You Didn't Punt.

This essay doesn’t exactly fit in with some others. On its surface it’s a simple lesson in semantics. But I don’t care. I have to say it, and I think it goes deeper than semantics.
Sure, maybe you had the crux dialed in. It felt really good in isolation. And then you fell there. I’m not sure if you’re aware, but that’s where you’re supposed to fall. It’s why we call it the crux. The hard part. That’s the point.

You didn’t punt.

We came up with the term “redpoint crux” because it’s another form of crux. A hard part when it’s encountered starting from the ground, on redpoint. That’s where you fell? I’m sure it is. That’s the point.

You didn’t punt…

Ok, maybe some of you actually don’t know what the word means, or maybe you really do care about semantics. For you, we’ll take a look at the word punt, as climbers have adopted it.

punt2
/pənt/
verb
verb: punt; 3rd person present: punts; past tense: punted; past participle: punted; gerund or present participle: punting
1.
AMERICAN FOOTBALL
kick (the ball) after it is dropped from the hands and before it reaches the ground.
"he used to be able to punt a football farther than anyone"
(of an offensive team) turn possession over to the defensive team by punting the ball after failing to make a first down.
"the Raiders could get nowhere with their possession, and had to punt"

Notice the last usage here. "Turn possession over to the defensive team." When you’re on a redpoint attempt, you are the offense. The route is the defense. You don’t get to where you need to be, so you’re forced to turn the ball over. To punt.
But it’s not that simple.
If you make the same mistake two or three times, you punted. If you get to the easy section that you rehearsed over and over and fell because you got excited and went to the wrong hold, you punted. But some falls – some failures – aren’t punts. They’re necessary.  

Redpointing is a process. It’s an ultimate success built on the backs of many failures. Oftentimes those failures are exactly where we are supposed to be.
So you climbed through the crux, which you worked at length, and then wasted energy through the next sequential section, only to fall at the redpoint crux?
That’s exactly where you’re supposed to be. You got your first down. You moved the ball. You learned something. Now you get to try again.

You didn’t punt.