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spidergirl
Apr 17, 2002, 3:33 AM
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did you ever feel like you were just not cut out for the typical "team" sports? that was me, i just didnt fit in with the volleyball, basketball or soccer players etc..
i work out like crazy and enjoy being active but was looking for a sport that would still challenge me. as soon as i tried climbing, i was hooked. its always just me and the rock out there. no team, no scores, no pressure. i love it!
[ This Message was edited by: spidergirl on 2002-04-21 18:08 ]
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psalmadventurer
Apr 19, 2002, 3:52 AM
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hey i am a Christian too. i never really thought i would climb. i hike a lot in the summers in colorado. i knew some hikes i wanted to do that could require basic climbing. God did the rest seriously. i walk into the gym and find out that they have a climbing tower + are going to be offering classes. anyways, i took the classes, and i am hooked. not really but i like climbing a lot. i am not into really painful climbs tho w/ like no holds. i climb just for fun + it is a great workout. one day i would like 2 be a missionary to climbers/hikers.
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bkpkrn
Apr 19, 2002, 5:09 AM
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I started for the wrong reason. I was out with a large group one day and everyone else was climbing, I had never had a real urge though. Everyone thought they were so great because the could make it half-way up a single pitch decked out in cool new gear, I couldn't resist trying to show them up. I don't know the rating, but I did the full route in baggy jeans and Doc Martens just to show everyone else up.
Then I got hooked, I saw climbing as a way to personally grow both mentally and physically. Another reason I climb is the same that I backpack, to bring myself closer to nature. Klymer had it right about doing something that 99.9% of people either can't do, or choose not to. Just my two cents.
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hang_man
Apr 19, 2002, 11:30 AM
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well I started climbing because I found it different from other extreme sports (and I love it because I consider it extreme) Climbing also allows me to vent out all my frustration inside me resulted from loads and loads of homework.. haha..
anyway I find climbing a very specialised and professional sport
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dougiec
Apr 19, 2002, 2:01 PM
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Hi folks, new here, but I thought this looked like a safe topic to introduce myself on....
Started climbing last year when the foot and mouth epidemic hit the UK. I'm a paddler, and all of a sudden the hills and rivers were closed. Had to do something to get my weekly rush, so I went down to the local indoor wall. Been going along two or three times a week since (excluding injury time last summer).
Paddling's still more of an adrenalin hit, but I sefinately start getting stressed after a week without climbing!
Later,
Dougie
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azgirlontherock
Apr 19, 2002, 7:57 PM
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HI everyone
I'm VERY new to the sport of climbing. (Just a few months) I started climbing with my boyfriend because he loved it, it was something we could do together. I've never been involved in a sport (I've played volleryball, softball, soccer etc.) that made you challenge yourself as much as rock climbing does. For this reason I am hooked. I also love the fact that I can do a complete body work out with no equipment! It's just you and a wall or you and a rock.
[ This Message was edited by: azgirlontherock on 2002-04-19 13:06 ]
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hang_man
Apr 20, 2002, 6:27 AM
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in fact I do kayaking as well, but then again, it depends on the weather... at least you can hit down the indoor gym when it is raining, right?
Somehow I find paddling too time consuming
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stinkydiver
Sep 9, 2002, 1:58 AM
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I started climbing for strength training. I broke my back in 1999 and was lucky to be able to walk again. In 2001 I went with a friend to CITY ROCK climbing gym (NZ) and I was hooked. It took just over 6 months to get the muscles around the injury back to normal and I have never looked back.
[ This Message was edited by: stinkydiver on 2002-09-08 19:01 ]
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galt
Sep 9, 2002, 2:12 AM
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I climb for the chicks... Nothing beats a chick who can flash something or work a good crack. Climbing guys, I'm talking about climbing routes and cracks.
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the_elk
Sep 9, 2002, 2:35 AM
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I started climbing because I was invited on a climbing weekend by a mate, it was basically a dare, but growing up with 4 older brothers, there was no way I was gonna be beaten.
I also needed to defeat a demon, I witnessed a mate of mine, 3 years previous to the date I did my first climb fall about 24feet onto his head and die. I needed to do it for ME! I needed to prove I was stronger than the fear or pain. I won!
I continue to climb, (5, no, 6 years on) because it's a challenge! I'm fiercly competative in the gym, always launching an attack on a new problem.
