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McHale's Navy
Trad climber
Panorama City, California & living in Seattle
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Topic Author's Original Post - Dec 20, 2012 - 02:43am PT
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How many of you guys regularly dream about climbing? I should note my climbing dreams more often in pen, especially since I've started keeping a workout journal again. Last week I had a dream where I was doing this heel-hook traverse on the roof of some vending type cart like a hot dog wagon or something. The really funny part was that when I would start the traverse the cart would start falling to the side, because of my weight of course, so I'd have to do some sort of mental anti-gravity twist to keep the cart in balance. Most off my dreams are bouldering type stuff - short stuff. I never really find myself on some endless climb where I would have to bivouac. That would be a good number though for the 'recurring' category of dreams!
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Fletcher
Trad climber
The rock doesn't care what I think
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Dec 20, 2012 - 02:44am PT
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Not too often, but I recall a dream a while back where I was running it out on lead big time. Felt ok about it in the dream.
Eric
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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Dec 20, 2012 - 04:10am PT
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Go row your boat, McHale.
Merrily,
MFM
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RyanD
climber
Squamish
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Dec 20, 2012 - 04:15am PT
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I'm with you Mchale, not all the time but definitely have a few good ones every now & then. Generally bouldering or soloing alpine rock type things on outrageous features with massive exposure in totally unrealistic situations. Very cool!
Keeping a dream journal can reveal some interesting things, I kept one for awhile when I was younger & going through some things & it was really useful, I'd recommend it. Especially if you are having good, vivid dreams. Could help them to come true.
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Captain...or Skully
climber
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Dec 20, 2012 - 08:29am PT
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I have climbing dreams, sometimes. I figure I just don't get out there enough, so my subconscious is takin' up the slack...or some such.
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couchmaster
climber
pdx
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Dec 20, 2012 - 11:00am PT
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I'll confess that when I was putting in routes at this place in the photo below, all I could think of, awake or asleep, was being here. I was counting the breaths until I could get back. Unless someone was right in my face talking about another subject, it was in my mind 24/7.
Once I got about 3000 feet of climbing routes, and then ripped my shoulder up when 3 knobs popped simultaneously (while following a pitch!), the fixation just all but disappeared.
Real damned strange, but at moments to this day, when the leaves are turning or the wind is just right, I'll flash back to that feeling.....
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squishy
Mountain climber
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Dec 20, 2012 - 11:53am PT
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looks like choss...
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pyro
Big Wall climber
Calabasas
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Dec 20, 2012 - 11:59am PT
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yestarday i went surfing all day and i was dreaming about how "cool" some of those ole'timers can be from stoney point. this is one aid-line i'd dreamed about but was not too sure who's sent it!
so glad Ksolem went climbing with you.
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phylp
Trad climber
Millbrae, CA
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Dec 20, 2012 - 01:50pm PT
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Oh, I dream about climbing often! I may be a bit unusual because I have vivid dreams every night and I usually remember some of them when I wake up.
Usually climbing dreams come after a day of climbing. If I've been climbing outside I dream of outside climbing and if I've been in the gym I dream of gym climbs. Something is usually a bit "off" in the dreams. Like a dream where I went into this huge gym with several large rooms filled with routes, but all only about 10 feet high and dead vertical. And they had topropes on them but the anchors were set in a type of styrofoam so they were useless.
A few years ago I had a bad groundfall and got pretty trashed and after that I had regular dreams of falling and hitting the ground. That is a sickening feeling, even in a dream. I've heard people say that you cannot die in a dream but I have died in groundfall climbing dreams a couple of times. You wake up with your heart pounding and feeling pretty bad.
But this is a good place to tell a dream I had recently when I was on a climbing trip to J Tree, which was strange even by my standards:
Someone contacted me to tell me that Werner Braun had a gift for me (I have never met Werner). So I went to Yosemite to the place where I was told I would find him. I walked up to this dwelling and there was a large workshop, about the size of a 2-car garage, filled with workbenches etc. And Werner was in there, puttering away, but he looked exactly like the actor Anthony Hopkins with long white hair and a very kindly aura. I told him who I was and he pulled out a set of cams he had made for me. They were the tiniest cams I have ever seen - a set of three measuring no more than 3-4 millimeters!!! I took them and then the dream dissolved with no real ending the way dreams often do.
