Thursday 23 July 2009

A state of mind...

Rain, or bad weather in general. I've been saying it for a while, usually in response to "but its raining...". My following response is usually something like "rain pffft, its a state of mind". This coming from a guy us gets grumpy and depressed every time that bad weather stop him climbing is odd.

Anyway I'll explain what I mean.
If I wait for only days of perfect weather then i'd only get a little bit of climbing done. I mean seriously how much climbing would anyone get done in only perfect conditions. Therefore I figure rain is a state of mind. As soon as you realise this then you accept that getting wet is part of a day out, then you can change your objectives (or just aid them) and aims for the day depending on this fact. Sometimes this might mean not going out and waiting till another day, or sitting in a cafe till 2pm and them climbing till the sun goes does instead (missing valuable pub time).

I've had some great days out climbing in the rain, usually they have ended in me retreating off a route, or cutting short down a big plan to a more managable (but wet) one. You never going to be climbing super hard in the rain, but at the end of the day it usually beats sitting round in B'ham/Stoke/ insert crap city etc.

So rain, yes it does pour from the sky, soak your ropes and gear, make holds slippy, greasy and wet. It does always appear on that long planned weekend, or the day you forgot your waterproof jacket. But eventually you'll realise that in fact, you will dry and so will your gear, it'll turn your VD or S into a life and death epic but you'll love it.

That is if you can get past the fact that your soaked...

No comments: