My Thesis haha

Climbing is my freedom, my religion, it is my divine. 
My temple is the cliff, the boulder, the pebbles. 
My god is me.
My idols are the pilgrames before me.
My messenger is the monkey.
My tools are made of metal and rubber, sometimes herbs can help.

Climbing is not just a sport, or a hobbie.  It is a way of life.  A search for something greater.  A mediation, a form of yoga.  Within this religion/subculture (whatever name fits you, though through any word you only limit it) there are ethics, values, mysticism, highs, lows, rituals, family and community.

Mysticism/High/Divine:

With every movement, every breathe, energy flows through the body with as much power as a flash flood.  Enough energy to levitate, or at least enough to make one think so.  This energy is commonly seen in imagery of the snake in Kundulini.  Yet where as in kundulini one has to meditate for hours on end, in climb one simply has to follow the bodies natural tendency to explore the above.  Ecstasy was created by the ancients to describe climbing [meaning freedom the body]. Death is not an issue because it doesnt exist.  Some people think of heaven as living high up in the sky, with the clouds, among the birds and the ether, but climbers dont believe in heaven.  For they believe in earth and they are living what heaven should be like.

Rituals (a few to wrap your mind around):

Some rock addicts chant sacred folks songs or rap lyrics before an ascent, in order to initiate a specific mindset before take off.
Other muckle-crushers part take in ancient Sadhu (hindu holy men) rituals reuniting with the holy spirit of the great GanjA.  Creating a union with the spirit allows one to induce relaxation and pure awareness of the now. 
Another common ritual is that of starvation.  Some cliff-pushers are simply baddass and reached a higher level of enlightenment where they dont need food or water...Jon Tierney being one of them.  Others who havnt reached that level yet, try anyway in an attempt to test their will power and strength.

Values/Ethics/Morality:

Well rock-smokers come in all shapes and sizes.  Some have seen the darkside and climbed past it, and others are dick holes stuck behind their own ego.  So I can not speak for the dick holes, but for the true sky-climbers there is much respect among fellow searchers because one knows that we are all on the search for climber enlightenment and inherently at different stages of evolution.  Some outsiders may look at a climber and call him a bum.  But those outsiders dont know the whole story, for if the outsider or the rich business man/woman saw the buddha he/she may also call him a bum.  But a crimp-chaser lives by their word.  If they do something they take full responsibility.  If another needs help, the climber gives what they can.  The "bum" image of a climber may beonly what you can see, but realize behind all that is a story of someone who has given away all their love to other sentient beings, surviving only of the pure energy of nature and its beauty.  For beauty is what drives the climber.  And flowing within the current of beauty is morality itself.  Good and bad are relative terms, but morality is when beauty reaches our hearts and can be shared with others.