On the real rock it's more of a spiritual thing. It's about the mental, and physical boundaries I have to break through every time I get back on the rock. There's no greater feeling than knowing you've put your absolute all into something and come off the rock at the end of the day a winner, even if you didn't clean the route, it's about giving your all and fighting your mental barriers... yeah, that's what it is for me.
cheers
Elk
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towergod
Sep 9, 2002, 2:45 AM
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Because i am fat and someone said that i can't. That person soon found himself looking like a fool when he could not do it when he was 20 pounds lighter than me.
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agentoffortune
Sep 9, 2002, 2:49 AM
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I started climbing for the social scene. My friend is a climber so I thought it would be cool. Then I got really into it. Now, I eat, sleep, and crap climbing. It hurts when I crap though. The rocks don't pass so easily.
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squirrelgirl
Sep 9, 2002, 3:27 AM
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It all started one plain ol' day when I found out that our local court club had a climbing room. The walls just don't get much publicity cuz they're so small. I decided to give a try at rock climbing. Loved it. I climbed there every chance I got which, quite frankly, wasn't a lot. Around the spring I tried climbing in a small competition held in that little climbing room and got 3rd in my division. I placed behind two girls who were on the climbing team. That's where I got the idea to join the team. Been climbing once or twice a week all summer and I'm really into it! Now that I've bored you with my life story, I've got one last thing two say:
Birds fly,
Fish swim,
Deer run,
We climb!
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katydid
Sep 9, 2002, 12:10 PM
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It's something I'd wanted to try for quite some time. I'd rappelled at summer camp when I was eleven, and my uncle, who's 3 years older than I am, is a decent and dedicated sport climber. AND I grew up in Oregon, where it seems like a disproportionate number of people climb, so it's hard not to see it somewhere and get curious.
When I was younger, though, I was a competitive fencer, so climbing wasn't an option. Didn't have the time, didn't have the money, and even if I had the first two, I didn't want to risk getting hurt climbing and ending up not being able to fence.
To make a short story long, I got hurt fencing and ended up not being able to fence, and from that injury developed osteoarthritis in my knee. Can't do any exercise with impact. I was going nuts and getting fat from being sedentary, and my knee doc told me to find a low-impact sport (meaning not constant pounding -- if I crater it's not exactly relevant what condition my knee's in ). The two he suggested were swimming and rock climbing.
I hate swimming, so I decided to go to the local rock gym with a friend and have a go to see if I actually liked it as much as I thought I would. And I did, and here I am.
Kate
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radistrad
Sep 9, 2002, 1:44 PM
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Registered: Feb 25, 2002
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Why can I not stop?
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hroldan
Sep 9, 2002, 2:25 PM
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Since I was a child i always got on the furniture until reaching the top.
When I saw somebody climbing I't didn't clicked me but when I had the chance to do it... I couldn't stop.
It was a mixture of a lot of things: curiosity, experimentation, trying to know what it feels like...
But know, I can't find a reason for why I CAN'T stop.
I'm addicted and when I ask to myself why i can't stop and i'm buying expensive gear to continue, I come with a lot of answers but not the ultimate one.
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betaben
Sep 9, 2002, 2:49 PM
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Registered: Sep 3, 2002
Posts: 726
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I took my son to the local rec.center where we have a climbing wall to let him give it a try. (he was 3 at the time). I had to give it a go and have been hooked ever since.
I think that some people do not simply choose to climb. Everybody tries to give some explantion for it, I have decided to just climb and not worry about the reason. If your'e not a climber you cannot understand, and if you are a climber then you already know. Besides I believe that all climbers are just drifting around doing different things until that moment when climbing finds you.
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camhead
Sep 9, 2002, 3:11 PM
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Why Paul Climbs:
It is all about problem solving, and extending your limits, all by way of physical conditioning and mental control. Furthermore, this is all accomplished in a beautiful outdoor environment, and with significant risks if your skills are nor up to par. All types of climbing are valid in this sense.
Sport: Nothing else compares to finding a climb that completely kicks your heinie, and then, a few tries later, whooping it. Failure, failure, and then finally– success. Beautiful.
Trad: it is the fine art of finding that medium, that balance, that is right on thee edge of recklessness, but not there. Just the right amount of pump that you can just barely place gear, and then press onward, upward.
