Who is Chris Sharma? Who is he, really? From the craggers of the Grampians to the boulderers of Bishop to the alpinists of Chamonix, climbers the world over know Sharma as one of the greatest rock climbers ever, the icon for his climbing generation, his name forever linked to perhaps the two most famous rock climbs of the past decade: The Mandala and Realization.

Benjamin Frankiln noted, "So convienent a thing it is to be a reasonable creature, since it enables one to find or make a reason for everything one has a mind to do."  That is one of my favorite quotes and one I think about every time I am motivated to do something.  I listen to my mind "reason" it out and, wow, it can be really convincing!  I got this rock climbing bug... to the point that I am constructing a climbing wall in our garage (I will post that later with blueprints and pictures).  There are a lot of things I like about the activity and as I reason it out in my head, I wanted to share with what I rationalize as REAL benefits that I don't think the general public understands about climbing.