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Ksolem
Trad climber
Monrovia, California
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Topic Author's Original Post - Apr 12, 2019 - 10:21pm PT
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Many of us have lost friends in climbing accidents. If one of my lost friends had died as a result of something I did, or if we were climbing together and something just went wrong, then certainly that would be my greatest regret. But despite a few valiant efforts to kill myself and a friend or two I've not yet pulled it off. I’ve lost friends to climbing, and it was gut wrenching, but the regret was not a personal one, not something like survivor's guilt. But there is one thing, to some it may seem trivial, which crosses my mind often.
I regret not having kept a journal, a climbing diary. Bonnie Kamps was kind enough to let me see and peruse a few of the many notebooks, the journals that Bob kept of his climbs; every last one of them I suspect. I knew right then I’d blown it.
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
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Apr 12, 2019 - 10:31pm PT
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Well said. I used to keep a journal. Then I kept Trip Reports in html form for a while, copying Clint Cummins as a model of sorts. Then as I got into digital photographs with their date stamps, I got lazy with writing up what I had climbed. Now with social media its a sort of Trip Report, but always truncated in an unsatisfying way, poorly formatted.
So as I round higher numbers in years, this lack of detail I regret sometimes. Other times thankful for forgetting how piss poorly I climb.
I really have enjoyed what is being shared online about Bob. His name was always read with respect when I would run across it.
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mtnyoung
Trad climber
Twain Harte, California
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Apr 12, 2019 - 10:36pm PT
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...thankful for forgetting how piss poorly I climb
For over 25 years you've been like a brother to me (sometimes a son?).
And I almost always see you having a blast while climbing. Don't mistake how hard you climb with how good a climber you are....
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D Murph
climber
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Apr 12, 2019 - 10:41pm PT
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I regret not putting more bolts in my tiny handful of faceclimb first ascents. The boldness and competitive ardor of my youth now unnecessarily puts people at risk and diminishes traffic on some (biased of course) otherwise fun lines. And for what?
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
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Apr 12, 2019 - 11:23pm PT
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Thx gents. Best of adventures! Back at ya!
Hope they open that road to the reservoir soon. We have some lines to finish up!
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Kalimon
Social climber
Ridgway, CO
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Apr 12, 2019 - 11:32pm PT
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And I'll climb the hill in my own way . . .
Just wait a while for the right day
No regrets.
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Apr 13, 2019 - 01:35am PT
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Hmm, journaling one's climbs... I know there are some folks who do it, but that would be a very different personality type than my own that's for sure.
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Adventurer
Mountain climber
Virginia
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Apr 13, 2019 - 04:59am PT
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DMT wrote, “ I rarely rose above my own limitations”
Definitely same here! The good news is that I enjoyed my many failures and setbacks along with a few successes.
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hobo_dan
Social climber
Minnesota
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Apr 13, 2019 - 05:07am PT
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My regret is that I did not stop to take more pictures- or to learn how to take better photos
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tradmanclimbs
Ice climber
Pomfert VT
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Apr 13, 2019 - 05:21am PT
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For the most part it has been great but occasionally I regret the missed opportunities. Those times when lack of motivation, fitness , bravery and skill made it too easy to bail.... I do regret not climbing Epinephrine and Crimson Chrysalis in 1986 when you could get on them without waiting in line.... Climbed a bunch of stuff and then moved on not knowing how much the scene would change by the time I got back there again...
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tradmanclimbs
Ice climber
Pomfert VT
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Apr 13, 2019 - 05:22am PT
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I do keep a climbing journal. Not very in depth. just short notes. I also have some pretty cool hardcover photo books from some of our trips.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Apr 13, 2019 - 05:32am PT
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I feel blessed to have been able to explore so many special places over so many years. I regret the early passing of so many who were pursuing the same dream....the alpine world is as harsh as it is beautiful and it’s pull is irresistible to some.
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tradmanclimbs
Ice climber
Pomfert VT
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Apr 13, 2019 - 05:35am PT
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for some reason I have been lucky enough to not lose any really close friends to the mountains..
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AP
Trad climber
Calgary
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Apr 13, 2019 - 06:01am PT
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I have lost a number of partners and friends over the years, mostly in alpine climbing.
Many of the most interesting and enthusiastic people I have known were climbers and it hurts that some of them are not around anymore.
