Latest / The Junto Podcast / E49: Climb On - The Goodness Of Rock Climbing

Transcript

E49: Climb On - The Goodness Of Rock Climbing · The Junto Podcast

0:10
Hello, America. Welcome to the Juneto podcast, where we promote the practical
0:14
applications of critical thinking and bold creativity.
0:18
I'm your host, Edgar Mills. Thank you for,
0:28
Hello, good people. Welcome back and thank you for sticking with me.
0:33
So today I want to talk about, well, essentially a hobby, a thing that I like
0:39
to do and have done in the past and would love to do more.
0:43
And that is the sport of rock climbing.
0:47
And as a sport and we're
0:51
going to talk about a little bit as a lifestyle because there is a unique lifestyle
0:55
out there of rock climbers and then kind of the community that it builds and
1:02
why indoor climbing gyms are kind of become kind of like little community hubs.
1:12
Amongst physically fit people. If you've never been climbing,
1:18
if you've never tried it, I hope this sparks your interest because it really is fun.
1:24
And if you're an experienced climber or you have climbed or do it pretty regularly,
1:29
then hopefully this will resonate a little bit and, you know,
1:33
just keep you motivated.
1:36
Rock climbing's tough. Yeah, you use your hands and your feet,
1:40
but also your mind, right?
1:43
It's very problem-solving, very much problem-solving to, yeah,
1:49
climb up a rock from the base to the top, whether it's a wall or a rock or whatever.
1:56
Well, as safely as possible. But I would say I used to think rock climbing was inherently unsafe.
2:06
And if you don't know what you're doing, it is, but just like jumping out of airplane,
2:11
if you trust the equipment and implement the equipment correctly,
2:15
then yeah, it's, it's easy, easy breezy, but what, but it does combine a lot.
2:23
Well, I want to say problem solving, but I mean like puzzle solving.
2:28
Some of the routes, at indoor gyms, you know, they have routes marked different
2:33
colors. And some of those routes are incredibly difficult.
2:36
And it's a puzzle to be solved. Contorting your body in such a way.
2:42
And yes, it does require physical strength and very acute mental focus. You have to be there.
2:51
When you're on the wall, you have to be there completely.
2:57
So, yeah, it's good. It's fun, and it keeps you physically fit and mentally fit.
3:05
So there's a lot of different disciplines when it comes to climbing,
3:08
folks, a lot of them, especially when you get outdoor stuff.
3:12
So we'll talk about a few, and one of them is bouldering.
3:15
And bouldering is basically short
3:21
routes that don't require rope and most people when you boulder you have a pad
3:26
underneath if you're at an outdoor place or at indoor gyms there's just padded
3:32
areas and stuff like that and you know maybe up to 20 feet or so not not that high,
3:40
but it kind of focuses on strength and power and like creative movement to solve
3:48
these sort of complex problems even though they're not that high up it's definitely sport climbing,
3:55
for sure but then as we get into sport climbing that's where you are you know
4:02
you have your harness and you're,
4:04
and you're on a rope and you're clipping in protection along pre-placed bolts
4:14
along the route. And, and.
4:18
Out in the Rocky Mountains especially, but even up here in North Georgia,
4:22
there's plenty of routes out there that are already bolted that climbers before
4:27
us have gone and created these bolts or put in these bolts so that we could sport climb.
4:36
And then there's traditional climbing. now traditional
4:40
climbing it all requires skill but traditional
4:43
climbing is now where you're you're putting in temporary protection along the
4:48
way maybe lead climbing right you're the first guy up and there may or may not
4:54
be any well there no protection on the wall at all so you're putting in, you know,
5:02
cams or, or, or chocks or, or whatever, and you're creating,
5:08
you're putting in the protection, clipping in, and then you'll,
5:11
you'll top rope somebody up.
5:14
And that's what's out there in the wild. And when you do like multiple pitches or,
5:21
or whatever, and that's, that's takes a lot of skill and it's very taxing physically.
5:30
But it is fun and rewarding. And then I had a surprise in my career,
5:36
ice climbing. That's the thing.
5:40
And it turns out to be pretty fun. Now, it requires a whole lot of specialized
5:45
equipment, but you're simply essentially doing traditional climbing on ice.
5:52
You know, you got crampons and ice axes or ice picks,
5:56
and the protection you use instead of being a cam or something like that or
6:01
a pre-bolted route, you got these ice screws that you literally screw into the ice.
6:10
So the skill there is knowing what, what is good ice and what is bad ice,
6:13
but it's, it's, it's pretty fun. It's pretty awesome.
6:18
And just go to, you know, Instagram and type in ice climbing.
6:21
You'll see a whole lot of cool stuff.
6:24
So I did that once, once or twice, once in my career. I think we went to Ure, Colorado.
6:33
And that place is famous for ice climbing because they have a ice climbing festival
6:38
every year there and they have there's like a little canyon in the town like
6:46
right in the town there's a canyon,
6:49
and along the top of this canyon they have water lines.
6:55
And these water lines they're like sprinklers kind of it's like a just big long
7:00
sprinkler and they and the water freezes over in the wintertime and it creates
7:05
these really, well, one,
7:07
visually striking sort of waterfall, frozen waterfall things.
7:12
And then, yeah, depending on the rock and depending on how everything goes down,
7:17
it creates these really unique climbing, well, not routes, but problems.
7:25
So yeah, it's pretty cool, man. It's pretty fun. For somebody who's scared of
7:29
heights, which I am, and somebody who hates cold weather, which I do,
7:33
I was on a mountain team in special forces.
