I did my first outdoor lead climbs almost 6 years ago in Nam Pha Pay Ai, Thailand, at the start of my first
travels (read
Nam Pha Pay Ai). Since then climbing has more or less been my passion.
Climbing is an amazing sport, where one has to be strong both
physically and mentally. It requires power, balance, coordination,
tactics, focus and determination. It is maybe the world's best
feeling to climb confidently; staying fully in the moment, executing
precise movement and giving your everything to the route. Not only
has climbing made me stronger (before I could not do even one single
pull-up), but it has taught me how to overcome fear - face it heads
on! - and how to embrace the learning process, taking each lesson as
it comes (read
Climbing: fear of falling) . Through climbing I have learned so much that is also
applicable to other areas of life.
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| Thailand |
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| Thailand |
Climbing has not only been my hobby,
but also my main lifestyle. I have traveled around the world to
explore different climbing areas, and visited places I otherwise
would have never discovered (read
Home at Green Climbers,
Notes about China,
Climbing - what a great excuse,
Home sweet home in Berdorf,
Disaster climbing trip). Through climbing I have gotten to know
people living in alternative ways; priorizing freedom and experiences over stability and wealth. I am pretty convinced that without their
example I would not have had the courage to pursue a new, more
inspiring career. Almost all my closest friends are from climbing,
and being located all over, we meet up regularly in climbing
destinations to spend quality time together. Then there is the great
climbing community, or at least two climbing communities. The first
one is traveling climbers, touring around prime areas, to whom you
keep bumping into from one year to another. The second one is the
local gym crew, that occupies nearby crags at weekends. Both
communities have brought me a sense of belonging over the past years.
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| China |
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| Philippines |
It is hard to imagine my life without
climbing. It has been my identity for so long. During unemployment I
saved money by being a dirtbag climber (read
The sparing lifestyle of a traveler). I quit partying (for most of
the time) in order to have productive climbing days. I even picked my
country of living because there is lots of climbing around. Of course
there are also other important and interesting things, but climbing
has been the focus of my free time already for years. I have missed
cool art exhibitions and street fests because after
work I have gone to the gym to hang from the fingerboard. I have not
seen much of the impressive mountains and cute villages of my new
home country, because at weekends I have visited my project routes
(of which I have not sent any) at the crags.
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| Switzerland |
During my last travels I climbed more
consistently than ever and enjoyed it a lot. Then came Corona,
locking me home for a few months, unable to train climbing. During
that time I started to do other things, like yoga, reading and
exploring the neighborhood. Although everything was closed down,
somehow I found new interests. Or I finally had time to do things
that had already earlier interested me. After gyms opened again and
people returned to crags, I kept finding excuses to not to get back
into climbing shape just yet. I went outdoor climbing once in a while
but climbed badly; I was scared of falling and did not want to do
strenuous moves anyways.
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| Spain |
This past weekend I was climbing at my
favorite crag with lots of pockets on slightly overhang endurance
climbs. I ended up projecting my last year's warm-up. The grade I
climb has stopped mattering to me already a long time ago (as I have
no talent to be a good climber), but I enjoy the personal progress
and accessing new cool routes as I keep improving. However, what hit
me the most, was the realization that I had not really had fun
climbing since my travels. I had just climbed because I had to. I
spent the night on my own at a campsite and thought a lot about
climbing; what it means to me right now and what I want to do with it
in the near future.
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| Switzerland |
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| Greece |
A part of me totally resisted the idea
of admitting that I am not motivated to climb anymore. I pictured
myself unfit and fat (not a joke!) and got scared of loosing my
friendships. Quitting climbing would definitely distance me from some
people, but probably in the end it would be an interesting experiment
to find out who I am truly friends with. At the same time another
part of me was overly excited about having time for other interests.
Already for months I had looked at friends' mountaineering
photos and envied them for accessing such stunning, scary and unique
places. I also want to explore the mountains; by hiking, learning
to ski and taking some easy alpine courses. I thought about attending
yoga retreats, studying German grammar (yes, very exciting), going on
bike rides, learning photography, dating guys from Tinder, doing
voluntary work, visiting museums, attending interesting lectures and
what not... Surely just by quitting climbing, whilst working 100% (I
am gonna get my 80% contract, but that is another topic), I would not
miraculously gain time for all of that. But surely I would have time to
pursue at least a few new interesting things.
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| Greece |
In the end I concluded that I need not
be over dramatic. I am not going to sell all my gear and announce
that I am no climber anymore. Since I have my climbing gym membership
I will keep training indoors, as it is an efficient workout and the
home gym is dear to me. However, for the time being I will not climb
outdoors. I will engage in activities and learn skills that I am more curious about. I feel that climbing has taught me a lot over the
years, but from now on additional learning would be marginal. I have
more learning potential through other things. And above all, what I do during my free time should be fun at the moment. That being said, no one
knows about the future. Maybe already this winter I will be super
motivated again and crush some rad climbs. But until then, I am
looking forward to something different...
(Oh man, so many climbing photos of me. I feel totally self-centered posting all of them. But in the end, the topic of this post is me and climbing.)
