I love the challenge of rock climbing. Its pretty straight forward, you start at the bottom and then claw your way to the top.
When you are first starting out, it can be something that requires brute force and a persistence to push through challenges or obstacles. As you progress, you learn techniques to overcome challenges and it becomes more graceful. The experts make it look like an art form, like a gymnast or a martial artist. There’s a gracefulness and a flow to it. You can become one with the rock, and feel like you belong there, hanging off a cliff, above the tree line where the sun is shining and the mountain breeze is blowing.
I’m not an adrenaline junkie by any means, but in my experience you really feel alive when you push the limits a little bit or push yourself to work around or reach a balance with basic fears like a fear of heights or a fear of falling. You get a rush and can find a focus that you might not feel in everyday life.
Safety, of course, is critical and using systems to insure that you are protected is a key aspect of being safe. Climbing is a team sport that requires a strong balance of personal skill and cooperation with your partner, but you can also have the experience of feeling that its you alone against the rock and sometimes the elements.
This picture was taken at the end of the second day of a two day rock climbing trip to the Gunks outside New Paltz, New York. The area is beautiful and is well known for its many climbing routes. Unfortunately I forgot the name of the route I’m rappelling here, but I’m about to drop off an overhang, which left me hanging in space 200 feet above the ground. It was a pretty cool feeling. After I got to the bottom, I watched a guy climb the same route with only 4 pieces of gear (I think). He didn’t put in the first until about 70 or 80 feet off the ground. Pretty amazing.
I know it’s a long shot, but if anyone knows what route this might be, post a comment and let me know!
