When I got to the top-rope anchors yesterday, there was a rope already
to the left and the right. When I got down there, it was two college-
age guys with one in the Air Force and in surprisingly poor shape. The
group from the nearest Army base are usually all "built" and out to
get it tanned. These two were working on a 5.10b route, the guy on it
not able to make the crux at all, but the other one had managed the
overhang. They had started on the 5.8 that I do not expect to ever do,
had both previously done the other 5.8 with only some difficulty with
the 5.9 finish, and had not bothered with the 5.7 I'm trying to
master. They said it was their sixth, maybe seventh time climbing. No
climbing gym, and obviously not a lot of any gym.

How do they do that? I did my 5.7 and then twice on another one easier
and not so long, trying for more stamina which seems to be a critical
part of better climbing, and today my finger tips, even my little
finger, are almost painfully sore and swollen. That was my fourty-
third session this year, but too scattered across the rainy calendar
for my fingers to yet have the calluses that make the smaller crimps
and slopers possible for me. These guys wander out only every now and
then, and make me look like a beginner.

To me, climbing is a sport, with rigorous and consistent training as
much the purpose as the means, starting with the easiest and working
slowly up. But I've seen many people pushed onto a 5.8 as their first
experience and somehow make it. Even the Boy Scouts do that, relying
on group incentive and advice to get everyone up. There was a seven-
year-old this weekend who did the hard part of the second 5.7 route I
was on yesterday. There are many who do "work out" for climbing, with
squeeze balls and grip boards and weekly hours on an indoor wall. But
there are many who do fine without it, and I'm trying to think of one
other sport that might be true of. Swimming? Tennis? Running?
Bicycling? Basketball? Skydiving?