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Vitaliy M.
Mountain climber
San Francisco
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Dec 20, 2012 - 02:07pm PT
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WOW. It is crazy I saw this thread. Last night I had a dream about a climb that scares the f*#king sh#t out of me. One that is way above my head but I feel like I still have a chance to go for it. It looked scary in my dream and than I transitioned to me 40s and than realized that I am getting older with each minute. I interpret it as I am getting older and I should go for things that are out there to experience now since you get older and your priorities may change or something. I don't know. Never really thought about my dreams like that, it's for grandmothers right?! Now that it featured something that I can't get off my mind it bothers me.
Do you guys also think about a climb that you have a chance to attempt but you know you never climbed anything that hard? For days? Non stop? When you are at work? Always?
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Barbarian
Trad climber
New and Bionic too!
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Dec 20, 2012 - 02:11pm PT
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I dream about climbing quite often. All my dreams involve bluebird days, great rock and good friends. I've never had a snail eye nightmare. I seem to save those for my waking moments.
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McHale's Navy
Trad climber
Panorama City, California & living in Seattle
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Topic Author's Reply - Dec 20, 2012 - 02:19pm PT
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I read that seeing your own hands in a dream meant something. I know I see my hands when I climb in dreams. More than anything in dreams, I like discovering new rocks to climb! Then there are the climbs that a person thinks about quite a bit but then they don't end up in dreams at all - like the way I think about Astroman. I'm there everytime I read a TR about Astroman.......damn, you'd think I would at least have a dream about it. Perhaps climbs like that reserve themselves for the real thing!
Snaileye nightmare? I woke up in the Nevada Desert one morning before a climb and was rolling something around in my mouth - turned out it was a small catepillar that crawled in while I was asleep.
Looking back not too far though, it does seem like the dreams come on when I don't get to pull on enough stuff - artifiscal (had to say that) or real rocks. Pulling on stuff has to be the best thing ever for the human build. It would be super cool to have a dream where claws came out of my hand like a cat's paw (I have a cat on my lap right now). Human sized claws with nice sharp points could really take the edge off.
this is one aid-line i'd dreamed about but was not too sure who's sent it!
Pyro, I loved doing that pitch solo. It was a good time to go out there and take my time with it. The pins went in like a pick in perfect ice - didn't have to pound much since it traversed.
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Nate D
climber
San Francisco
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Dec 20, 2012 - 04:13pm PT
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Fun thread, and one I actually considered starting years ago, 'cause I hadn't seen it discussed.
I too have climbing dreams periodically, and I might even climb more in my sleep than in reality.
I've written one or two down and they are real kooky. When I get a moment, I'll post again here.
Phylp - the Werner dream is a hoot.
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paul roehl
Boulder climber
california
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Dec 20, 2012 - 05:47pm PT
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I used to dream about bouldering out at Stony pretty often. It was incredibly real, the moves and holds, the feeling of gliding over the rock... the feel or texture of the rock... never dreamed about the Sierras or the Valley... kind of strange.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Dec 20, 2012 - 06:12pm PT
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Yes.....and it's horrible! I wake up sweating, panting and with chalk all over the sheets.
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kaholatingtong
Trad climber
Nevada City
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Dec 20, 2012 - 06:23pm PT
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yes a lot. especially more so since my car accident where i havent been able to climb since, yet. i kinda figured it was withdrawals.
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hooblie
climber
from out where the anecdotes roam
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Dec 20, 2012 - 07:07pm PT
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well, it all started with the knuckle walking, gorilla style knuckle walking.
soon it was the grasping and hoisting, finally bending the bars of the cage.
before long i'm pushin' tray, past the stoopid pancakes. i smell BACON dammit
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RyanD
climber
Squamish
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Dec 21, 2012 - 01:59am PT
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Vitaliy, yes.
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snowhazed
Trad climber
Oaksterdam, CA
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Last night I had my first climbing dream. After years of climbing I am amazed it took this long, as I have several snowboarding dreams a year.
I walk down into a canyon area and on one side is Wings and Stings on Hammer Dome, and on the other side is the Rostrum. There is a very tall very built asian guy with glasses who asks me if I have ever climbed wings and I say yes- at this point I cut to a flashback image of being on the climb, then back to the guy. He asks if it is free-climbable as he plans to aid solo it, and I tell him I only free climb but that he will have a great time. I turn to the other side of the canyon as I am somehow planning to aid solo the rostrum (now I know almost nothing about aid soloing, never done it). There are people setting up to mini trax the rostrum except the rope dropped down is a big circle of rope and the climber about to start steps into the bottom of the loop and attaches the left and right sides of the U of the loop to devices on either side of her harness. She climbs up a bit and then feeds the loop up through each side of the harness so that the U is snug against her again and continues. I ask a guy next to me what is going on and he tells me there is s a silent partner on top keeping the slack in. (I'm pretty sure this is not the way to do things). Then I get hungry (a first for me in a dream that I can remember) and so I pull out a sandwich from my pack and eat it.
While this dream seems very strange I should disclaim that I tend towards multi-layered inception style psychedelia in my dreams- so while weird, this was super tame in comparison.
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ladyscarlett
Trad climber
SF Bay Area, California
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Yup, on and off.
I'll dream about every part of a trip, from contacting buddies to go climbing, meeting up, packing the car, hiking in, the climbing...the whole shebang.
The funny thing is that I've been dreaming about climbing for a bit, as I often have what I call 'action movie' dreams where I'd commonly climb big walls, rock faces, towers, building, trees, etc to infiltrate the 'secret hideout.'
However, my favorite is when I'm having a climbing dream, and my partner of the dream lays out the rack (always waaay bigger than mine ;) ), turns to me and asks, 'what's it going to be today?'
At that moment, I know I'm having a climbing dream and YEAH! I'm gonna have some FUN!!
I always wake up smiling from my climbing dreams, even if the dream was of crappy climbing.
I would also like to mention that I've died in my dreams quite often, from falling, drowning, hitting the ground, suffocation, being shot, hit by lightening...so yeah, some people don't wake up before they hit the ground. I didn't realize it was uncommon...you guys are all so strange! hee hee
Cheers
LS
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McHale's Navy
Trad climber
Panorama City, California & living in Seattle
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 15, 2013 - 10:53pm PT
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I Dreamed of bouldering last night - maybe because I wanted to go to SeattleBP the next morning. The rock was red like at the Alabama Hills. At one point I was prone and very close to the ground and my back touched a rock on the ground and I wondered if it would be called as cheating!
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climbski2
Mountain climber
Anchorage AK, Reno NV
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Feb 15, 2013 - 10:59pm PT
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I've had some weird ones. At least the ones I remember.. Had a recurring one about ATMs on El-cap and tunnels and shops. Driving a yellow school bus off the top... Still have dream skiing Denali,
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McHale's Navy
Trad climber
Panorama City, California & living in Seattle
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Topic Author's Reply - Feb 15, 2013 - 11:33pm PT
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That reminds me of an old EL Cap dream where there were open portals on the face of El Cap and I guess tunnels running behind connecting them. When you mention shops.....that's what triggered the memory. It's been awhile since THAT dream. Maybe we were in the same dream on that one.
I have climbed Everest in a dream. It was a Scott Fischer Expedition but didn't cost anything since I dreamed it all up! Even though it was just a dream it was particularly satisfying. It did not resemble the real thing but it was what it was in the dream - the dream of a big deal. Some people would have been disappointed but I felt like I got my moneys worth!
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McHale's Navy
Trad climber
From Panorama City, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 20, 2014 - 01:45pm PT
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I was up on El Cap last night. Me and 2 other guys ( can't place who they might have been ) were up on a pedestal like the famous one on the Salathe but not up so high. At one point there was some kind of rock fall or rock shift up and to the right about a pitch up. It was loud and I got ready for the inevitable but there was no fallout and nothing happened but a little terror. We must have bivied because at one point I lost track of my boots, was worried I'd dropped them, but then found them. I even had thoughts of having to rap without them! We rapped off, leaving what seemed like about 3 fixed pitches. At the bottom I realized I left my jumars up there and the next parts of the dream had to do with acquiring jumars. I was thinking we may as well go buy some as we only had one set anyway, but near the end of the dream somebody that reminded me of Bridwell came over and sat next to us. I hit him up for jumars. The best part of the dream was walking away from El Cap and looking back and thinking how laid back it looked and that our trip was in the bag. I know, I know, a pretty mundane dream! The image at the end though, where it looked like a giant slab - that was the best part because it all but insured success.