7:39
And I was not the subject matter expert at all.
7:42
On my team, I'm going to give a shout out to my good friend,
7:46
Larry, who was, he's a smart guy and he got into climbing 100, 100%. He was all in.
7:55
And when I say smart guy, I mean like autistic smart, like that guy knew everything
8:00
about climbing and he was big. He was heavy.
8:05
I want to say 250 or so.
8:09
And that guy climbed like he weighed 120 pounds. It was amazing.
8:15
Larry, I miss you, Larry.
8:19
All right. So ice climbing. Yeah, there's different types of climbing you can do.
8:22
Now we're in the southeast here in georgia and there are some pretty good climbing areas,
8:29
within an hour you know or so and we have a lot of good you know hour and a
8:35
half or so up the road or helens a couple hours up the road where there's mount
8:39
yona which is where the ranger ranger school mountain phase does their mountaineering
8:45
stuff and there's there's a lot of,
8:47
bolted routes out there a lot of good
8:50
that's a good spot to climb because there's a
8:53
lot of a broad level of difficulty and you can stand as a good spot to stay
8:58
out overnight and stuff um i think sand rock is over in alabama which i haven't
9:03
been to yet but i'm trying to
9:05
get my buddy nathan to let's put something together for another course um.
9:13
So, yeah, this one's good. So let's talk a little bit about the lifestyle aspect.
9:20
So clearly, it's a physical sport, but a unique physical sport. I can tell you this.
9:28
Yeah, you're going to get big, strong forearms, and you're going to have some
9:31
really strong grip strength and finger and hand strength.
9:37
But and yes your core is going to develop because of unique body positions and
9:43
your back is going to develop because you do a lot of pulling up and then yeah
9:47
your legs are going to develop because you do a lot of pushing up but in some
9:52
of these awkward positions you find yourself in on a rock,
9:56
there are muscles in your body you you don't know about folks until you've been.
10:03
You know, 60 feet up and your legs shaking and your, and your arms are shaking
10:08
and you're trying your best to, to, to become part of the wall and muscles get, excuse me,
10:17
obscure muscles get worked in there.
10:20
And, uh, and it's very good, man. If
10:23
you look at some of these climbers who do it regularly right
10:26
like lifestyle climbers they're very
10:29
lean they're very lean they're
10:32
very low body fat normally and just
10:35
all these defined and developed muscles just that it's it's pretty amazing I
10:42
was never that I was never that but I first got into climbing well indoor climbing
10:51
When I was at Fort Bragg as an infantryman in the 90s,
10:55
a friend of mine and a mentor, his name is Steve.
10:57
He was one of the most fit human beings I've ever known in my life.
11:01
And he was, well, an aspiring super soldier.
11:05
And he did go on to become a super soldier.
11:08
But he would come by the house, man, hey, let's go to the gym,
11:13
you know, let's go to the rock gym.
11:15
And we would go and climb and he was a really skilled climber.
11:20
But he would do things like he would stop by. Hey man, let's go for a bike ride.
11:23
And we'd go do a 25 miler real quick.
11:26
And he was the kind of guy that, that would do.
11:30
Just insane physical things, just kind of routinely. And I joined in with him
11:36
a lot of times, and he broke me off constantly.
11:39
But it's always good to be around people better than you, always.
11:43
So back to the climbing. Yeah, he introduced me to, this was in Fayetteville,
11:47
and I can't remember the name of the climbing gym in Fayetteville,
11:52
but it was right downtown.
11:55
It was like one or two blocks off of Hay Street.
12:01
And it was pretty laid back. The environment was laid back. And they had pretty
12:06
good. It was good. It was a good introduction.
12:09
So, yeah, the physical aspect of the lifestyle.
12:15
And it's generally speaking healthy. You have to, not that you go on these crazy
12:20
crash diets, but the heavier you are, the more difficult it is.
12:25
Yeah. That don't mean you can't fight through it. That just means the more difficult it is.
12:31
And and it also works flexibility you you have to be flexible because you do
12:37
find yourself in these really bizarre positions when you're reaching out for
12:42
the only hold available is just out of reach and you're figuring a way out to
12:48
manipulate your body to reach it,
12:51
without falling you know and then it and then it helps build focus like mental
12:57
focus Because like I said, if you're on the wall.
13:01
You're always looking for the next hold. Where can I put what's the next thing
13:05
viable for me to grab hold of?
13:09
And it really just consumes you mentally, right? You're looking for the next two or three.
13:14
And you're not just looking for the next one. Just like most things,
13:17
you're trying to be a couple moves ahead so you don't climb yourself into a dead end, you know?
13:24
So it really focuses your mind while you're doing the activity.
13:30
And that's good man just it doesn't matter
13:33
if you're if you even climb well you
13:37
know just it's it's a thing it's different for one it's an alternative to just
13:44
go into the normal gym and lifting weights but it has sort of side effects they're
13:52
good it helps manage fear rock climbing does.
13:57
I said earlier, I'm scared of heights. I'm still scared of heights,
14:01
but I've been in some situations that I was very uncomfortable in, very nervous,
14:09
like shaky nervous, but you have to do the things.
14:14
So your buddy looks at you and said, trust the equipment and go. What are you going to do?
14:22
You trust the equipment and go. So it helps you manage fear.
14:29
And yeah, so once you learn to trust the equipment or whatnot, that doesn't mitigate.
14:35
I mean, it doesn't get rid of the fear. It just mitigates it. But still.
