Dennis Diaz

Monday, March 17, 2008

Expanding climbing

Rock climbing, bouldering, sport climbing, competition climbing, deep water soloing, trad climbing, aid , they all are as varied as they can get. Each one defined by a specific aspect of the climb and each has its own charm. But for whatever its worth, all of them still constitute a basic reality. All of them still focus on the ascent and, as simple as it can get, they all require you to haul your ass up from the ground on a vertical path. I have been on this path for a little more than 10 years and still climbing has always been new and ever expanding. The limits of where to go next are pushed out further and further. You could go bouldering and then do deep water soloing, join a competition or do some lead on some 30 meter routes or whatever suits you and all of them are unlimited. New climbing areas are being discovered and the rates at which these areas are being developed are getting faster and faster. Access becomes a minor issue as more and more climbers are willing to go great lengths, trail blazing and setting up routes even on remote reaches. The places to go are vast and limited only by your ability to create the time for it or fund yourself for the journey.

My journey into this world of climbing is an endless one. I can not see myself ever running out of places to go and rocks to climb and though the act of climbing itself becomes the ultimate goal or finishing a route being the definitive act of accomplishment, the search for the boulder or the search for the line you want to climb is actually already a big part of it . For me being able to get to the right setting at the right time, seeing a pretty place, a pretty face and being amongst people with lots of energy for the climbing is already a reward in itself.

Friday, March 7, 2008

Small Things and Big Things

What’s more about climbing is it’s quintessential effect that transforms you to appreciate the smaller things in life and help you see the bigger picture. It’s a humbling experience to be climbing outdoors where you are with the elements. You are dwarfed by the presence of these huge rock formations, the depth of the water you fall on when deep water soloing and the immensity of areas you visit while searching for a project. Then, you also get to see the smallest of crimps. They are small but as small as they are they also present an inspiring validity of our existence. We are giants in this whole new different scale and yet not all of these small crimps will be easily dispatched. Small things also demand a level of respect sometimes equal and even greater than those you would expect.

It's good to be a climber

Dingle, Iloilo. Photo by Marco Malaca

In a world soaked with harsh realities, wet from world hunger, poverty, global warming, and civil wars that trickles down to unrealized dreams, forced unions, and broken promises, a climber is reduced to just that, a climber. He becomes someone with a personal agenda having little or having not much effect on society or a community. He is not bound to save the world from itself; he is not destined to solve world problems. He practices climbing that becomes an excruciating luxury to some and becomes just a passing fancy to most.

Manalmon Bulacan, 2003

A climber veers bravely away from the norm when time permits. A climber takes himself far away from urbanity, far from the idiosyncrasies of the city, and far into the wilder side of his surroundings. He takes to an escape sometimes looked upon by others as almost solitary and sad. It is an image tainted with prejudice. It is judged through standards of a society that rose from commonality, living in a coexistence that sometimes become full of multiple compromises.

Tali Beach

Disinterested, indifferent, solitary; this is a climber to the eyes of most. Why become a climber? Why is it good to be a climber? This maybe the question one may ask that would aim to fit the branched out world of climbing within a uniform society. It would try to fit a world where a climbing trip, the next 5.14, or the next project takes precedence over politics, stock markets, religions and washing dishes.

Benguet Capitol Boulders

Catanico Boulders, CDO

Sto. Tomas Boulders, Baguio

Puting Bato, Cogeo

Slayer, Wawa, Montalban

Hugan Province, China

Let me offer a few maybes. Maybe it is good to be a climber because we climbers get to see the world in the eyes like that of a child. Everything we see is vast, the expanse of where we go is endless. Everything is new, and even the small things become of great interest. The view from atop a cliff is undeniably surreal. It takes great effort to be there, and the time we spend up there is always a short-lived moment lasting a few eternal minutes at the most. We celebrate small victories then move on onto the next quest. It’s pure and untainted. It is as honest as it can be. There is no way of cheating up a cliff. We get to where we want to be the only way we can, through hard effort and pure grit. You can’t say this and do that, you’re always real when you climb and to share this honesty amongst people who share the same passion is intoxicatingly magical.

Central Crag, Hong Kong

Training in Malaysia

World Cup Singapore

Getu Valley, China

Ailfroide, France

Tonsai, Thailand

Under the Gran Boveda, Rodellar, Spain

Asian X-Games 1998

The climbing life is simple. It is a gift and gifts are always good. There will always be a crux in any climb. It is right where a lot of “the difficult” conspires to make you give up. Everything hard for you come to one point, condenses to give you the toughest time, and blurs your vision of the imaginable. The gift is that single moment when all the right elements fall into place and allow the convergence of all the good to come play with you to finish the route. It is that single moment when the absence of one element can spell the difference. That single moment when the wind blows, when the pain in the finger tips vanish, when there is only silence, when everything that was so impossible becomes possible, … that is when you get to feel why it is good to be a climber.

Dispatch Magazine

Sidetrip Magazine

Ambongdolan, Mt. Province

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Simply Climbing

I am thankful for the many things climbing has become, even for a select few people, in the Philippines. I like the way it has given an alternate path on which children and adults alike could tread on for them to express themselves both physically and mentally. It has taught a few some life lessons; how to get along with each other, and how to respect the other person. It has made some people more accepting of their own and another's weakness. It made some realize what they can and cannot do, what is an immediate possibility and what needs incessant effort. It’s also noteworthy to say that it has also brought contour and symmetry to the climber's body which is already more than what is needed to be said.

I like it too because, whether we like to admit it or not, it hurts when the skin on our finger tips burn, it hurts when the forearms tighten, and it hurts when the back muscles feel tired and pumped from constantly defying gravity. If it were all too comfortable and easy we wouldn’t have that same satisfaction for the climbing day's end like coming home from a fishing trip hefting a huge catch.

Climbing is, sure, just climbing but there is more to it than it’s simplicity. Yes, we climb and say, "Get your ass up there and pull!," but there is more to be discovered about it. Sometimes everything in climbing happens within seconds and split second decisions, an inch short of reach could feel like a yard, a huge handhold will sometimes feel entirely useless, and still a nib of a hold could sometimes spell the balance needed for an ascent.

Within climbing's simplicity lies a complex branching of further gifts I am thankful for. Each gift it gives opens to more gifts, each revealing secrets; some in people, some in places, and some within the passion itself. Climbing is simply climbing but in time, when one is ready, it reveals more of itself in perfect order.