Fear is rational. It has a way of sharpening focus, honing skill; a way of providing clarity. I think it's good sometimes. Lessons are learned. I am not without my fears and there have been times that because of them, I was transformed into something I did not want to be. The return to what I should be is almost always driven and shaped, at least partially, by a fear of not living a fulfilling life. And I suppose that what anyone should be is always changing; there really isn't any end to that most fundamental of human philosophical battles. To be immersed in this kind of thinking and to know, all the time, that no one has forever is the reason to persevere in all of our endeavors. A reason to attain the impossible. Motivation to keep moving and to keep pushing and testing the boundaries for ourselves and others.
During three years of high school, I participated in an elective program called Project Adventure in which we learned about climbing equipment and safety. There were optional tree-top adventure courses, rock climbing walls, trust exercises and other activities. I wasn't sure about it at first because of a mild fear of heights but I soon came to love the thrill and engagement that came with challenging myself physically, as well as being trusted and relying on others for safety. At the age of 16, climbing was already shaping my life's path, though I wouldn't truly begin my love affair with hard movement on outdoor rock until I was 24.
An easy top-rope solo for some fun and exposure at Allamuchy Mountain State Park - Byram, NJ, USA "Cake Wall 5.6"
Top roping was how I cut my teeth at first, as everyone usually does. My first trip to a rock gym was with some friends in the middle of the winter of 2013. Equally lacking in technique and experience, we laughed our way through a couple hours of auto-belay silliness before getting sore and calling it quits. But I knew I would be back. A week later, I started frequenting that same gym, Randolph Climbing Center in Randolph, NJ. Eventually, I began to utilize some new movement techniques and understood from the employees and online teaching that footwork was supremely important! After several sessions of easy bouldering, it felt like I was making some progress and getting stronger (and lighter too).
I met some amazing people in those first few months of my gym training and it inspired me to continue to push through barriers that I thought were unattainable for me. I wanted to find some real rock. Communing with nature in ways like camping, fishing and hunting are some of my favorite things and rock climbing brings that same feeling of oneness that they do. There is something sublime about precisely and powerfully moving up a stone face among the peaceful sounds of the forest. The fear and worry of daily life seems to fade away. Gladly, some of those amazing people from the gym felt the same way and we would often take the short drive and hike into some local boulders at Allamuchy Mountain State Park in Byram, NJ. This granite outcropping of glacial erratics and cliff choss began to show a great deal of promise to me as the aspiring outdoor boulderer and I began to explore and climb there alone as well. On mountainproject.com, I started to document the boulders I was climbing and soon complied over 50 climbs from VB to V5 in the hills around the park. In the meanwhile, I had constructed a small boulder cave and hangboard set-up in the garage to improve my hand and forearm strength. My real rock climbing training had begun with a passion!
Within a year, I was working at Randolph Climbing Center and gaining experience and friends along the way! The very next year, I began to set boulder problems and top-rope routes up to 5.11 and my strength and technique grew quite rapidly in that time period! The gym also contracted me to construct volumes and box features for the walls which was a super fun and creative multi-month project that my friend Matt helped me with. It felt as though after I had jumped into climbing head-first, everything just fell into place. I was finally making money and friends in an industry that I was passionate about. That's a priceless realization.
A couple nearly finished volumes in my old garage
Some of my finished volumes at Randolph Climbing Center; small triangle boxes, big trapezoids, lots of fun!
Fast forward a couple more years and I sit here typing at 28 years old climbing V7 and having more fun in the gym than ever at Triangle Rock Club in North Raleigh, North Carolina. This gym has really improved my climbing ability in several ways, from strength to technique to head-game, those setters are world-class! Check out this V7 dyno on the grenade corner...
Commit young grasshoppah
So there's no fear there. Climbing has become an exercise for both my body and my mind. That dyno shows off not only my near peak physical ability in climbing thus far, but it also requires an intense amount of mental focus and confidence that I was previously incapable of due to fear. Training in climbing is equal parts mental and physical.
Gettin' while the gettin's good
A favorite outdoor destination: Grayson Highlands State Park, Mouth of Wilson, Virginia, USA
Currently, my girlfriend Courtney and I are preparing for a nationwide adventure to explore, hike, swim and climb! I am more confident than ever that those rational fears are under control with the strong help of climbing and will continue to provide me clarity. I am focused and ready. We will find some of the greatest hiking and climbing destinations on the planet and some of the best people along the way. Maybe we will even find new rock to explore and document. After all, the greatest adventures are those unplanned. "On belay? Belay on. Climbing!!"
Welcome to steemit. Good luck in your adventures!
