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TWP
Trad climber
Mancos, CO
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"When you come to a fork in the road, take it!”
Yogi Berra, baseball philosopher
My life has had forks in the road, but did I really have a choice? Or was the choice made by my personality, expectations, assumptions, upbringing, biases, what mommy and daddy told me to do?
Or were the choices made by forces beyond understanding. Here's an example from my life I've never fully understood.
When I was about five years old, I distinctly remember one day listening to my paternal grandmother babbling on and on as was her habit. Her rant of the day was, "Your grandfather was an engineer; your father is an engineer; being an engineer is a good thing to do."
From that very moment, I made a solemn vow with myself. I never wavered from this vow. Though I had no idea what an "engineer" was - whatever it was - I vowed that I would NEVER be one. My thought process was simple and visceral. If my grandmother thought it was a good idea to be an engineer, I knew she was wrong and I didn't want to do it!
Did I have any choice about this issue? Was I simply driven by a primitive rebelliousness and a perverse sense that whatever my grandmother thought, I would do the opposite because I thought she was a lunatic (and not without good reason I might add).
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TGT
Social climber
So Cal
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Journalistic license.
No rain in JT and was pleasantly warm all day long. Got windy as the day wore on.
Very windy!
But it once again was pleasant just as the sun faded.
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MisterE
Social climber
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Man, I love your post BASE. I was lucky enough to meet another "lifer" in climbing who became my life partner. We live to climb at every opportunity. The work-a-day stuff? That is what you do to have those amazing moments of joy.
It gets blurry at 50, but mostly I sacrificed any career besides manual labor to climb 200 days a year for 10 years. Then I just couldn't find another thing that made me as happy for another 12.
Over 50, I question the wisdom of this decision - but as a climbing lifer I have ZERO regrets.
Especially since I met Skip.
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cms
Trad climber
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Nice post Base.
I've been able to climb a lot and I make a meager wage. Ive always struggle with what I could have been had I been able to focus one way or the other.
It's never been about a lack of passion, only whether or not I could handle what my passion demanded of me. As it is now, I am caught between both and therefore cannot fully enjoy either.
Gud luck with your passion.
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Fletcher
Trad climber
The rock doesn't care what I think
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Why, we have a fork in the road right here in Pasadena!
There's a good story behind that: Pasadena Fork in the Road
A very thoughtful post and discussion. I've been contemplating just this very topic recently and have a germ of an idea about something I'd like to write about it. With respect to climbing and the other aspects of my life, I've also been playing with the idea of the road less travelled. Except in my instance, the road I've taken feels like it's the third road, the even more less travelled.
This has a lot to do with my choices raising children, especially in light that I was a father for a good time before I even began climbing. This has limited what I've been able to do with respect to climbing, and I've sometimes wondered how it would have been different if I'd started before kids.
But I've always firmly held no regrets in my life. Including the disasters and mistakes. They've all been there and guided me when I see them from a higher perspective. Of course, in the thick of them as they happened, I didn't always enjoy that perspective! I am where I need to be. The challenges and struggles continue, but I wouldn't have it any other way.
Eric
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TwistedCrank
climber
Dingleberry Gulch, Ideeho
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Everything happens for a reason.
Or not.
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Fletcher
Trad climber
The rock doesn't care what I think
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I agree with DMT on Beckey: I appreciate his life and I sense he does too. But that wouldn't be a content experience for me.
Eric
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BASE104
Social climber
An Oil Field
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 3, 2012 - 12:22pm PT
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It wasn't like I was actually living on beans all of the time. Most of us picked up ski area jobs and skiied all winter. I used to drive a cat at mammoth.
That was the absolute coolest job I have ever had. Driving a snow cat. Man, can I tell some stories, but the coolest were avalanche control mornings. We all had our spot to go to, and most of the mountain was covered in red on our map for avalanche control.
I would get about 4 or 5 ski patrol on the back and give them a ride. I can't remember the mountain well enough to name the point, but I took them up there, which was really hard with 3 feet or more of new snow. You couldn't go up anything but the easiest runs to get there.
Then I would drop them off and they would take off below me tossing bombs and ski cutting chutes. I had a great view of the entire mountain from my spot, and would kick back with Johnny Cash on the stereo and a hot French Roast to sip on. The fixed cannons would take off and just as the light was coming up I would sit there and watch the fireworks. The explosions didn't really make a noise that I could hear, but there was a nice "thump" of the pressure wave hitting the windshield.
Climb all summer, ski and boulder all winter, occasionally ice climbing a little, and I was surrounded with friends who many of you old farts know well.
