A New Perspective

Eric Jerome

     I just finished watching the live stream by LT11 with Dave Graham and Angie Payne. I would like to address my views on some of the topics said and discuss how it changed my outlook on climbing. Firstly, the thing that struck me incredibly is Dave's start to climbing. After only a week he was climbing 5.12 and a year 5.14. He said that him and his friend Luke both climbed at the same difficult which I find spectacular that both kids who happened to be friends were climbing V14 at 16. I found it interesting that he began climbing outdoors after only a week or so gym climbing and this made me ponder why kids today including myself were not intrigued and psyched to go outdoors right off the bat. I think that it is possibly because of the modern look and feel of indoor climbing. The highlight on competitions and the flashy colored holds. We looked up to the stronger climbers we saw in the gym. Whereas, for Dave as he started in the beginning of climbing his role models were said to be the men at his gym who were already going outside and developing hard climbs. They did not have the competition aspect and indoor climbing was still seen as more of a means of training than it is a variation on the sport completely. I sat wishing that I have or had a positive role model pointing me towards real rock rather than the staff at the gym telling me to go try that new V9 in the cave. I think that I will reach out to Tim Rose a strong climber at my gym who is constantly developing new hard climbs.  Dave mentioned how he was traveling to Colorado after a year and climbing and I cannot fathom my parents allowing me to most likely skip school and go across the nation to partake in a pastime that I had only taken up just a year previous. Seeing Dave talking about his travels and life finding and cleaning hard boulders actively changed my climbing role models. Now, I no longer look up to competition climbers as greatly as I had previously and am inspired by Dave and wish to model his climbing decisions. I do wonder a bit wether he was exaggerating the grades that he was climbing so quickly, if grades were much different then, or if he had unknowingly had previous experience climbing. The technique aspect of climbing hard could be perceivable because he might be innately more inept to seeing things like sequence and how to maneuver your body to make moves the easiest. However, after only a few months, for instance, I cannot imagine being strong enough already to be able to do the type of moves and pull on the types of holds required to boulder and rope climb at such an insanely high level. Dave said that styles were a big part for his progression. He could not understand his flashing of a crimpy V9 but his having to project a powerful V3. This raises the question of wether or not any of the outdoor things that he was doing were not his style. Maybe his original style of climbing on crimps has not progressed significantly because he is still climbing relatively the same as he was 15 years ago although perhaps since then he has improved on his powerful moves at a rate that most people improve on climbing as a whole. Outdoor climbing typically is very crimp oriented and could bring a bit of an explanation to his super hard sends. In the end I think all my reasoning for him not to be that good is just brought from self-pity after hearing of his tremendous strength. Excuses and saying that I would have done the same if I had been born with the same circumstances may seem pleasing currently but unless I face that some people are just better than other people than I will continue making excuses for my own abilities and weaknesses to no end. Dave said that his first time climbing was on a dihedral 5.9 where he tweaked his knee trying to attempt a drop knee. That just shows that from the start he had a superior outlook on the physics and movement of climbing. Both Dave and his friend Luke were both sponsored within a year which allowed their travel and lifestyle which makes me wonder how different climbing today would be if it had not grown to the scale that it is today where there is a whole new level of competition to get sponsored and much less opportunity to get your name out. Also this was at a time when technology did not so much control and take over kids lives. They had the time and the spirit to go outside and explore and find rocks to dedicate their time to whereas now with the amount of school work, the pressure to perform from parents, and the constant need to be connected via social media we do not want to hike and find rocks but rather prefer to drive to the gym and train there hoping to someday be in the highlight video of some world cup with giant volumes and loud music. A boulder that him and Luke were projecting at the age of 17 or 18 after only climbing 3 or 4 years he said would be graded V16 or V17 which to think is just mind blowing that someone could be that strong after just a few years of climbing and from what it sounded like not training at all. What was said about kids not climbing outdoors anymore and being so commited to the competitive game really enforced my decision to strive for FAs and climb on real rock as much as possible. Previously I would have prefered going to the gym to spending a few hours brushing moss but I think that that just changed.  Anyways, these are just my thoughts as they came to my head. I think for this is better and more pure to leave it unedited to see my progression of thought. This weekend I plan to check out a boulder a friend of mine spotted on the bus ride to school that looks sweet. If I can make it down I will write a post about it. Goodnight