The Beauty of difference found in Nature

I am a rock climber. I climb for the love of pushing my limits both physically and mentally and I do it for the love of nature. I want to climb harder and be stronger for the reason of experiencing the beauty that nature has to offer me. Such as the way that pockets and plates were carved by water at Red River Gorge to glaciers carving the Yosemite Valley. Nature has carved the landscapes which we walk by slowing eroding away rock and soil over a thousand years, yet we carve the landscape in a matter of year with the McDonald houses found in the sprawling suburbs.
Climbing has undertaken a process of change related to the sprawling suburbs. We climb on plastic in a control environment to become stronger to only exceed pushing the our limit outside. I, unfortunately live in Cincinnati, OH and I am subjugated to climbing on plastic most of the year. What I would kill to climb outside for mos the year! My desire for Nature and experiencing it fully is derived from our own human tendency to be somewhere not artificial!
I think we, as a society, have become to accustom to artificially creating nature, by destroying a landscape, building a home with a small yard, planting some exotic flowers and getting rid of the indigenous population of plant species. Also, our consumption of food is bland compared to what was and still is available. The exploration of something different has been lost in us. We want our McDonaldized world were we expect the same in every place we go. Lets embrace the difference! Lets embrace what Nature has to offer us rather then constructing what we think is better.

Think more than less

This is an odd post since it is coming from a "professional" barista that doesn't even make living wage. However, at the same time its important because it is coming from someone who has nothing, but believes there to be much more then what I have. Of course I can write about material goods and the obsession that citizens in the developed world have for these things, but what I want to write about today is the obsession of money in today's world.
This idea has always been on my mind, but yet I have pushed it back into the deep parts of my brain, so I wouldn't have to think about the fact that I have nothing. However, Chris Guillebeau reminded me of this through his book The Art of Non-Conformity. Chris states, "Scarcity involves hoarding, and abundance involves sharing... abundance typically involves a refusal to view the world as a zero-sum competition. No one needs to lose for you to win (and vise-versa)". Once again, this about money, not natural resources.
The idea behind thinking abundance is to share. If we believe there is much out there, such as money than we believe that we have the capacity to share our wealth not just amongst ourselves, but with the world. This might seem idiotic to think of since we are currently in a recession, but it is not like the money that was there before has just disappeared. The money has gone somewhere and that somewhere is into someone's pocket. This reminds me of the term, "the rich get richer as the poor get poorer" and that is true. We see those who have wealth not only retain it but are able to grab more it.
We live in a capitalistic society, which is based upon accumulating more and more. Now, I am not saying that things should be given to public hands, in fact a lot of innovation has been derived from private hands and we have the lives that we have today because of it. My point is that we should focus on not trying to gain more and more, but rather take what we need to live a good life and give to those who need it more.

The Red in the Fall

The Red, in my opinion, is one of the best places to climb in the fall. The scenery of the trees that appear to be on fire is astounding to the human eye. The hills that are carved by the Red River make the scenery look as if there are waves of burning trees illuminating against the sky.
And to even further the poetic landscape; the crispy cold air offers a nice relief to regular Red climbers who braved the harsh humidity of the summer. The air also makes the friction on the rock harder, resulting in a stronger grip than what a climber thought she/he had. The slightest sloppy finger pocket feels like a regular pocket when one grades the hole. The hardest idiotic moves, such as the one at the start of Fuzzy Undercling gives the gumby an extra bonus for the tremendous climb that he/she is about to embark on.
To even further my argument that The Red is a great place to climb in the fall is the tremendous amount of people that show up and climb there during the weekend. Places such as Roadside Craig and PMNR are over-flowing with people. Not to mention that Miguels has an overflow of cars and every tent is at the most, eight feet apart. This can be annoying to those who can’t handle the tremendous amount of people, such as Cincinnatians, who like myself, complain about the overflow of people at places like Roadside. The Red is still one of the best places to climb during the fall, even though you have 20 people fighting to climb four routes that you are trying to send.

Coffee!

Hello to those who skim this,

I now work at Coffee Emporium in Cincinnati, Ohio. This is a sweet job. I wake up, go to work in whatever I want to, drink coffee all day and serve the best coffee in Cincinnati. This is a new adventure for me because I am out of school and have a full time job... most then what some can say. I am looking forward to this upcoming year.

I also met this awesome girl, Megan, who helped me get this job. She is sweet and I look forward to spending more time with her and hopefully getting some climbing adventures in with her too.

Joe

Philly

I am writing this from Bolder, CO; which is a sweet place. I spent some time in Philly and had a good time. That city was sweet! There were bicyclist all over the place and atmosphere was great. I skipped walking at graduation to watch the USA play England in a pub in Philly. I have no regrets and I heard it was super boring.
I had Pat's King of Steak's Philly Cheese steak. I didn't think it was that good as they hype; maybe a second try is needed.
The art museum was great as well. The paintings of different painters were phenomenal to see.
Well this post is brief and there is more to come. I have only slept 4 hours and right now I need that sleep for tomorrow.

Regards,
Joe

Georgia!

I just got back from Georgia yesterday. Some friends and I went to Rocktown, which is a climbing area. It was a sweet place now that I am thinking about it. There was a lot of climbing to be done there and even some stuff that is not listed on the Dr. Topo guide.
It was a good trip, mostly because the people were fun. Also the camping was primitive car camping and I always love sleeping in a tent and not having much of anything around me besides nature. I didn't get much climbing in because of the late nights, but the climbing I did get in was good.
I was able to connect with nature a little because of this setting, but I think three days wasn't enough to experience nature as a whole. My friend Jesse mention that the concept of not having trees is strange to him. He thinks that hiking or camping without trees is abnormal, which is mostly due to the fact that he grew up in a setting were trees were abundant. My attitudes to a treeless camp or hike is indifferent. I grew up in a semi-treed suburban area and played sports mostly in a complex that is largely open. However, my own experiences hiking and camping are with trees.....

I am looking over this post and realized it is a dumb post. It is me writing b/s. To be short, go climb and look after those trees!

Climbing

I been thinking about climbing and what it means to me. It is spiritual and I think anybody who climbs outside will agree with me. But I wonder if our obsession with accumulation and challenging ourselves becoming the dominate mentality of climbing. Challenging yourself is important and those who push the boundaries of climbing are doing what climbers have done from the beginning; going after the next big route. But to be honest, I don't care if I ever climb 5.15, because in the end it is rock and rock doesn't give you anything back to you.
But the great thing about climbing is that you need someone to do it with. This is something exponential. We are forced to spend time with people because we need that belayer or spotter. I think this is important in climbing, which is the people that we climb with. I don't care if I am climbing in Squamish or at The Red; what matters to me, is who is with me. I found the love of climbing through a friend, Sam, in British Columbia and not the rock.
So next time you climb, sit down with your partner, get them a beer and talk about something else then climbing...like what else makes them tick.