Tell Me More…

I love talking about climbing.  I love talking to climbers about climbing.  I love talking to non-climbers about climbing.  I love talking to climbers about climbers. I love talking to non-climbers about climbers.  I invest a lot of time into climbing, I’ve learned a lot about climbing over the years, and it is fun to connect with others through shared experiences.  It’s fun to teach others about unique experiences.

Conversations like these aren’t unique to climbers though.  I’ve spent a lot of time studying philosophy too, and I love talking about philosophy.  I’ve spent a lot of time teaching, and I love to talk about that too.  You can add basketball, hiking, traveling, studying, reading, and loads of other things that interest me which I enjoy talking about.

There is nothing unique about enjoying conversations regarding personal interests.  Baseball fans, futbal fans, coffee enthusiasts, wine drinkers, avocado scientists, drug dealers, bird watchers, builders, anglers, botanists, and folks from Saskatchewan connect just because they have experience in some specialized area.  Of course, most of us has some interest in several specialized areas.  Certainly, there must be a Saskatchewanian gamer who goes hard on coffee, enjoys fishing, and works in software development.  That person has a lot of interests which can lead to a lot of conversations.

There are those who will only, or worse yet, can only talk about one thing. At times we are all guilty of this.

We see this in the climbing community all the time.  I see this in other circles as well.  There is the mom who can only talk about her kids, the fan who can only talk about their team, the investor who can only talk about stocks.  Conversations like these can be interesting at some times and in some ways.  If you are new to hiking and really want to learn about navigation, then a hiking fanatic could come in handy.  If you are obsessed with RC cars, then comparing notes with other RC aficionados is the way to go.  For those of us who don’t meet the criteria of noob to nerd, maybe we won’t enjoy these types of conversations.

Variety is the spice of life!

In this case I’m talking about climbers, but the point applies to all who bring a single focus to every conversation.

I love talking about climbing.  I love talking to climbers about climbing.  I love talking to non-climbers about climbing.  This we have established, but even for me, there is a point where we gotta talk about something else.  Sharing micro-beta on a climb that I’m never going to see, a climb that you never actually saw, on a route that neither of us know anything about is just not that interesting.  It’s wonderful that you we able to use a heel hook on your boulder project, but I don’t really care, and I especially don’t care about the intricacies of your heel hook.  I love hearing about Climber X sending Route Y, that is really impressive, but we all follow the same climbing news sites, and we all found out about it at the same time.

It’s starting to seem as if I don’t really like talking about climbing at all, but I do, I just don’t like only talking about climbing.

In the interest of not just complaining about something that I really do enjoy, I am going to offer some conversational directions that anyone can use to avoid the overly technical redundant conversations that plague all niches from climbing to knitting, from veganism to Trumpism.  Let’s step out of our echo chambers and chat!

I’m using climbing jargon as a place holder, but that jargon can be substituted for any niche language.

Example #1

Instead of this: Brooooooooo that toe hook just before anchors is way better if you slide in from the starboard side of your foot, then twist the hips as you adjust from a half to a full crimp on the final throw.

Try this: What if you were in charge of steering a trolley, and on the track in front of you there were five people tied to the rails, if you do nothing, all five will die, but you can steer the trolley to the right…

It’s The Trolley Problem.  The next time you are caught in a loop of boredom or repetition, bust out The Trolley Problem.  It’s a great conversation starter and can be amended to almost any conversation.  E.g. The Trolley Problem, but it’s climbers, or patients, or accountants, or chefs, or customers, or etc…

Example #2

Instead of this: Duuuuuuuuude did you see Janja on final route at the world championships last week?

Try this: What if you were in charge of steering a trolley, and on the track in front of you there were five people tied to the rails, if you do nothing, all five will die, but you can steer the trolley to the right…

Yep, it’s the trolley problem again.  You can use it at least twice, before you risk falling into the problem of repetition.

Example #3

Instead of this: Yooooooo…it doesn’t matter what follows, anytime someone opens up a conversation with that many vowels, it’s time to reach into the bag of alternative conversations.

Try this: Why do you think it is that talking about religion, politics, and money were off limits over the previous 100 years, but recently people have gone to the other side of the spectrum and seem to push religious, political, and monetary beliefs without pause?

That is an interesting conversation…the examples continue almost without end, but here are a few more possible topics to try instead of the standard ‘how’s the weather’ responses.

1. Trolley Problem Part III (you have to stop after the third Trolley Problem though, three is the absolute limit).
2. Would you kill baby Hitler?
3. Any conversation about food.
4. If you won a huge lottery, what would you do with the $?
5. If you could never _________ again, what would you do instead?
   • The blank is just the topic that your interlocutor brought up, in the case of today’s topic it would be climbing.