I'm not sure if this is why I started, though. I was just bored at first.
[ This Message was edited by: camhead on 2002-09-09 08:13 ]
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ropegirl
Sep 10, 2002, 8:49 PM
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Registered: Apr 29, 2002
Posts: 54
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I started because somebody told me they didn't think I could do it. I wanted to prove them wrong. I did. Now I'm hooked.
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mother_sheep
Sep 10, 2002, 9:08 PM
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I have no idea why I started. When I lived in Louisiana 2 years ago, I'd watch all these adventure shows of people climbing and I thought they (the climbers) were nuts! Then I moved to Colorado. One day I just walked into this climbing gym that I always drove by and decided that I wanted to give it a shot; so I got a lesson. Ever since then I've been climbing. Now I do it because I LOVE being outdoors, I love rock, I love the shape it gets me in, I love the gear, I LOVE defying gravity and seeing things from a prospective that others normally don't, I love being high up and in general of all the sports I've participated in, climbers seem to be sooo freakin cool. Awwww. . . can I get a hug.. .
[ This Message was edited by: tracyroach on 2002-09-10 14:09 ]
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drector
Sep 10, 2002, 9:15 PM
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I started because I built a simple child's climbing wall for my daughter so that she could have a sort of "jungle gym" in the house. It attracted me so I started to climb too.
Why I climb?... It fulfills a natural animal instinct and gives me satisfaction that I cannot quantify. It has no logical reason but part of my brain says I like it so I do it.
Success at climbing has also brought positive feedback to the system making me like it more.
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rockchick
Sep 10, 2002, 9:28 PM
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Posts: 35
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I started climbing because i have a need for excitement, i love the rush of extreme sports and i guess rock climbing could be called extreme. I love the thrill of things, i guess thats why i also fly choppers and just got into riding dirt bikes.
What can i say, i was born into a mans world and made it my own!
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crankingclimber
Sep 10, 2002, 9:35 PM
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It was supposed to be the big father and son outing. We were going with the cub scout group I was in, and I had no idea what an indoor climbing gym was. Rocks under a roof? Fake rocks? Wood? I had no idea. Anyway on the Friday after school I lit out for the bike racks, hopped on and burned rubber to get home, excited about my big trip. When I was almost home, had just come off a huge hill and was absolutey flying I took a corner on gravel too fast. The resulting crash was spectacular. I was airborn for several meters, hit, slid for several more meters, the bike ontop of me, limbs bent at a lot of really bad angles. It took me a full minute just to untangle myself from the bike. The damage report. Enormous loss of skin from both knees, both elbows,and worst of all, my palms. I was a bloody mess, hobbled home where my mom quickly drove me to the hospital. The doc then peeled back the skin of my palms to remove all of the gravel (a lot of it). The whole time I was bawling "Will I be able to climbing??? Just let me go climbing please!!!" In the end the doc said if I was crazy enough to want to go with palms that looked like raw meat patties then what the hell. So I pulled out the medical tape, bandaged up as best I could, and had the time of my life (you mainly use your fingers, so my bloody palms didn't bother me too much). I've been hooked ever since, before the next weekend I had my mother sewn chalkbag, and was saving for gear. 6 years later and I still love it.
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onemistakebigpancake
Sep 10, 2002, 10:00 PM
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i was afraid of heights, 40 lbs overweight, and queen of the couch potatos!
always thought that climbing is cool, i wanted to try it on and off for over 8 years!, but who was i kidding?... Anyway, two years ago i met someone who climbed and thought to myself "what the F#!!!, not getting any younger". i joined a gym and lost the weight in 6 months (losts of running and 2 hour cardio sessions); took a belay lesson at the indoor gym and loved it!!!
then i started climbing outdoors last summer (short season)... going on my first Trad lead this Friday... CAN'T WAIT... i am SOOOOO PSYCHED!!!!!!!!
joy
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ride
Sep 10, 2002, 10:30 PM
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Registered: Aug 16, 2002
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I remember being a little kid (4-5 yo)on our family trips to all the great places in this country that have climbing, places like Yosemite, or Devils Tower and seeing all these fixed lines and people WAY up there and I just KNEW I would do it one day.
I guess I do it because I can, and because most people think it is crazy.
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