14:40
And then, believe it or not, it teaches you how to, you can,
14:43
there's a safe way to fall on the rock, right?
14:46
So if you're roped in and you're doing top rope and some guy's got you on belay
14:52
and you're climbing this ridiculous route and you get up there and you get stuck
14:57
and you're in a spot and you start to go into muscle failure.
15:01
And well, I mean, there's not a lot of options. You either hang on and continue going or you fall.
15:09
And then when you fall, if your guy's a good belay man, you know,
15:13
he catches you straight away and you only fall a few feet.
15:16
And then you just kind of spread out so you don't smack your face on a rock or whatever.
15:23
So it teaches you how to manage fear a little bit and then shows you that falling isn't the end all.
15:30
You know, it can be done safely.
15:35
And by that, that teaches, you know, you how to trust your homies.
15:39
Climbing seems like an individual sport and it can be an individual sport,
15:44
but it's very much, Well, at least two man team of it, but if you're doing multi-pitch
15:49
out in the, out in the woods and stuff out in the mountains,
15:53
like it's a team sport, man.
15:55
There's a lot of stuff going on technical that one guy can do it,
15:59
but it's, you know, couldn't be overwhelming with all the putting in all the
16:03
anchors and stuff like that.
16:06
And then, so, so you get all those benefits from it and then nevermind,
16:11
like just the feeling of accomplishment. If you do some route that.
16:15
You have yet to be able to defeat, or you do some crazy climb that you just
16:21
didn't think you could do it. Yeah, it feels pretty good.
16:26
And then another side effect of getting into the rock climbing sport,
16:32
even indoor, indoor or outdoor, they're both kind of inextricably connected.
16:40
But the rock climbing community, You sort of develop a, I don't want to say
16:46
environmentalism, right? A commitment to the environment, though.
16:51
You develop a desire to be a good steward of the trails and stuff like that.
16:58
Because all the outdoor rock climbing, that's in natural areas that,
17:03
you know, Joshua Tree or Yosemite or Estes Park, you know, thousands of people go there.
17:10
Could you imagine if thousands of people were just leaving trash all over the place?
17:14
How ghetto and junky it would be. And then that defeats some of the lure of climbing.
17:20
And a lot of climbers, just like a lot of hunters, I say this a lot,
17:24
are, you know, pretty active in conservation efforts.
17:30
I say a lot that hunters are more environmentalists than environmentalists are.
17:35
Because, yeah, you're out there in the woods. You're the one firsthand as a climber or as a hunter.
17:42
You're the one out there on the ground firsthand seeing the effects of people
17:47
who trash the environment.
17:51
And generally speaking, and this follows again with shooters,
17:55
hunters, and climbers, right? Leave no trace.
17:59
You take nothing with you, you leave nothing behind. You go to the woods,
18:03
you do what you do, you pack all your stuff up, and you leave it better than you found it.
18:09
And if you see trash along the way that you didn't leave, pick it up, take it with you.
18:14
Yeah. And a lot of climbing crews, they'll get together for like a day,
18:19
you know, trail maintenance day or, you know, go clean the wall day.
18:24
And they, you know, and they back organizations that help advocate for,
18:30
you know, maintaining the climbing areas and stuff like that.
18:33
So there's that environmental sort of aspect. And that's a good thing,
18:37
folks. That's a good thing.
18:39
Nobody wants to see track. For whatever reason in the ghetto,
18:43
people just love to throw stuff around. There's a lack of ownership there. Well, here's the thing.
18:48
Out in the mountains, you don't own that mountain. You don't have a sense of
18:52
ownership over it, but you still want to maintain its beauty.
18:56
It's a natural thing that everyone owns and no one owns.
19:01
So you have a responsibility to sort of just, you know,
19:06
By doing your part, I mean just simply don't leave trash behind and pick up any that you may see.
19:12
Anytime I'm talking about this, I refer to my friend, Trail Trash Dirtbag on
19:17
Instagram, who's an avid outdoor guy, cycling and hiking and all that stuff.
19:24
He's always got an extra trash bag with him. And when you're out in the woods,
19:28
you see trash, you pick it up, stick it in the bag, take it with you.
19:32
Don't cost you anything. Don't hurt nothing. Don't add that much weight.
19:39
So yeah the environmental bit that's it and even as an indoor climber you know
19:46
at some point you're going to get out outdoors you're going to get the bug if
19:49
you go to an indoor gym at some point you're going to get the bug and then you're
19:54
going to want to go do bigger and better better things,
19:59
and then here's another thing in my experience i've discovered about the climbing
20:04
community Especially, so we did a lot of stuff and cause I was at Fort Carson
20:09
and we went to the Rockies a lot.
20:10
We were, the climbing community, the people who climb, and I mean the civilian, just everyday people.
20:19
They're extremely supportive, and I'm going to draw the same parallel with shooting sports.
20:24
If you go to a shooting match, I don't care what discipline it is,
20:29
and you're brand new, there's no shortage of human beings that are going to
20:34
help you to be successful.
20:38
Exactly the same with climbing. Yeah, man, people, they'll spot you.
20:43
They'll belay for you. They'll share gear with you.
20:47
You know, they'll cheer you on when you're up there on a hard spot.
20:51
And that's a good environment where strangers are out there like,
20:55
well, and at the end of the day, you're not a stranger anymore.
20:58
Now your network has just expanded.
21:01
Yeah. And it might not mean much to some people to get encouragement from a
21:06
stranger, but hey, some people are just genuinely excited to see other people
21:10
succeed or at least try, right?
