Rock Passion

I'm writing this post for a couple of reasons, the major two being I'm bored at work and need some kind of entertainment and the secondary one is I wanted to take a moment to write about the revelatory joys of teaching someone a passion. My roommate Ben (after much persuasion and cries of I'm scared of heights!) has just decided to take up climbing (SWEET!) and is taking to it like a fish to water. I took him bouldering yesterday and except for the few classic newbie things that happened he seemed to really enjoy it. In fact he even took a pretty highball fall and shook it right off and bounced back on the rocks. I gave a few pointers and other than that he seems to be pulling at the reins to keep trying other problems. Watching someone discover the joy that comes with a new hobby or sport especially one like climbing gives a great perspective into your own climbing. Along with the inevitable ebs and flows its awesome to be with someone whose so excited to be doing it that it doesn't matter if it's a V0 or a V25 that they're sending, they're just happy to be out. Reminds me of the importance of process, as the lonely climber meditating on top of their spire would say.
Stereo-Ben Harper-Burn One Down

Climbing Wisdom

I found this quote on Mountain Project this morning and loved the essence of it so much that I thought I'd post it for those of you who think that climbing high mountains and cliffs might be slightly wacko. I think it sums it up well.
'The story of mountaineering is a story of faith and affirmation-that the high road is the good road; that there are still among us those who are willing to struggle and suffer greatly for wholly ideal ends; that security is not the be-all and end-all of living; that there are conquests to be won in the world other than over our fellow man. The climbing of the earth's heights in itself means little. That men want and try to climb them means everything. For it is the ultimate wisdom of the mountains that man is never so much a man as when he is striving for what is beyond his grasp, and that there is no battle worth the winning save that against his own ignorance and fear.'

- From "The Age of Mountaineering"
Cheers to that!

Toppin' Out

Rough week. And I mean really rough week at work. I have no intention of getting uber sappy and venting my primordial angst of my job on this website as that is exactly NOT why I started this blog. I want to meditate instead on the relieving pressure of rock on hands, of hitting a hold that you missed last time, of topping out a bouldering problem that scared you so much last time that you got half way up and then came down. It's amazing how a modicum of tunnel vision and fear coupled with a few solid deep breaths, can wipe away a seemingly city full of negativity. Perhaps this is where the void is, this is why one risks the Big Splat and finds themselves with no rope 15 feet up on a cliff face with nothing but rock beneath them and adrenaline coursing oxygen to their muscles. All the minor cares seem to fade away as one thought remains, "Will my fingers hold this rock or am I going to break my leg?" It's a zen feeling putting yourself towards that moment, and then, even when fear is gripping you, to push through and still move up, to that moment where the problem disappears and you find yourself on top of your nemesis/lover/guru.
I can find no photo that defines this moment of clarity in my photography collection, so I leave you with a thousand words instead.