UKBouldering.com

Pleased to be alive (Read 1089 times)

danm

Offline
  • ****
  • junky
  • Posts: 844
  • Karma: +112/-1
Pleased to be alive
December 24, 2021, 03:12:29 pm
This is reminding me of a couple of characters who I came across in Sheffield and then later in Val di Mello, a decade or more ago. The Italian Stallion was short, vigorous and so named because no female appeared to be immune to his charms, or spared his attentions. He would drink long into the night, sleep out on a bouldering pad, chat up the campsite owners daughter in order to not have to pay and then climb furiously and red-faced until he dropped. His sidekick Stefano was quiet, almost professorial, and obviously the real madman in the operation. His climbing style was languid and Boysenesque, and he equally causally explained that soloing routes in the 7's on the Marmolada south face was not that difficult, per se, when you were solid at flashing 8a sport. What would kill you he said, was going off route. I bumped into Stefano in Chulilla a few years back, he now had a wife and child, and was pleased that he was still alive.

Fultonius

Offline
  • *****
  • forum hero
  • Posts: 4504
  • Karma: +155/-3
  • Was strong but crap, now weaker but better.
    • Photos
#1 Re: Pleased to be alive
December 24, 2021, 04:06:31 pm
I guess the objective danger is the one thing you can't control.  You can reduce the risk, but every time you put your head in the lion's mouth it might bight. Do it regularly and you're just more likely to get unlucky.

I also have a suspicion that people who are able to control (dial down?) their fear to such a level (like Honnold, Hansjorg etc.) do probably run a higher risk of being caught out as their usual instinctive sense of danger is probably muted. I started to feel it a bit after about 4 years living in Chamonix, that it was very easy to be a bit blasé in risky situations.


Wellsy

Offline
  • *****
  • forum hero
  • Posts: 1589
  • Karma: +124/-11
#2 Re: Pleased to be alive
December 24, 2021, 05:03:27 pm
It's interesting how it changes. I'm not bold at all but compared to a year ago I'm comparatively alright, and you don't really realise that until you think back about how you used to be.

I do remember Honnold saying that his lack of fear made him safer because he could assess risks objectively, without worry or panic.

Fultonius

Offline
  • *****
  • forum hero
  • Posts: 4504
  • Karma: +155/-3
  • Was strong but crap, now weaker but better.
    • Photos
#3 Re: Pleased to be alive
December 24, 2021, 05:08:39 pm
It's interesting how it changes. I'm not bold at all but compared to a year ago I'm comparatively alright, and you don't really realise that until you think back about how you used to be.

I do remember Honnold saying that his lack of fear made him safer because he could assess risks objectively, without worry or panic.

I'm not convinced Honnold is the best judge of his own fear perception  :lol:  might be wrong....

danm

Offline
  • ****
  • junky
  • Posts: 844
  • Karma: +112/-1
#4 Re: Pleased to be alive
December 24, 2021, 07:05:35 pm
I started to feel it a bit after about 4 years living in Chamonix, that it was very easy to be a bit blasé in risky situations.
A few people I know who live/have lived in Chamonix have said a very similar thing. One said that so many competent people they knew had died, it was simply normalised in their mind, whilst at the same time, so was going out and doing risky things (mostly off piste skiing and boarding) as everyday activities.

Wood FT

Offline
  • *****
  • forum hero
  • Posts: 2964
  • Karma: +164/-8
#5 Re: Pleased to be alive
December 24, 2021, 07:24:48 pm
Is it worth making a new thread for this discussion? Not nice for friends to see the title of the thread pop up.

Fultonius

Offline
  • *****
  • forum hero
  • Posts: 4504
  • Karma: +155/-3
  • Was strong but crap, now weaker but better.
    • Photos
#6 Re: Pleased to be alive
December 24, 2021, 07:40:54 pm
Is it worth making a new thread for this discussion? Not nice for friends to see the title of the thread pop up.

Aye, this ^^   good point Wood.

 

SimplePortal 2.3.7 © 2008-2024, SimplePortal