21:15
So it's, the community's good in that way, like the community aspect itself.
21:21
And they're not all granola-eating hippie whatevers. There's a lot,
21:26
and I imagine politically speaking, there's a lot of liberal types,
21:29
but also there's a lot of, I guess, conservative types.
21:34
I know that there's a lot of former military folks that like to climb because
21:37
you get exposed to it in the Army, in little bits and pieces here,
21:42
and some people latch onto it.
21:43
I know that in basic training, I assume they still repel and it's a very little
21:51
piece of it, but you know, some people like that stuff.
21:55
And then I know in, in, in the mountain phase of ranger school,
21:59
that's what it is. Mountain phase.
22:01
It's a lot of, well, hiking and fixed lines and stuff like that.
22:05
But you do, you spend a significant amount of time climbing and repelling and
22:10
building rope bridges and stuff like that.
22:13
And so people in the military get a taste of it.
22:17
And why is climbing so appealing for that is because, I mean,
22:21
it's kind of like, you know, Boy Scout activities, right?
22:24
It takes you back to when you're a kid a little bit.
22:27
You know, when you're a kid, you love to go swing on a rope over the lake or
22:31
build a rope climbing up into a tree or something.
22:36
But now you learn, you know, you learn how to do proper knots and you learn how to do things.
22:43
And it's basically just being a big kid basically that
22:47
might be a simplification but it kind of is man it's a you know it's one of
22:51
those little boy scout skills tying knots and and and doing rope bridges and
22:57
repelling and things like that it's awesome you know for those of you who've
23:01
never been in the military done
23:03
it like yeah you feel a little bit like a commando i guess when you're,
23:06
when you're doing stuff like when you're repelling when you step off of that
23:09
ledge you know and you're palling down. Feels pretty cool.
23:15
So climbing as a sport.
23:18
There is a pretty, you know, low threshold to getting into it.
23:25
You can go to most any indoor rock gym and get a day pass that comes with like
23:31
a, you know, you rent the shoes, you rent the harness and the belay device. And there you are.
23:40
You're ready to roll for $35. You can go climb and start learning things.
23:48
And yeah even if you decide to buy your own stuff before you even,
23:53
you know get started you've done some research you've got
23:56
some buddies who tell you the you know some good stuff to buy you
23:59
know you can get a harness for 65 70 bucks
24:03
and then you maybe a
24:05
chalk bag you know you need chalk to keep your hands dry
24:08
and and grippy and then as much as i hate them then you need a pair of climbing
24:14
shoes probably and climbing shoes i i compare to ballet shoes they crunch your
24:22
toes into a point but the thing about the climbing shoes is that,
24:27
the reason they're so tight is so they don't have any give and then they have
24:31
you know specialized like pretty sticky soles on them they're real thin but
24:36
grippy so that they they kind of,
24:41
Not perfectly stick, but they get a lot of friction.
24:46
They provide a lot of friction. So you need a harness...
24:50
Chalk bag, pair of shoes, and then some AT, some belay device for,
24:56
you know, belaying your homie or for repelling or whatever.
24:59
That's the bare minimum stuff and a locking carabiner. And so.
25:08
For 250 bucks, you can start climbing, man.
25:15
And that's with your own stuff. Yeah. So yeah.
25:18
Yeah. it's a low entry threshold and the reality is shooting sports are like that too.
25:27
Once you get a gun, but if you go by $600, you know, Glock, whatever,
25:32
and then you got $50 belt, $40 holster, and then it's just ammo after that.
25:42
So, and then as you get into the sport, everybody starts buying all this sexy stuff.
25:48
And rock climbing is the same way. You can, it's not a gear intensive until
25:55
you get into other disciplines.
25:59
So multi-pitch climbing, yeah, you need gear, right?
26:02
Now you need your harness and you need your shoes, but now you need maybe some
26:06
approach shoes or at least something that some shoes are good and grippy.
26:10
So when you're, you know, you're scrambling, getting up to the climbing point,
26:14
you still need some pretty good shoes.
26:16
And then some places, a lot of places make you wear helmets.
26:20
Will not make you a lot of organizations make you wear a helmet and then you
26:25
need all the protection, right?
26:27
You need a set of cams or like nuts, the, the chocks or, and all that.
26:34
And they come in different sizes from like super ridiculously small up to super ridiculously big.
26:42
And you gotta, you know, you gotta carry that stuff with you.
26:45
You might even need to carry extra rope with you. End.
26:51
And then you got a rope bag, you know, you got the rope wants to be protected. So you got a rope bag.
26:56
And then, so there's a lot of stuff that you can get really,
27:01
you can get out of control with the gear for sure.
27:05
Like ice climbing, for instance, you got to have crampons, which are very,
27:09
they're just spikes attached to your very specialized climbing boots,
27:13
which costs, you know, 400 bucks upwards.
27:16
And you need ice axes or ice picks
27:19
which are very expensive and then
27:23
well ice climb and then you need cold weather gear that's suitable
27:26
for being in the ice all day and then the ice
27:31
screws yeah you need a whole setup ice group you know
27:34
various sizes and and a multitude of
27:37
so it can get very expensive yeah
27:40
yeah that's true and you may need I don't
27:43
know you need runners you need you need
27:46
tons of carabiners and and runners and
27:50
then there's specialized stuff a grigri that's
27:53
like sort of an auto locking you know belay device and
27:59
then there's ascenders where you can you can ascend
28:02
a rope you can you attach them in a certain way snap
28:05
a carabiner to it and then you have some or something
28:08
hanging off that you can step into man
28:13
it goes on and on there's tons of specialized stuff and that's just great and
28:19
it's just fine and as but the skill is the skill just like shooting the skill
28:24
is a technical skill can you climb can you get to a point hold yourself clip
28:31
into a piece of protection.
