[cheque]

No-one’s ever told me that I’m in danger of not fulfilling my potential but my choice to not focus on sieging is influenced largely by past feelings of disappointment in looking back on entire seasons of climbing and thinking “I only ticked 3 bloody routes” regardless of how hard said routes were.

I can relate to Will not wanting to spend all winter at the same bit of the same crag regardless of whether it’s his dubious-sounding crimp beta wrecking his skin or not. That’s not even how you spell Fonz!

[Hoseyb]

Exactly this. Im now doddering into my 33rd year of climbing, and whether the trad of my youth or the bouldering of my current incarnation the focus has always been adventure. I could have climbed harder, I could have concentrated on ticking my way through the classics. Instead the eyes to the horizon have always led me to the path less travelled. Not nessarily 3 stars, but always life affirming.

[Will Hunt]

That’s not even how you spell Fonz!

It's how we spell Fonze in Yorkshire. In fact, in checking the guidebook I discovered that if you were to take the Yorkshire Grit vol 1 view of things you'd start from the niche on the front face, not from the back of the roof, and certainly not by crabbing along some toss and illogical start that Webbo suggests was the original method (which nobody has used in years).

[Steve R]

Off topic: I know JB is a grit wizard but are there genuinely examples of him burning Ned off? Thats a great bit of kudos if so given Ned is not exactly a shit technician! 

A while ago and not Ned but burnt Pearson on Angel's share?  Hopefully there'll be more and better examples!

Generally, looks like there's a lot of retro-reasoning (justifying?) going on to me.  Not sure people have all that much agency over how they divide their climbing/training/time/life in reality.  Suspect most just gravitate towards an attractor state of what happens to be motivating/convenient/habitual for them, what (they think) they'll derive most fulfilment from.  More a nature and circumstances bottom up thing than a fully conscious top down planned allocation of resources and trade offs. 

[webbo]

That’s not even how you spell Fonz!

It's how we spell Fonze in Yorkshire. In fact, in checking the guidebook I discovered that if you were to take the Yorkshire Grit vol 1 view of things you'd start from the niche on the front face, not from the back of the roof, and certainly not by crabbing along some toss and illogical start that Webbo suggests was the original method (which nobody has used in years).

[36chambers]

whenever I see talk of reaching your potential it always makes me think of this

[tomtom]

I thought you were from the Wirral Will? 😀

[Fiend]

I feel honoured to have the starting post in this well-titled thread   

[gme]

Is it not possible to do both.

[Fiend]

Can you be a hypocrite and an arsehole and do goal-orientated climbing and soul-orientated climbing??

#lifegoals

[SA Chris]

Success isn’t guaranteed and I accept there is a point where it becomes counter productive.

Let us know when you reach that point .

[Doylo]

I remember seeing JB at the Plantation maybe around 2003. If Jonny G was a ‘gecko’ JB was a peacock combined with a show pony with beautiful flowing blonde locks puffing out his plumes and bright feathers on those high techy aretes. Seemed destined for greatness with the first ground up of Careless surely his, until snatched away by a campussing cocksure youth. He was never the same again....

[abarro81]

In terms of absolute difficulty if you are looking to climb your hardest then projecting is required.

Yeah, of course. I think that people like me (and BB) are just pointing out that it's naive to assume that maximising difficulty/grade at one facet (sport projecting) counts more as "fulfilling someone's potential" vs maximising it in another one (sport onsighting, adventure tradding etc.). Even if we narrow "potential" to be "potential to climb hard" (thereby eliminating the other aspects like developing new things, or careers etc.), I think my/BB's argument still holds up.
Example: I would view someone who's climbed 10 9as, onsighted 8c, onsighted 10 8b+s as having fulfilled their potential WAY more than someone who's climbed 1 9a, 1 9a+ and not onsighted harder than 8b... even though the second climber has climbed a harder route. Those grades might be unfair when thinking about what two climbers with equal "potential" but different focuses might achieve, but I'm sure you get the gist.

In the end, I imagine that we all just impose our views of what we value/aspire to on what it means to fulfill your potential. So for you it's a waste when someone who clearly could climb 8c doesn't because they just want to quick tick; for me it's a waste when people just project when they could be smashing out hard onsights; for others it's a waste when a hard sport onsighter doesn't go and apply that on e8s in Pembroke... We're all wasting our potential somewhere.

[dunnyg]

Some of us manage to waste our potential everywhere #allroundpunter

[tomtom]

Some of us manage to waste our potential everywhere #allroundpunter

according to my school reports I've been doing it since I was 7 :D

[dunnyg]

A lifetime of commitment to the cause. 

[shark]

Even if we narrow "potential" to be "potential to climb hard" (thereby eliminating the other aspects like developing new things, or careers etc.), I think my/BB's argument still holds up.
Example: I would view someone who's climbed 10 9as, onsighted 8c, onsighted 10 8b+s as having fulfilled their potential WAY more than someone who's climbed 1 9a, 1 9a+ and not onsighted harder than 8b... even though the second climber has climbed a harder route.

Sounds like self-justification for giving up on 9a+ 

[abarro81]

A lifetime of commitment to the cause. 

Careful... get too committed and you might just fulfil your potential

Sounds like self-justification for giving up on 9a+ 

I'd way rather o/s 8c than do 9a+. Not that either seems likely atm.

[jwi]

really hard onsights can be as much of a grind as limit redpoints. Just try 20-30 8c routes onsight. At some point you are likely to get lucky and find a combination of soft grades and pure luck. (Of course, you'd be a lot more climbing than someone who spent 20-30 days trying to redpoint a 9a+...)

[Bradders]

This discussion has come a long way from my original point, which was essentially that if you want to climb difficult gritstone boulder problems you're going to lose a few fingertips! Doing these things either matters enough to you to put up with it and accept that it's part of the game, or it doesn't.

A lot of this is swings and roundabouts; I know people who've succeeded in massive sieges who then regret not doing more volume, and I know others who've done lots at grade x and regret not really trying to climb grade y. However it's hard to argue that either person hasn't fulfilled their potential in at least one way; the only one who we can say with some certainty hasn't reached their potential is the  one who didn't even try...

[shark]

Seemed destined for greatness with the first ground up of Careless surely his, until snatched away by a campussing cocksure youth. He was never the same again....

You mean Simpson? Tragic