Group dynamics are very important in climbing. After all, if you are tied to someone with a rope, you want to be able to talk to and communicate with them. So, I have found it useful, and very important, to listen to my teammates. Sometimes, the meaning of their words is crystal clear. At other times, you have to deduce exactly what it is they are really trying to say, or what they really mean. Here is a fun game! Below are some real phrases, communicating real thoughts, from real mountain trips. Use your imagination to try to figure out what the speaker is trying to say, and what the phrase tells you about the speaker and their state of mind.

• I haven't practiced this for a while.
• You hold it like this, right?
• I guess this is okay.
• I'll wait here.
• I thought he was with you.
• Is that you?
• Oh my gosh!
• ARREST! ARREST! ARREST!
• Uh oh.
• I have 2 children at home.
• I have a wife and a mortgage.
• ROCK! ROCK! ROCK!
• BEAR !!!
• F*** S***!!!
• Is this right?
• It looks different than I remember.
• Is this Devil's Club?
• What do you think of this weather?
• This doesn't look like class 3.
• Would you like to stop and get out your ice axe?
• There is no turn-around time!
• I sure hope there's another way down.
• Well, we're not going back that way!
• I'm not going down that way.
• I just want to go home.