Rock Climbing- 5 Reasons to Try it

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I am hardly a sports fan. In fact, I didn’t even know the Superbowl was happening this weekend until this morning. I was making plans with a friend and she told me,

“Well Sunday we’re heading to a bar because of the Superbowl, you know.”

No I didn’t know. In fact I really couldn’t even begin to guess who is playing. It might as well be the Denver Bluejays and Ohio Foxes, because I have no idea.

So I really did surprise myself, when a few weeks ago I began rock climbing at a gym in San Francisco and fell in love with it.

When you tell people you are rock climbing, there are generally two reactions, all dependent upon whether they have ever climbed themselves. If they have, or even know anything about it, their faces will light up and soon you’ll be gushing like old friends- climbers are just cool like that.

And if they haven’t, well the reaction tends to be something along the lines of the ones my parents had “ …why?”
In fact my first reaction to it wasn’t much better.

So for all the skeptics and non-sporty people out there, here’s a list of reasons why you may still love climbing:

1.You’re not chasing a ball.
If you felt silly in gym class all those times you were told to “go get it” or “get your head in the game”, I hear you. Chasing a ball wasn’t for me either. I couldn’t get excited about it and probably never will.

2.It’s an individual sport.
This sport is more about personal goal-setting and achievement than anything else I’ve ever done. You can go climbing with friends, but their level and yours are two totally independent entities. Your success and theirs has nothing to do with each other. Each person is battling for his or her own victory, at their own pace.

3.You don’t have to like heights.
I don’t. And in fact I have ZERO interest in actually climbing rocks outside. As in none. I haven’t even tried top-roping yet (the actual rock-climbing that requires equipment, training, and yes- being up high). What you can try is bouldering. Bouldering allows you to climb 8–10 feet in the air. You will be without a harness- but don’t worry there’s a huge padded mat underneath you.

4.Your successes and failures are a lot like real life. Except you improve faster.
Climbing has become a very spiritual activity to me. It’s just you and this wall. When you finally get something- you have only yourself to congratulate. This was not a team effort- it was all you. And when you fail- it’s really not that big of a deal. How many failures in life have actually killed us? Not many. Climbing is much the same way. If you can’t do something, you just go after it harder. And eventually (and oftentimes rather quickly), this pursuit makes you visibly stronger.

5.You stop being afraid of falling.
This is a big one. Fear governs a lot of things in our lives. And while there is a reason for it, and not all fear is bad, we probably don’t need to have as much of it as we do. If you’re going to be bouldering here’s the thing: You are absolutely 100% going to fall. And it won’t always be planned drops. You will lose your grip, you will slip, you will tire out and you will just plain fall. But after a while, you won’t be as afraid of it. You’ll fall on a padded mat. You’ll feel a little silly. But then some awesome climbers 4 ft away will ask you, 
“You ok?” 
And you know what? 
You will be.