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phylp
Trad climber
Millbrae, CA
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Apr 20, 2014 - 02:00pm PT
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Actually, I enjoyed reading your dream. I find dreams tremendously entertaining.
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Sierra Ledge Rat
Mountain climber
Old and Broken Down in Appalachia
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Apr 20, 2014 - 02:04pm PT
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When I dream of climbing, I'm usually free-soloing way off the deck and I'm losing my strength and grip.
I wake up when I fall, and find myself in a pool of sweat.
For whatever the reason(s) I no longer remember my dreams upon waking...
Try reminding yourself to remember your dreams before you go to sleep. It helps.
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McHale's Navy
Trad climber
From Panorama City, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 20, 2014 - 02:05pm PT
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I completely get the rockfall part. It is probably my only real big fear in climbing. ;>) I can hardly look at a cliff anymore without wondering what part of it will fall down next....but then, I also wonder why airliners don't fall out of the sky more often......and I'm very glad my expectations don't affect reality!
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Apr 20, 2014 - 05:16pm PT
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I never dream about climbing, probably a defense mechanisim given the number pickles I've gotten myself in.
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McHale's Navy
Trad climber
From Panorama City, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 21, 2014 - 02:10pm PT
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Sounds like your life is a dream Jim.....the real thing, as in living the dream. So, don't tell us you don't dream. ;>) I hear you on those pickles though. I liked your 'modern climber' dream. Maybe when we read the climbing stories of others, it goes into our own dreamland database, our mind can't know the real thing like the person telling the story. At that point we're dreaming a dream, and at that point we really need to get out! Just to keep rambling on, what I appear to be saying, is that just reading about another's climb automatically counts as dreaming. Put that in your hat! Does reading count as day-dreaming?
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kaholatingtong
Trad climber
Nevada City
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Apr 22, 2014 - 12:07am PT
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i don't normally that much. after my bad car accident, however, when i was unable to climb for a long period, i was laid up, totally bonked on painkillers, but unable to toke the herb, i began to regularly have the most vivid and sustained climbing dreams i have ever had. it was quite pleasant, at the time. i always figured it was my subconcious' way of dealing with the withdrawal, or something.
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phylp
Trad climber
Millbrae, CA
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Apr 22, 2014 - 12:30am PT
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OK here's a weird one I had last night. I was at a climbing gym, with walls but no roof. All the walls were really short like 10 feet tall. And it was required that you lead the routes. The first bolt was at waist level, before you left the ground, the second bolt was at the height of my outstretched arm from the ground (6.5 feet), and the third bolt was about 2 feet above that. Then you made one more move but there was no top anchor so you were supposed to downclimb the route. The whole thing made no sense whatsoever.
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anita514
Gym climber
Great White North
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Apr 22, 2014 - 07:38am PT
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I've been dreaming about climbing lately
not every night, but a couple times a week. can't remember details, but I think most recent one was in joshua tree.
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McHale's Navy
Trad climber
From Panorama City, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 22, 2014 - 02:25pm PT
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If it wasn't for that rockfall in my last dream above, I don't think I would have realized I was dreaming. That was when I started watching the dream it seems. There had to be more to the dream than that. There's a big difference in remembering dreams later and being aware of the dream while it's going on. The latter is by far superior but more rare. I should pick up one of those books on how to dream, or take some lessons! Anyone had luck with the books?
I suppose it is more than possible that in that dream I changed the reality of the outcome of that rockfall - a reality and outcome that did not kill me. It did seem a little odd that this powerful thing was happening and then it just kind of went away.......sorry, I don't need a rockfall right now!
I saw a fun movie on Netflix recently where this old dude dreams out some of the other paths his life could have taken, at least relationshipwise. That was Mr. Nobody. It was like a Kurt Vonnegut story. It was pretty good.
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Ksolem
Trad climber
Monrovia, California
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Apr 22, 2014 - 02:38pm PT
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Dan, How's that ankle? My central control unit should be good in about two months. I'll meet you in Bishop..
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McHale's Navy
Trad climber
From Panorama City, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 22, 2014 - 02:57pm PT
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You must be dreaming! I been meaning to call but can't find any phone booths. Ankle is so so. Been pushing it just a little at the same time I'm taking it easy. I solo sailed around Blake Island last Monday and ended up in a small craft advisory - kind of like a bad dream but it went well. I had to pull into the harbor at Blake and had a beautiful sail back next morning. Ankle is starting to feel better a week later!
