I’m from Texas. Down here in the South we rarely have temperatures below freezing, and if so only for a couple of weeks out of the year. When it gets cold I move to the heat like a moth to a front porch light. A towel left in the sun? A warm fire on a cold camping night? That jacket just came out of the dryer? Yes, please. Anything warm (especially when I’m cold) is the closest thing to heaven for me.
I avoid being cold at all costs and, somehow, I’m always cold. Nonetheless, in rock climbing, cold weather is one of the best tricks to get your beefy little fingers to attach to the rock face. Friction is the magic bullet when it comes to scaling cliffs. It’s an all-out battle between the skin and the stone to see which will prevail (spoiler alert it’s always the stone).
When your climbing shoes and fingers get cold, you’re in for a good climbing day. The ideal temperatures are balanced between 32 and 41 °F. Just cold enough to stop the hands from sweating, and not too cold that they go numb. In fact, climbing shoe manufacturers have prepared for this by designing the rubber in their shoes to reach optimal softness for maximum grip.
All of these variables compound together for the perfect climbing day, as long as you’re physically and mentally prepared for the weather that is. And I’m almost always not.
I think a lot of the times we have to embrace the things we really don’t like in order to get to the places we want to be in the future. Sometimes those things aren’t obvious, and sometimes they are. I am currently working on trying to be more open to criticism from others, and myself, about my abilities, and simply just the way I act.
When listening to any criticism, always listen intently and consider their point of view over your own. Just like the optimal climbing temps for sweaty hands, there is a balance between letting people walk all over you, and giving their thoughts a chance. Like fire-warmed fingers rapidly losing their heat to a v3 boulder problem, sometimes you have to give a little to get a little.
Thanks for reading. I hope you’re having a wonderful week! I would love to hear how cold it is where you are right now, and what your favorite warm place is. 🙂
thedihedral.com 
I’m from Texas too and I love the cold. I hear many Texans express their discomfort about the weather and people think I’m nuts for liking the cold weather. I don’t like Texas heat, at all.
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This is one post to which I can totally relate! As a Floridian, I appreciate the short winters as well. I live here on purpose because I DON’T DO COLD. Even though I’ve never climbed a rock, I have learned a trick for climbing into bed on cold nights. I simply blast my hair dryer between the bed sheets for a few minutes – it is just heavenly!
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First – thanx for visiting my blog – Crows of Arroyos and my current daily flash fun. I recently retired and this was a little twist I started. On the weather thing. It is what you are used to. I live in Seattle (the cool Pacific Northwest). I love hiking the best in 50 degrees and when in the summer it gets hotter than 65 I am sweating and miserable. But then we keep our house warn … go figure.
I do have one questions WordPress blogger to blogger – what theme are you using? Periodically I change my layout and really like the one you are using. When I do that I am going to write a blog about my all time top 10 posts. It is a fun retrospect to do and I have been at this a little more than 9 years. What a ride!!
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That is fantastic…9 years! Can’t wait to see the top 10! We are using a customized theme called Verity. There are so many great themes, but this one kind seems to give us the closest layout to what we were looking for.
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Uh, well I think it hit 72 here today . Good old Texas winter! The hardest part is having to wear warm clothes in the morning and then change when the temperature goes up 20 or 30 degrees!
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I’m from New Brunswick, Canada and we are in the dead of winter! I love having all 4 seasons, and our summers can be quite hot. My favourite hot place is probably Red Rocks 😊
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Ugh I hate the cold & it kills me.
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I love your theme of embracing what we don’t like in order to enjoy what we do like or to grow (listening to well-intentioned criticism). Well done.
I like distinct seasons, so I grudgingly accept the parts I don’t like (mud in shoulder seasons, heat and wildfires in summer) to enjoy those I do. It’s not cold enough here in Idaho’s Salmon River Mountains right now! Lots of snow on the ground but it’s too wet and soft because temps have been hovering near freezing. My dogs and I love temps in the single digits – fluffier snow (it crunches underfoot, a wonderful sound) and more brilliant blue skies. I spent most of my life in the Seattle area before moving to Idaho 15 years ago. I much prefer the colder, drier winter climate of Idaho’s mountains to the constant rain and damp of Seattle. Oh, and I don’t do heat. Anything over 70F and I’m the wicked witch who melts, so I have no favorite hot place.
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Oh yes, forgot about the dry cold so much better tan Florid’s any chilly weather. I’d have agree w! You about heat. I’m stuck trying to hide out somewhere in the heat department.
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Stay safe! Two things I avoid: cold snow and rock climbing!