28:33
And can you make the moves you need to climb? And can you do it for a sustained period of time?
28:39
After that, all the extra stuff is just little added layers.
28:44
It's very fun. It's very fun. I know I'm making it sound.
28:48
All you need is shoes and a harness. And if you're bouldering,
28:52
you don't even need a harness, folks.
28:53
Just some shoes and a chalk bag and maybe a pad.
29:01
So there's beginner level and then there's
29:04
just simple all the way up to just very
29:08
detailed very intense gear intensive stuff and it's all fun it's all awesome
29:15
and you can slowly build up your your little arsenal of climbing gear over time
29:20
i mean that that's it so who climbs i talked about the community a little bit.
29:27
And I said, oh, they're not just all granola eaters. Yeah, that's right.
29:30
I think climbing, and this is from going to different climbing gyms and being
29:37
at some different places.
29:40
I think climbing kind of draws a semi-diverse range of people,
29:44
mainly like college students, right?
29:47
It's an alternate sport, just like shooting is an alternate sport.
29:51
Not everybody is a frigging football player, baseball player or whatever.
29:56
And once you get up in the college age, if you're not a frigging athlete,
30:01
like proper athlete, you know, that's what's your sport. What do you do?
30:06
Do you still like sports?
30:08
You can either spend your time going patting some athlete on the ass,
30:11
or you can spend your time going and doing another sport, which I think climbing
30:16
is a perfect alternative, especially for college and high school age students.
30:24
I mean, it gives them a, oh, I'll get to it.
30:29
And I mentioned, so college students, I think, have a big draw to climbing.
30:35
And then I think veterans, there's a big draw to it as well.
30:38
Because like I said, you get exposed early in the military to it,
30:43
and some people latch on, and it's good.
30:46
And if you're a combat veteran, you know, if you're fighting some kind of PTSD
30:51
or whatever it is, I spoke of the focus, and that's a good place to focus.
30:58
Your mind is consumed with making sure that your knots are right and that you're you're clipping in,
31:04
to the protection correctly and that you're looking for your next handhold and
31:10
it focuses you for that period of time while you're at the rock gym you're pretty focused man,
31:16
which takes your mind off of other things that might not be so might not be healthy,
31:21
and if you're at the rock gym you ain't you ain't drinking.
31:26
And then again, I spoke earlier of the, how the community itself is very supportive and uplifting.
31:32
That's a perfect place for a
31:34
veteran, especially somebody having some reintegration issues or whatnot.
31:40
So college students and veterans. Yeah, for sure. And then there's like,
31:44
you know, I don't know, hardcore adventurer types.
31:48
Yeah. People who are out there just to chase the, the, the challenge to doing
31:55
these high level routes or, or,
31:57
you know, going out for weeks at a time to these big walls and, you know,
32:03
places like frigging Patagonia or Yosemite or somewhere.
32:09
And I'm going to bring up the very first confirmed ascent of Mount Everest,
32:18
which we all know is the highest peak in the world, was in 1953.
32:24
And that was Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay, his Sherpa, Mountaineer Sherpa.
32:33
So, yeah, what were they out there for? They won an expedition.
32:38
It was led by, I think, some Brits or something, but I think Hillary was a New Zealander.
32:45
But yeah, man, they were out there looking for adventure. They were looking
32:48
to peak the highest point on Earth, and they did.
32:57
That's just chasing adventure. There's no reason to do that other than just
33:01
a sense of adventure, and climbing does that.
33:04
So, and a lot of these hardcore adventurers, they'll be at the,
33:07
you know, they use an indoor gym just for, as a train, just like anybody uses
33:11
any gym, just to train up to, to get physically fit and to get strong and to
33:15
practice some specific things.
33:18
And then they take it out to the, to the big wall.
33:22
And then, so you got college students, which yes, they love it.
33:27
And I think any college town would benefit. You got veterans.
33:32
Because there's already a loose connect, you know, they already have been exposed.
33:37
Then you got your adventure class, the hardcore adventurers out there who I
33:42
assume are independently wealthy. I can only assume.
33:45
And then you got everyday people. So let's talk about everyday people because
33:50
that's what I am. I'd say I'm an everyday people.
33:55
And, you know, there might be office dudes, you know what I mean?
33:59
Professional you know white collar guys in their 30s and 40s and that's instead
34:05
of going and lifting weights they go to the rock gym because it's it's a definite
34:09
unique alternative to a gym,
34:12
so alternative to and it's a good alternative sport and then you got you know
34:17
parents you know they got like they bring the kids right for the family for
34:21
the birthday parties and whatnot clip your kids to the auto belay system and
34:26
and help them overcome their fears i've seen kids.
34:31
Who were like little my daughter in fact when she was i don't even know man
34:36
six seven eight years old was like a friggin spider monkey and she would hit
34:43
a wall and just scoot up and like on proper routes too not just.
34:50
Yeah, man. She was crazy. And then there are other kids, you stick them on a wall.
34:57
They get off the ground and go into panic mode because they're off the ground.
35:02
Never mind the rope that's attached to them. Never mind you standing right there with them.