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kaholatingtong
Trad climber
Nevada City
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Apr 22, 2014 - 03:14pm PT
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The latter is by far superior but more rare. I believe this is called lucid dreaming. At least, that was how i was able to lucid dream when i was younger ( becoming aware in the dream that it is a dream ) tough stuff to accomplish. when I was younger I had several years where I could lucid dream, and i sorta just started doing it by accident. unfortunately, I haven't been able to dream like that in a long while. I wasn't climbing yet when i was lucid dreaming, so no lucid climbing dreams ( damn that would be cool ). i did however take my very first trip to yosemite during this time and i still recall very clearly knowing i was dreaming and purposely jumping off half dome and then getting the most incredible bounce ever when i hit the ground and didn't wake up.
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McHale's Navy
Trad climber
From Panorama City, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 22, 2014 - 03:32pm PT
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Wow. That would be a great bounce. From what I have heard, people have fewer Deja Vu experiences as they get older also. Day-dreaming is an important part of creating Deja Vu, so as people get older and more in the now, it fades. Maybe anxiety and the day to day of adulthood is hard on lucid dreaming.
Lately, I've come to believe there is even a lucidity to the waking state that is difficult to notice. There is an extra layer to reality that we lose when we are too tense and it is elusive. Carlos Casteneda comes to mind! I have had a few experiences lately where I have fallen back to a former state where things seem very flat and unconnected, almost like I'm looking at a photo instead of being immersed in reality. Those feelings have been scary, like I've thought they have to do with aging but it's just a new awareness I hope, of when I'm in and when I'm out.
Perhaps to lucid dream a person needs to feel the lucidity of reality. It can be very lucid. That has to be why we climb and do crazy things - to force the connection - otherwise we are cowering inside our skulls.
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McHale's Navy
Trad climber
From Panorama City, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 21, 2015 - 01:53pm PT
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I had a climbing dream last night. I was at a bulging but low angle area of the rock I had to get around, and the only hand hold was a lie-back type hold that was no good until I got past it. I could pinch it, but it was pretty smooth, and that was when I realized I had no chalk. It was one of those moves that could be done without too much effort if the consequences were not dire. I could almost see beyond the bulge. There was even the voice of a young boy I could not see around the corner telling me I could do it. That may have been the point when I realized I had no rope on. At some point I realized I had bulky stiff mountain boots on instead of climbing shoes that I needed. At some point I looked down only to see that my landing would be on some rock islands jutting out of the water over 100 feet below. I tried to reach deeper into the small alcove where the lie-back hold was, only to find a loose rock. God, I stood there forever trying to get myself to make the move, but knew that if there were harder moves beyond, I could probably not reverse the slimy move without chalk. I finally got fed up with it and got the hell out of bed!!! Strangely enough I don't think I ever thought of just abandoning the climb and backing off while dreaming it. Wolves must have been after me.
A person could say, " How did I get here! "
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McHale's Navy
Trad climber
From Panorama City, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 21, 2015 - 02:04pm PT
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I miss the floating dreams, although I think I have only had them while traveling along sidewalks! When I had those I always thought I could hang onto 'how to do it' after waking.......Not! That feeling was like the feeling of something making sense while stoned. I have not had one of those dreams for awhile.....consequence of aging? Need to get stoned more!
Searching for awesome boulders sounds like a good dream theme though. Mind, get to it!
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Charlie D.
Trad climber
Western Slope, Tahoe Sierra
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Jul 21, 2015 - 02:56pm PT
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Here's a piece I wrote for similar thread so some of you may have read it before:
Several winters ago I was on a road trip in British Columbia with my buddy from Seattle skiing obscure resorts and the backcountry. Nothing but great powder, enjoying each other’s company and the hospitality of the Canadians that would send us on into each evening throwing back beers, eating too much and crashing hard in cheap hotels
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After once such day I drifted into a deep sleep and experienced an intense dream. I was in the alpine of summer high on a ridge wedged into the top of a dihedral watching my friend climbing up solo on the smooth face of the open book toward me. He was moving very delicately on small holds, stopped looked up at me, straight into my eyes. Suddenly he pitched over backwards, I covered my eyes and startled awake before I heard the sound of his impact below. It was a very vivid dream and I laid there thinking wide awake what the hell was that all about?
