On Social Media, Connections and Climbing

Philly Twitter friend Nina and I.

Through the months of March and April, I was doing a good job of getting to the rock gym 2-3 times each week, and at least attempting to plan an outdoor trip or two with friends who have all the gear I'm missing. It takes time to accumulate all the necessary items to sport climb outdoors, and I still have quite a bit to learn before I can use all that gear anyway.

But in May, life happened, and I've found myself stretched between a variety of really awesome outdoor activities. TerraMar is growing quite rapidly, which is exciting, and we've got some pretty neat activities planned for the remainder of the summer. Between planning and participating in these activities, Wilderness First Aid training, hiking, backpacking, etc., climbing has taken a bit of a backseat. All of this resulted in a four week hiatus from the rock gym, a hiatus I finally ended this past Wednesday.
 
I sent a V3, attempted a few new V2's, and a few 5.9 topropes, all of which made me happy that my strength and technique didn't completely disappear over the four weeks I took off. But the best part, I had the incredible fortune of meeting Nina, one of my twitter friends, in real-life! She'd come from teaching a spin class, and I can't imagine trying to climb after spinning. But she's awesome, and I'm looking forward to a potential summer climbing trip with her.

I was initially quite skeptical of twitter, both because I didn't understand its purpose, and later because I'm wary of developing too many shallow relationships with people. Things like facebook and twitter make it so easy for us to stay connected with old friends and make new ones, but we need to remember to keep some people extremely close to us, people who really know us. Those relationships are so important.

But I'm also beginning to understand how connections provided by twitter and facebook are invaluable as well. I'm headed to Tacoma, WA for work next week, and my twitter followers jumped in to help when I needed advice on short day hikes in Mt. Rainier National Park, should I have time to get there. They've jumped in to help on so many other occasions, and are a group of people who can provide insight on gear, trip planning, and many other things my real-life friends can't. The have experience in areas my real-life friends don't. I'm continually amazed by how easy it is to share information and make connections. So, thanks twitter buddies!