How to Start a Revolution | Healthy Aging Series: S11 E12
My First climbing Experience
The first time I used a climbing gym was in 2002 at Rockport. My climbing partner and I did the initial training for belaying on Top Rope. There were no auto-belays then. Auto-belays are like a tape measures that you hook onto and it retracts as you climb. But, if you fall, it engages like a seatbelt and it slowly lowers you down. Back then you had to have a partner. My partner had no experience, and neither did I for that matter. I tied the figure-8 knot that climbers are trained to tie, I picked a route, probably 5.6, a beginner route, and began climbing.
I followed the matching-color hand holds, got to the top and yelled “take.” My climbing partner yelled, “gotcha,“ which lets you know that they’ve taken up the slack with the Grigri, and here comes the fun part; your partner puts tension on the Grigri release handle which allows you to slowly lower, not fall, to the floor.
There’s a sweet spot, when you activate the Grigri, that lowers you slowly. Unfortunately, my climbing partner had never used a Grigri and my descent was terrifying. I didn’t die, but I immediately announced that I would never do that again.
And I never did until this past year. I rejoined Rockport, used the auto-belay system, and later hired a climbing coach. More recently, I ascended a 45-foot wall at City Rocks in Colorado Springs, with my granddaughter belaying me.
Climbing Gyms
Climbing gyms are a relatively recent development in the fitness and recreational worlds.
The first climbing gym started in Seattle Washington in 1987.
Compare that with the first Boston Marathon in 1897, the first Tour de France in 1903, and the first completion of the Appalachian Trail in 1948.
Rock Climbing is a relative newcomer to American sports.
I’m not a climber, not in the way that I’m a backpacker, or even in the way I’m a runner or a cyclist. I dabble in the latter two. My son and granddaughter, Sophie, are climbers. They are doing 5.11s and 5.12s. In the past, when I visited them and I watched them climb at City Rocks in Colorado Springs, I got tired of being an observer. So, I’ve started bouldering and climbing on a weekly basis at Climb Nulu and Rock Sport. Maybe in a year or two I’ll be a Climber.
The Climbing Revolution
Where did all this start? There are now over 600 climbing gyms in the US. And Now, Climbing is an Olympic Sport.
In the US, it started in the late 50s and into the 60s and it really didn’t start with a person. It started with a very small group of young men and some women in Yosemite National Park and more specifically it started at Camp 4.
The Climbing Revolution in America was started by a group of unlikely influencers, maybe reluctant, maybe even begrudging influencers. This was a small group of climbers. One or two surfaced as leaders.
One of those leaders was Royal Robbins.
Robbins and his cadre of fearless, hyper-competitive, and troubled companions created a synergy that put them on walls 2000 to 3000 feet above the Merced River in Yosemite.
It wasn’t just Robbins. In the recent biography on Robbin’s by David Smart, there are pages full of young men and young women that inspired each other to do first ascents. A first ascent is the first successful climb to the top of a wall. Royal Robbins participated in 150 first ascents. Keep in mind there were always others involved in these climbs. And also keep in mind that this revolution resulted in the development of lots of gear and clothing, not to mention shoes. Robbins started an outdoor clothing line in 1968.
After reading the biography on Robbins, I watched Valley Uprising, a documentary made in 2014. It was a film about the Climbing Revolution. Later, I peruse the pages of the portfolio-size book, “Yosemite in the 60s,” by Glenn Denny. I looked at all those faces, lit by the campfire at Camp 4.
Camp 4
Camp 4 became Ground Zero for the American Climbing Revolution. It was a place where young people, driven by the desire for a first ascent, and driven by the fear, inspired each other to climb. Camp 4 was a place where they talked about their passions, about past and future climbs.
Camp 4 was a place where friendships began and where they ended. Camp 4 was where these unwitting influencers, these unintentional change agents, started the Climbing Revolution in America.
All told, they were probably less than two dozen of them.
I encourage you to watch the recent movie, Free Solo. Alex Honnold climbed El Capitan without ropes. I’m certain he was inspired by Camp 4.
How to be a Micro-Influencer
So, very few of us will start a revolution like this.
Few of us will be macro-influencers.
Few of us will change the world like the climbers did at Camp 4.
But that doesn’t mean we can’t be micro-influencers.
Being a micro-influencer really just means making a difference in the lives of others.
It means finding your Camp 4 and inviting others to sit with you around your campfire and talk. Then, you listen to what they have to say.
It means letting your passions guide you and letting these passions pull you into Camp 4.
My Camp 4
Maybe your Camp 4 is a real campsite where you invite your crew to share with you throughout the year. I have three Camp 4s. One is in the Jefferson Forest and two are at the Red River Gorge, in the Daniel Boone Forest. I invite others to join me there and we talk. I try to share my love of the forest with them, and for that matter, I share my love of life.
I think my Camp 4 is my office. I attempt to inspire others in the therapy-process. We talk. We listen. Hopefully, I influence them. Really, we influence each other.
Your Camp 4 is where you infect others with your love of something. Maybe it’s in a group-fitness setting like Jazzercise or Yoga. Maybe your Camp 4 is a place of worship. Maybe, it’s a reading group or a poetry group.
Be a Micro-Revolutionary
Synergy created the Climbing Revolution in the 60s? People influencing each other.
Young people sitting around a campfire in Yosemite National Park, infecting each other with love for the rock walls.
If you want to be a micro-influencer, or a micro-revolutionary, and really, how cool would that be, then start with yourself. Open yourself up to others. Listen to them. learn from them. Share your thoughts in a nonjudgmental manner with them, and then, do this for 10 or 20 years.
Do that and you leave this beautiful planet as a better place for those that follow. The revolution that you start will be your legacy.
