Low Hanging Fruit

I recently read an article in a borrowed issue of Rock and Ice describing the author's trip to Venezuela. Andrew Bisharat, a senior editor for R&I, traveled with a group of pretty hot climbers, including Emily Harrington,

Boone Speed, Jill Daniels, and Sam Elias.

It's a seriously great article, but not for the names or the grades or even the climbing stories. In fact less than half

of the piece deals with the climbing side of the trip. He describes Venezuela in a voice that feels remarkably unbiased, at times criticising the abundant issues and other times giving glowing accounts of Venezuelan customs and society. He explores his fascination with the paradigms that people weave around themselves. He punctuates these musings with gems like this:

"You travel for no other reason than to feel like a kid again. The newness of your position in that rare spot, wherever it may be, instills you with the curiosity you felt at 10 when you climbed trees just because you’d never been up one before. But as life goes on, our vision narrows and our interests become more discriminating. The inquisitive space around us diminishes. We become who we are because we figure out what we don’t like. This is why traveling is really just a vacation from growing older. Your eyes open and your senses grow sharper in ways that they cannot at home."

The climbing tales are similarly introspective:

"A thousand moves and a thousand feet of rightward climbing later, I grabbed a deep vertical handlebar. Its texture was crisp and coarse, which was odd to find in a limestone wall this

polished and slick. I loved that hold, and held onto it for a moment. I continued to the next hold, and became fascinated by its distinct shape and texture as well. The Traverse had suddenly enchanted me, and under its spell I found myself moving without any thought of the past or the future. Each hold appeared, and then it was gone, like seconds on a clock. Like time itself, The Traverse seemed as if it would never end."

full text (obnoxiously full of wierd web artifacts)

photos

[I wasn't sure whether to post this here, or on my art blog.]