I heard it’s just three easy steps
Climbers like to think of themselves as functional people. They may have witnessed their own success and received great returns in other areas of their lives by efficiently and obediently following clear steps. And what is climbing a mountain if it isn’t, literally, taking one step at a time?
So they come to stand before the big, sticky, wild blob of information that is learning how to navigate the Laws of Nature and cliffside safely, and break it all down into sequential, actionable steps.
GETTING STRONG
GETTING BRAVE
EXECUTING
With enough discipline, and dodging the distractions of love or life, Step One getting strong can happen over just a few months. Sure, you can admit it, Step Two getting brave is little more complex. Not enough bravery and you nurture a lovely fine comfort zone without ever meeting your goals. A touch too much bravery brings an ankle-breaking fall or finding yourself lost, benighted, dehydrated and in trouble with your mom. Now burdened with the light kiss of shame, soon wilting away from the heat of discipline, Step One muscle gains start to fade.
And who are the Nightmares amongst us, whether found napping on alpine moss, body and spirit in perfect equilibrium and harmony, or cowering under a boulder in a storm, electrified by the pure power of the sky, would ever actually dare to think they had the means or desire to execute…like slaying a dragon with a toothpick is how silly you look if you think you can “conquer” any mountain this Great Earth has created.
So it looks like the three steps are not going to be as easy as nailing that dream job.
Long story short, I made you some graphs. The graphs account for the fact that you will inevitably be forced to take breaks from climbing (whether by choice or injury). The breaks are not the crisis your ego would like to think they are, but valuable periods of refining your vision, resting your body and letting your knowledge and skills ferment into Wisdom.
When you come back to climbing as you inevitably will, having traded a fraction of your free will for the ecstasy of sends, the only thing you have lost is muscles, which, see Step One, come back very quickly. What breaks can never erase is your experience. How good you are as a climber will not be gauged by what grade you climb divided by how many years it took to get there. Saint Nightmare will judge you, and spare you, by your grace in the face of unexpected challenges, your creativity in solving those challenges, and kindness towards people with less experience than you.