For the Love of Climbing

September 6, 2023

2023 - I found climbing

At the beginning of 2023 I found my love of climbing. A co-worker would occasionally invite us to go to the local bouldering gym with them. After enough invitations I finally accepted one. It has easily been one of the best decisions I have made so far in this life.

Why do I love climbing?

It’s hard to pin down one reason, but I suspect it’s no different than the reason I love programming or anything else. There is a continual challenge to the self. Can I do this? Can I do this better? How far have I progressed? How much more can I progress?

It brings out a wonderful competitions between the person I am today and the person I was yesterday. Will I remain the same or will I evolve today? There is no way to know other than to send it.

Failure is frequent, but never insurmountable. And that is a space that I live to inhabit. I find that this kind of space brings out a better version of me.

Community

There are many sports and endeavors that are zero-sum. For someone to win, someone else must lose. With climbing, that dynamic changes. I stand a better chance of reaching my goals or sending that new route if I work with you and the opposite is true.

The clearest example of this is in modern competition climbing. Checkout the 2023 Women’s Lead and Boulder finals. You’ll see each of them seek to understand the route as much as possible on their own. Then, they come together to talk about the how the more difficult routes might be solved.

These are competitors who are actively sharing their best ideas on how they might win the competition. These women represent the best climbers in the world and that kind of mentality is something I want to emulate in my self and the spaces I inhabit.

Conclusion

I could write so much more about climbing. I’ve only been at it for half a year, but I feel like I’ve found a life long passion. Thanks for reading, go send something!

P.S. If you want to go climbing just send me a message!