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Greg Miller
climber
Sunnyvale, CA
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Mar 19, 2005 - 03:59am PT
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Tears came to my eyes right before leading Triple Cracks on The Shield at the ripe age of eighteen.
Best climb of my life.
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kev
climber
CA
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Mar 19, 2005 - 05:40am PT
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Altitude sickness on lost horse in j-tree (hot chic)
some 5.6 thing on the hogsback (hot chic but a needy stripper)
had a chic almost cry on the 'approach' to goat rock in CRSP two augusts ago (yes it was still the same stripper)
rapping the arches in the dark (a friend of mine but still a chic-the penje killed her)
hmmm I think there must be more but...ask me in a few months ;)
GREAT POST
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nature
climber
Flagstaff, AZ
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Mar 19, 2005 - 10:03am PT
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Mei said " I don't think a whiny baby (guy or gal) can become a top notch climber though, because real climbing intrinsically requires self-sufficiency"
Durnit it... now at least I know what's held me back all these years.
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dougs510
Trad climber
Nashville, TN.
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Mar 19, 2005 - 09:13pm PT
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The decent from Cathedral when she got the rope stuck after insisting on a rappal. I guess I lost my cool and bitched.... then she cried.
I felt bad until a knat got stuck in my throat just as I reached my water after hours w/out any.
just about lost my cookies trying to cough up that knat.
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Brutus of Wyde
climber
Old Climbers' Home, Oakland CA
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Mar 20, 2005 - 01:09am PT
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I cry just about every morning that I'm slated to lead something. Comes out sounding like retching though, so no one knows...
oops...
(sniffs, wipes eyes, retches, wipes eyes again)
Brutus
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Mar 20, 2005 - 01:55am PT
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I think the only climbs I have cried on where very long approaches (and returns) when, generally on return, I wished the whole thing would be over. I remember doing Mt. Owens in the Tetons in a day from the Ranch... since I was wearing plastic boots my feet were hating me at about hour 20. We were in bed at hour 22 but those two hours were not happy.
Also being out on the Saskatchewan glacier for a long time, one day alone, but that was an ego crisis a la a spirit journey...
On rock climbs I can't remember crying, perhaps I'm not putting myself in enough pain? My expressions of frustration are suppressed, don't want to freak out the partners... usually when the mojo gets weird I take it as a sign to bail.
I have climbed with partners who are either scared or frustrated enough to really cry. It's just part of the package with some people.
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nature
climber
Flagstaff, AZ
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Mar 20, 2005 - 02:07am PT
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Hey OW - do me a favor... ask the compliance officerETTE to leave the toys behind (no pun intended). I really need to sit in front of my computer and well... sittin' is not an option at this point (again, no pun intended).
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Jaybro
Social climber
The West
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Mar 20, 2005 - 02:09am PT
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If i'm not crying (on some level) I'm not really having fun.
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Bruce Morris
Social climber
Belmont, California
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Mar 20, 2005 - 03:05am PT
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I watched Beth Wald scream and cry and kick and punch the rock when she had to hang on Adreneline at the base of Serenity Crack in YV (and I didn't say a thing).
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Mungeclimber
Social climber
N. California
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Mar 20, 2005 - 04:12am PT
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since when is whining not kosher?
jeez, i've had some patient partners then.
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healyje
Trad climber
Portland, Oregon
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Mar 20, 2005 - 04:43am PT
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Shouldn't the title be amended to this to be fair:
"Routes I have had girls and girlie men cry on!"
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OW
Trad climber
Patagonia
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Mar 20, 2005 - 07:25am PT
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Nature said:
"Hey OW - do me a favor... ask the compliance officerETTE to leave the toys behind (no pun intended). I really need to sit in front of my computer and well... sittin' is not an option at this point (again, no pun intended). "
I'll modify her work order...
Note to self: be sure to tell Bobby at Hermaphrodite Compliance Inc. to go down a half size and add more lube on Nature's next treatment.
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nature
climber
Flagstaff, AZ
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Mar 20, 2005 - 10:42am PT
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it was Pat, not Bobby that brought the toys. Maybe Bobby is Pat's boss? A switch to astroglide would do wonders.
