powderhound Posted February 20, 2007 Posted February 20, 2007 For those of you who have not seen the new issue of climbing; they gave the golden piton for soloing to Mr. Sharma, for his new 5.Hard, water solo up that arch. I can't believe that they think this is more progress then Reardon's On-sight First ascent solo in the needles. They are not even in the same category. Might as well stuck Sharma's in the bouldering section. Quote
G-spotter Posted February 20, 2007 Posted February 20, 2007 They shouldn't be giving out pitons for free soloing anyway Reardon is a nutjob. I bet he drinks his own pee just like Dean potter. Quote
TrogdortheBurninator Posted February 20, 2007 Posted February 20, 2007 I thought that was pretty crazy too. Lets see, we have one guy FA free soloing 5.hard way off the deck, another guy soloing hard high altitude alpine routes, but instead they give it to a glorified boulder problem without any of the risks associated with soloing. I think they just wanted to give Sharma something, and they figured no one would care if the better soloists got slighted. Otherwise, heaven forbid they'd have to take the piton away from another beloved boulderer or sport climber. (BTW, I think Sharma's climb is still awesome) Quote
powderhound Posted February 20, 2007 Author Posted February 20, 2007 I am not denying that Sharma's climb is not sweet or really hard, ( a seven foot dyno) is pretty big. But he fell over and over again, and isn't one of the points of soloing is that you have to be so focused that you are not allowed to fall? Quote
KFed Posted February 20, 2007 Posted February 20, 2007 yo, I say we give Climbing Magazeenie the golden dingleberry award. Quote
kevbone Posted February 20, 2007 Posted February 20, 2007 They shouldn't be giving out pitons for free soloing anyway I have to agree. The mag’s should take it a step further and not hand out any awards at all. Quote
Weekend_Climberz Posted February 20, 2007 Posted February 20, 2007 Yeah, it should be the "golden chalk bag" award or something?? Quote
Lambone Posted February 20, 2007 Posted February 20, 2007 I saw Michael Reardon's slideshow at ABS Nationals in Maryland this weelkend. It was pathetic. Sure some of the pictures were nice, and the climbing was cool and all....but all he did was ramble on and on and on and on and on and on about himself and how cool he is. Some of his slides sat on the screen for 5 minutes because he couldn't stop talking about himself. Worst show ever. The funny part was that no body was paying attention, everyon was just hanging out by the free beer having their own conversations. Quote
Mr_Phil Posted February 20, 2007 Posted February 20, 2007 they figured no one would care I'm firmly in this category. Quote
billcoe Posted February 21, 2007 Posted February 21, 2007 they figured no one would care I'm firmly in this category. YUP Quote
Winter Posted February 21, 2007 Posted February 21, 2007 bottom line sharma sells more mags than reardon. its irrelevant anyway. Quote
olyclimber Posted February 21, 2007 Posted February 21, 2007 what reardon did was just a jackass stunt that raises the bar Quote
sexual_chocolate Posted February 21, 2007 Posted February 21, 2007 kinda like croft or hersey or bachar etal....? Quote
wayne Posted February 21, 2007 Posted February 21, 2007 (sarcasm) You mean Climbing did something lame? (bitterness from ignoring my articles) Quote
syudla Posted February 21, 2007 Posted February 21, 2007 Climbing has turned into one of the worst rags ever. I long for the days of Off Belay and Summit. Particularly the latter. Quote
chris Posted February 22, 2007 Posted February 22, 2007 I kind of like the Golden Pitons - its an attempt to recognize significant accomplishments in the sport without the b#llsh!t that has come to the Gold Piolet. Climbing admitted the first year that the awards were completely subjective, to be taken with a grain of salt, and their mentioning of "Honorable Mentions" shows it. Perhaps they should give out three awards for each category, and eliminate the Honorable Mentions. Either way, I think of the awards as a "Highlights of the Year" and appreciated the intent in recognizing achievement. Quote
JosephH Posted February 22, 2007 Posted February 22, 2007 I am enormously impressed by what Reardon has accomplished, but I question whether he controls his free-soloing or whether it controls him. I strongly suspect the latter and that significantly diminishes my respect and admiration for him as a climber. I feel folks like Bachar and Kauk never let it get to the point of the out-of-control addiction I sense from Reardon as I did from Hershey as well. As for awards - awards of any kind for climbing are weak as far as I'm concerned, but if you are going to recognize folks for their accomplishments then it's just plain weird to lump free and deep water soloing together. Quote
chris Posted February 22, 2007 Posted February 22, 2007 ...if you are going to recognize folks for their accomplishments then it's just plain weird to lump free and deep water soloing together. I agree - perhaps Sharma's ascent shouldn't have been included for consideration because the consequences of deep-water soloing are different (like the likely-hood of dieing when you foul up is less). Quote
Macson Posted February 22, 2007 Posted February 22, 2007 Climbing has turned into one of the worst rags ever. Haven't read Rock & Ice yet, eh? Quote
plexus Posted February 22, 2007 Posted February 22, 2007 Who's Reardon? The only Reardon I know of has a big old beard, robbed a bank and was a closer for the Minnesota Twins. So that about sums up how I feel about the Golden Piton award. Quote
sexual_chocolate Posted February 22, 2007 Posted February 22, 2007 I am enormously impressed by what Reardon has accomplished, but I question whether he controls his free-soloing or whether it controls him. I strongly suspect the latter and that significantly diminishes my respect and admiration for him as a climber. I feel folks like Bachar and Kauk never let it get to the point of the out-of-control addiction I sense from Reardon as I did from Hershey as well. As for awards - awards of any kind for climbing are weak as far as I'm concerned, but if you are going to recognize folks for their accomplishments then it's just plain weird to lump free and deep water soloing together. don't neg on him because of assumptions. from his website he seems like a cool enough dude, definitely amped (and i'm not gonna second guess his motives, which so many freely do). i found myself emailing Climbing, cuz i thought sharma getting the nod (a debate about the award itself is another issue) was a bit ridiculous. Quote
JosephH Posted February 22, 2007 Posted February 22, 2007 I am enormously impressed by what Reardon has accomplished, but I question whether he controls his free-soloing or whether it controls him. I strongly suspect the latter and that significantly diminishes my respect and admiration for him as a climber. I feel folks like Bachar and Kauk never let it get to the point of the out-of-control addiction I sense from Reardon as I did from Hershey as well. don't neg on him because of assumptions. I'm not. I just tend to trust my instincts on matters like this and I've been around long enough to get a reasonable feeling for the difference between exploit and addiction... Quote
Lambone Posted February 22, 2007 Posted February 22, 2007 Last weekend at the Holiday Inn Reardon gets up from the bar and starts soloing this huge brick pillar in the lobby. He made it all the way up into the rafters, about 50+ft (five stories or so), and the bartender came out and freaked on him! So he came down and got another beer. Interesting fella. I enjoyed bullisting with him because it was he couldn't care less that I was just a nobody climber in a big room full a sombody climbers. And that was pretty cool. Talks about himself alot though, that's for sure. Quote
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