Monday, November 3

Scales

Just general thoughts. Will not start writing here about why I climb and so on (save you all the mushy stuff) but I seriously gotta get this off my chest before I explode. Ok.

A question that really ticks me off is something along the lines of "what was the hardest (in terms of grade) route that you did today?" I hate that question. Not "what was the nicest/funniest/challenging/great sequence route that you did today?". Not "what was the route that showed you where you need to improve?". But "what was the hardest". That and "I clinched x place". I do understand that for other people the only way in which they can improve is in a "friendly" (my ass!) competition with other climbers, but it just gets on my nerves sometimes.

Other than the scales of value imposed on us by society, the only scale(s) that I will live by in this life are those that I impose on myself. And the only person that I allow to raise the level of the scale is myself. You are not a better climber than X if you can climb 9a or 12a or V15 or what have you and X cannot. You are not a better climber than X if you spend a week learning the moves on one 8a and then drop like a fly at the first bolt on a 6c, while X has been climbing "with the girls". You are a better climber because last month you couldn't climb 12a because you just couldn't get your mind around dyno-ing from crimps to crimps and now you have improved and you can! The only one that "you" can compare yourself with is you. Period. You are a great climber if you know just how far to push yourself. If you know where your limit is such that you rest and relax even when others are still trying the route. You are a smart mountaineer for example if you know when to call it quits (but that is another lesson).

The scale is not 6c,7a, 7b, 7c etc because when you will not have time to train you will have a meltdown. The scale is easy, ok, still ok, hard, "omg this is not for me". It's "comfortable, challenging, uncomfortable, MENTAL, "I seriously need to improve"". Climbing mates are not A - "climbs 8a", B - "climbs 6c", C - "climbs better than me, still", D - "i don't take climbing advice from her cause she climbs only 6a", ... X - "one of this days I will climb better than him/her", Y - "I did this route and he couldn't". Climbing friends are (will spare the names so as not to get mushy) A - "will not take any bullshit from me so I have to try my best", B - "gives crazy routes", C - "gives routes with crammed moves that I can span, woo hoo", etc.

Humility.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Whao! fiery post.. who sparked it?

claudia said...

nothing, it has been on my mind for a long time now. Guess I got "heated up" again :)

Anonymous said...

tutor szabo!I read up on what perfect numbers are!

-giant ears start to shrink-

btw i used to like reading this sort of stuff, like the golden ratio, the magic of pi, quantum physics etc. but erm my goldfish memory lets things slip quite a fair bit. :\

-small ears start to expand-

let me use my now-giant ears to fan you and cool you down.

-flap flap-

it's as if i'm writing a story-like response here to you. brain goign haywirezzzzzzzzzz byeeeeee

Edwin said...

Hi claud... I am guilty of asking you tt question. sorry man.
Just sincerely wanted to know. yup! didn't know you would be so affected. Sorry pal. =|

claudia said...

haha "irhymewiththewordjumbo" flap your way to the gym! you can do itt!!!

claudia said...

planet, it's not about ur question ... i still don't know what my hardest route was, but i can definitely remember the most fun!