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salathiel
Feb 23, 2005, 12:03 AM
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This question has been posted before, but not in these exact words. Most asked when one becomes a climber, or when one considers someone else a climber. The question here is when did you consider yourself a climber, ie described yourself as a climber. I think there is an important distinction here and I look forward to the responses.
For me: It was when I started looking out my car window and in movie backgrounds wondering if the rocks I saw were climbable.
Blur
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rockrat_co
Feb 23, 2005, 12:23 AM
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I considered myself a climber when i started climbing...same goes for everyone else i see climbing..
later,
rockrat_co
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tattooed_climber
Feb 23, 2005, 12:32 AM
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after my first gear lead.....i still had 2.5 years of pulling plastic, bouldering and sport before that (and seconding gear).....
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livingtheedge
Feb 23, 2005, 12:44 AM
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I considered myself a climber when the interest became a passion. I don’t think becoming a climber depends on the amount of time climbing or the amount of gear owned. Instead you make the change from person that climbs to climber when you develop the burning desire to climb harder, go higher, learn more and when you generally cant stop thinking about the sport. You physical abilities really have nothing to do with it with the exception that you have to climb something.
On the other hand I consider someone to START climbing when they buy their first pair of shoes. This does not make them a climber but that is the point where the person makes the first financial commitment to the sport.
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caughtinside
Feb 23, 2005, 12:50 AM
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When I got my first Nalgene, I knew I had arrived.
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mandrake
Feb 23, 2005, 12:55 AM
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Ha, ha, this brings back a memory. I was a gumby toproper when I was a college student back in the late 80's, doing TR's in the then-newly-established New River Gorge when I ran into a famous first ascentionist in the area. I was babbling on in my nooby enthusiasm when I said something about being a climber. He stopped me, and as gently as he could said something to the effect that he didn't consider people who couldn't safely lead a route on gear to be climbers.
I was a little taken aback and hurt at the time. Now that I lead, I understand what he was saying and I agree with him. I wasn't a climber until I did my first lead.
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micronut
Feb 23, 2005, 1:02 AM
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In reply to: The question here is when did you consider yourself a climber, ie described yourself as a climber.
years ago, when i was younger and more immature.
now, i'm just a guy who climbs.
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salathiel
Feb 23, 2005, 1:09 AM
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I like the answer Micronut. I think you have successfully dissected the simplicity of the question. It does not bode well for us that we describe ourselves by our work...or does it? What we do in our spare time does not wholly define us. I think a better way of phrasing my own question is, when did you feel the moment passing from bumbling gumby to being more af a journeyman. When did climbing really begin to matter for you? Not necessarily the moment this transition took place, but when you became conscious of it.
It is sort of like falling in love. When does the love truly occur?
Blur
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republiclimber
Feb 23, 2005, 1:10 AM
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i mostly boulder cause it's convient, but i started to consider myself a climber when i started going more than once a month and more like at least once a week.
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stardrivin
Feb 23, 2005, 1:16 AM
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i'll let you know (maybe after i solo the eiger, but we'll see....)
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8flood8
Feb 23, 2005, 1:33 AM
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The first time i felt like a climber was when i was up on a wall....
i was throwing for something with my left hand, it was a static deadpoint and my right hand (strong hand) blew.... just as my left hand snatched the rock. My feet blew and i was hanging from my weak arm, but i stuck it. That move made me feel like a climber.
i like the absence of ego in micronut's post.
Maybe i felt 'accomplished' in the narrative of above.
Truly, was i a climber the first day i got up a TR route at E-rock and loved the feeling - knowing this would become a lifestyle for me?
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dingus
Feb 23, 2005, 1:44 AM
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In reply to: It does not bode well for us that we describe ourselves by our work...or does it?
Smith
Miller
Barber
Plumber
Carpenter
Courier
Baker
Cheers!
DMT
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sandbag
Feb 23, 2005, 1:54 AM
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In reply to: In reply to: The question here is when did you consider yourself a climber, ie described yourself as a climber. years ago, when i was younger and more immature. now, i'm just a guy who climbs.
Ditto, you beat me to it.
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salathiel
Feb 23, 2005, 1:59 AM
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So Dingus, does this make you a dingus, or a miquetoast?
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dingus
Feb 23, 2005, 2:06 AM
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In reply to: So Dingus, does this make you a dingus, or a miquetoast?
Milk... toast. Come on, spell it with me bro!
M I L K T O A S T
None of that pansy old world spelling for this Merkin.
DMT
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ambler
Feb 23, 2005, 2:16 AM
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When I was starting out, just about every climb or scramble felt like a breakthrough. For instance, there was the great day when I did my first first ascent.
I had just finished reading issue #1 of Ascent and was all psyched by the heroic tales about real climbers. I wanted to be a real climber too, which I took to mean doing first ascents. Friend and I hiked up to this scrappy hundred-foot cliff in the foothills, and I just took off and led it. At the time I'd led only a few pitches and owned just two pitons and a few slings for protection. It was probably about 5.3, but I felt mighty bold running it out 20 feet past a slung flake, with no promise of what was to come. Reaching the top, I imagined a kinship with those guys climbing Everest and El Cap.
