Silas and Ella are climbers. They are both in lessons at the Boulders Climbing Gym at Stelly’s Secondary.
They are still a little tentative to climb too high. But, a few weeks back Silas finally made it to the top of the competition wall. They love hanging around on the walls.
Last Friday night we were looking for a movie, and chose The Dawn Wall on Netflix.
It’s a documentary about Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson’s epic climb 3000 ft up the granite face of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park.
The first thing that comes to mind is courage. But, this is yet another story about persistence, patience, passion and practice.
The daunting “Dawn Wall” (because it’s the first part of El Capitan to get the morning sun) had yet to be conquered. They proposed to free-climb, (tied only to each other and clipped to the wall) and they spent months painstakingly designing and climbing the route.
Persistence, passion and practice
Day-after-day they started at the top, dropping down to practice specific sections of the climb that were previously thought impassable. When they finally decided to start at the bottom they took 19 days complete the seemingly impossible ascent.
Living in tiny portaledges hanging from the granite face, their journey was captured by an eager news media, and documentary filmmakers.
Their commitment seems more daunting than writing this daily blog. It feels inappropriate to even compare the two. Although one seemingly has orders-of-magnitude greater danger, they both require stubborn dedication. Also, it depends how you define danger.
After watching Caldwell and Jorgeson climb with complete faith in their equipment, which not fail them, for me the filmmakers were documenting determination.
Perhaps, an elected official blogging regularly could be more dangerous. But, not more dangerous than our next Friday night movie, Free Solo.
Photo Credit: “IMG_4085” by “Manual Costa” used under “CC by 2.0” license.
The Squamish Chief might be an interesting BC experience. You might stop by Totem Hall in front of the Chief as well. We are a young town with lots of kids and interesting places and people.
Thanks for posting