Pro-Sports

I got to the gym at about 4pm on Vesak Day. Being a public holiday, the car park at 1U was a madhouse with cars bumper to bumper as they scouted around for the smallest area capable of housing their vehicle. You know it’s bad when you start to see cars parking illegally in non-designated parking spots.

It must have taken me about half an hour before I finally made it inside Camp5 and caught up with P, E and J. A and J were there, too, loitering around in the top-rope section which was somewhat unusual for them. They gave the perfect excuse about not having a rope to lead, then became somewhat chagrinned when I told them I had a rope in the car that I had just lent to AT.

There is something about climbing in the presence of many people that makes me nervous. The last time I felt this way was when I was climbing at the Summit Gym Competition years back. There’s a hollow in the pit of my stomach and a weakness in my limbs as I look up from the base of a route. Anxiety clouds my mind and I feel uncertain about the routes that I know I can send.

I seem to prefer the quieter days in the gym when it’s just me, my belayer and a few friends. Those are the days when I am not embarrassed to attempt anything because I’m not afraid to fail. There are no eyes to judge me, but only the friendly eyes of my friends that serve to spur me on to greater heights.

Perhaps that is what is so appealing about bouldering in a group. As each member of the group takes their turn to climb, the rest offer an intense aura of support and encouragement that envelops the climber. That feeling of team spirit is not unlike the warm fuzzy feeling of a “feel good” movie. You feel it regardless of whether you complete the problem or not.

Bouldering has a completely different feeling to the isolation of climbing – where you are too high to connect with anyone else. You can rely only upon yourself as you meditate your emotions in an effort to control your own mind.

Bouldering and climbing - two disciplines as different mentally as they are physically. Not unlike the concept of Ying and Yang. The practice of both has a synergistic effect in augmenting your climbing abilities. I would even venture to add that you are only half complete as a climber with one discipline under your belt and not the other.

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