I regret not having more photos but the memories remain.
My biggest regret are a handful of hard classic climbs I should have done when young and capable but will never do.
I have never regretted taking up climbing.
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capseeboy
Social climber
portland, oregon
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Apr 13, 2019 - 07:09am PT
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Hope lays in the future and regret in the past. Both of which we have no power over. Put them both to rest my friend, and rest easily.
And all that is left undone is done.
Ashes to ashes, we all fall down.
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Wayno
Big Wall climber
Republic, WA
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Apr 13, 2019 - 07:56am PT
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My regret was believing that one quart per man per day was how much water you should bring. Maybe on a day climb but not on a wall. I have no proof but as I sit here in the painful throws of a gout attack I think I should have left half the pitons in the car and taken more water. How many of you have sat at a belay more than halfway up El Cap, staring down at the meadow with the lush river going through it, not having had a sip of water for a day or more? It is maddening in an existential kind of way. Gotta get to the the top just for a drink of water.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Apr 13, 2019 - 08:17am PT
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Climbing IS life. I set out at a young age to pursue it as deeply as possible and to have no regrets. I succeeded.
But this too, comes at a cost. I'm a physical and financial cripple – and though it's hard to connect those outcomes definitively with my choices, I'm not so surprised!
I kept journals, and retroactively created those that were needed to fill the gaps. Took tons of pictures. Am now working on a collection of narratives about all of it.
Berg heil, craglings!
……………………………………
Deceased Climber Friends
Chuck Bloodworth, 1979 – disappearance, South Face of Aconcagua
Jerome Carlian, 1980 – overdose
Yabo, late 80s – self-inflicted gunshot wound
Paul Scannell, 1994 – helicopter crash, Ruby Mountains, Nevada
Al Bard, 1997 – fall guiding on Owen Spalding route, Grand Teton
Dan Osman, 1998 – rope jumping accident, Leaning Tower
Walt Shipley, 1999 – kayaking accident, drowning, Dinkey Creek, California
Randi Eyre, 1999 – bicycle crash, Elephant Rock Classic, Colorado
Bruce Hawkins, early 2000s – car crash
Billy Westbay, early 2000s – cancer
Shawn Curtis, early 2000s – alcohol
Randy Grandstaff, 2002 – rappelling accident, guiding, Red Rocks
Pete Steers, mid-2000s – alcohol?
Dan Grandusky, 2004 – alcohol, broken heart
Charlie Fowler, 2006 – probable avalanche, Ge'nyen Mountain, southwestern China
Walter Rosenthal, 2006 – ski patrol rescue accident, Mammoth Mountain
John Bachar, 2009 – free solo fall, Dike Wall above Mammoth Lakes
Kyle Copeland, 2009 – Crohn's disease
Connie Tobia, 2011 – liver failure
Paul Borne, 2010s – hang gliding accident
Jack Roberts, 2012 – ice climbing fall, Bridalveil Falls, Telluride
Ray Olson, 2012 – unspecified
Pat Nay, 2013 – postsurgical heart failure
Jennifer Martin, 2013 – unspecified
Richard Harrison, 2014 – unspecified
Scott Cosgrove, 2016 suspected clot/stroke fallout from multiple reconstructive surgeries
Bill Roos, 2017 – renal cell carcinoma
Bob Van Belle, 2017 – alcohol, COPD
Craig Khalsa, 2017 – septicemia
Peater Wilkening, 2018 – unspecified
Jeff Lowe, 2018 – ALS-like disease
Jim Bridwell, 2018 – complications of hepatitis C
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justthemaid
climber
Jim Henson's Basement
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Apr 13, 2019 - 08:21am PT
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When I was 17 my (total non-climbing) father actually noticed how much I liked climbing around on rocks and suggested I "should take some kind of class". I turned him down thinking it was only a "boy-sport". I very much regret that decision. Starting up in my mid 30's- I realized I had a true passion for climbing, but there is a certain amount of physical and mental conditioning I will never acquire this late in the game.
Edit to add.. wow Tar. ^^^
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Apr 13, 2019 - 08:29am PT
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I coulda been a contenda!
(I got Tar beat, at least in actual climbing deaths)
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norm larson
climber
wilson, wyoming
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Apr 13, 2019 - 08:32am PT
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This is a good thread.
