words by JOE MÖHLE
pic by MATT PYCROFT
Reflections – IV, 27/5.12c, A3+
A new route on the 1 200-metre Mirror Wall, Greenland’s biggest rock wall.
It has been some months since my return from Greenland. I am sitting in my comfortable home reflecting on those days in the wilderness. My focus is repeatedly pierced by ideas of my next potential adventures. Travels, mountains, studies, Brazilian jiu-jitsu tournaments, training schemes. Possibilities are endless. As if my trip to Greenland was a seed planted which has now grown into a beautiful flower that is spitting out seeds with great urgency to explore new terrain.
I unexpectedly found this a difficult article to write because when it came down to it, I felt I lacked anything meaningful to say. I know very well what my experiences in Greenland mean to me; however, trying to convey that accurately to an audience would be wishful at best. I understand that I felt constant fear for five weeks straight. Fear of all kinds and on various levels. This was exactly what I expected and was prepared for, and even what I had wished for. However, the modus operandi is that of managed fear and in it time passes incredibly quickly. The experience, although richer than any other I have had, tends to become a jumbled narrative better felt than understood.
My climbing and what it means to me has changed over the years (as it should). When climbing was new to me, I was overcome by the endless joys, deep metaphorical meanings and life lessons that a life in climbing can give us. I wanted others to have that same gift that keeps on giving, overlooking the important detail that the gift will essentially only give back in proportion to what we put into it. Yes, I know it is a cruel world. I would often feel dismayed when others could not, for various reasons, tap into this wonderful reciprocal relationship. I also realised, by allowing other passions of mine time to flourish, that we can have such a relationship with absolutely anything we do. What is important is the spirit in which it is done. That is to say, the gift that we give unto it defines the activity, which, in turn, defines us. Of course, only I can ever really know what I have put into my passions, and hence my difficulty in writing this story of passion. This then, is a story I would like to offer as a gift to those who are willing to accept it. A gift, believe it or not, for which you do not have to give anything in return. In fact, that is a request! Here I will attempt to write a story of inspiration of the kind that I have continually sought out since I found my element. This is a story especially for, but not restricted to, the next generation.
IMAGE: Summit shot – 1 200 metres of wall culminating in the sweetest mantleshelf you are ever going to find.
