Why climb harder?

Larry wrote:Climb as hard as you can, because the day will come when you won't be able to climb hard anymore.

Mastery Motivation is a basic human psychological trait.
Jeff Elison and I touch on it in our book, Vertical Mind.
verticalmindbook.com/

Some people actually go the other way. They ask why you climb at all. I had a foot break on me last Monday, and now I have a nasty gash on my shin. Nothing terrible, but people I work with who think that a short hike on a paved trail is experiencing nature think that climbing is crazy. Now they have proof.

Climbing higher grades is just more of the same. You want to find your own limit. You want to experience nature and either fight the rock or connect with it. Whatever your reason (or your lack of one), you should enjoy what you are doing. If you enjoy easy climbs, do easy climbs! Some easy routes are awesome, and even hiking up a mountain is an experience you might always remember.

agreed. best to maintain a beer belly, buy lots of gear for different outdoor sports including a trad rack with this latest widgets and fidgets... while sending 5.9 trad with authority!

A n00b friend I was mentoring (blind leading the blind perhaps...but anyway) once described climbing as being like 'shitting your pants with a diaper on'.

It's doing something that feels viscerally wrong, but that you cognitively know is not going to be that bad. The more I've climbed, progressing through grades and styles from bouldering -> TR -> sport -> trad -> alpine rock, the more accustomed to shitting my pants I have become, and the less adrenaline/excitement I get out of it.

Adrenaline release being an addictive drug, it's natural that I will have to keep upping my dose in order to maintain satisfaction as I habituate to more and more ass-puckering situations, which means climbing harder. Smaller holds, more exposure, crappier gear, worse rock quality are all ways of making climbing harder for me.

The further I get into trad and alpine the more I realize that the diaper doesn't hold as much shit as it did when I was cragging.

It seems that many people are missing the obvious here. You don't have to climb hard. It doesn't mean a thing to me or anyone else.

Of course that means that you don't have to be a weakmo either.

Choose your own path. I would personally prefer the throngs of weak climbers. It keeps the crowds off the good routes.

ShaunG wrote:Because we can. Why climb the highest peaks? Because they're there and we can. You're question is flawed. Essentially what you want to know is, "What in the human psyche motivates us to climb harder?" That's a better question and harder to answer.

I think everyone is missing the point here. Why climb harder? Two words:
TICK
BREAKDOWN

To have a high 8a.nu ranking... obviously...

Poster's name says it all.

-Harder climbs are more complex, more nuanced, and more fun.
-The stronger and better you are, the more different, interesting, beautiful movements are available to you.
-The harder you climb, the more classic routes are available to you.
-There is satisfaction that comes from progression, from pushing your limits, from challenging what you thought was impossible.
-Many of us have dream climbs that are beyond our current level. To get to them we need to become better.
-Giving everything you have to a climb is inherently satisfying, whether or not you succeed.

I had a debate with a friend (who climbs harder than I do, incidentally) who didn't understand why I'm "in such a rush" to get stronger/better. I can only guess at my internal motivation - I think it is because the age clock is ticking, and the routes on my dream list are so far above my current level, it's not certain that I will reach them. Or maybe it's just because I simply find progression a worthwhile challenge.

Here are two quotes that resonate with me - maybe they'll resonate with others as well:

“Keep the faculty of effort alive in you by a little gratuitous exercise every day. That is, be systematically ascetic or heroic in little unnecessary points, do every day or two something for no other reason than that you would rather not do it, so that when the hour of dire need draws nigh, it may find you not unnerved and untrained to stand the test.

..the man who has daily inured himself to habits of concentrated attention, energetic volition, and self-denial in unnecessary things - he will stand like a tower when everything rocks around him, and when his softer fellow-mortals are winnowed like chaff in the blast.”
-William James

"There are no limits. There are plateaus, but you must not stay there, you must go beyond them. If it kills you, it kills you. A man must constantly exceed his level."
-Bruce Lee

And finally, a question for those who are content to remain in a plateau: Do you really believe that climbing harder will not bring any more enjoyment to your climbing experience? Or have you simply decided the enjoyment it brings is not worth the effort it takes to progress?

Jonny 5 wrote: hey I'm a 5.7 climber... lol

Good question.

Maybe not "harder", but perhaps more challenging and new routes is the goal.

Personally, on rock I enjoy cruising over crushing. And I have almost no motivation to gym climb or practice on the hangboard. I'd rather be at the crag, cliff, or mountain and just doing it.

One ice, I'm a lot better of a climber and in that discipline, I push myself harder. But I haven't different goals on ice, also a shorter window to climb it as well as the ice routes even being in condition to climb safely. So, there's definitely different motivations there.

Rajiv Ayyangar wrote:- Or have you simply decided the enjoyment it brings is not worth the effort it takes to progress?

There is more than a lifetime of totally awesome 5.9 and under trad routes out there. I would be perfectly happy if I never break into double digits on lead. (also doesn't mean I'm not slowly trying to - just not in a rush)

If you prefer something else to aspire to, enjoy! I couldn't care less.

I would add that the harder you climb the quicker you would be able to climb easier routes. This appeals to me after being in Toulumne this summer. My partner and I are at our trad limit at around 5.10. There were many longer climbs that could have been in our reach if only we were more solid at the grade. A lot of times in the mountains climbing faster can mean safer since you can avoid weather moving in. I am hoping by climbing harder grades I will be able to climb longer climbs faster. hopefully that made sense, I'm brain dead on this Friday afternoon!

We all have to confront our expectations, our physical limits, our ambition, our available time, our genetic gifts and that stupid number that let's us objectify the whole game. Climbing grades are like a golf handicap; we know precisely where we stand. Then we get to think about it and rationalize it and compare ourselves to others when we're not climbing.
I'm sure MC Poopypants climbs harder than many, and probably has a grade that is his own sweet spot. So isn't the question more accurately "Why should I climb harder than I do now?"

Because you want to?

MC Poopypants wrote:It does nothing to increase the enjoyment or experience of climbing. On a practical level I can see that it makes more available especially at crowded places. Otherwise it's just chasing numbers with the idea that those numbers somehow relate to the experience.

Why not??? After you've climbed all of the "easy" routes in the area why wouldn't you want to try and climb all the routes that the cool kids are on???

ShaunG wrote:Because we can. Why climb the highest peaks? Because they're there and we can. You're question is flawed. Essentially what you want to know is, "What in the human psyche motivates us to climb harder?" That's a better question and harder to answer.