35:07
So it's a good way to break your kids into some little reality of emotional
35:13
control and a little bit of fear, learning how to deal with some fear.
35:20
Well you and even grown folks for that matter and and
35:24
surprisingly you know you'll see
35:27
if you're you're at the rock gym we used to go to sports climbing center in
35:30
colorado and on sort of the west side just off garden of the gods and that was
35:36
my favorite it was city rock which we went to a little bit too but i i liked
35:40
sports climbing center better you know there were people there There were men
35:45
and women in their, like,
35:46
frickin' 60s, just lean as hell and, you know,
35:52
studying routes and scooting up a wall like nobody's business.
35:58
Staying healthy. Yeah, staying healthy. So, regular people, there's an appeal
36:05
because it's a very low-pressure, low-stress environment.
36:12
And again in a comparison to shooting sports climbing like shooting,
36:17
climbing much like shooting is accommodating for any age range and actually
36:25
any personality type and actually any gender right it's it's open to all there's no barrier,
36:34
now health wise there is right you need to.
36:40
I don't even say you need to be somewhat physically fit, just like any gym.
36:44
If you're trying to lose weight, you can go to the rock gym,
36:46
get on some kind of diet, go to rock gym and you will start your journey. You know what I mean?
36:52
So it's accommodating for, for just about anyone, but it's also accommodating
36:57
for that, that loner type, right?
37:00
That, that solitary loner out there who prefers to be in his own head and focus.
37:08
And you'll see guys like that at the gym too. They don't really talk to anyone.
37:11
They just sit there and stare at the wall for 10 minutes and then they go and try a thing.
37:17
They might have a homie with them for belaying or whatever, but yeah, man.
37:22
So it's conducive to all types.
37:26
And if you're just there, it's conducive to the social butterfly.
37:31
Because again, the rock gym can be a very social place. It is a very social place.
37:36
There's a lot of people that link up there you know after their various jobs
37:39
or after school or whatever don't link up there.
37:44
Just sit and bull crap, you know, maybe even not climb.
37:47
And you know what's very much the shooting is very much like that,
37:50
where it's a very much a social environment.
37:53
And I see that at my place a lot because we're very low.
37:57
We're very low stress around here, very informal. So if we're doing a match
38:01
or if we're doing a little workshop or something, yeah, man,
38:05
everybody's sitting around bullshit and talking about whatever other things, too.
38:10
And if you're a social person, that's it. That's what you do.
38:13
It's just another place for a casual gathering.
38:20
The intensity level depends on you, right, and the group that you're in with and what the goals are.
38:27
Just like at the Rock Gym, just like at the range.
38:29
If you're out there trying to prep for some upcoming big match,
38:33
you ain't out there bullshitting.
38:34
You're out there focused, you know, and that's okay, too. That's fine. That's what it's for.
38:40
So I've been talking about climbing in general, but really the focus,
38:47
I want to talk about kind of the role of indoor gyms and how their benefit,
38:53
you know, to communities, right?
38:55
Especially smaller, smaller communities. Big cities have everything and you
39:00
might, you might get a, you got built in humans in a city, right?
39:05
There's going to be people at the gym. But what about smaller towns?
39:10
I'm telling Rome Rome where I live does not have a rock climbing gym.
39:15
The nearest one is about an hour away.
39:19
I'm not going to drive an hour or a couple of times a week to go climb.
39:23
I just don't have that kind of time.
39:27
But they're good in smaller towns, those that have them.
39:31
In the gym environments, just like a coffee shop or just like a restaurant or
39:38
just like any other retail place,
39:41
they have a wide variety of different sort of vibes and environments.
39:50
And some are very relaxed rock gyms
39:53
i mean are very relaxed you know the atmosphere is very chill and
39:56
they're always playing chill music kind of low and there's a lot like couches
40:01
all over and it's very just very relaxed right natural lighting and they might
40:07
have artwork up from from locals and there might even be freaking plants and
40:13
shit in there and they got a little coffee bar.
40:18
Some are and and i like that environment
40:21
so you can go climb and then you can go sit and
40:24
bullcrap and get on wi-fi and or hang out with your homies and kick your shoes
40:30
off like you're at the house and just chill out and talk i like that environment
40:37
and then there's some bigger spaces that can,
40:42
I don't know. There was one in Bublingen, Germany.
40:46
The last time I was there, there was a facility there and it was newish and
40:52
it had a very sort of industrial vibe.
40:55
Very, it was very German. If you want to say it that way, it was very,
40:59
ah, man, I hate to say cold, but the color scheme, yes, all the rock climb holds,
41:06
they're all very colorful, but the walls themselves elves were like,
41:10
prison gray, which whatever.
41:15
And this, they did have tall walls and it was a very high ceiling and it was
41:19
just a very almost empty feeling,
41:23
except not, there was walls everywhere and they had very specified zones for things.
41:31
And there was, there was the high walls and then there was a,
41:34
over there was a bouldering space and over here were the auto belay systems.
41:39
And it was very cold, but you go there.
41:42
Some people ain't there for the, for the chill vibe. Some people were there to work on a thing.
41:48
And this place happened to have, I can't remember how high, I want to say 40, 50 foot walls inside.
41:56
I can't, I can't remember offhand. So it felt very different than,
42:02
but if you're there for that, right, if it's all about work, be there do that.
42:12
And like I said I think like Rome doesn't have a rock climbing gym but I think
42:16
smaller towns like Rome Bennett would benefit because Rome has a handful of
42:19
colleges and the rock gym and this was very much so in Colorado the the sports
42:27
climate center that was the third space my,
42:32
My daughter and me have started messing around with exploring the concept of the third space.
