Climbing Reflections - 2024

Climbing Reflections - 2024

Throughout the year, we delve into the intertwined narratives of ascents and existential reflections. Through captivating imagery and poignant tales, we explore thoughts, ideas, and concepts from various fields of literature and philosophy, ranging from the humorous to the profound. These reflections always circle back to the deeper connection between the mountains and the humans who venture into them.

 

 

 

 

Blessed & Benighted 

To be benighted, or “overtaken by darkness” as it is defined, can be viewed as a failure by climbers, but the fear of failure is just the magic you never created, the darkest of nights always end up behind you. 

Some of the best stories, memories, and partnerships are formed on the sides of mountains when things didn't pan out. Often staying the night can be a safer option than navigating in the dark and stumbling back to the car in the witching hour! Travelling by night increases the risk of injuries, becoming lost and disorientated, and making poor decisions when exhausted, which can be hazardous to you and your group, so consider simply staying put. Tomorrow's sunrise will surely be beautiful, and embracing the night can be made easier with a few extra supplies.

Make sure you have communication to alert your emergency contact that the plan has changed, and then break out the extra warm layers, tarp, reserve snacks, headlamp, and ground mat. This is where the fun begins!

Those extra hours can lead to the best spooning of your life to stay warm, it leads to star-watching and the sort of conversations and connections that only happen when survival is the goal and egos are packed away.

This image is post an open bivy high in Chile when every layer has been donned including the most amazing woollen mitts and the most visible feature is the smiling eyes knowing another story has been written.

Climber: @joyogui

Photographer: @escalajipi 

Area: Valle Cochamó in Los Lagos Region of Chile

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“Et lux in tenebris lucet” —and the light shineth in the darkness

Whether the darkness is from the absence of light, or from turning away from knowledge, it is clear that turning away from a problem doesn't fix it, and turning away from a human destroys the connection.

Only by looking where the light is shining can we see into the darkness. This famous haunting phrase above is captured by this image; the sun is setting over the ice, and soon the night will hide everything around.

From the first non-flammable headlamps with five pound batteries to modern-day LED headlamps with reactive technology; the weight, durability, brightness, and burn times may have evolved, but the fundamental purpose remains the same. From simply using it to read a book at night, to entering dark caving worlds, the headlamp allows humans to explore longer and further than before. 

The headlamp shines as you brew up an evening tea at camping, it shines as you search for the next anchor on a nighttime rappel, it shines as you run through the forest at night, it shines as you search in your dark gear room, it shines as you ski tour up before dawn, it shines while you wriggle into your sleeping bag, its shines when you crawl under a car to put on chains. It’s there in a pocket, in a pack, in your vehicle, ready to bring light into your darkness.

Quote by Viktor E. Frankl, Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist

Climber: @tabsrathbone

Photographer: @aratson

Location: Turret Arch in Arches National Park, UT

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The Hubris of Icarus

The progression of training finger strength can easily be seen as the holy grail of climbing. Watching videos of professional climbers ever increasing their weight or hanging off a 20mm one-arm for their latest IG post can lead viewers to chase these feats of strength. What you are not seeing are the years building a foundation of loading the fingers with weights below their max in a variety of grips, timing, and intervals. The literature is rife with warnings from experts warning of the dangers of overtraining or excessive loading and its overall effectiveness.

If you look at Olympic power lifters, they very rarely attempt their max weight, they often reserve this for competitions only. In climbing, we regularly see climbers training max (to failure) and sometimes pay a heavy price in fatigue or injury. 

Greek mythology recounts after escaping from the labyrinth using the wings Daedalus constructed from beeswax and feathers, Icarus was warned by Daedalus to fly neither too low nor too high, for the sea's dampness could clog his wings, or the sun's heat could melt them. Icarus ignored this warning and fell to his death. 

This hubris shown by Icarus and the overtrained, injured climber share a commonality in not heeding the expert's advice. Build a plan and follow it to get the best results this training season so you don't fall into the ocean with melted wings.

Climber: @kimmarschner

Image Courtesy of Black Diamond 

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Mental Gymnastics

The work has been put in, the finger tests have peaked, and it's time to send that project - yet you fall short! It’s back to the gym to train even harder, increase the weight, and those reps! On one side, you have the opinion that the training should allow you to climb that grade; on the other, you never quite clip the chains.
 
Cognitive dissonance is a state of tension that occurs when a person holds two cognitions, ideas, or opinions that are psychologically inconsistent with each other, so what is holding you back??
 
Your armour is preventing you from growing into your gifts. Often gym climbers focus purely on the physical side of climbing and neglect the mental and skills part. The strongest arms in the world can’t overcome bad footwork, fear of falling, or route reading skills, yet these are more valuable than strength, which fades over time.
 
Self-awareness to look at the whole picture from the tips of your toes to the ends of your fingers, from the brain deciding how to move, to the intimidation of being on lead and accepting weaknesses wherever they appear in the chain, is the only way to lift your armour. The perception of ourselves often holds us back from the most crucial steps forward. The hardest part of climbing is often not the path, but knowing which direction to walk.
 
The mental gymnastics climbers play when there is cognitive dissonance is part of the climbing culture, we even have a “No excuses” t-shirt listing them. The need to be honest with ourselves both physically and mentally, may result in the biggest improvement possible in our climbing.
 
Image: Courtesy of Black Diamond
Climber: @dailaojeda
Photographer: @bernardo_gimenez
 
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