Seb climbed 28 routes the other day for his 28th birthday. We went to the least inspiring and most polished crag in the Verdon Gorge and got burnt to a crisp for 7 and a half hours. Seb reluctantly crammed and recrammed his feet into teeny climbing shoes and became increasingly tired and grumpy as he ticked his list of routes. A Swiss schoolgroup looked on in bemusement at this man who seemed to be having a terrible time whilst his girlfriend belayed all day. It doesn’t sound like a partcularly enjoyable way to spend a birthday.
Was it a worthwhile way to spend a birthday? No records were broken, some of the routes weren’t even that good and by no means is it the most impressive birthday feat – Honnold did 280 routes on his 28th. So why not celebrate by doing something that’s actually fun, like going to Water World or renting a pedalo?
But by that logic is there actually any point in climbing at all? Technically speaking we’re not going anywhere, we could spend our time doing something useful like home improvement.
This is rarely quite so evident as in the Peak District where a quick walk or scramble will see you safely to the top of the crag with relative ease and minimal complications. Why rack up with expensive equipment and risk back-breaking falls to arrive somewhere that – as many passing walkers like to smugly remind you – you could have got to much quicker by other means? All that just to return to where you started from (to pick up all your stuff) before finding the next ascent. Lets be honest, it’s a convoluted way to get from point A to point A.
When you’re having a shit time on a route, or even a shit day at the crag, you usually ask yourself all these questions (or similar questions with more explicit language). But that moment when you’re wondering why the golly you got yourself into such a pickle is probably the one that made doing that thing worthwhile. When you’ve had a struggle, questioned all your choices and pushed on nonetheless, you know you’ve done something worth doing. It doesn’t really matter what it was – nor whether it was particularly productive – it’s still an achievement.
So Seb spent his 28th birthday climbing up the same crag in 28 different ways. At the end of the day we packed up our stuff and walked back to the car the same way we’d walked in, far more sunburnt and tired than we had been 8 hours earlier. He chose a difficult and complicated way to get from point A to A, half the time he was willing it to be over so that he could get to the pub, but he achieved something. A pointless achievement maybe, but an achievement nonetheless.
Good work Seb, you owe me 28 belays!
Nice one to Colton, Basti and Jesse for the moral support too!
– Hati
Hati Whiteley 