Like so many here I have no regrets about focusing so much of my life and energy in climbing. Except the loss of so many of my alpine climbing friends and associates. They are missed and left a hole in me that can't be filled.
I do wish I had kept some sort of journal too but I did take a camera along on most of my more memorable trips and I'm really glad I did. Those photos are precious to me in so many ways.
At 64 I look back and am proud to have known and met so many others with a similar passion. It's a great tribe and most never get to experience that brotherhood in their lives.
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JLP
Social climber
The internet
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Apr 13, 2019 - 09:19am PT
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I log things in different ways, I'm glad about it, I could write more, no major regrets there. However - more pictures, and more sex - I'd change if I could go back.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Apr 13, 2019 - 09:23am PT
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JLP: you didn't get enough sex? WTF. Over.
No wonder you are so damn grumpy!
Best to you,
Roy
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Fritz
Social climber
Choss Creek, ID
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Apr 13, 2019 - 10:06am PT
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Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I'm glad to see many here posting with no, or minimal regrets.
Apparently,somewhat by accident, I ended up with a minor regrets climbing career that started in 1969 & although much-reduced, is still going.
I took lots of color slide photos with good cameras in the 1970's & have converted the best to digital images. I kept a journal for some key climbing years in the 70's. I met a lot of great friends climbing & only suffered a very-few azzholes. I climbed in a lot of classic western areas, took risks, enjoyed many a close-call & adventure, & cheated-death. The most serious climbing accident in a party I was in, was a shattered ankle & we "self-rescued" our unlucky fellow.
Although I have not suffered the loss of a close friend in a climbing accident, a fellow that paid me for initial rock-climbing instruction died the next year on an un-roped fall through a cornice.
I somewhat regret my lunge for a good handhold on a 5.7 route at City of Rocks back in 2000, when I had not stretched or warmed-up. The torn-bicep caused me a lot of pain & diminished my climbing for ten years.
Thanks to all here who have befriended me. You folks are wonderful!
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capseeboy
Social climber
portland, oregon
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Apr 13, 2019 - 10:11am PT
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Hey Tar, your not alone. Flying that close to the sun has its' rewards; as well as, its' inevitable mundane lows---w/o either, you have neither. Or something.
Mostly, I'm just lucky considering all the crashes/near crashes I have walked away from---I may hold the record but it matters not. Not so sure Darwin was the only thing at work here, but I'm superstitious (which makes no sense either). Now I'm just crashing into infirmity, or is it a slow slide? Alas, no way out, breath deep eternal repose.
Cheers to the conquistadors of the useless--they have no hidden agendas.
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Flip Flop
climber
Earth Planet, Universe
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Apr 13, 2019 - 10:21am PT
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Very few injuries
Fewer dead friends from these games
Regrets too few to mention
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ec
climber
ca
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Apr 13, 2019 - 10:28am PT
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Kris,
I took lots of photos, but no journal. However, it's never to late to write down a refection on a remarkable experience. However, If you cannot remember, that's a shame. On occasion I have been known to randomly start laughing to myself, usually at work, due to a memory being triggered by what we were currently discussing, etc. Yeah, not too good if the work was not funny in the first place. I live the life of fragmented timelines in my head like Billy Pilgrim in Slaughterhouse Five...
 ec
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Batrock
Trad climber
Burbank
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Apr 13, 2019 - 10:37am PT
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Apr 13, 2019 - 10:42am PT
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No regrets. As Dingus said, "Every time I think I might have a regret about climbing, upon closer examination I really don't."
It would be easy to go on about it -- the highs, the lows, the lost friends, the opportunity costs of going to the mountains instead of whatever else -- but the bottom line is that I know that without climbing I'd have been dead or in jail decades ago.
It's been almost sixty years since I went on my first long wilderness paddling trip and forty-five since I first went into the mountains. I can't imagine a better life.
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Don Lauria
Trad climber
Bishop, CA
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Apr 13, 2019 - 10:43am PT
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Didn’t start ‘til I was 28. Didn’t stop until my heart stopped me at 83. 86 now and reconciled to the fact that my climbing days are over. Old age ain’t for sissies. Only regret … wish I had started sooner … I would have had more FAs.
