Talking About Mentoring
- February 2008
- Uncategorized
Hi Steph,
Firstly, I want you to know I am a HUGE fan of yours. I read your book two times and every time it just really resonates with me. I think what you have done for women in the sport of climbing is phenomenal and I find your dedication and authenticity to the essence of climbing refreshing and inspiring. I always tell people climbing changed my life. I only started about two years ago, when I couldn’t stand the Chicago winter and there was nothing else to do. I would head over to a small indoor gym and go at it. I sucked the first time…I remember not being able to work my futon because my arms were so sore. It was a very very humbling experience. I was used to things coming easy for me in terms of my athletic ability, but climbing was a whole new challenge.
Climbing has been my best friend, my therapist, my enemy, my soul…There is this awesome meditative thing that happens when I am bouldering (I have become a bouldering chic), especially when I am outdoors. It’s indescribable and incomparable. I have fallen back on climbing during personally rough emotional times…it really was a key thing that would get me through it. Climbing can be such a inward challenge and when I finish a problem there is a very amazing sense of accomplishment—usually after several humbling tries. I have always wished I would have found climbing sooner.
I think if I had been involved with it at a younger age I would have maybe not had some of the challenges I had as a young girl. I personally suffered from bulimia for 8 years (have been totally 100% okay for 4) and I can honestly say that having climbing may have changed that. I am actually trying to get involved with a mentor program run here in San Fran. Do you ever do this kind of thing?
All the best, Sarah
Dear Sarah,Thanks so much for writing, and for sharing about your life. It’s always amazing to me how much we all have in common, and the connection we get from being passionate outdoors people, and climbers. Climbing was a little different eighteen years ago, which is when I started. There were fewer climbers, and it was a little more fringe. I definitely think one reason I got so deeply involved with climbing was the mentoring I received from all the local east coast climbers.
Seventeen years later, I started learning to skydive and then BASE jump. BASE is as fringe now as climbing was then, and there is a strong tradition of mentorship, which is actually an integral part of the sport. There are only a couple thousand BASE jumpers, as far as I know, and every BASE jumper talks about who mentored them when they started, and expects to be mentoring some other jumpers in the future. All jumpers deeply want the others to be safe and learn as much as possible, so that everyone stays alive. So from these experiences, I’ve seen firsthand just how important mentoring is to humans. It’s something that strengthens the bonds of human interaction, builds community, and brings a powerful gift to both the mentor and the apprentice. It sounds like you have a lot of life experience and care to bring to whatever young person who is lucky enough to connect with you, whether through the mentor program or just at the local cliffs, and it’s a great reminder that we have a lot of different avenues to contribute to our community. Thanks for being a giver!
xx Steph
