well......

Don McGlone wrote: Sometimes I need to do something besides throw a Frisbee.

TankAzz wrote:.....and, if at the end of the day that doesn't happen, climbers are great people to get wasted with.

Truth is beauty, beauty is truth.

I sat looking at my computer screen for a long while thinking of why I climb...I climb because it makes me happy. I climb because it's exhilarating, intense and I want to punch, kick, and kiss the rock all at the same time. I wouldn't be climbing if it weren't for you.....I can't thank you enough. I hope we climb together for many years to come...plus, I just can't get over what the human body can do.

I am not an old school mountaineer . . . I read the book last xmas. I liked it, but it convinced me that I would never mountaineer at that level, no way! I got a different take than you did on Roberts' perspective.

I think he described his climbing obsession as a mental disease--not in so many words however. He had a deep rooted disdain for lifelessness. This was the point of his description of his first girl friend. Reread that and use the rest of the book as a back drop. At that point, why he climbs jumps right out at you. He needed to be on the edge or he felt lost and aimless. Much of this restlessness in his opinion originated in the philosophical dicotemy between his father and his mother.

He was driven and haunted simultaneously by the first death he described in his book. The shadow of his deceased first climbing partner followed him throughout his life and served as an undercurrent in the text. I don't think Roberts' attempts at closure blinded his mind's eye to the constant vision of his dead first climbing partner. Closure was never achieved, even with the conversations with the guy's sister. The other deaths while climbing never hit him as hard.

I understood why he climbs and I never want to have those reasons for getting out on the rock. His world is too monolithic for me.

TankAzz wrote:oh my gosh, i just realized this gives me the perfect chance to bitch about a book i read... anybody ever read "on the ridge between life and death" by david roberts?
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if anyone has read this and can perhaps provide more insight (especially old school mountaineers) i would appreciate it, because i thought it was a piss-poor literary example of why someone would climb.

Mountaineering is such a different animal than sport climbing. While I think there may be some underlying common drives, an individual's motivation to spend days/weeks on a 20,000 feet mountain is not (in my opinion) going to be the same as the person that spends 10 minutes on 70 feet of protected rock.

i climb because i have nothing better to do. well i do, but i'd rather go climbing.
it makes you seem like you're doing something while actually doing nothing at all.

the whole zen thing.... whatever fags. climbing is cool but after playing many other sports, i have gotten the same focused feeling you claim to only get climbing. maybe you just need to concentrate more on what your doing.

climbing is fun, rewarding,(on a selfish level) scary, a waste of time, a great day, and much more. but it's still just climbing. don't question it and you might enjoy it more.