Brain Talk...

Out of all parts of our body, one that we give the utmost protection should be the head.

At least that’s what common sense would tell us to do right? But then, some people do insured other parts of their body instead of the one on top aite? Wink wink…

No offense to the nose, the eyes and ears and mouth though all of them are placed on our head but essentially it’s due to the vulnerable 1400g object that we call brain. That’s why we HAVE to protect it; after all it’s the one that pulls the strings. Sure we all have that don’t we? The helmet… has been the safekeeping of our precious brain for thousands of years, acting like the second skull to the brain. We talk about soldiers, motorcyclist, technicians so and so, almost everyone has got to wear them the common purpose of avoiding hazard that may squash the brain.

So what’s all the fuss about wearing a helmet when u climb? Most people don’t use them anyway. Have you seen anyone or any top climbers wearing a helmet? Why bother wearing a helmet, because it’s not convenient at all, expensive, a waste of space in your bag plus the not so macho look while climbing. Aaarrrghhhh…!!!!

In sports climbing when a climber attempts a difficult route, they need to be able to move freely and with real concentration. One just can’t do that with the helmet wrapping your head, at times blocking when you need to turn your neck, then it becomes the hazard instead of protection. Most upper grades routes are known to be massive roofs and overhangs. This makes the fall less dangerous since u’d be hanging from the roofs instead of falling on the rugged wall. Furthermore, an experienced climber could possibly assess the situation and danger better.

Now tell me, if u have a small kid would u want them to climb without any helmet? True, there’s only a small chance that some loose rocks would fall during the climb and yeah, probably there are other safety measures like the rope, harness, grigri so they’ll never end up hitting any parts of the wall don’t they? I’m not preaching over here, but just for the love of the sports and the people. I read in Simon’s blog last month on the death of Nick a climber from Australia at his favorite site due to scrappy boltings. No we don’t want to loose anyone for such reasons or anything of that sort.

One of the best things I've learned from climbing is that we should not learn from mistakes, instead we should LEARN NOT TO MAKE MISTAKES.

Dude, your LIFE IS WORTH MORE THAN A HELMET, someone promised to get me one ;)

*Prayers to our fellow friend Azamin a.k.a.Labit who passed away last month. Admiration for his contribution to the outdoor scene in Perlis and Malaysia.