Blog

School or Climb

• June 2012
• Climb Travel

Dear Ms. Davis,

I love Climbing. Im 17. And my name is Ross. I live in Ohio, not a hot bed for climbing –since I cant go to a crag every day, or even every weeknd. I resort to the next best thing, gym climbing, searching the area for signs of rock and scouring the interenet for climbing videos and movies. The inspiration generated from theses videos fuels the passion I have for climbing, and I know how much I want to be a part of that. But I do realize how real it is out there, Ive done a little and a lot of everything, except for AID: sport, Trad, bouldering, ice and alpine. Grade doesn’t matter, each crag is different, but i try to get as high as i can. I’m not going to say that my goal is to become the next Chris Sharma or Adam Ondra, but whatever my niche is, i want to be the best I can possibly be, so that I can inspire others as I was.

My biggest issue as i mentioned, is that I live in Ohio. What I have come to realize is that most everybody, including parents, lives in the fear of the potential of bad things happen. So, in my words, people have come into a complacent routine. If they’re happy though, there is nothing wrong with that. But I am not content-I just thrive on the adrenaline of adventure. Except for my close friend, no one takes me serious, all I want to do is push the limits.

Im at the point where I have to start the college looking and my parents want me to basically conform to how my older siblings did things. They view my drive hard mentality as a immaturity aspect, not trustworthy and that im unbalanced with priorities. (i assure you don’t put anybody in danger). Next year my good climbing partner leaves for college in Oregon, and my parents seem to believe I should not go on climbing trips next year, “To get focused”. They want me to stay in-state for college. I love climbing and everything that comes with climbing, the ability to be adventurous, meet cool interesting people and tune in. I really want to inspire people, like you guys inspired me, I owe it. It just feels right, I just want to contribute. I don’t really know what Im asking, you just seem trustworthy, and truly seem to understand it. I just don’t know what to do, and im just not really around people that are into this that give advice. If you have time and have some thoughts it’d mean a lot.
Cheers
Ross

Hi Ross,
It’s hard to make big life decisions, especially on someone else’s timeframe. Even on your own timeframe, it’s never easy. A lot of people ask me for advice in this moment: when feeling parental pressure to go to college, and either not feeling sure they want to go, or what they want to study, or if they should just go climbing. I also had no idea what I wanted to do when I was starting college. My family is very committed to education: my brother is a doctor, my dad is an aeronautical engineer, and my mom a teacher with a master’s degree. It never even occurred to me not to go to college. It also never occurred to me not to go to grad school. After getting my master’s from CSU, I was en route to a PhD or law school, and that’s when I decided two degrees was enough and I started to dedicate myself to climbing.

I often call myself a law school drop out, but I’m a law school drop out with two diplomas. I believe that the whole joy and the whole point of life is learning. For me, that’s the main thing that makes climbing so addictive. An opportunity for learning should never be rejected, in whatever form it’s available to you. I think you should get as much education as you have the opportunity to get: and what I mean by this, is if you have the chance to continue school with support that will keep you free of major debt (whether from parents, or like me, from scholarships, grants and teaching assistantships), do not let that opportunity slip away. If going to school is going to put you under a debt burden, that is an entirely different situation, and far less cut and dried. If you are not going into debt for it, having a college degree will certainly never hurt you, and it will never close any doors.

You learn a lot in college, beyond just the subjects you are studying. You learn how to learn, how to manage your time, and how to handle stress and deadlines. Those are all really important things, in life and certainly in climbing as well. Education looks a lot different now than it did even ten years ago. There are fascinating realms to enter, with so much happening and changing right now. The chance to have an education is an amazing gift, so if it’s within your reach, don’t even think twice. Take it, with gratitude.

Climbing and academics are an excellent pair. Having lived on the road for a lot of years, I can honestly say that climbing fulltime with nothing else in your life, including a home and a family, can lose its appeal pretty quickly. When you have nothing to do, rest days can be very boring, and your life can start to feel unproductive. Fitting climbing into the other things you are doing in life (school, work, etc.) is very fulfilling, and often more productive. Having some kind of framework to schedule around generally leads you to use your time more efficiently.

I’m pretty sure that if your parents see you as someone motivated to learn and to work hard, with climbing as your primary extracurricular passion, they will have a different attitude toward climbing and trips. For sure, being able to look forward to winter, spring and summer breaks, and to throw myself into the climbing dirtbag lifestyle was a huge part of my college experience. I wrote many of my essays and the bulk of my master’s thesis in Hueco Tanks, and almost all of the papers my freshman writing students turned in to me were graded around a campfire or in a sleeping bag. Both you and your parents should consider that if you dedicate yourself to academics and climbing with equal passion, they will both play an equally important part in your life. Like I said, I can’t imagine my college years without climbing. And those years were an experience I would never want to have given up.

Balance, as always, is key 🙂
Steph