A Day of High Exposure
The remarks
And then I heard the remarks that put it all in perspective. A party beside me had just finished a seven, and they were talking about it.
"That was great. It was so nice."
"Yeah, I wish the Gunks were like this. Those climbs are so scary. I'd climb there all the time if there were bolts."
"They should put bolts on all those climbs, so we could do them."
And I thought yeah, bring the climb down to your level, don't rise to the level the climb demands. That's what this whole thing is about.
My thoughts
To have it, you have to risk it. That's an emotional truth, not a philosophical truth. The philosophical truth is that climbing isn't about moving over rock. It's about being alive, and risking all of that. It's about doing what you're afraid of, while you're afraid of it, because what you know you can do overrides the fear. It's about standing on a ledge the size of a shoebox with a good friend, knowing that when you leave, you can trust him to catch your fall, and knowing you won't fall because he can trust you to bring him through. It's living, harsh and compressed, but without betrayal.
It's one of the best places you can go.