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hibby11
Feb 23, 2005, 2:24 AM
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Once I bought a harness and shoes I realized I was in the fast lane towards addiction. Thus that was the point I considered myself a climber
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jackhammer
Feb 23, 2005, 2:59 AM
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When I stopped worrying about it...
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kriso9tails
Feb 23, 2005, 3:02 AM
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'Twas a stormy July night back in ninety-six. It had been raining hard for the better part of the past three days, which at first was a welcome change from what seemed like and endless wave of humid, sticky heat, but now felt like a prison.
I was growing restless. Video games and tv re-runs had lost their charm and the fridge was running low on items not coated in blue, black and green fuzz. The perfect balance of hunger and sleep-deprivation was manifesting in my alreadly largely fermented brain to form a mild insanity.
I paced back and forth in the living room of my dingy little bachelor apartment debating if I should hop down to the corner store and get myself something to eat or not. I shivered at the thought of venturing out into the deluge, but hunger won out in the end and I donned my coat and pulled the hood tight so that no more than my nose and half of each eye remained visible.
I welcomed the sound of the bell fixed to the door of the convenience store as I stumbled through, soaked to the bone. My feet carried me by habit to the chocolate bar rack, leaving behind my a small river. I licked my lips looking through the broad selection and after an in depth evaluation of my options decided on a Snickers bar. I grabbed one from the rack, then reached into my pocket only to realise I had no money. After a panicked search of my person I produced, to my dismay, no more than thirty-two cents.
Now, normally I would never do such a thing, but I was starved and the weather was too harsh for a second trip, so I figured with all the times I just left my change from other purchases that it was breaking even that I just pocket the candy bar and walk out. I did so, trying to act confident, but I swore the proprietor knew what was up. He opened his mouth as I approached as if to say, "The jig is up! I'm calling the cops so enjoy your last few breaths as a free man." but was givin no more than an emotionless "Some storm." My heart felt as if it would explode walking past, but it managed to hold as I mumbles some inane response and the hurried out the door.
Before the door had even managed to close itself again I had already darted down the block and around the corner where I stood huddled under the awning of a restaurant waiting for my pulse to slow as a sense of relief slowly washed over me. This relief, however, was short lived. Around the corner, back from where I had just come, I could hear footsteps in the rain. I peeked around the corner and saw ther the clerk from the store fast approaching. I realized that I had been found out. I knew it was over for me and that he would have sent off to jail or worse... he would make me give back the Snickers.
"No!" I shouted in my head. I wasn't going to let that happen. The foosteps came closer. I held my breath. Closer. I raised my fist. Closer. His head popped around and I whacked him in the back of the skull. As I hit him I swore I heard a crunch. He dropped with a thud and down with his body went my heart into the pit of my stomach as I saw in horror that he carried in his left hand one of my sandals. It must have come off in my escape and he had just been on his way to see if he could return it to me.
I checked for a pulse, but found none. I looked for any sign of life but could find nothing. With firm resolve and some renewed energy from the chocolate I managed to ditch the body making sure to remove all of his money from his wallet before I tossed him into a river.
The next day the weather cleared and this stray dog came up and started humping my leg, but that has nothing to do with this story.
Later that week I went to the climbing gym and with the money I stole from the dead man's wallet I bought my first one year membership. It was at that moment, July 18th 1996 at 4:05pm that I considered myself a climber.
To anyone who read that... I m sorry. There's nothing on tv, I don't have a book or any money to go out and do something and I'm super bored.
I considered myself a climber when I started leading sport, but now I just consider myself a poser.
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yorb
Feb 23, 2005, 4:27 AM
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When other people describe you as a climber, that's when your a climber to them. Titles and labels are meaningless to me, they don't have any bearing on what I do. So I haven't led anything outside yet (although I'm confident in my ability to do so), but I climb, and I love it, so am I REALLY a Climber? I really could care less what anyone on this forum, or anyone else for that matter, says or thinks.
Sorry, this was more like pooping on your question then answering it.
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mack_north
Feb 23, 2005, 4:30 AM
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When I got my logon and password for rockclimbing.com
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bouldering_fool
Feb 23, 2005, 4:49 AM
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kriso9tails, that was an awesome story.
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onsight_endorphines
Feb 23, 2005, 5:07 AM
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Electronics has been a passion of mine since I was a child. Literally when I was in diapers, I had to go find what I called my "480 socket" (a gadget my dad brought home for me) before I would go to bed. To make a long story short, electronics has been my life since I was a child, and I'm now a self-taught engineer.
A year went by before I realized that electronics had taken second place to climbing - both time-wise and financially. I also realized that I had never questioned it, not even once, and that's when I recognized myself as a climber.
- Sitting here, still in my climbing shoes...
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turn
Feb 23, 2005, 5:52 AM
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I live near the beach in the Southeast. All I get to do is climb at a gym and occasionally make a road trip to do some bouldering. Am I still a climber? I'd like to think so, but maybe I'm not since I don't have a chance to do any lead climbing on even an occasional basis.
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