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What have you learnt from climbing? 4-Aug-2009 At 11:43:44 AM evanbb

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Not as a climber, but what do you think you've gained in the rest of your life (the boring bits) that you learnt while climbing? The concept comes from the discussion of putting climbing on your resume or not.

I'll start.

At work, I reckon from my trad background I've learnt to better identify what needs to be done. Critical path identification we'll call it. To see that, sure there are lots of things to be done, but the next thing has to be that one and not that one. Nebulous, but still there.

In other sports, I think it's more obvious. My mental game in all sports has improved dramatically. I'm back playing squash, and have noticed that my brain goes off the rails much less frequently these days. Previously I used to start second guessing my game and pursue stupid things like 'you must hit it harder' rather than just playing and putting the mistakes behind me. I'm winning a LOT more because of this.

Out and about, I manage my fatigue a lot better too. I don't climb much short hard stuff, mostly long/easy stuff, but climbs where fatigue is a factor. These days I'm much better at operating just below my threshold for long periods, or pushing it and resting more efficiently. This might just be general life experience though, learning better how my body works. I guess climbing is a pretty high stress way to test it though, lots of information in a short time.