Success vs. Mastery | Simple Ways to Become a Better Climber

Illustration from Brendan Leonard at semi-rad.com

“Oh I can’t get on that - I don’t want to unsend it.”

I’ve said it. You’ve said it.

Climbing is a sport that’s built on successes. You do the move, you send the boulder, you win the comp, you look forward.

We rarely take the time to look back.

I often use skateboarding as a metaphor in my workshops and talks because skaters do one important thing much better than climbers.

They chase mastery instead of success.

Unless it’s something death defying, a skater doesn’t often land a trick and say “Never doing that again!” They don’t worry about unsending that Kickflip or Backside 360. Instead, they do it over and over, in different environments, over new obstacles, and back to back with other tricks.

At some point, the Kickflip was state of the art. Rodney Mullen invented it by accident and called it the Magic Flip because it hardly made sense. He had just learned the flat land Ollie (which he invented as well) and noticed that when he didn’t get it quite right the board would flip. By the end of the day he had landed the first Magic Flip. Then he did it 100 times. Then up a curb. Then over an obstacle. Then Kickflip 180. Then 360. Then with two flips. Then Kickflip Underflip. Then two flips and Varial 180. And suddenly (not so suddenly) he could land the basic variations every single time he tried no matter what.

You get the idea.

Mastery.

Tony Hawk spent 15 years learning how to do the 900. 15 YEARS between the 720 and 900, which he finally landed in 1999. He could have been happy with that success and walked away from a trick that had broken his bones several times.

Instead, in 2016 at 48 years old he landed a 900 within one session of deciding to try it again. How? Because he wasn’t satisfied with success. He didn’t stop at that first 900. He landed more and more, back to back with other tricks, until he had it mastered. Had he been afraid of unsending after landing his first at the XGames in San Francisco, no chance he’s doing another 17 years later.

So how can climbers embrace mastery instead of success?

Don’t be satisfied with sending the boulder. Send it better. Three or four or more times. Make it damn near perfect. Put it on the circuit. Transform it into a warmup that makes you feel like a superhero.

Revisit old mini projects now and then. Unsend them and then resend them. If you’ve been on the path of mastery, they’ll go faster and you’ll be better. Someday that former project might be a warmup.

Mastery. Superhero.

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