Great post! I'm looking forward to seeing more!
Climb on!
Climbing is the best! I hope you and @mstafford can connect on Steem, you're both so enthusiastic and so great at climbing!
Hey @aussieninja ! Actually @mstafford and I have already said a few kind words in passing and he, as well as @velveteendream, made me realize there can really be a great climbing community on Steemit based on the quality of their content and the user response to it! Not to mention the user response to this post! I am blown away! Hope to see you around :)
Awww yeah, @aussieninja, I tend to get around ;) thanks for the shoutout!
@mk3jetta -- this is a really great post. I love the way you describe how you came to love climbing. My story isn't much different. It started with a gift certificate from a buddy to the local bouldering gym -- we laughed and climbing for about 3 hours, and then I needed @caitycat's help to open a granola bar wrapped later because I pretty much blew out my forearms.
I've talked to a lot of people about top-rope solo-ing before, but I've never really investigated how to do it. I'd be keen to read a bit of a crash-course (maybe non-crash course is more appropriate) on the matter, if you feel like doing a writeup on it!
Thanks for sharing, and I'm looking forward to seeing more about your upcoming cross country trip!
Hey dude! Lol the beginner pump is real! Yea, I would definitely do a bit on how to top-rope solo! It's a bit of a controversial topic but has been gaining a lot of backing lately since so many people do it regularly without incident in a few different ways. I'll get on that this coming week, for sure.
I'm stoked to get on the road and put up some more content in the coming months! Thanks for the idea on the next article! :)
Congratulations! Very inspiring, thanks for sharing with us! :D
@originalworks lives for the thrills, man
Excellent. I am a climber too but I have not posted about it yet. I have a small wall in my basement, nothing like yours. I climb at the V15 level. Just kidding. I will come back and upvote you in a couple hours when my vote percentage is a little more recharged. Great post.
Thank you! LOL goodness, I hope I make it there someday. I met Jimmy Webb in Georgia last year in Rocktown (he's established a V15 there) and he just looks like the nicest, skinny, country dude; totally innocuous, I would never guess it was him that put up Matriarch, so I wouldn't put it past anyone to climb V15, it's attainable! I appreciate the upvote, very kind. See you around :)
I don't think V15 is attainable for me. But for you, yes. Those volumes rock by the way!
Thanks, they were fun to build, I hope I get to do it again!
Love climbing and really looking forward to seeing more from you!
Thank you! I hope to get some video content up as we begin our roadtrip, thanks for checking it out :)
Great post, sir. Keep climbing! :)
Amazing story. A great show of what following your heart can bring you.
P.s That video of you jumping was so bad ass XD
I also have that fear, never tried rock climbing before, but after reading your post i might try it.
Going on a nationwide adventure to explore is one of my dreams, actually no, not nationwide i would rather go on worldwide adventure :D
Welcome aboard, you might run into some bandwidth problems when posting, if you want some tips how to work around this problem watch my latest post, i talked about this problem
I'm waiting anxiously for your posts
Awesome, yes definitely give climbing a try! And thank you for for the heads up, I will check out your post!
Great post sir..
Hey there! I recently started to climb (like five months ago) and I have to say it has been an amazing experience. I'm agree with you, it is both parts, mental and physical. I discovered how important the attitude is and for me that has been one of the best lessons. It is so nice to find climbers in steemit!
Permit me to say interesting! Well done climbing. I prefer leaping off buildings. But that's me I guess. Lolz. I'm new here though. You can check out my intro post. I think I've got a picture of me in mid air and no parachutes.
Great read! I have done a decent amount of rappelling, but not climbing. I seem to have a better time (in terms of heights) with going down versus up. I have a lot of respect for climbers because of the dedication and work it takes to make it to the top.
Great post with some sweet shots. I wish I was more confident at rock climbing. I was curious, how did you account experience such a boom right out of the gate. I just started my account and am trying to figure out how this platform works.
Actually, I've posted about 250 times in less than a month so it took a lot of trying to get anywhere at all. This particular post just got really lucky by being upvoted by Curie and a couple other high power accounts. If you look at my other posts, almost nothing has even breached more than a dollar. This is not a typical post for me. All I can say, is just try to create content that means something to you and run with whatever is popular. Post like ten times a day with popular tags, comment on topics you enjoy, upvote good posts. It's that simple.
BTW I forgot to mention, I'm already into cryptocurrency and had purchased some STEEM with Bitcoin so my estimated wallet value is really mostly money I earned in my daily life, not on Steemit.
Ooooh okay. Ya that's definitely an advantage. I'm just learning about this whole crypto currency thing. Pretty cool though. I really appreciate the insight.