I would go fishing on off days with Joe Faint (RIP), ski with Allan Bard (RIP) and his crowd. Mimi lived up in Crowley and would come down to go bouldering with us. It was great. Bishop used to be this really quiet redneck town. The last time I went through there I almost cried it had become so "cool."
If I had stayed, I would have had a great life, just poorer. The people who I know who can do it were the ones with a good skill, like carpentry or something. They could take off and work for a few months and then come back with cash.
I was taking semesters or years off from college, but the real decision came a year after I got my Bachelor's degree. I had one last tremendously fun year and then moved back to Oklahoma and became a normal person.
The friends and connections from that time fill my memories. Later years of other things don't come close to that.
I think it was Fish or somebody who described Camp 4 as "A big house with a bunch of friends."
We only spent the spring and fall in Camp 4, and then would migrate to cooler climes during the summer.
Ahh, it was fun. Never to be seen again. I look at guys who stayed, and they seem to have adjusted to the life well and are quite happy.
I came back because that was sort of what was expected of me. Damn.
Right now I am out on a drilling rig, which I don't do much anymore. We make the young geologists do that. I am having to steer a horizontal, which is fun, but not as fun as soloing a favorite route for the 200th time.
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AP
Trad climber
Calgary
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Why this talk of a fork in the road? It is not a binary decision, go all climbing or all career. It is possible, with enough skills and luck, to succeed at both. There are a number of climbers who have managed to do both(think of George Lowe or Dave Cheesmond for example) at a high standard. The trick is to get a good career with ample time off and situated near a good climbing area.
I found that to concentrate on one thing only is boring after a while. Like after 3 months of climbing I would want to go travelling or even go back to work.
The biggest decision is whether to have kids. I am glad for my 2 wonderful daughters though they meant giving up on climbing for 5 years in the 90's.
Now I have a 60% part time work arrangement. I work in blocks of 12 office days (office hours and weekends off) then get 12 total days off. It is great and allows for some good trips. I get back to the office with my brain cleaned out and full of enthusiasm and am very productive.
I am lucky and am experiencing the best of both worlds.
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nutjob
Gym climber
Berkeley, CA
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Well, if you want to sing out, sing out
And if you want to be free, be free
'Cause there's a million things to be
You know that there are
So many good things in life from which to choose... sometimes tough to be content with what we choose. Dreams ignite our vision of future possibilities, but also cast light on remorse for what's left undone.
I'd rather live with some remorse than give up my dreams.
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Fletcher
Trad climber
The rock doesn't care what I think
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Wow... I always wanted to be a snow cat driver! At least for a bit to see what it was like. Sounds like you had an awesome time doing that Base.
Eric
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jogill
climber
Colorado
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I look at guys who stayed, and they seem to have adjusted to the life well and are quite happy. I came back because that was sort of what was expected of me. Damn.
Well, guess I got it wrong for you in earlier comments. Sorry. Clearly memories of the old life are strong and will remain so for you. Hope your sailing plans help in this regard.
There was a "Fred Beckey" in the world of mathematics up until a few years ago. Paul Erdos, a Hungarian mathematician who is perhaps the most prolific mathematician the world has ever seen, lived for many, many years literally out of a shopping bag and minimal luggage. He would go, like a gypsy, from university to university, staying with colleagues while he gave seminars and worked on papers with his hosts. He never married, but stayed with his mother in her modest appartment from time to time until her death. His whole world was mathematical research, and was he good at it!
He lived his dream and was a vagabond genius. Even in old age (80+) he could enter a room, glance at a blackboard full of symbols representing a problem his colleagues had toiled over, and make a comment that clarified everything.
Beckey, on the other hand, simply lives the life of a vagabond without having to demonstrate continued excellence in climbing abilities. Good for him, but such a life never had any appeal for me.
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rottingjohnny
Sport climber
mammoth lakes ca
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What happened to Joe Faint...? I use to see him in town shooting pool at the old VI saloon...RJ
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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I took what BASE104 calls the "easy road" after I got my undergrad degree. As an undergrad, I spent more time in the mountains on weekends and in the summer, and bouldering during the school year, than I spent in class or doing homework. I got by on next to nothing, and had three-day trips to Yosemite from Berkeley down to a dollar a day, gasoline included.
When I decided that my future was more conventional than dirtbag, a lot of my friends said I was wasting perfectly good climbing potential. It didn't help my psyche when a picture of Dale Bard -- one of those friends -- showed up in Mountain magazine shortly after I started full-time professional work.