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Batrock
Trad climber
Burbank
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Apr 13, 2019 - 10:44am PT
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No friends lost to climbing but I have had 7 coworkers die on the job, roof collapse, helicopter crash and lost in a building during a flashover. I have known at least 40 more who have died after retirement from job related cancer exposures. I retired while I still had my physical and most of my mental health intact.
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phylp
Trad climber
Upland, CA
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Apr 13, 2019 - 10:53am PT
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Je ne regrette rien.
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Ksolem
Trad climber
Monrovia, California
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 13, 2019 - 11:33am PT
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However, it's never too late to write down a reflection on a remarkable experience. However, If you cannot remember, that's a shame
I'm working on the writing part now. Having some notes from back in those days would help. Oh well, I suppose it just increases the challenge.
Many things I remember like they were yesterday, others not so well. There will always be a difference between the experience, and one’s perception of it afterwards, and this can kick in fast. For me, the more intense the experience, the faster that happens. If I had understood this at the time, I might have kept that journal. But back then I never expected to get old. Of course this means that today, at 65, I’m older than I ever thought I’d get. I know, no sympathy for me from the many of you here who are much deeper into that no-man’s land than I.
With a couple of exceptions my best friends are or have been climbers. Most of us are still alive. Two have taken their own lives, one not long ago. He was my partner in the 1980’s. We climbed a lot at The Needles (CA.,) and put up a hard climb at Josh. He carried a heavy load from two combat tours in Vietnam, but the onset of Parkinson’s was the final straw. One thing’s for sure, my regret about not keeping a journal doesn't bring tears to my eyes.
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johntp
Trad climber
Punter
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Apr 13, 2019 - 11:39am PT
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I have 3 regrets climbing wise;
1. Not keeping a journal.
2. Not taking more photos.
3. 30 yr. climbing hiatus between 1982-2012.
Ditto. Never kept a journal and rarely took a camera along.
More or less stopped climbing in 1993 after a bad accident at Suicide (head injury) left my balance screwed and left me with vertigo I could not fight off. Used to enjoy exposure. After the accident every hanging/marginal belay stance had me un-nerved.
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eeyonkee
Trad climber
Golden, CO
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Apr 13, 2019 - 12:16pm PT
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Damn, Wayno, I felt that way at two quarts a day!
Really, right now, I wish I had more pictures of George Manson, Clean Dan Grandusky, Rob Rohn, Dave Goeddel, Bruce Adams, Kinley Adams, Dennis Adams, Dan Heiser (Big Duke), Rick Piggott, Colin Piggott, Dennis Sullivan, Perry Beckham, Alan Chase, Mike Tschipper, Dick Cilley, Ward Robinson, Vic _, and Yabo.
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L
climber
Just livin' the dream
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Apr 13, 2019 - 02:13pm PT
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My only regret is that my great grandparents wussed out and settled in Missouri instead of persevering westward to the shores of the Golden State.
Instead of climbing granite, I grew up climbing oak.
Instead of gazing upon peaks to be attained, I stared upon cornfields to be despised.
Instead of swimming with whales and dolphins, I swam with inner tubes and cotton mouths.
And finally, instead of a stone’s throw from the most beautiful parks in the world, I was spitting distance from the Ozarks (cue: theme from Deliverance).
Yes, I came very late to climbing--the true love of my life. And my only regret is that I was born in the wrong state.
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PellucidWombat
Mountain climber
Draperderr, by Bangerter, Utah
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Apr 13, 2019 - 03:45pm PT
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Mt Shasta. 10 yrs later and it still feels raw.
At least I have kept up with the photos & notes. Might start sharing again soon, as they add more meaning to me when others enjoy them.
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jogill
climber
Colorado
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Apr 13, 2019 - 03:58pm PT
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None. It was what it was. Never kept a log, but did keep a photo album.
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Inner City
Trad climber
Portland, OR
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Apr 13, 2019 - 04:35pm PT
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I have the same regret. As I have aged and stopped climbing nearly as often, I wish I had a logbook that showed me what I've done. Those many days in the Valley and Tuolumne, Red Rocks, etc. At the time it did not seem as important because I think I felt like it would never end, I'll never get old etc.
My memory is still pretty good and I can remember a ton of stuff, but of course some choice details have been forgotten (sometimes for the best?
