Hanging by Fingernails Could Ruin a Manicure : Pancho Doll says climbing is safe, but so was the Titanic.

I’m no hero, no daredevil. Never been described as “hellbent for leather.” I get my kicks vicariously, willingly letting others thumb their nose at death. I admire the courage of anyone who withdraws money at an ATM after dark.

As I sit in front of the computer writing this column--as perilous an undertaking as I care to have today--I’m beginning to hyperventilate over the subject of this week’s centerpiece. Rock climbing. I can’t fathom holding onto your life with your fingernails, especially with manicures so expensive these days.

Staff writer Pancho Doll, an evangelical rock climber, has been driving me up a wall to get me to climb a wall, but I politely declined (OK, so I threw him out of my office). He says climbing is safe, but so was the Titanic.

“Most people associate rock climbing with danger,” the persistent Doll said. “But that’s not what it’s all about. It’s about using skill and judgment to manage risk and go where others can’t.”

Doll, who started climbing in Alaska nine years ago, so far has managed to persuade a couple of male colleagues to accompany him on his vertical journeys, but he’s striking out with women. Too bad, he says.

“Lots of people think rock climbing requires brute strength when in fact what counts is the ratio of strength to weight,” Doll said. “The best climbers are almost pitifully thin. Women make excellent climbers because lots of them have better strength-to-weight ratios than the guys you see clanging big iron in the gym.”

Doll learned that rock climbers were originally on the oddball fringe of recreational athletes. But in the last few years the sport has become more mainstream as artificial climbing walls provide accessible practice venues, enabling participants to gain experience only a few feet off the ground.

Alas, Ventura County is not a climber’s dream. “Natural climbing rock in the county is only average by Southern California standards,” Doll said. “Since it’s a long way to Joshua Tree National Monument and other climbing meccas, practice walls are popular here.”

The county may not be known for its challenging monoliths, but rock climbing owes a lot to Yvon Chouinard, Patagonia founder and a legendary climbing pioneer.

Although climbers may be thrill-seeking adrenaline junkies, they’re not suicidal. The right equipment is as important as the right moves.

Doll recently invested in a deluxe equipment package.

“I spent an amount of money I’m not comfortable disclosing, but there’s a comma in it,” Doll said.

Is he now a better climber? “No, I’m still really bad,” he said.

And he wants me on the wall with him? Does he think I have rocks in my head?