Climbing Grades

You can snowshoe 4 or 5 times a year and still have a romping good time when you go out.  Some sports accommodate this lack of commitment more than others.  Rock climbing falls into the latter category.

Climbing is a tough sport to begin with.  When you do it 3 or 4 times, and then stay away from the gym for 7 months, it becomes a damned hard sport.  Add to that having nominal upper-body strength and a 170lb frame, it makes rock climbing ridiculously hard.  In addition, I come to the gym with a warped perspective.

My 18 year old daughter has been climbing for about 9 years and competes at a high level.  I watch her move gracefully up the wall, and can’t understand why what comes so naturally to her is so impossibly hard for me.  She has the advantage of youth, strength, a ripped body, and there’s that small detail of training 10 or so hours a week for about the last 8 years. Her biggest advantage is that she loves climbing – it’s a huge part of who she is.  Through her passion for climbing I’ve enjoyed watching some of the best climbers in the world compete, climbing grades that seem next to impossible.

I don’t love climbing.  I like it, but I don’t love it. I love cycling and snowshoeing and snowboarding, but I don’t love climbing.  It’s damned hard and doesn’t have the “wwwweeeeee” factor that the bike offers flying downhill on the edge of control.  So why do I go back to the gym?  Partially because I always forget how hard it is, but also because it does pose such a challenge.  Climbing makes me push myself outside of my cushy little comfort zone.  Progress is slow and comes in tiny little increments.  Maybe it’s because I have to work so hard for each little advancement, that it’s so satisfying.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve made some huge breakthroughs in my climbing.  The first is that I’ve progressed from fighting with a climbing project to working through it.  Now I go to the gym excited about what I’ll accomplish, instead of dreading the battle and anticipating the failure.  Some days I make no progress and can only get to the same place on the route as I did before, or maybe not even as far.  That used to be considered failure, now that I’m older and wiser; I know that this is all part of progress.  The part of the route that I am able to climb will get easier as I do it over and over again.  This is progress in 2 ways: i) as the bottom gets easier I’ll have more energy to take on the challenging parts that I have to work through higher up on the route, and ii) it means I’m working at it instead of throwing in the towel.  For me that's a meaningful progression.

My biggest win of all with climbing has been getting past the numbers.  Climbing grades at most gyms are range from 5.6 for a really easy climb where good, easy to grab holds are lined up almost like a step ladder.  At the other end of the spectrum are the 5.12 routes which include overhangs and ridiculously impossible holds that only the most elite climbers will attempt.  A handful of the world’s best climbers are climbing grades above 5:14. 

Most people can show up at a gym for the first time in their lives and cruise up a 5.8 or even a 5.9.  It’s taken me almost two months of climbing once or twice a week to be able to work the 5.8’s.  Clearly, I’m a little different; things take me a little longer.  

Does it matter? Does it diminish my accomplishment? I am so pleased with myself when I work through something that I couldn’t do before, and then I figure it out. For one climber that thrill comes on a 5.11 route, and for another that comes on a 5.8 route.  I’m ok with being the 5.8 climber, and finding a whole new enjoyment in climbing.  It doesn’t always have to be about the grade, sometimes it's just about having fun.