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Rudder
Trad climber
Costa Mesa, CA
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Apr 13, 2019 - 04:39pm PT
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Climbing Diary
Pictures
Doing more when I still could
Having more imagination for first ascents
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Apr 13, 2019 - 05:08pm PT
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My only regret is that my great grandparents wussed out and settled in Missouri instead of persevering westward to the shores of the Golden State.
Instead of climbing granite, I grew up climbing oak.
But the universe was kept in balance by my wife, who moved to Missouri probably about the time you left it, and learned to climb there. She'd been living in California, and done some hiking there, but moved to The State of Misery to do her doctorate at Wash U. Somehow connected with somebody and wound up climbing.
Okay, Yosemite Valley is not in Missouri. And, for that matter, the climbing in Missouri is mostly in Illinois and Kentucky, but still...
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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Apr 13, 2019 - 05:21pm PT
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Sadly, I could make a list longer than Roy (although over a dozen names would be on both)
I lost ten friends in four and a half months, and the last two, Craig and Kyle, devastated me.
(Roy's list has Kyle in '05, but it was '09)
But few indeed who don't climb ever know the magnificence of a sunrise nobody else gets to see as you do, or the exultation of successfully upping your limit, or the trust of a partner who has caught you many times, or the sheer joy and wonder of exploring places where nobody has been before.
No, I don't regret climbing, nor even not keeping a journal.
I doubt human civilization will be able to survive its own flatus and greed, so why NOT go out as one of the "conquistadors of the useless"?
EDIT
I know of 5 people dying on my routes, but never my fault.
It would trouble me if an anchor I placed failed but, some of them are over forty now, and most are still good.
Its climbing; caveat emptor
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perswig
climber
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Apr 13, 2019 - 05:39pm PT
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Pictures
Doing more when I still could
Yes.
I started late, stayed mediocre, enjoyed it immensely, and miss it mildly-to-intensely, depending.
Dale
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WBraun
climber
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Apr 13, 2019 - 06:19pm PT
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I regret going climbing.
I should have become a WalMart greeter.
I'd be the best greeter ever.
No one can greet better than me.
"Welcome to WalMart st00pid Americans and come on in and fill your cart with all our wonderful useless sh!t in our store"
They would make me the standard by which all WalMart greeters would go by.
I'd be rich and could afford the best TV screen there is in Best Buy.
I'd become expert educated by all the great TV shows on those TV's, hundreds of channels.
I would know everything.
I would be the best expert ever ....
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Apr 13, 2019 - 06:29pm PT
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Werner man you could have left Yosemite and spent your days hanging out with your Hare Krishna brothers but you chose to stay and save lives instead which is as it should be. The climbing was just a means to a glorious end...You are rich, my friend, and well beyond self-irony.
Kris- I feel your pain at not having taken the time to record the flow of it all. As a historian now, nothing is more valuable in looking at a climbing life except a really good memory during an interview.
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L
climber
Just livin' the dream
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Apr 13, 2019 - 06:43pm PT
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But the universe was kept in balance by my wife, who moved to Missouri probably about the time you left it
Ghost, I left Misery in '82 for the Great White North (Alaska). Except for some repelling off the limestone cliffs of the local rivers, I never climbed in MO and never saw anyone climbing back then. It just wasn't done.
It's changed dramatically since those days, of course--the perversions of the West/East Coasts having slowly eroded the moral fortitude of the Bible Thumpers--and now there are even climbing gyms in St. Louie!
But back when I was incarcerated there, I'm fairly certain "climbers" would've been lynched, or tarred and feathered, or both, had they dared to defile those sacred piles of Misery stones. Because they would've scared the cows and trampled the corn, y'know.
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throwpie
Trad climber
Berkeley
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Apr 13, 2019 - 07:06pm PT
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My biggest regret is never doing Werner’s Wiggle. That, and El Cap. But El Cap always seemed like more work than fun.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Apr 13, 2019 - 07:41pm PT
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Thanks for correcting the date on Kyle, Ron.
(My voice control typing program often hears five as nine –and so forth.)
By my lights, and speaking to no one in particular here: it's important not to regret the loss of loved ones, but to recognize who they are, as they exist within us, as an exertional force, much more so than reminiscing upon who they were. Our persistence beyond them is fleeting, if even that.
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Trump
climber
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Apr 13, 2019 - 08:21pm PT
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Shoot I’m sorry some of us are feeling like we need to spend some of our time in the present regretting things in our past, rather than spending that time doing something we’d prefer to do in the present.
