Discussion Topic |
|
This thread has been locked |
85
Mountain climber
Washington
|
|
|
Topic Author's Original Post - May 9, 2016 - 12:40pm PT
|
Comparisons are odious. The best place to climb is right where you are. At 19 I hitched to Yosemite from Colorado, having no idea of a pilgrimage and it was awesome. Two great friends met me and we climbed Royal Arches, which was a complete adventure to us, because we were shrouded in wonder.
In late winter 1987 at Smith Rock my partner and I clipped shiny new bolts in the empty Dihedrals as two jet fighters tore just overhead, freaking us out completely. We had no concept of 5.14, and we still don't. It was simply a brilliant day, and it was completely different than any other.
By accident, I ran into Ron Kauk in Paris on a spring day in 1990. He was articulate and personable and not in the least bit arrogant, and he suggested that I go to the forest outside of Fontainbleu and check out the bouldering. The buzz from the perfect friction of the grainy gray and green rock is still in my fingertips, along with the memory of forgiving white sand landings. For a century climbers have worked the endless problems of that place, and found incomparable solace there.
Last week I climbed with an old friend on "the world's hardest 5.9" and I was astonished by the memory of leading it as a teenager, of placing pro with furious resolve, and the climb is exactly as hard as it was then, and it still shocks my system with the same mixture of fear and exhilaration. It still wipes my thoughts clean, and leaves my mind dark and refreshed like an empty old-school chalkboard.
Sometimes just to look at a rock face puts me into a meditative trance. Do tennis players feel this way? Can they watch the light play on the surface of an empty court and feel suspended by its subtle graces? Do golfers draw detailed maps by hand to understand the subtleties of their favorite courses?
Apples and Oranges perhaps. Not important really. No need to compare.
|
|
Clint Cummins
Trad climber
SF Bay area, CA
|
|
"the world's hardest 5.9" Reed's Direct p2?
I got to follow my son on it several weeks ago, and it was pretty cool!
|
|
Mark Force
Trad climber
Ashland, Oregon
|
|
Wonderful musing.....
Thanks.
CC, climbing with your kids is a such a wonderful thing. Sometimes belaying them when they're leading can be tough....
|
|
pud
climber
Sportbikeville & Yucca brevifolia
|
|
We like the old sign at Stoney.
|
|
Charlie D.
Trad climber
Western Slope, Tahoe Sierra
|
|
Randomness found me heading out to our local crag on Mother's Day after a rather depressing visit to dear old mom who is not long for this world. It was amusing to see this scene which made me think, "Look mom no hands!!!"
I left with a head full of thoughts about 3 generations, hers are almost all gone, mine are being picked off one by one and his are laughing in the sun.....
|
|
Todd Eastman
climber
Bellingham, WA
|
|
For some reason I think maybe Index might the the home of the robust 5.9...
Perhaps the memory/present/future balance plays a cool factor.
|
|
Lynne Leichtfuss
Trad climber
Will know soon
|
|
Charie D. We all had our awesome moments laughing in the sun....even today!
Cheers and thanks for the thoughts, lynnie.
|
|
phylp
Trad climber
Upland, CA
|
|
Comparisons are not inherently odious. They are often the start of fun and stimulating conversation. They only become tedious when people have strong opinions about the rightness of their comparison vs yours.
Take your example of the hardest 5.9 in the world. Fun topic for sitting around the campfire - if nobody gets all serious about it.
|
|
i'm gumby dammit
Sport climber
da ow
|
|
Wonderful musing.....
Thanks.
CC, climbing with your kids is a such a wonderful thing. Sometimes belaying them when they're leading can be tough.... As can leading when they're belaying, and you hear them start bickering at each other.
|
|
MisterE
Gym climber
Small Town with a Big Back Yard
|
|
Cheers, 85 - we have similar friends and experiences.
Your musings are a fresh breath into this forum.
 Erik Wolfe
|
|
85
Mountain climber
Washington
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - May 14, 2016 - 07:16am PT
|
More Randomness,
I'm getting to be a gentleman of a certain age, and no one let me in on the paradoxical goodness quotient; yes as one ages, the physical is diminished, but a strange wisdom seems to bloom in its place. A wry smile. Acceptance? Perhaps I'm not that big of a deal, and what the hell was I thinking when I wanted to be!
When I climb I forget all about me.
Everything else takes my place. My place? What the hell is that all about? This is our place. We have been crazy believers for quite some time.
Here's to Owen Glynne Jones, for climbing 5.8 in 1897. He was born 100 years before me and called himself the "Only Geniune Jones". He died in 1899 in Switzerland, going for it on some supermanky gear. There are old climbers, and there are bold climbers . . . but I'd like to think that the only difference between O.G. Jones and I is pure chance. I was plenty bold, and plain stupid sometimes, and the humbling was necessary.
Humility might just be the paradoxical goodness quotient. I watched a brash lean kid leading out on natural pro . . . and I experienced real empathy, strangely powerful compassion, and the kind of happiness that fathers might feel? He was a stranger to me, but the experience was not.
|
|
pud
climber
Sportbikeville & Yucca brevifolia
|
|
|
May 14, 2016 - 08:06am PT
|
Collecting good memories is a direct path to contentment.
|
|
85
Mountain climber
Washington
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - May 14, 2016 - 08:13am PT
|
|
|
Marlow
Sport climber
OSLO
|
|
|
May 14, 2016 - 01:02pm PT
|
|
|
survival
Big Wall climber
Terrapin Station
|
|
|
May 14, 2016 - 04:19pm PT
|
|
|
mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
|
|
|
May 14, 2016 - 05:27pm PT
|
|
|
85
Mountain climber
Washington
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - May 14, 2016 - 06:12pm PT
|
|
|
Charlie D.
Trad climber
Western Slope, Tahoe Sierra
|
|
|
May 14, 2016 - 08:32pm PT
|
Here we are by pure chance of a collision of random events, it's sooo underrated. We're all 1 in an infinity, pure joy for sure !!!
|
|
MisterE
Gym climber
Small Town with a Big Back Yard
|
|
|
May 14, 2016 - 08:58pm PT
|
There is a dark bird
Perhaps a raven
inside my head.
I open the cage sometimes
when I sleep;
I know this because
my mind's eye
sees the shadow of wings
on my pillow.
|
|
BLUEBLOCR
Social climber
joshua tree
|
|
|
May 14, 2016 - 11:36pm PT
|
^^^i like that:)
|
|
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!