Why do we climb?
Why do we climb? It hurts. It smells. Your toenails fall off. Your skin gets wrecked. If you’ve got a cute, expensive lil’ balayage going, good luck keeping that shit hydrated. You always feel like you’re either melting or freezing on the wall. And beyond the body-wreckage (did I mention the scrapes, the bruises, the blood, the chipped teeth, the torn tendons, the broken bones?), there’s the rest of your life that climbing destroys: your car, your bank account, your time, your relationships, your sanity, your sense of self-worth. It’s a lot of pain and suffering, is what I’m saying. And for what? So you get to stand on top of a rock? We all know there are simpler ways up.
Lander, Wyoming. Photo by Brian Cornelius.
While I was in Mexico throwing myself at a 1500 foot wall for three months, I met the following:
A climber with a drone that asked us if we wanted to be filmed one day, who decided - after hearing about our project - that he’d stay and help out another three weeks, uncompensated, just because climbing and filmmaking excited him.
An 11 year old that sent his first 11c, belayed by his ecstatic, very supportive father.
The founder of She Moves Mountains, leading a climbing retreat, and her all-woman guide team.
An old friend that I met in Wyoming ages ago, and his very lovely partner.
The creator and editor of The Climbing Zine, who gave me some much needed Benadryl after I got swarmed by hundreds of bees in the middle of a climb.
The producer of Suenos de Altura, who is exactly my height, who showed me that this impossible-feeling 12a was actually possible by floating up it, by belaying me and teaching me that in Mexico, the battle cry isn’t just, “Come on!” it’s “A muerte!” which means, “To the death!”
Eating guacamole at Leo’s Tacos
El Potrero Chico, Mexico
And that’s just the start. That doesn’t count all the tacos eaten together, the beers and margaritas guzzled down after a hot day. That doesn’t count all the potatoes my partner cooked in the mornings to fuel us for a hard climb.
So maybe that’s the why. Maybe you, my fellow climber, are the reason why I climb.
