Keep it Simple

The amount of times I was dumbfounded in May— let’s just say that it was many. I took my Rock Guide course in Smith Rock, Oregon last month. It was brilliant. Ten days of climbing, learning, and making friends and connections. Truly, it’s one of the better classes I’ve taken as far as content goes. We had to learn so many complex systems and yet the thing that I took from it was that I’m often over complicating things. Actually, MOST climbers are probably over complicating things. We often get so wound up in new systems and ideas that we see on Instagram that we forget to use what’s right in front of us.

The most poignant example has to do with tethering. I was tethered into my masterpoint and wanted to clean it up. So I was going to move my tether to the shelf. We were at a hanging belay so I began to create another tether entirely. My thought process was simple: Add another tether where I need it, and then remove my old system when I’m done. Instead, my guide, Tim Brown, just took a locker, put it into my sling so I had 2 lockers in my sling. And then just moved the second locker using the slack that was already in my sling up to the shelf. No new system. No faff. Just simplicity.

It’s not that I was wrong. Honestly, most of the class was like this. I wasn’t really wrong per se, but there was often a simpler or more efficient way to do what I was doing. Often, I was taking 4 rights to make a simple left. It works, but damn, why would you do it that way.

So, as I continue to absorb what all I learned, I’ll encourage you to just keep things simple. It’s a skill I hope I gain one day.

Onwards,

Michael