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Mei
Trad climber
Bay Area
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Mar 20, 2005 - 01:02pm PT
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What does cry have to do with girlie men? If someone tells me matter-of-factly he has never ever cried or felt tears swell up, unless he has some sort of gland disorder, I'd think his heart is made of rock. Besides a natural response to pain, crying can be associated with sorrow, grief, sympathy, extreme relief, and sometimes gratitude. True, to most people, crying often can be a sign of weakness -- life is just not dramatic enough to have so many things to cry about. However, a climber, I'm referring to a climber who pushes himself by climbing harder and going farther, will likely experience extreme exertion that evolves into enormous pain, the scale of which can be beyond a couch potato's imagination. If you are a frequent movie goer, there are always some movies that can pull your strings too -- that is if you do have some soft spots in your heart. The point I'm trying to make is: crying is not necessarily a sign of weakness; but whining is.
Hehe :) I'm also paving my way here. If I break my ankles (knock on the wood) during a lead fall in the future, I can't guarantee that there will be no tears, but I'll sure try not to whine. Who wants to be a girlie girl? Oh wait, maybe I do.
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macgyver
Social climber
Oregon, but now in Europe
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Mar 22, 2005 - 10:36am PT
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Ok...I will bite.
I have cried EXACTLY ONCE while climbing. True Story.
It was my first trip to Yosemite and my very inexperienced buddy and I were going to climb Snake Dike. I got offroute on the third pitch (ended up climbing the offroute dike for quite a ways), realized I was no longer in 5.7 terrain, decided to traverse left across gnarly and evil friction (WAY HARD) and end up within a few feet of the SECOND bolt on the onroute dike.
Foot skates, I have tons of rope out, I take the skin shredder from hell past my belayer all the way to the 1st pitch anchors. My hands take 3-4 weeks to heal.
I was so upset (not from pain) for letting down my mate because I knew we had to retreat that I choked up as I tried to apologize with blood all over myself and the rock. I am not the type of guy to let down his friends...ever. And here I was the one that compromised the route.
My partner, the best climbing partner you can imagine, rigged the retreat, helped clean my hands at the base, cracked open our summit beers at the base, and made the descent down without ever saying a bad word. He even had the grace to make me feel like I was the tough one.
So there...my own crying story.
McG
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Josh Higgins
Trad climber
San Diego
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Mar 22, 2005 - 10:24pm PT
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The last time I remember climbing with someone who cried was my wife on RNWFHD. She had been climbing a little under a year and managed to follow me up that 20+ pitch sucker. Mad props to her for jugging so many pitches. She fell twice following the Thank God Traverse and sprained her ankle. She cried more out of exhaustion than anything since she didn't complain at all during the whole hike out. Less than a year later we went back to the Valley and she lead every pitch of WFLT, what a champ!
"I try to avoid climbing anything runout, wider than fists, and harder than 5.9+ when accompanied by girls..."
My wife has lead stuff that meets all that criteria in J-Tree. She rules!
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Claude
climber
where I'll end up
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Mar 23, 2005 - 11:26am PT
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uh... the 5.7 beginner route at the gym... my wife.
sweet.
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Chiloe
Trad climber
Lee, NH
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Mar 23, 2005 - 12:23pm PT
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Four or five pitches up on Osiris, at Lumpy Ridge. My then-girlfriend got sand in her contact lenses. As she was trying miserably to clean them with nothing, a fall blizzard hit.
That was many, many years ago, but she still reminds me about it now and then. Along with other stories of this type.
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Fungus Amongus
Big Wall climber
Single Cell
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Mar 23, 2005 - 12:36pm PT
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My significant single cell-mate emitted some moisture while leading The Souvenier (.10d) at Tahquitz. Me? Runout and whipping to the deck on 'Unknown' at JT. .... Boo hoo!
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Pewf
climber
san diego
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Mar 24, 2005 - 06:45pm PT
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Maybe I've cried more than any other climber ever?
All of summer of 1990. Wanted to learn so bad but I was so afraid of heights that I cried on every toprope. Boyfriend used to drop me the first 10 feet of every lower and laugh.
Ankle dislocation at east cottage dome.
Boulder Rock Club trying to climb in cast from aforementioned injury couldn't haul up anything.
Winter season in Josh a few years ago came down with Raynaud's syndrome and had to give up finger cracks then hand cracks and finally cracked and had a tantrum when I couldn't even climb OW without my hands going numb.
Dry heaving and tears, multiple hand warm-up periods ice climbing and from Raynaud's.
Scotland, hiked all the way up to some winter route that I didn't want to leave without. Found that tricep was in fact torn and had to bail after 15 feet.
Mom and I knocked over by lightning peak bagging.
Trying to fall asleep on a wall solo, too scared, missing my cat.
Epicing on some stupid 5.8 flare on Lower Cathedral, belayer commenting on traffic in the valley.
It goes on and on and on and on.
But one time I beat Pappen at pool in Boulder.
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