Column: These guys must be crazy

Professional rock climbers Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson are currently climbing a smooth, 3,000-foot sheet of granite in the dead of winter. If they succeed they will be the first to climb the Dawn Wall, a southern face of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park, without the help of extra hand and foot holds screwed into the rock. Their attempt is momentous enough to garner extensive coverage by media outlets like The New York Times.

Every foot they ascend brings them closer to fame and glory, which waits for them, glowing at the top of the mountain like the peak does in the first morning light. It’s that golden sunrise shimmer that gives the Dawn Wall its name and makes it such an iconic feature of El Capitan.

But what price must these men pay to reach the summit? Some call their quest noble, but others denounce them as attention-seeking. Obsessive. Crazy.

Caldwell and Jorgenson have been living in a tent suspended on the side of the cliff for two weeks. They wake up every four hours to apply lotion to their cracked fingertips.

They sand their hands to keep them rough enough to grip corrugations in the stone. They sand the bottoms of their shoes.

Caldwell even refused an invitation to scale mountains around the world with another famous climber in favor of continuing to practice the Dawn Wall, as he’s been doing for the past seven years.

This behavior is typical of competitive runners who tend to be compulsive, type-A sorts. Extreme sports enthusiasts have a reputation for being reckless adrenaline junkies. Both are considered to have a touch of crazy in them.

The very word “crazy” writes off tireless motivation as nonsensical. The term is a step backward in addressing mental health and navigating relationships. It might also keep us from appreciating the magnitude of passion a climber, runner or mountain biker uses to push the limits of the human body.

Compulsive behavior is unhealthy because it’s unsustainable. Attention-seeking behavior is unhealthy because it suggests a person requires external affirmation. Onlookers question whether these behaviors are a problem for Caldwell and Jorgeson.

All signs say no. Regular social media updates from almost 2,000 feet up the wall indicate that the men are driven but not obsessive. They take the time to marvel at the beauty of their surroundings, comment on how amazing it is that the skin on their fingertips might be all that’s keeping them from victory, ask for friendly advice from the climbing community and communicate with their friends and family down below.

They take time to rest. They wait for each other when one man lags behind on a difficult move, even if that means days of delay. With compulsiveness and fame-mongering out of the way, all that’s left is passion. They climb because it’s what they love to do. They’re leaping the bounds of comfort zones, staying loyal to long-term goals and dreaming big. If that’s crazy, then that’s a madness we could all use a touch of.