42:41
And everybody needs a third space. For some people, it's the rain. You know, you got home.
42:46
That's where you sleep. That's where you eat your meals and whatnot.
42:51
Then you have work, whatever that is. That's your second space.
42:55
That's where you're at most of the time.
42:58
Or that's where you're awake most of the time. And everybody needs a third space,
43:03
a place to go. For a lot of guys, it's the pub.
43:07
And that's great. and what comes to mind is like if you guys remember the old
43:12
sitcom from the 80s, Cheers you know, every time Norm walked in everybody in the bar yelled, Norm,
43:19
everybody knew him, that was his third space he sat at the same spot at the
43:22
end of the bar, and that was it and that's awesome and I love the pub but as
43:28
you, it's not very productive yeah.
43:35
And I want to say I was looking this up a sociologist sort of came up with that,
43:40
that concept. His name is Ray Oldenburg.
43:44
And I think he wrote a book, The Great Good Place.
43:48
But the thing about the third space is that home is, is whatever,
43:52
where you live. It's not necessarily involuntary or voluntary function.
43:56
Work is kind of sort of voluntary, but like you have to work, right?
44:01
But the third space is, is, is a voluntary space. That's where you like,
44:05
you have chosen to go to be in that location for whatever the vibe,
44:11
the people, the skill, the, the, the activity, the coffee, whatever it is.
44:17
So that's what I believe the rock gym is in some of these smaller,
44:24
some of these smaller towns, you know, well, and even in a big town for that matter, right?
44:31
I think, like any business, if you run it well, it fills that role.
44:37
It welcomes you there. You like being there, and that's it.
44:41
You don't have a responsibility to your third place. And your third place doesn't
44:46
make any demands upon you.
44:48
That's where you choose to go be to exert whatever responsibility and demands you have on yourself.
44:55
Just like the gym. For some people, the gym is the third space.
44:58
For some people, the range is the third space.
45:02
So I like that idea, and I like the idea of the gym being that, the rock gym being that.
45:09
What's another good thing about the rock gym? Well, sort of cross-generational interaction.
45:16
I told you at SCC, there were a lot of college-type students because University
45:22
of Colorado was right there.
45:25
Well, University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, and then there was Colorado College down the road,
45:30
pikes peak university whatever there's a lot of college students yes there were
45:34
but then there was also like i said there was there was older folk like in their
45:38
60s who were friggin you know locals you know local outdoor hippie types or
45:45
friggin professor at the.
45:48
College or a doctor, you know, who knows what they do until you,
45:53
you know, interact with them.
45:55
But you might, you might be a teenage, you might be 19 starting your first semester of college,
46:03
and you're standing shoulder to shoulder at a wall with a 65 year old dude who's
46:08
got thousands of climbs under his belt.
46:11
And you're over here trying to figure a problem out. And he's like, try this
46:14
man hey did you think about that and and
46:18
and now you have a relationship with someone you normally wouldn't yeah
46:22
and then gym like like it even normal gyms like weight training gyms and like
46:30
even at ranges you know they normally there's like some kind of board like cork
46:35
board or chalkboard or community board up where people post up like.
46:42
Gear trades or gear for for sale or you
46:47
know a climbing trip coming up looking for folks to join
46:49
on a climbing trip or or a cleanup like hey we're going to do a river cleanup
46:54
you know on this date you know volunteer take a number whatever so that's there
46:59
and that's a very much a thing at a rock climbing gym and i like that so i keep
47:04
talking about small towns especially college towns,
47:09
yeah I think I think they would a rock gym would benefit a small any small town
47:15
and you and you're thinking to yourself well Edgar what about the market well
47:18
the market support it what's the numbers look like and all that and that's yeah,
47:23
but I think if there's.
47:26
If you have a college nearby, I think, I think that's a huge step right there.
47:32
Huge step. And then if your town, for instance, Piedmont, Alabama,
47:37
now I didn't know anything about
47:39
Piedmont, Alabama until I did Talladega National Forest is down there.
47:44
And I do a land navigation course down there.
47:47
So by virtue of doing that, you know,
47:51
me and me and my son went to a local pizza place
47:54
in piedmont well that place was a little hub
47:57
of outdoor activity and and turns
48:00
out piedmont has a pretty robust sort
48:03
of outdoor scene you know what i'm saying there's a river go through they got
48:09
they do kayaking and things there's a lot of mountain bike races that go through
48:12
like the penhody trail goes through there and so i think if your town is is
48:19
even in proximity to some of that outdoor type activity,
48:23
a rock gym is perfect. I think so.
48:27
The rock gym is just a great alternative for sporting alternative.
48:34
And it's a great fitness alternative. And it's a great place to a great social alternative.
48:43
Yeah, I think so. And it encourages fitness in a way that's,
48:49
You know, nobody says, how much do you bench press or how much do you squat?
48:56
It encourages fitness in a different way.
49:00
And then the awareness of nature, right?
49:04
If you're into a rock gym, most people who are there probably care about the
49:08
environment a little bit.
49:09
And that is a good, that's a benefit to good people, believe it or not.
49:13
Yeah, and then the friendships that you might build along the way.
49:17
You know, you might have a buddy who you end up, you know, you belay him once
49:21
or twice. And now next thing you know, you and him are climbing partners.
49:25
So there's all that.
