SummitPost.org

Hello everybody,

I'm sure this has been brought up before, but quite recently my school has been considering building a climbing wall. I would personally love this, as I could now walk literally 50 feet, rope up and climb after classes, in the evenings, etc... however the dean of athletics is quite against this due to liability reasons. I've talked to a number of other climbers here, and we've decided to compile a letter explaining how climbing has changed our lives, and how a new wall would benefit us.

I don't mean to bounce ideas off forum members here, but I'd really like to make this letter/proposal top notch so that we do have a decent chance of getting a climbing wall, and I won't have to go buildering illegally to have a bit of fun.

So, how has climbing changed or impacted your life?

I know for myself that it has made me a better person. I've formed friendships that I never would have formed in other sports because they don't require nearly the same amount of trust. This is cliche, but climbing has become a sort of meditation for me, and every time I go to the gym, bouldering, or cragging I always feel at peace. Also, I've learned the very important skill of how to minimize and mitigate risk, something that can be transferred into everyday aspects of life.

How has climbing changed you?

Cheers.

Went from this....




Progressed through this....



To where I am today....


And where I hope to be tomorrow...













Fact remains, this is what the game of Climbing has done for me..












YUP... Climbing has in fact been berry berry gud to me.

Thanks for your insights Chief and DMT, you both seem very passionate about your climbing and it clearly shows through your writing and pictures.

Apex...

Climbing has indeed been my school throughout my entire life since I started playing the game at the age of eight.

It has given me a PhD into a world far beyond that any formal Institutional University could ever give me.

Climbing will indeed continue to teach me things till the day I die.

That is why I continue to pursue this game for as long as I have.

Nothing in my life will ever afford me all the goodness & happiness that Climbing continues to give, day in and day out, even after all these decades of playing at it.....NOTHING!

Can´t add to those insights. Maybe something on the risk level - more´ll get injured on the football field than on the climbing wall.

Definitely changed my outlook on life since I started climbing seriously.

It wasn't that long ago I thought if I wasn't married with kids by 30 I'd be some sort of biological failure. I'm now 23 and settling down is the last thing on my mind. I just wanna climb! All of my free time involves me either climbing, training for climbing or reading about climbing. Love it, love it, love it!!

jschrock wrote:then I started climbing...

hooooooooo boy! You should see me now...

or maybe you shouldn't...and your Dean DEFINITELY shouldn't.

buuuwwwahahhahahahahaha!!!!!

I'm slowly becoming one of those people I used to frown upon - beer-chugging, sandal-wearing, one-dimensional crummy granola-types. My biggest aspiration right now is to become a climbing/skiing bum... The OP's profile reads that he aspires to have a career - good luck with that!

welle wrote:

jschrock wrote:then I started climbing...

hooooooooo boy! You should see me now...

or maybe you shouldn't...and your Dean DEFINITELY shouldn't.

buuuwwwahahhahahahahaha!!!!!

I'm slowly becoming one of those people I used to frown upon - beer-chugging, sandal-wearing, one-dimensional crummy granola-types. My biggest aspiration right now is to become a climbing/skiing bum... The OP's profile reads that he aspires to have a career - good luck with that!

Sounds like you're having fun!

dskoon wrote:Sounds like you're having fun!

for now, weekends only!

MikeTX wrote:i lost 10 lbs.

Excellent! I'm going to Smith Rock this weekend; maybe I'll shed a few, too.
Climbing= less cookies? Of course, there's always the beer afterwards.

MikeTX wrote:

dskoon wrote:

MikeTX wrote:i lost 10 lbs.

Excellent! I'm going to Smith Rock this weekend; maybe I'll shed a few, too.
Climbing= less cookies?

hah! i still like cookies. i've been taking a break from the vending machine though.

glad to hear you're getting out, man.

cheers!

Yeah, and I've been taking a break from the beer, esp. during the week. But, hope to have a couple this weekend out at Smith, after I do some rad 5.10's!
Cheers to you.

Get some feedback from an insurance carrier. Used to manage a gym and it was considered very low risk at the time (10 years ago). Did a very short stint at a health club when they installed a wall, their insurance was unaffected by the building a climbing wall. In contrast every piece of weight / workout equipment had to be reviewed by insurance number crunchers and had a cost associated with bringing it into the club. Most expensive to insure at that club and most injuries were the tread mills..look up treadmill on youtube. Running on a moving surface is just plain dangerous! Climbing not so much.

Six

It makes works suck.

I hate my job, drink to much, piss off my wife. But climbing 90' of hand jams and tearing the shit out of the tops of my feet................PRICELESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I used to be a nice guy. Really. Then I started climbing...


Then I just became an asshole.

Then I discovered Backcountry skiing. Now I forgot all about climbing. (It really messes up the bases if you try to ski back down after rock climbing)