Absolutely. It's hard to know who earned their wallet on the platorm and who "invested" into the platform with their own money. I'm the latter. The more STEEM you can put into STEEM Power, the more initial voting power you have. So that's why I'm relatively new to the platform but I have a relatively powerful vote; I essentially bought that power by using my personal STEEM token to Power Up this account. Hope that helps brother. If you wanted to talk about how to actually put your own STEEM onto Steemit.com, I would be glad to let you know how. Catch you soon :)
Really looking forward to your upcoming adventures with your gf mate! I'm new here as well. Perhaps you'll check out my first post when you have time? Followed and upvoted Cheers!
Steem on fellow adventurer!! I used to to do a lot of outdoor climbing, hardly anything sharpens you more as you say...good luck on your upcoming travels :)
helo... welcome to steemit, i enjoyed your post...follow/join me lets do something unique here
Hey.. I'm a music producer can't seem to get any exposure on Steemit :( I'm inspired by how well your "introduceyourself" post is going down... Do let me know if you have any good tips!!! Anyway, welcome to the Steemit community, keep up the good work and Happy blogging!
Hi there! To be completely honest, rewards on this platform seem like they are stacked against little guys like us because of "whales" that abuse power, bots that spam (a minority of users but still influential) etc. BUT, every now and again, the good whales and genuinely interested users will make a quality post Trending. The reason this particular post has such a high reward payout right now is because I was upvoted by a user called @curie and a couple other high-power users. This post was probably submitted to Curie (a panel of users that powerfully upvotes underrated content) by another user and subsequently Curie decided to upvote my post. I basically got VERY lucky on this one post. My first few actions on the platform consisted of about two weeks worth of small, simple posts, talking to other users with similar interests and also upvoting and following popular accounts and posts. So creating that base of support helped a bit. But it doesn't mean you can't get lucky, too. Just keep making solid content that is aesthetically and aurally pleasing as well as genuine and interact with as many users as you can in your field of interest. They key is real human connection and inspiration combined with your perseverance and a bit of luck and generosity from others. I hope you don't get discouraged, keep on keepin on!
Physical fitness is an awesome endeavor! I have an article that is similar that you may like. Keep up the good work!
https://steemit.com/life/@crypto-maven/deeper-introduction-martial-arts-background-and-going-to-the-muhammad-ali-funeral-in-louisville-ky
Best of luck. :)
Amazing story kind sir, I always have this fear of heights and falling from heights. Hopefully i'll be able to be like you and climb fearlessly. Thank you Sir!
So awesome to read this. For me it's been over a decade climbing seriously, and as I'm coming back from a pretty rough 2-year run of injuries, it's been surprising and gratifying to find that I still get psyched to climb a v6 in the gym. I feel like there's no real synonym for "psych", just as there isn't one for "beta." I'm psyched for your trip!
Dang, sorry to hear about the injuries! It's the worst to be forced to rest ugh! Yea I don't get all caught up in people that look at the gym as just a "trainer" and outdoor climbing as the "real climbing", though I understand where that mentality comes from. I'm always psyched to send hard, no matter where it's at. Climbing outside does get me a little more psyched usually just because of the atmosphere and peace and I do view it as ethically the "test" of true skill. Glad you're around, thanks for stopping by! :)
Hello!! Welcome to steemit. Good luck
What an inspiring piece.
Hey, I’m creating a new network for those who are new to Steemit and are creating quality content. If you’d like to help be a part of this project- hit up the link below and comment below the post. It’s pretty early in the works but I’m looking for those who are new and want to contribute!
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Hi there,
@markangeltrueman (he is my "Master") notified me of this post. What a great story. We are both looking forward to seeing more climbing (and other) stories from you. Congrats on the curie upvote. I have re-steemed this on the @steemsearch blog and given it The Curator's seal of approval
SO awesome, thank you very kindly :)
Wow.amazing
Congratulations @mk3jetta, this post is the forth most rewarded post (based on pending payouts) in the last 12 hours written by a User account holder (accounts that hold between 0.1 and 1.0 Mega Vests). The total number of posts by User account holders during this period was 3786 and the total pending payments to posts in this category was $12894.84. To see the full list of highest paid posts across all accounts categories, click here.
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excelente
Hello fellow steemitan, I am greatly fascinated to be in this community. My name is Edward Okpeke from Nigeria in West Africa. I indeed enjoyed your content. I only watch it in movie. It's a worthwhile read. Good piece to you @mk3jetta. Many more looked forward to.
I love trecking....
Welcome to steemit!!
glad to have you here stay stunned...
You can follow my blog @hrishikeshmatre