I don't regret my lifestyle choice. I can't pretend that I had more to give to climbing than I had to give to conventional society. If nothing else, thinking of my wife and daughters confirms to my mind that I made the right decision.
John Gill's comments earlier on this thread, about being both a climber and an academic, really hit home to me. Just because I have professional responsibilities doesn't prevent me from thinking about, planning and enjoying my next climb, or my next adventure.
In any case, we're really just pilgrims here anyway. I admire those who can make the dirtbag lifestyle work for them. For me, that would have been the wrong path after college.
John
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
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Joe Faint passed away a number of years ago in Montana. Good man Joe, RIP.
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Charlie D.
Trad climber
Western Slope, Tahoe Sierra
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In my view there are no forks, you're on a singular path that is your life that can be as in your case shared with a spouse and child howwever convoluted and or repetitive it becomes in time. Your choices and decisions certainly can change the outcome but don't discount circumstance and just plain luck. The real value is what you're learning along the way, as a business partner of mine likes to say "it's OK to make mistakes, let's just make different ones!"
For me I can see going full circle to arrive in a state where I can ski all winter and climb all summer. The place I wanted to stay when I was a kid just having fun all the time with my buddies, you know Peter Pans lost boys club. I'm working on it and can only hope my body cooperates. Plenty of choices there some good some bad, trying to live well so the body will be ready to do what the heart wishes. I've been fortunate and have been able to balance my passions both recreationally and professionally along with family. I have learned when you optimize on one you will compromise the others, I've always sought to balance it in my decision making sometimes with great success and other times with complete failure.
BASE, looking back is only good for informing your future actions. I'd say you're making some great choices, plenty of adventure out there on the water. Have fun and I'd take up the offer to camp out and visit the Valley with your old friends. Your path can include a rebirth onto stone.
Bottom line, my matra is to live well, love much and to let go. Just plain good luck thrown in doesn't hurt.
Berg Heil and good luck!!!
Charlie D.
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wilbeer
Mountain climber
honeoye falls,ny.greeneck alleghenys
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base,i agree w/the above,im headin west next april/ may,climbing w/mctwisted.........why not.......going to ski a bit too.
im 54.so what,start honing ,a little, now......when else?
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Borut
Mountain climber
Ljubljana, Slovenia
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Thanks to the OP and everyone for this opportunity! and bravo.
My life is a drawer full of forks. LOL
In the long run, dirtbaging is quite similar to what is called the jazz life, or "la vie d'artiste". My parents were both artists and I was born on that road. As far as I am concerned, since I grew up in the Fontainebleau forest (close to the Mont-Ussy sectors), I soon was only climbing the rocks and tried not to pay too much time with school work. So it goes. Then comes the big fork: in 1970, we relocated back to Paris. I was a natural climber nawmean. The lack of proper environement had drastic consequences on my climbing. I'd now go climb on weekends, and that was not enough for me. I lost the flow. I remember making the decision in 1972, aged 17, to stop climbing. Forgot about it over night. Then I got thrown out of school. In 1975, the army drew a fork. After that, I got into playing music for a life, and attended music schools (bass). Whenever I was down low, my parents always helped out as much as they could, and there always was a spare mattress for instance. I dart bagged till 1991 (my son was aged 7 at the time, and we were living in Berlin), then I got jobs in arkestras. Till now. I've been in Slovenia for almost twenty years now and renewed of course with climbing. I even climbed my best-climb-ever aged 50.
Borut
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Charlie D.
Trad climber
Western Slope, Tahoe Sierra
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^^^ha ha, a drawer full of forks and don't forget the spoons and knives! Dishing it out and cutting it up, the banquet we call life. Thanks B.
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Mike Friedrichs
Sport climber
City of Salt
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Good topic and one we've probably all thought about from time to time.
I've come to believe that it is impossible to be happy thinking about yourself all the time. What will I climb today? How should I train? What do I need to eat for maximal performance? Too many I's in those sentences. How many suicides have we seen in our community? Far too many.
It's all about balance. How can I satisfy my needs and give a little back? Doesn't matter much how many times you had your picture in the magazines or how many FAs you have in the guidebook when you're staring into the mirror, contemplating your existential angst.
I've had a wonderful climbing career and still climb pretty hard. I also have a job (public health) that I find rewarding. I've climbed the best when I had a job, support from friends and community, and was able to do something to make the world a better place.
I've also been on my own for a pretty long time. Having a partner and someone to really share experiences with would almost be worth giving up climbing.
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