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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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