But if we find that we can’t not have regrets - that we can’t use our time more to our liking right now in the present, then maybe we couldn’t have changed what we were doing in the past either? I think that if we’re spending time in the present regretting our past, if we had had different pasts, we’d probably just have different regrets. I’m not that good at predicting the future that’s actually going to be the future of my present, and I’m probably even worse at predicting the future of a hypothetical retrospective past.
Hope that we don’t need to spend time in the future regretting the time we spent in our present (our future’s past) regretting what we did in our further past.
Best to y’all in the present!
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MikeL
Social climber
Southern Arizona
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Apr 13, 2019 - 08:52pm PT
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ksolem: . . . the regret was not a personal one, . . . .
It should have been. You know better. All regret is personal.
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d-know
Trad climber
electric lady land
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Apr 13, 2019 - 09:00pm PT
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My regret is that I didn't
do more barefoot.
Got in a few good ones
but it's not over
yet.
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jogill
climber
Colorado
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Apr 13, 2019 - 09:06pm PT
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L: "I never climbed in MO and never saw anyone climbing back then. It just wasn't done."
I did a little climbing in MO in the mid 1960s when I lived in Murray, KY. Also in S. Illinois and Western KY. No one seemed to care.
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Apr 14, 2019 - 12:00am PT
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jogill wrote: I did a little climbing in MO in the mid 1960s when I lived in Murray, KY. Also in S. Illinois and Western KY. No one seemed to care.
Yep, should have come down to the hollers in Southern Illinois. We started in the mid '70s in John's wake and got to do FA after FA of wonderful climbing.
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Gnome Ofthe Diabase
climber
Out Of Bed
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Apr 14, 2019 - 03:27am PT
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Regret ever buying the places in Frozendale at all.
Wish I'd Bet on the other horses in the race.
Wish I'd Tied in with more of the younger crew
but Never taken pudgeknuckls under my wing.
Given D.Grifiths floor space.
Placed my own bolted anchors @ the very least,
its a shjzshow now.
I sure do regret going up right- instead of off left
So going splatt on the Carriage Road at uberfall
At the Height of my power; 2 days after sending
my 1 5.13 crack, soon downrated to .12d, it's a crack...
crushing one heel
cracking the other.
(& whatever fall broke my neck)
And going splatt again
Slipping off an ice climb
decades later
led to my having to learn how to log onto a computer. . .
Regret having taken over a certain University's teacher's lease
when he went to Australia,,,, I was not the recipient of the packages
... really
Hooked a man-eater or two I wished I'd thrown back
As well as hadn't And had with a client or two
I wish I had switched who for who . . .
Gone running with the Landscape Architect,
not gone running after a ride to/from the cliff
I hitched with the soon to be Mrs Raffa.
(& Not`Styd`Tschowr)
Oh if I could change more than a few things yes I would and I would have climbed farther & more too
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steveA
Trad climber
Wolfeboro, NH
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Apr 14, 2019 - 05:19am PT
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Norm Larson wrote:
"It's a great tribe and most never get to experience that brotherhood in their lives."
So true!
I only have a few minor regrets concerning specific climbs where I either didn't take a camera along, or did, and never took it out of the pack. Wish that I had snapped a few photo's of Voytech Kurtyka on the Walker Spur but we were all too busy, and Charlie Fowler, on a new route in the Wind Rivers, where I didn't take the camera that day.
The last time I climbed with Jim Donini, I didn't take the camera along, and wish that I had a picture of him leading a hard 5.10D pitch up at 12,000 feet.
The majority of the people I know are climbers, and it has been a fun ride. I'm heading out the door in an hour to get on the rock for the 1st time this year.
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Apr 14, 2019 - 05:50am PT
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L, you swam with the Tubes? How can there be regrets?
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Tom Patterson
Trad climber
Seattle
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Apr 14, 2019 - 06:24am PT
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I've loved my life, and love where I am right now.
Along the way, I've lost many friends and acquaintences to climbing (not as many as Roy and others), which is always a tough pill.
I have very, very few regrets in this life. As it relates to climbing, I'd say the only real regret that I have is that I didn't do the RNWF before that section of it sloughed off. I was counting on that staying attached a bit longer...for me.
Thanks, Obama.
