how did climbing shape your life?
Women in Early Climbing —
High Clip from The Dihedral invited me to write a blog post for her series, Women in Early Climbing. I struggled because I’m not a climber. I told High Clip, “I don’t think I can write this, you see, I’m not a climber.”
She said, “I think you are.” She said I had a climber’s mentality. I returned to the problem and then I saw the long-term effect of my early climbing life on everything that happened afterward and the person I became, am, now. I hope you enjoy it!
“Summer is the season of inferior sledding” - Inuit proverb 
I clicked, I read, I’m happy. Part of me wishes I had had the opportunity to fall in love with mountains and climbing rocks. The more sensible me is satisfied with loving the lush green of Indiana and Michigan in the summer and the flat land where the snow dances in the wind in the winter.
I pretty much like all of it. 🙂
Martha, that was a beautiful piece on climbing. Your love of the rocks, mountains, nature shines through. I found the end very moving.
Thank you, Heather. ❤ I didn't even KNOW these things about myself until the person who asked me to write it insisted that I am a climber. Writing is a road, sometimes.
Probably one we should drive more often!
I agree with Heather–that is one beautiful piece on climbing, Martha.
I just read your essay and enjoyed it very much. I don’t know much about rock climbing and such (climbing trees was my thing), but you gave me a wonderful peek inside that life – and yours. I also found the end very moving.
❤ Thank you.
You’re most welcome 🙂
This is a wonderful piece, Martha, and I found the last paragraph to be especially touching and well-written!
Thank you. ❤ I'd never have written this or realized all this if I hadn't been (gently) pushed.
That’s what it takes, sometimes!
[…] time back I was honored to write a guest blog post for The Dihedral. In it I wrote about my earliest rock climbing experiences and also why I stopped climbing. A couple […]