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I never looked at it that way. I didn’t do a lot of cold climbing though. I hated for my fingers to go numb, so I never took the time to compare or analyze it’s advantage. Great post.
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I’m from Australia (NSW). Our bush fire crisis is being fuelled by 45+°C temperatures. Personally I love the cold. I’m sweat easily, and run naturally hot. It’s a blessing and a curse
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My favorite warm place is inside my 0 degree sleeping bag after a long day of hiking in the cold. Honestly, I really just love sleeping bags! 🙂 Always like your candid posts. Thanks!
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It got down to 16 degrees F today in Connecticut… same as you, I’m always seeking warm things to escape!
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I live in central Ohio. It doesn’t get as cold as NYC or West Michigan (two previous residences), but when it does, I feel it. And it’s not my favorite. My 8 year old daughter asked me just this morning, as the car thermometer read 27 degrees, “Would you rather be cold or hot?” Oh, that’s an easy answer when I’m sitting there with shoulders hunched, hat and gloves on, waiting for the car to warm up. I hate being cold so I could have easily said that I’d rather be hot. But then a very vivid memory of hot summer days, when the heat punches you in the face before you can blink twice, crossed my mind and I thought, “Oh ugh.” But then I felt the tension in my hunched up shoulders and said, “I’d rather be hot. A nice single layer of t-shirt and shorts and some flip-flops is my favorite thing to wear.” And my favorite warm place is any beach – great lakes or ocean. And not lying out getting a tan, but just walking along the water, enjoying the view, and enjoying any company who might be walking along with me.
Fun post – thanks for writing it.
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Wise words. But, I agree on not liking the cold. I always work in the sunniest room of the house in the winter.
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https://marthakennedy.blog/2020/01/09/winter-gets-legit-and-bear-and-i-are-so-happy/
All I can say. 🙂
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Pinnacles mid-winter days are the best!
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Great thoughts and application to life.
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“think a lot of the times we have to embrace the things we really don’t like in order to get to the places we want to be in the future.” PERFECT
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Hmm…
I live in the south of Brazil, so I hate both cold and hot temperatures.
During winter, it gets too cold.
During summer, it gets too hot.
It’s quite an easy choice, really.
Autumn, without a doubt.
It’s not too hot, not too cold. Lukewarm, at best.
There aren’t many insects, neither any polem that would make me start sneezing uncontrollably.
And although I hate getting wet, it’s always raining. I love the rain.
Autumn = the best.
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I live in Vienna/Austria/Europe. Spring, autumn and cooler summer days are mostly perfect to climb here around my hometown. Now in Winter I go to the mountains with my snowshoes or snowboard. Sometimes if the weather is very sunny and its a southern wall I go for a via ferrata.
Greets Peter
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For me the challenge isn’t facing the cold but the social anxiety invokved in marketing. I think I would enjoy sitting on the snowy mountain you showed rather than make phone calls.
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I’m in the UK, and it’s about 8 degrees here at the moment which is pretty warm for this time of year. I love the cold and snow, I’m one of those weirdos lol
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I coined a saying some years ago and even have a blog post with the title, “Don’t let the weather run your life”. Perhaps someone else said this in history, but I hadn’t heard it by that time or since. Anyway, I say it to lots of people, and to myself, when we decide not to do something because it’s too cold, or snowy or rainy, or windy, etc. My friends know me by this saying now. Anyway, right now it’s a typical sunny January day in Colorado with temps in the 50’s (F) but 10-20 degrees colder in the mountains. I like the snow and cold of winter and the warm, dry summers, so Colorado suits me. It’s my favorite cold AND warm place!
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I live near Seattle, Washington and our winter temperature in the last month have been in the 30s and 40s. We had a lot of rain in January, 28 days. So, I’m often deal with moderate cold and wet conditions. Gloves are critical to me, my hands get cold very easily. One reason for that is having had frostbite on 8 fingers back in 2011.
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What a beautiful picture. I love snow but we hardly ever get any in the UK these days… I miss it very much. It makes everything so beautiful and quiet…
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I like being cold. I’m always looking for the cool corner, the open door or window, the cold bit of sheet, the cool waters of the lake.
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“When it gets cold I move to the heat like a moth to a front porch light. A towel left in the sun? A warm fire on a cold camping night? That jacket just came out of the dryer? Yes, please. Anything warm (especially when I’m cold) is the closest thing to heaven for me.”
Yes, I’m like this, in fact I’m sat with a desk heater now as I read your blog post with low temperature outside.
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