Depends on how you qualify pointless. To many, my favorite sport (climbing) is pretty pointless, and within the sport the act of chasing more difficult-graded climbs even more so. This year I decided not only to try to climb more, but to explicitly play the "grade chasing" game and find the hardest thing I could do.

The results were about what I expected. I aimed to climb the difficulty grade V6, and I managed to do two of them, Joe Boxer and Adrenaline Junkie. The world is no better for my having done this, I broke no new ground, made no one's life better, and arguably had as much fun doing some easier/indoor climbs. My shoulder now hurts most of the time, and after a summer of bouldering I'd kill to have the knees of a younger man (I'm 35). V6 isn't even really that hard, lots of climbers achieve this and much harder.

But holy fuck am I stoked. Thinking about it makes my blood pump hot. Those two problems cycle through my mind every day. At work my mind wanders and I'm there, standing under them, wondering if I'll be able to do it. I did them both twice, to get a video, and the second time isn't nearly as thrilling as the first. Doesn't matter. They're burned into my brain forever.