49:29
But so climbing, whether it's indoor or outdoor climbing, it builds our capacity.
49:35
It builds our physical capacity, mental capacity.
49:38
Hell, man, I'm even going to argue that especially outdoor climbing builds our spiritual capacity.
49:46
And I've said it before, and I'll say it again.
49:49
And when you're on some gigantic high mountain somewhere and you're looking
49:55
off into God's creation and you see nothing but mountain peaks,
50:01
no power lines, no roads,
50:03
no anything except just a bunch of nature and mountain peaks.
50:10
And you're up high enough that you're like in the clouds looking out.
50:14
Man There's a spiritual Connection there.
50:21
There's the athletic sense of accomplishment, right? Whether you're brand new
50:25
or you're, you know, old school climber, when you complete some difficult route,
50:31
yeah, you're, it feels good.
50:33
And then when, especially if you're up there on that peak, right,
50:36
looking out at the mountains and you, you've done that hard thing and you're up there out of breath,
50:44
probably cold as hell just just soaking in creation and even watching other people,
50:54
one of my favorite scenes in a movie and it
50:58
wasn't a feat of athleticism it was
51:00
a guy talking about a feat of athleticism if you guys ever saw vision quest
51:05
from the 80s so it was about a wrestler right high school kid going going through
51:11
the wrestling tournament but his buddy that he worked with at a hotel and i
51:18
can't remember his name now.
51:20
After school, the main character worked at a hotel as a room service guy,
51:26
and this other guy was like the cook.
51:30
But this other guy was supporting him in his journey, in this wrestling journey.
51:37
And and he started i don't know if he had have a cold feet but,
51:43
the old guy the cook was like describing when
51:46
he watched pele do that
51:50
famous kick where where he he jumped
51:53
over and did like a backflip and kicked
51:56
and scored a goal right and and this guy was describing
51:59
that and he was and he was one of the most brilliant acting moments And he was
52:05
describing it in such an emotional way of being so floored by this feat of athleticism
52:15
that this human being, just like him,
52:18
if one human being can do this thing, oh my God.
52:22
It was a magical piece of dialogue right there. Well, monologue.
52:30
Now, I'm not going to tell you anything as inspiring as that.
52:33
But when I've seen, I mentioned my friend Larry, that joker, I hit 250, 260 maybe.
52:40
I have seen that guy lead climb, you know, 5'10", maybe 5'11",
52:47
maybe even harder routes than that.
52:51
Yeah, it's a little inspiring to watch a guy that size negotiate a mountain.
52:59
Man, it's a little inspiring. I wasn't in tears, but I mean,
53:03
it's, it's a little inspiring.
53:05
So look, well, rock climbing. Yeah, it's good. It's fun.
53:12
Climb, you know, hit me up with some stories or experiences, man. Yeah, I do.
53:18
And if you do not climb or have not yet tried climbing, I strongly encourage you to find a spot.
53:24
If you're in Northwest Georgia, I know there's a spot over in,
53:28
a couple of spots over in Kennesaw, a couple of rock gyms.
53:31
If you're even further Northwest or further West in Alabama,
53:34
there's a rock climbing gym in Gadsden.
53:37
And then there's always North Georgia mountains.
53:41
You can find, you can find routes, natural routes. And do I know the website offhand?
53:50
Hey, mountain guide, maybe?
53:54
Sorry for this. I want to give you guys a good website.
53:58
Well, I can't find it offhand. There's a website. I wish, I don't know why I
54:03
can't remember it offhand.
54:06
But you can do a search for routes in your state, you know, whatever,
54:10
and it gives you all the information of whether there's already,
54:12
you know, bolted routes or bouldering or whatever, whatever type of climbing
54:17
it is, it'll give you that.
54:18
And believe it or not, there's some in Atlanta, like in like downtown Atlanta,
54:22
there's some bouldering places or spots you can go ball.
54:26
Now, you may need to take a gun with you, but there's some spots.
54:31
You don't want to you make sure you got a pad on the ground so when you fall
54:34
you don't fall onto a friggin needle but uh there's a lot of spots man there's
54:40
a lot of a lot of opportunity out
54:41
there to to start climbing don't do it willy-nilly because it is dangerous,
54:48
was a running joke when I was there on the team is that I am one of the safest climbers on the planet.
54:53
Because if you tell me to build an anchor, you better believe that anchor is going to hold a tank.
54:59
I don't put up with any, oh, good enough stuff when it comes to climbing.
55:08
Because I do not want to fall and break every bone in my body and live.
55:11
Do you know what I'm saying?
55:13
Anyway, I hate to leave you. I don't want to leave you with that.
55:17
I don't want to leave you with that. Climbing is good. Physical fitness,
55:22
mental fitness, spiritual fitness, community, and it's just a good third space
55:27
to be. All right, good people.
55:30
Thank you for listening to this one. And this was just me kind of ranting on about a thing I like.
55:35
Thank you for listening. So please check our stuff
55:38
we got matches coming up we got workshop and
55:43
wild cards coming up two team guys is always always out there to schedule we
55:50
always have land navigation ready to go if you and a small group of people want
55:55
to land nav we can put together any course that is in our catalog on twoteamguys.com with,
56:02
you know, enough lead time.
56:06
And then we have gifsengo.com backslash helpahomeyfund.
56:12
That's our charitable efforts. Please consider giving to it if you're a charitable person.
56:17
I appreciate you. Other than that, folks, look for the next one coming soon. Next week.
56:24
Take care. Take care of each other. Be safe. And I love you guys.