>>8004157God, I'm just so sad that the pansurvenience community is dying out. It's like my interest in it just dropped off a cliff. It's so hard to even make alpinism puns because this has been all I've done for the past 48 years, since the ripe age of 16 when my uncle took me to Smith Rock State Park. I was hanging around with bad kids, ones who would have surely led me down the wrong path if not for my enlightenment to scaling scenic rocks. It wasn't even about the social experience at first, during the climbing boom in the 90s I hated the very concept of my hobby being cluttered by people who didn't know what the hell they were doing and couldn't climb down on their own. But over time, I came to enjoy the camaraderie that I'd end up finding. The family of three in the Rockies who taught their 8-year-old to climb, the 90-something Korea and Vietnam vet who seemed to have never aged past 50, climbing was their way of life just as it was mine. The rise of social media made climbing more visible, something about seeing a guy at the top of a mountain was enthralling to everybody who knew how to climb a rope. For me though, it was never about those grand peaks. It was about the views I'd be honored and humbled to receive on the way up. A hawk swooping right by my face to grab some smaller creature for a meal, seeing the sun rise on one side of a hoodoo and set on the other, and every time I was halfway there, looking above and seeing how much climbing I still got to do. I'm not angry at anyone, I'm just disappointed. Even though I have all my memories that I wouldn't trade for the world, I won't be in that era again. When my back was still fighting fit, when anyone could go to any old store and buy an extra carabiner and climbing shoes. It's past me now. I just hope I can pass these memories on to someone else before I take my farewell trip to Oregon. I may have replaced my ropes countless times, but I'll never be able to replace the magic and joy I felt in my past.
