Dr_Flash_Amazing

R. Moore - It's funny to see a lot of you more trad-oriented climbers who will bitch about the crowds and social atmosphere of Smith at the drop of a hat turn around and act like you can make noise and irritate people at the campground and it's no big deal. The attitude that you should be able to do what you want and if other people are bothered by it, "they should just move" (and no, the Grasslands was NOT so uncrowded last weekend, nor is it usually so uncrowded, that someone could simply select another site, even if it was an appropriate option) DOES sound like something that would come from someone a lot younger than you are. The rationale that since the Grasslands is a free campground, people should just deal with whatever crap happens there is completely ludicrous. This doubtless doesn't apply when a crew of people winds up next to YOU and makes noise all night with their drum circle or wakes you at 6 a.m. with Grateful Dead bootlegs played at full volume over crackling VW bus speakers. The Grasslands has grown increasingly crowded over the years; the sites have become amorphous and are blending together; it is becoming difficult to have any reasonable degree of separation between parties, spatially and sonically. Is it too much to ask to acquiesce and be considerate of other people? It's bad enough when a truckload of rednecks winds up next to you blaring Garth Brooks late into the night and early in the morning, and you know they're just dying to brawl with whatever climber fag tries to ask them to quiet down; why should climbers do the same to each other?

There IS one problem there. T-shirts ALWAYS go over your long underwear top. ALWAYS. And, for the gym, your belay device is for BELAYING, not climbing with (unless your belayer will be seconding you up the red tape route?). If you need ballast, try the weight belt. Likewise, YOU DO NOT NEED A NUT TOOL IN THE GYM -- this is the stupidest fucking thing ever -- everyone already knows you're a climber, because you're at the rock gym, in your harness, and you're CLIMBING; if you really need to announce that you're a trad climber, talk loudly about it, but leave the nut tool, hand jammies (!), prussiks (), and two (!!!) belay devices on the ground, or in your pack at home. (There is a fellow who frequents the PRG these days who is guilty of all of the above. If you see him, give him one of those "dope slaps" they're always referring to on "Car Talk"). This is totally the same type of person who shows up at Smith with a half-empty pack but still clips their shoes/harness/belay device/chalk bag etc. to the outside of their pack for some half-assed reason, as a billboard to the world that, yes, they are a mountain climber. As if you'd be at the crag in climbing shorts, lugging a backpack around, for any other reason. As if anyone would care anyway. Oh, and Verve makes hot pants for chix, so an exception needs to be made there.

Ahhh ... your motivation for traveling to Leavenworth becomes clear ... or perhaps more of a malty, amber hue.

The real question we should all be pondering is: Is Beta a wave, or a particle?

You've sort of come up with this on your own. It's doubtful anyone sport climbs for the experiencing of fitting draw to bolt or rope to draw, which is typically a trivial act, although it can also be rather desperate from an insecure stance. While part of the climb IS typically figuring out how you're going to clip at least a couple of the bolts, in DFA's experience this is a secondary element, if it even enters the equation. As stated before, the satisfaction of leading IS part of the equation, hence the prevalence of bolts vs. toprope anchors.

Bourgeois pig! Drink PBR tall cans or fuck off!

Back off, homo.

Whereas DFA, and probably some other folks out there, finds climbing somewhat scary, and is comforted by the availability of bomber gear at regular intervals, facilitating what would be, for this Doctor, nigh on impossible without the help of Rawl, Fixe, Metolius, Petzl, Hilti, Bosch, et. al.

You are way off route assuming that there is but one reason for bolting routes or climbing sport routes. Just as trad climbing isn't just about placing nuts or torquing your fingers into jams, bolted route climbing is about many things ... experiencing the unique movement of climbing; pushing your physical and mental limit in an arena that allows you to fuck up without splat-risk while still employing the traditional ascent mode of climbing, i.e. leading, and to gain the attendant satisfaction afforded by success in that mode. You're equally off-route assuming that this is based in machismo (seen many machismo-motivated women climbers out there, wiseass?). You're free to TR any line you want; you're probably not going to bump into any of the bolts as you climb. Those of us who enjoy the sport gestalt will do so as well. Sport climbing has evolved into what it has evolved into and is enjoyed by many because it is fun and rewarding and safe and a lot of other things to different people. The fact that it came into being and continues to be so widely enjoyed is testament to the fact that it is far more than the smattering of idiotic and insulting facets that you insist on reducing it to for the sake of this argument. You're obviously not interested in actually hearing what makes bolted routes appealing; you're interested in beating people over the head with your smugly superior opinion. Why even pretend to be discussing the issue? If you wanna beat people over the head, cut to the chase and call them morons, insult their chosen means of recreation, and threaten to chop their bolts like all the other holier-than-thou bolt-haters littering the history of sport climbing like so many turds in the yard.

"Do you feel alright? (Oi, oi, oi!) Someone's gonna die tonight! (Oi, oi, oi!) Do you feel alright? (Oi, oi, oi!) The boys are out tonight!"

Are you sure the answer is ' ? Maybe he's missing a "we" or a "they"?

The threat of logging air time in exchange for sequence-botching adds to the experience, for starters. i.e. preservation of an integral part of the original (pre-sport) climbing experience. While we're addressing hyperbole, maybe you could drop the silly and condescending reference to bolted sport routes as "bolt ladders." After all, DFA was barely able to get the draws up on his last proj with a long stick -- some of the bolts on the "ladders" are far apart!

Shit, why pound pins or trundle loose rock to get to good pro or stain big walls with piss from long ascents when you could just TR them with 6000' static lines anchored to organic, sustainably harvested, tree-farmed birch hexes placed lovingly in Mother Nature's own secret granite slots? i.e. shut up and climb, nitpicker.

That's .12c, you mutant.

It's also important to consider that most sports climbers stick to sport areas and short (i.e. single pitch) routes. Even though this El Gigante rig is a sport line in the sense that it's fully bolted, it's still a wall route, and is quite committing relative to the usual sport experience, which would be a natural crowd deterrent.

Just a few letters into the AAJ piece raised the question for DFA: Does the appearance of bolted (rap or otherwise, by whatever means) lines on big walls or in alpine settings automatically mean the end of development in other styles? And can these types of routes coexist with traditional & traditionally established routes?

Reckon you oughta drop back to punt, then, son.

Hey, shit you, dicko.

Go piss up a Blue Water Dominator, mudflap.

YOU'RE TOO FAT TO SEND! YOU'RE TOO FAT TO SEND! YOU'RE TOO FAT TO SEND! etc., etc.

Shut up, BITCH! Them baseball nubbins gets greazy in the sun, like hushpuppies in Criscofatz.

Psh. That rope totally suxx then.

Checked the weather lately, fellas?

"the RZA, the GZA, the Ol' Dirty Bizza ... "

Reinhold Messner?