Why do people scale walls? Whether you are a climber yourself, an academic, or a student, my answers to this question may surprise you.
I hope they surprise you.
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Intensity
Climbers use the term “intensity” mostly as a synonym for power or concentrated effort. But the broader concept of intensity as progressive gradation operates as an idealized quality in the sport, manifest across multiple dimensions, including difficulty, strength, tryhard, and boldness.
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Lithics and landscapes
How is ethnography, as the “writing of cultures,” redefined back by its encounter with geologic things and processes?
Read: “Talking to Rocks Again?” Climbing Magazine, 2022.
Read: “Rock Climbing as Lithic Ethnography: Animacy, Aesthetics, and Deep Time.” Hau: Journal of Ethnographic Theory, 2025.
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Holds, shapes, design
“Although physics began with ordinary objects, it developed as a science of forces and movements that are less obviously material yet from which matter is inseparable” (Coole and Frost 2010: 11). Indoor climbing began with ordinary objects. Artificial walls were furnished with holds that either were rock or mimicked rock, and climbers did moves designed to imitate action outside. The division between persons and things was clear.
Read: “How the Evolution of Holds Changed the Way We Move.” Climbing Magazine, 2024.