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SC seagoat
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, Moab, Bozeman, the ocean, or ?
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Apr 14, 2019 - 10:46am PT
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Not getting enough crack climbing in before my toe got so f*#ked up with osteoarthritis that even looking at a crack sends nausea pains through my body.
Oh yeah, and that time I got some hair caught in my rappell device.
Susan
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Ksolem
Trad climber
Monrovia, California
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 14, 2019 - 11:18am PT
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Shoot I’m sorry some of us are feeling like we need to spend some of our time in the present regretting things in our past, rather than spending that time doing something we’d prefer to do in the present.
The two aren’t mutually exclusive.
It should have been. You know better. All regret is personal.
You left out the second half, “not something like survivor’s guilt.”
Some regrets are more deeply personal than others.
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Sierra Ledge Rat
Mountain climber
Old and Broken Down in Appalachia
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Apr 14, 2019 - 04:09pm PT
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We were climbing in Alaska when two members of our climbing team were killed. Another suffered serious injuries, but he survived with severe permanent disabilities.
I was pretty young at the time, only 19. I was the youngest on the team. I suffered badly from survivor's guilt, didn't even know that the feeling had a clinical definition. Even though I was on another part of the mountain when the accident occurred, I blamed myself. I was so distraught and guilt-ridden that I never saw him in the hospital and never contacted the survivor after he recovered.
That is, until 30 years later. A very strange set of circumstances on the other side of the world in China, and a chance meeting between between two of my old climbing buddies, set into motion a 30-year reunion of the surviving members of the climbing team.
I met the survivor. I met the grown daughter of one of the dead climbers, who was in her mother's womb when her father died.
The survivor cried and hugged me. He didn't blame me, he thanked me for helping with his rescue.
Thirty years of horrible guilt evaporated.
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Ksolem
Trad climber
Monrovia, California
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 14, 2019 - 05:40pm PT
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That's a hell of a thing, SLR. Wow.
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tradmanclimbs
Ice climber
Pomfert VT
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Apr 14, 2019 - 05:41pm PT
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WOW!
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SC seagoat
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, Moab, Bozeman, the ocean, or ?
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Apr 15, 2019 - 07:51am PT
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SLR. That sends shivers up my spine.
Susan
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10b4me
Social climber
Lida Junction
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Apr 15, 2019 - 08:04am PT
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My regret is that I spent too much time climbing, and not enough time doing other things like exploring the world; and now I am too injured to do either.
Relationships suffered because of my "passion".
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Apr 15, 2019 - 09:09am PT
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I’ve two regrets: I didn’t do the Eiger or Cerro Torre.
But I have seen Sumi Jo sing the “Queen of the Night”, a pity it wasn’t while I was finishing the Eiger Exit Chimneys.
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G_Gnome
Trad climber
Cali
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Apr 15, 2019 - 01:25pm PT
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I don't really have any regrets. Sure, some things could have worked out differently but in the end I am pretty satisfied with what I've done. I spent my youth surfing and water skiing and racing motorcycles in the dirt. Then I found climbing! I have made some great friends and had some awesome adventures climbing. I have climbed harder than I probably had any right to. I have been extremely lucky in who I ended up with as partners who were bold and skilled enough to do some fabulous stuff.
I could regret losing my 40s to health problems but when they got solved I was granted over a decade to make up for lost time where my strength, health and enthusiasm were just about unlimited and was able to enjoy another careers worth of hard climbing.
Now that I have sufficiently abused my upper body climbing hard thru my 50s and into my 60s I have found that my lower body actually still works really well and I am enjoying the desire to walk long distances into the hills!
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Gary
Social climber
Desolation Basin, Calif.
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Apr 15, 2019 - 03:34pm PT
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I regret having climbed Carolyn's Rump. I'll never forgive my wife for making me climb that crap.
How many of you have sat at a belay more than halfway up El Cap, staring down at the meadow with the lush river going through it...
Ha! I remember coming down from the north face of Norman Clyde totally parched listening to all that cold water running under the talus. Torture.
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Sierra Ledge Rat
Mountain climber
Old and Broken Down in Appalachia
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Apr 15, 2019 - 06:46pm PT
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How many of you have sat at a belay more than halfway up El Cap, staring down at the meadow with the lush river going through it... Oh, God. That sparkling cold water. Pure torture.
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