The morning came and at breakfast I related the dream to my buddy assured him it wasn’t him who fell before we headed off into yet another epic day in BC. Didn’t think of it again until days end in a bar when I asked myself that same question, what the hell? Sobered up lying in bed later, reading and thinking about family back home it hit me like a brick, holy sh*t my oldest son is climbing in Patagonia! I immediately sprang up and called home to hear this, “there’s been an accident, Bobby is OK”.
Making a long story short he was climbing with two others, topped out along a ridge high in the alpine. Bobby went looking for a rap point and came back just in time to watch his buddies anchors fail as his friend rapped off the ridge. Luckily nothing more than a broken pelvis, ouch! Pretty weird, I watched my friend fall off and so did my son, approximately at the same time. I’m very close to my two boys, I can’t help but think some invisible energy on some level made me aware of what was happening.
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phylp
Trad climber
Upland, CA
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Jul 21, 2015 - 03:09pm PT
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Very cool story, Charlie D.
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Norwegian
Trad climber
dancin on the tip of god's middle finger
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Jul 21, 2015 - 03:13pm PT
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not me.
never.
fuukin ever.
really.
i don't.
climbing is on the wrong side
of the mystery, for me.
it is very tangible.
and absolute.
usually i just dream
of yellow.
like the f*#king cuunt gone wrong.
that is my nocturnal destiny.
sour c#&%.
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Sierra Ledge Rat
Mountain climber
Old and Broken Down in Appalachia
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Jul 22, 2015 - 05:30am PT
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I don't dream of climbing, I have nightmares of falling
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jmacrosoft
Sport climber
Atlanta, GA
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Jul 22, 2015 - 11:07am PT
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About a month ago, I had the same dream 4 nights in a row. I was in the meadow in front of el cap. Each dream I got closer and closer until I finally touched it. Woke up that AM, booked my flight and my first trip to Yosemite. Talk about a calling!
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Vitaliy M.
Mountain climber
San Francisco
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Jul 22, 2015 - 12:25pm PT
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Had a dream about returning to Valhalla and climbing on Angel Wings. Supposed to go back tomorrow! Hope my hamstring does not hold me back...
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McHale's Navy
Trad climber
From Panorama City, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Jul 22, 2015 - 09:02pm PT
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It sure is ^^^^^^^^^^^
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phylp
Trad climber
Upland, CA
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Jan 16, 2017 - 08:10pm PT
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I am de-planeing at a small airport somewhere. I am with my partners Chris, Jack and Chan. My sleeping self is surprised to see Chan, as in awake life I have not climbed with him in, like, forever.
There are 3 climbing areas that we can get to from this airport. The two I favor are a little farther away, and I favor these because I have been to them before and I have the guidebooks. It’s a short trip, and I want to maximize the time we are actually climbing, rather than wandering around. Although these areas are farther away, I think that knowing the terrain will result in more climbing.
But the crew opts for the closest option. I don’t argue. In reality, it is more important for me just to be spending time climbing with my good friends.
We have a printed-out set of sketchy topos. We find the unimpressive cliffs, made of some kind of dark rock, spread out in a series of branching narrow canyons. I have that impatient, antsy feeling you have when you just really need to climb. I am trying to rack up but for some reason, I cannot see my gear very well. My dream self is surprised and annoyed to see that the large rocks and small brass nuts are on the same biner. How the hell did that happen? My sleeping self understands that this would only happen in a dream.
Jim Donini is sitting on the nearby cliff and makes fun of me a little bit for taking so much time to rack up. My sleeping self knows that Jim is not this way but my dream self rolls her eyes and walks to the base of the route.
It’s a half crack climb, half face climb in a dihedral. The line goes through a bulge about 30 feet up and I can’t see anything beyond that. It's rated 5.9 so I don't feel any fear. The route goes quickly. There are no anchors at the top so I set up a three piece anchor and top-rope so the others can do the route. Somehow we have been joined by a group of novice climbers and I know that they are all going to use my rope.
