In a time of constant distraction and everything vying for attention, climbing creates a situation of focus or fail. It is problem solving through iterative solutions and a vastly different term for what “beta” is. This is the short story of why people climb and what climbing is all about.

After spending almost a decade climbing I have met many types of people that climb; bankers, construction workers, astrophysicists, research librarians, software developers and hardware creators. Why does it attract them? Most of these people share a unique interest in forced focus and iterative problem solving, or maybe they just like to take really long swings tied into ropes or enjoy defying death on really tall bouldering problems. When climbing there is a hyperfocus that is required, otherwise, if distraction creeps in failure is all but guaranteed. This is one of the primary reasons I climb. It quiets the chaos mind.

Climbing is much like a form of really intense mediation. Often times there is a ritual done to prepare for a climb. Read the route visualize a possible solution, prep the harness, check all the buckles, prepare the rope tie the knots, breathe, remember the route, breath some more. Finally get on the route and test that possible solution, often times fail, but get right back on. Additionally there can be this incredibly strange dynamic at a climbing gym, where a person walks up to a total stranger and if either of them do not have a climbing partner, will request a belay. Which means “hey I just met you and this is crazy but here’s my life, please don’t let go of the rope on me.” This is all part of the pieces of climbing, another piece is the mechanics.

The Mechanics of climbing. Climbing is a sport that is broken into thirds, it is one third physical, one third mental, and one third technical. Physical because it takes a certain level of physical strength and conditioning. Mental, because there is a massive amount of mental toughness focus and self talk which can be the difference between success and failure. Finally technical because technique and method play a large role in understanding movement and using equipment properly. Each of these pieces are no less important than the other, and they all help solve the problem at hand.

Problem solving. A person will look at a climbing route or bouldering problem try to find solutions of where to pull on where to balance and they will problem solve the entire thing in their minds before even stepping up to the wall. This kind of mental visualization is incredibly powerful in many aspects of life. Visualization techniques are quite crucial to iterating on all the possible solutions.

Iterations. A person gets on a climbing route with an idea of how it may work, they perform the movement experiment, it fails they fall. That idea was the wrong one or maybe it was not performed optimally, either way trying the exact same process over again often times will not result in success. Instead, take the fall enjoy the ride and while swinging there, take a look at the problem from a different angle and see if the movement can be accomplished another way. Finding new viewpoints from physically being in a different viewpoint is quite often the easiest solution. Although different angles can be difficult for different types of climbing.

bouldering: Hey ma look no ropes

Types of climbing: Top rope Lead climbing and Bouldering.

Top rope climbing would be the desk job version of climbing. There is a rope attached to the top of the route with one person on either end. This is a safe way to go up and down with less risk and mental mind games involved. That is once a climber has understood that in normal circumstances the harness is going to protect against falls.

Lead climbing would be the “startup” of climbing, its the flashiest has the big swings. It is climbing done where the climber clips into a piece of protection then climbs out above the piece of protection and clips in again, each leg of the climb having to climb out beyond the point of over head protection in order to achieve a new top. Finally bouldering, bouldering is the incubator. Bouldering is done without ropes but the top of the climb is generally shorter, however the moves are exceptionally harder. With bouldering the climber is stretching their mental muscles as well as their bodies because, in order to solve the bouldering problem one must see each move ahead of time in order to be ready for the next move. If this is ignored, the difficulty of every move generally means failing to look ahead with result in quick fatigue and a fall. All of this is assuming of course, a talented route setter has created routes and problems that expand the mind and push the body.

Routes, problems and setting: When one visits a climbing gym they will see all sorts of color tags holds and route postings. These tell the story of the route or problem, what type of route they are and finally a suggested grading. Additionally the route setter is usually included on the route post. The setter is often time overlooked but over time the personalities and style of route setters can come through. There might be a shorter route setter that focuses on core strength and clean transitions. Then, there might be an ex-gymnast that enjoys creative body positions and fluid movements. The quality of the gym and the quality of the routes are directly proportional to the story that the route setter is trying to tell or the path they are taking the climber on. This also feeds in to the ability to read the route, while visualizing the route, a climber can also look at the patterns shown in climbing styles and begin to further unwind the problem. This is often one of the most rewarding parts of solving a problem. It is understanding what the route setter was trying to accomplish with their route. Finally a route setter can also set the route for multiple solutions or multiple solutions can evolve through different climbers or styles. Sometimes a given path or idea can be rewired to do a move a different way, or perhaps that tall person can reach further than anticipated, or the exceptionally strong person creates a static move that was meant to be dynamic.

Hopefully this has helped explain why the climbing community is filled with such a diverse group of individuals, and why there is much more to climbing that having big arms and taking just as large risks.