Two Fingers at a Time

         From outside or at a distance, the problem is less absolute.  Less menacing.  Approaching it, you may seem outwardly confident, or maybe you’ve even convinced yourself on the inside that you are sure.  You take hold, placing your hands and feet ever so slightly, yet very purposefully, on each hold.  As you ascend, there isn’t much that crosses your mind.  Only ‘left foot here, right hand there.’ ‘Right foot there, left hand here.’ ‘ Now lift.’ ‘ Got it.’  

          Each step is a mark, like a number 2 penciling scrawled in the scantron of the school of the route.  Follow the tape, no missteps count, no cheating allowed.   Some of us are graceful, some of us clumsy.  That’s ok, we all start somewhere.  But I will tell you this, it’s better to fall a hundred times on the same route than to simply skip a step and claim to be good at climbing.  I’ll gladly chalk up one more time for another go.  There’s no honor in cheating.  So two fingers at a time, I wrench my way up from hold to hold, feeling like superman, feeling stronger than I’ve ever felt before.  Each 2 finger-size refuge like the rung on a ladder to my next step of pride.  Then there it is, the intimidating overhang.  I reach past the overhang, and then finally gain two hand holds over the cliff, but my hands, jeeze, they’re sweaty, my fingers are getting tired.  I don’t have enough time or strength at this hold to chalk up.  I can only reach for the next hand hold so I can pull and push my body beyond this thing.  I grab hold, and when I do, it takes just  a few seconds to slip from my hands.  There I go.  I head down to the floor, step back a few feet, and chalk up again.


          We try to learn what would be considered the right way, while filtering out so much of the wrong ways.  Watching the graceful glide up and over these chalked-up polyresin playgrounds is amazing, for some of them it seems a completely natural intuition, like walking.  Inversion, grappling, and pushing in different directions while maintaining motionless stances, these are amazing climbers.

          Rock climbing easily interprets to life.  It’s easy to lose sight of the whole if you’re concentrating on one step at a time, you have to know to take time to look all around you and make sure you’re using everything you can. You’ve gotta make sure that you’re not putting yourself in a bad position, make sure that you can always take a step down if you’re not sure.  Try to rest and chalk up before you hit that hard point.  Then there are points where you just have to jump for it.  There are moments where you’re not very sure about your footing because what you’re standing on is only as big as two quarters side-by-side.  You can’t stand on that forever, so you've got to move upward towards more solid ground.

           It’s a beautiful dance that I’m only beginning to learn, but I love it more and more with each passing day.  It’s taken my body to these levels of strength I’ve never had.  Muscles showing more and more where I don't think they've ever been.  My confidence increases more and more with each route crushed.  I feel this great rush hitting the top of a route I’ve been attempting for days.   It’s even a great social tool, as there are many climbers in this area.  There’s a few gyms to climb at around here,  each with lots of people.  Then there’s places to climb outside, some very famous places in Texas.   

           Climbing is also a very personal thing for me.  I don’t like having people shout to me where to put my foot next, I want to climb this thing my way. I want to do it right, without asking for help, and if I can’t, then I’ll gladly ask for help.  I’m new, not a professional by any means, so I’m happy to take advice from the seasoned vets.  But if I don’t learn it by doing it and failing, then I’ll never fully learn.  That's where we come to my point.  I don’t remember who said it, but it’s true: you can’t be afraid to fail.  Otherwise you may never even take that first step.


---The Hook