I wander off down the the stream bed and around the corner, looking for another cliff. I come to an old Victorian house. My sleeping self sees no issue with the fact that I have to pass through this house to get to the next cliff. But when I pass through to the back yard, there is nothing there in the distance except a large city. I go back through the house but when I exit the front door, the stream bed has disappeared and I don’t know where I am. I feel panicky and wake up.
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McHale's Navy
Trad climber
From Panorama City, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 11, 2018 - 09:11pm PT
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It's amazing how often I dream about climbing - no doubt the result of not getting enough of the real thing. I sail a bit and don't really dream about that much. One sailing dream I do remember is falling asleep and ending up on the far side of a bay!
I dreamed about Mt. Everest the other night and had a day and a half window to get in there and do it. I should have gone for it. I saw one group that had come down and it looked like they were returning from a costume party! Everest can be fun.
Today though, I was wondering something about Alex Honnold and something about his dreams. Which comes first, the chicken or the egg? I wish I could remember the train of thought - that in itself was like a dream - later today I remembered having the thoughts but couldn't, and still can't, remember the meat of it, like something forgotten after being stoned, but I wasn't stoned except for coffee! Is there anything we do that isn't guided by our dreaming, whether conscious or unconscious? It seems like those thoughts could intersect with whether or not we have free will! Oh no, not that! Anyway.....BUMP!
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john hansen
climber
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Nov 11, 2018 - 09:34pm PT
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I have never died in a dream, but one time I was climbing a a rock tower and it kept getting harder and harder until I could go no farther,,
That's when I realized it was a dream and created holds out to the right and scrambled up to top. Dreams are really fun.
What age are you in your dreams? I feel like I am in my 20's but I am pushing 60. That's why I like dreaming.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Nov 11, 2018 - 09:51pm PT
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All the time! Frequently I’m bivying on a ledge about a foot wide, in the snow, without anchors.
I start sliding off only to awake and find La Femme has muscled me to the edge of the bed.
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McHale's Navy
Trad climber
From Panorama City, CA
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Topic Author's Reply - Nov 11, 2018 - 10:20pm PT
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^^^^^^^^^I woke up after rolling around in bed when I was about 10 - I had been in a rowboat with Mickey Mouse that was tipping side to side.
[Click to View YouTube Video]
That's not dreamin.....
It's LSD trippin!
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skywalker1
Trad climber
co
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Nov 11, 2018 - 11:21pm PT
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Falling is typical for me and its always a sketchy situation and I wake up sweating. I started paragliding and after a good day of flying which is always a little sketchy being a noob, my wife wakes me up because I have the imaginary "toggles" in my hands, arms up, and I'm flying in my dreams, waking her up.
I can't say much more other than both experiences require a lot of focus and personal reality of your position and I think that your brain needs to compartmentalize and you haven't yet. Yet I don't know. But you are not alone.
I once started dreaming in French when I was at College level French 4.....
S....
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clinker
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, California
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Nov 12, 2018 - 06:33am PT
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I have had a recurring dream where the last third of an El Cap route became vertical vinyl school bus seats. Extremely monotonous repetition.
In other dreams there is a hotel on top of El Capitan, all routes right of the nose are bolt ladders with varying spaces of hook moves between gaps in the bolt ladders. The hotel at one time had an elevator that gave access to alcoves in the area between the King Swing and Camp 4, now abandoned with a weird assortment of stuff left behind.
Across the Valley to/or on the the right of Middle Cathedral, a hard free route(5.10dish with occasional pro, no bolts) ends with a similar abandoned Ahwahnee/lodge buildings. I have climbed this route a few times in my dreams, with different endings.
Some of my dreams are relativity realistic climbing, but many turned into weird fantasies.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Nov 12, 2018 - 07:25am PT
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I very rarely have climbing dreams....given the amount of alpine I’ve done that’s probably a good thing.
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Gnome Ofthe Diabase
climber
Out Of Bed
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Nov 12, 2018 - 07:45am PT
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When do I ever
not dream of climbing?
I dream of climbing buildings
Poles & stacks
Antenna graves, mausoleums
and keeps
right out of them
whenever passing anything steep
all the time,
All day
and
All night
awake asleep
All the time
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steveA
Trad climber
Wolfeboro, NH
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Nov 12, 2018 - 01:04pm PT
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I've NEVER had a dream about climbing. I taught high school for 35 years, and often have dreams related to that. Had one last night.
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| Messages 1 - 57 of total 57 in this topic |
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