UKH

In extremis, what can you all remember flash memorably across your minds? I'm talking trad as if it even needs to be said. Quotes are fine, but personal ones are better.

"I trust that shitty rock 1 less than my ex." 

"Will that runner hold?"

"Will I hit the deck?"

"Will I bounce on the way down?"

I have a conversation with myself about ledges...

...I don't want to hit one but I could do with one now...!

"What the **** am I doing here?" Is pretty common on type 2 days.

I'm such an idiot, why did I get myself into this? If I survive this I'm never climbing again.

Which of course has changed to "that was a bit bold" by the time the second reaches me.

'Nobody else can help you now'

"F*ck f*ck f*ck - breathe - you *can* do it..." That's quite often. 

I remember one occasion, when I really should have died, all that was going through my head was the song "La Mer". The original version, by Charles Trenet; "La mer, q'on voit dancer, le long des golfes clairs........." Funny really.

I produce an involuntary nervous chuckle in the form of "ha-HAA / a-HAA" as if I've just found a pan at the back of the cupboard.

My thoughts are normally "I should stick to fell walking".

Houston.........................

E

Did I remember to turn the iron off?

'Should'a stopped by now...' 

My one and only fifty footer. Fantastic bounce back up in space when I did eventually stop. We'd borrowed Rog's brand new rope (Well, we tested it for him!) Got back on the stance with a lot of swinging and found Boggie in not too good shape. (We didn't really know about hypothermia, back then.) Abbed off, leaving quite a bit of gear behind. 'F*ck it, we're still alive,' was what I thought. Boggie, being a Yorkshireman, is probably still thinking, 'Bloody hell, it was mostly my gear up there'.

Happy days!

Mick

After placing useless gear and tugging at it to try and fool myself it would slow a fall: “Be reet” 

JRJG

And another, whenever a brutish thug move is needed, or a wild fist/arm jam required: “What would Don Whillans do?” 
 

JRJG 

'Wha ...? .........aaaaaaarrrrrrrgggghhh!!

Ooooh! Bugger!

It's always songs with me too. And you don't get to choose which songs either.

There's  a German word for it: Ohrwurm, "ear worm"

If I've run it out quite a bit somewhere that I really don't want to fall off, I quite often get that copper from Hot Fuzz involuntarily popping into my head telling me "don't go being a tw*t now" 

Songs for me too, but specific ones triggered by certain words. Eg if I'm worried about slipping off, Dr Dre will pop into my head with "never let me slip cause if i slip then i'm slippin". I find it a good mental cue to focus up - it's hard to surpress negative thoughts but easier (for me) to surpress a song

Off topic but I was putting petrol in the car the other day (for the first time in ages) and I laughed out loud (partially in despair) when I thought to myself "best only put half a tank in it's going back in March!"

I quite often start singing a nervous little tune. Quite often:

I love my wife,

I love her dearly

I love the hole she pisses through

I love her lilly white tits 

And her great big asshole

I'd eat her shit with a rusty spoon.

Some people say "you can't fall off holds this big". On Blankist (HVS 4c) my partner told me she was telling herself "you can't fall off of feet this big" whilst moving up the pockets on the bold second pitch. I thought it was a novel way of looking at it haha! 

"Why, why, why?" and "Mummy" may have passed utterance in desperate times, especially in Scotland in winter.

"Oh ****.  Deja vu, all over again"

I never learn.

“Am I enjoying this? I can’t believe I’ve spent so much money on climbing gear”

Then a pitch later absolutely loving it. 

It's nice to know I'm not the only one. It sometimes occurs to me that another Charles Trenet song, "Boum!", might have been more appropriate.

For me, one of the 'attractions' of hard (for me) trad or soloing is the conscious suppression of stray thoughts. As someone who normally has a vivid imagination and a tendency to wander it's really cathartic to have a really  good reason to stay focused and dismiss negative thoughts, in a way I can't usually manage.

I have an Infernal voice.

“Again?”

After committing to something which I shouldn't have...

"you idiot!" (often a swear word involved as well)

Always wondered if it was a known phenomenon. Now i know!

Mine is Boney M's 'Brown Girl in the Ring'.

I have no idea why. Maybe its the line "Show me a motion, tra la la la la"?

Usually songs pop into my head they could be any of them as well,  some from years back too.

Interesting too see other saying the same.  

f*ck shit f*ck shit.

My song is the tune to the A-Team, you can sing any words you like to it.

Boggie, as in D Marsh???

I think all my true in extremis moments have come when highballing or soloing. Sometimes I internally mutter, "Can't go back now." If it was someone else saying it I'd probably complain about them stating the bloody obvious. But I know I'm properly focussed if I realise I'm humming tunelessly.

And of course if things get really hairy I just start chanting the mantra given to me by my Zen master. As he liked to say,  "Mantra up, snowflake."

I spend a lot of time cursing the guidebook authors for slights unintended. When "Well protected by large cams" equates to "one good piece before an 8m friction solo", or the easy severe I expected turns out to now be an HVS or needs an X grade, I do feel personally attacked and will let my those around me know in no uncertain words. 

Great thread!

Mine is always "what's the worst that can happen?" If its not death then I rationalise to carry on.

Wouldn't be much help to Honnold, mind.

No - John Bogg, from Silsden, Yorks. A very good climber in his day (early Brit ascent of The Nose, Wall of Horrors, etc) but... a Yorkshireman. "There's two colours - black... and white." (And yes, I accept that black is no colour and white is all colours. Try explaining that in Yorkshire!)

Mick

I find myself saying.  "Your going out the window" in reference to home alone when marv says to Harry cause he's scared.  God knows why but it makes me laugh and carm down. 

Dunno really when I'm run-out and having to stay focused my head is thankfully normally quite.

Though when I'm pumped but ultimately safe; more along the lines of "c'mon you f**k, c'mon Michael you little shit".

The Horrible Histories Stupid deaths song 

When I'm climbing on scrattly granite, the word ""Exfoliation" goes through my head again and again like a mantra.

"You made your bed, now you have to lie in it!"

My normal go to is "Fu*k it" for when ever something needs a little more fu*k to be err done... 

My other memorable quote was "that mountain is upside down". It wasn't I was and I still had some distance to fall...

"You want to be here, this is what you came for. You want - oh, fu*k! - to be here, this is - oh, f*ck! - what you fu*king came here for!"

"And I sing to myself, what a wonderful world..." 

This doesn't answer the question but I remember reading that a significant number of people don't have an inner voice.

Asking them to put the experience into words is clearly a ridiculous request but I have long been really curious about what it is like.

Another reason I find it interesting is that when solving maths problems I often get a feeling for the right answer days before I can articulate it.

Makes me wonder whether verbal reasoning matters.