dberdinka Posted July 2, 2009 Posted July 2, 2009 Just saw the $300,000 price tag for the Lower Town Wall and it got me thinking how interesting it would be to know how many distinct climbing-users there are at Index in a given year.......which leads me back to a parlour game type question I've asked friends. How many PNW climbers are out doing say..5.9 or harder alpine rock routes in the Cascades any given year? It's impossible to know but the range of results I've heard is huge. Some people tend to think it's an elite few while others think half the population of Washington is out there climbing the south face of Prusik, Backbone Ridge, etc. Sorry to exclude boulders, craggers, scramblers etc. Those would be interesting questions as well. What do you think? Quote
sobo Posted July 2, 2009 Posted July 2, 2009 You'll have to deduct one (1) from every answer because minx doesn't climb. Quote
Pete_H Posted July 2, 2009 Posted July 2, 2009 A lot of people come here FROM OUT OF STATE every year to climb on our rocks. I say STAY IN IOWA. Quote
XXX Posted July 2, 2009 Posted July 2, 2009 A lot of people come here FROM OUT OF STATE every year to climb on our rocks. I say STAY IN IOWA. There can't be that many alpine climbers out there. I think I read a stat somewhere that said 85 percent of those who climb are sport climbers. Now I would guess that Washington state has a higher percentage of those who do alpine climbing. But even so, I can't imagine their being more then 2000 in the whole state. But who knows. Quote
Dannible Posted July 2, 2009 Posted July 2, 2009 I think the number would be a whole lot higher (like, twice as many) if you said 5.7 or harder because that would include things like the west ridge of Prusik and the Beckey on LB. From what I have seen it seems like there are a lot of people who only have time to get out a few times a year and can climb 5.9 on a good day or year, but would rarely actually do that in the alpine. Quote
luvshaker Posted July 2, 2009 Posted July 2, 2009 (edited) What's worse, vacationers from Iowa to climb on OUR rocks, or moving here from Iowa to climb on OUR rocks? -Raised Corn fed Edited July 2, 2009 by luvshaker Quote
Valhallas Posted July 2, 2009 Posted July 2, 2009 What's worse, vacationers from Iowa to climb on OUR rocks, or moving here from Iowa to climb on OUR rocks? How long do you have to live here before they are YOUR rocks? I've been in Seattle since 2005 and started climbing in 2007. Can I call them my rocks yet? Or is that a prerogative of native washingtonians. Anyway, I bet there are maybe a couple thousand people that qualify. Quote
tazz Posted July 2, 2009 Posted July 2, 2009 climb on OUR rocks? Did you piss on them? Thats what I do when claiming something as mine in the alpine. I piss on it and say no one else can touch it! See once you piss on it no one wants to touch it! Better start drinking that H2O, you got alot of rock to piss on in order to claim it as yours! Quote
rob Posted July 2, 2009 Posted July 2, 2009 As far as I know, native Washingtonians don't really exist. Quote
pink Posted July 2, 2009 Posted July 2, 2009 i don't hang out above the treeline much, afraid i'm run into mr. frieh... Quote
Choada_Boy Posted July 2, 2009 Posted July 2, 2009 Does top secret alpine cragging with Larry count? If so, at least two. Quote
eldiente Posted July 2, 2009 Posted July 2, 2009 (edited) What's worse, vacationers from Iowa to climb on OUR rocks, or moving here from Iowa to climb on OUR rocks? -Raised Corn fed Well having moved here from Iowa I'm not sure how to answer that. Edited July 2, 2009 by eldiente Quote
AlpineK Posted July 2, 2009 Posted July 2, 2009 How long do you have to live here before they are YOUR rocks? I've been in Seattle since 2005 and started climbing in 2007. Can I call them my rocks yet? Or is that a prerogative of native washingtonians. Having family in the PNW since the 1880s and being a second generation climber I'm sorry to say the answer is No We'll give you rent free guest privileges though Quote
dberdinka Posted July 2, 2009 Author Posted July 2, 2009 Excluding the responses that called me a fool, the average estimate is 688. Figure... average group size of 2.25 annual routes per climber of 2 decent weekends 16 >=5.9 routes anyone actually does 25 avg parties per weekend per route = 688 / 2.25 * 2 / 16 /25 = 1.5 parties per route per weekend Which sounds about right. Thanks hivemind. Please continue discussion by picking apart my variable assumptions... Quote
Pete_H Posted July 2, 2009 Posted July 2, 2009 What's worse, vacationers from Iowa to climb on OUR rocks, or moving here from Iowa to climb on OUR rocks? -Raised Corn fed Well having moved here from Iowa I'm not sure how to answer that. Hope you all realize I was kidding. You Iowans are welcome to climb on the mountains here. You Portlanders should stay in Oregon though. Quote
billbob Posted July 2, 2009 Posted July 2, 2009 The USFS Regional HQ should have estimates as well, might want to give 'em a call. Quote
wayne Posted July 3, 2009 Posted July 3, 2009 Great question and poll Darrin. I have often wondered about the weird demographic of the sport. It is always in flux, but I picked lower down the poll. I think there a bunch of em. Or maybe it just seems so when I see 30 parties on SE butt of Cathedral in Toulome. Quote
Off_White Posted July 3, 2009 Posted July 3, 2009 I agree the numbers would be really different if you said 5.7 instead of 5.9. What routes 5.9 and above get a lot of traffic in the Cascades? Stuart N Ridge w/Gendarme, West Face CBR, Backbone Ridge, Burgner/Stanley on Prussik. Does Lib Bell group count? If so, toss in NW Corner and W Face on NEWS and Liberty Crack. Rebel Yell or Clean Break maybe, though I've never heard of parties stacking up on those routes. There's plenty of other worthy objectives, but they just don't get that much traffic. I picked the 500-1000 bracket, though I lean more towards the 1000 than the the 500 end of that scale. Back in the pre-internet days, no one had a clue just who was climbing what, until you actually ran into someone out there. Quote
rob Posted July 3, 2009 Posted July 3, 2009 I just realized I don't even fit into this small group. I get out so infrequently, and you really have to climb a lot to keep your chops. There are probably TONS of guys like me out there, if you counted 5.7 and up. It's weird to realize that 5.7 was once a fairly high grade, whereas now it's basically a recreational level of climbing. Quote
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