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Which country has the best....


Weekend_Climberz

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climbers.

 

Yeah, yeah, the one having the most fun, right :rolleyes:

 

Seriously though, there's been a lot of pretty serious mountaineers and rock climbers coming straight outta of da PNW, wurd :wazup:.

 

To name a few: Whittaker's, Wickwire, Viesturs, Simonson, House, V. Anderson, a few that post here even.

 

But what about other countries that most of us Americans never hear about. The Russians had a pretty serious investment in their climbers before the "Iron Curtain" fell and their country was split up. Hell, Boukoreev used to live in Seattle for a while and he wrote about alot of his old comrades whom he trained with in the Russian programs that had to kick the habit and find "real" work.

 

So, back to my question, what country has produced the strongest climbers to date and is it a simple matter of geographic position (big mountains nearby) or a genetic fluke that might cause it?

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I think the definition of a "Climber" is moot. My reasoning behind this would be that most of the true greats from Messner to Bonatti all started rock climbing as teens for the most part, and graduated into alpine mountaineering. Maybe I should have stated, best all arounder. Whatever, some good names have popped up so far.

 

looking to move?

 

Maybe...

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Interesting......House did Cho Oyu in a day sans oxygen, just for fun. He doesn't seem to have any desire to join the 12 - 14 ner bandwagon, so we might never know how they stack up. He seems to much prefer more technical climbs at lower altitude, so it's a tough comp. He does some pretty technical stuff though. The impressive thing about Messner is he did his climbing before a lot of the newer lighter warmer gear.

 

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Best all arounder? Steve house.

 

Messner would skunk House hands down...how many 8000er's has House solo'd without oxygen??

 

bah ha ha

 

Ever heard of Steve Swenson doucebags???? Yeah Messner is/was THE man (he even was a rad rock climber before the toes were cut off) but all around. Hands down Steve is DA MAN

:yoda:

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swenson gets my vote...very understated, and has a family life and a career that have nothing to do with climbing/mountaineering and still puts stuff down...

 

plus, he's not a shit spewing punk like house or twat/twight (at least in the mags)...

 

anyone check out that gymjones.com site?? WE ARE SO CORE MAN, JUST CORE... :rolleyes:

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Best all arounder? Steve house.

 

Messner would skunk House hands down...how many 8000er's has House solo'd without oxygen??

 

Messner was the shit. I agree. But Steve House has put up the craziest athletic alpine routes imaginable. Try climbing 6000 feet of water ice/rock and snow and back to the tent on the glacier in a 60 push with no tent or sleeping gear. All the crampons on. Thats fucked up!

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You have to look at them in context, you can't compare them. For example, when Messner climbed Everest w/o oxygen, it was in the face of a legion of doctors, scientists who thought a human could not exist in those conditions, would just die. He was like a spaceman, heading into some stuff that was heavy. He broke huge ground, but it was carefully done, advanced in his personal continuum and experience. He wasn't a huge gambler, just had skills and huge faith in himself. He broke a lot of ground, paved the way for so many, then moved on to the next stage and stages of his life. epic.

 

House is in a similar place, but in a different time. He is able to take advantage of better gear, technique, access. But he is sticking his neck out as well, knows his "work", and is advancing it in a way that is meaningful to him, like an art. Another groundbreaker. SS and Marko too.

 

I have known a lot of Eastern European climbers. No one epic, really, I just spend a lot of time in Russia but don't know any of the "stars". But I like how they rely on very little (notwithstanding the well-publicized epic siege climbs of late). The Russian and Eastern European spirit values suffering, knows it is good for the soul. They can hunker down and suffer with the best. They just go for it, often preferring less to more. Sometimes to a fault, but I still like their spirit. Some of the newer, younger ones now have the means to travel more than their counterparts 20 years ago, and have a little $ for the new gear, and are rocking it. But House is right up there at the top, I think. Cool stuff. The original question? I think historically Poland is strong, Slovenia. US has had some badasses too!

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