Alex Posted October 17, 2011 Posted October 17, 2011 I was casually reading a climbing rag from 10 years ago and was struck by how much climbing, or certain aspects of climbing, has changed in just 10 years! Consider: * David Graham was big news!? * Someone repeated some Sharma Buttermilks boulder problem. ZOMG! * The Rambo Comp crampon came out, and was reviewed with other crampons like.....(the Trango Harpoon, and some Footfang thing, and ..) it doesnt matter, they all sucked and quickly disappeared except the Rambo Comp! * DMM released yet another useless ice tool design. DMM Fly maybe? * Mark Twight had not yet released Extreme Alpinism, however was doing the photo shoots for it in Chamonix as evidenced by a piece on Cham where all the same pics were published... * The Black Diamond bent-shaft Black Prophet was still the standard climbing tool of most climbers. * Leashless was not yet in vogue Then I thought back to what the heck *I* was doing 10 years ago? * I had climbed Drury for the first time, with scott and Dan E. And with my Prophets! * I was researching and about to publish the Ice Climbing Guide to Washington! The back cover shot is from our Drury climb. * I think I climbed N Ridge of Stuart for the first time with my now-wife, to whom I was not yet married, but I can't actually remember?! * I had just climbed Quien Sabe glacier in Sept, car-to-car, that was a fun trip! * Christmas Banff ice trip, spent New Years Eve in the Canmore hostel. * Sailing alot preparing for Vic-Maui 2002! Quote
ScaredSilly Posted October 18, 2011 Posted October 18, 2011 Think back twenty years ago when lycra was cool :-))))) Quote
rob Posted October 18, 2011 Posted October 18, 2011 Think back twenty years ago when lycra was cool :-))))) lycra is cool again! Quote
kevbone Posted October 18, 2011 Posted October 18, 2011 Think back twenty years ago when lycra was cool :-))))) lycra is cool again! So are I phones, bubble gum and Black Sabbath. Ten years ago I was living in my van traveling around climbing. Wait....that was 13 years ago. My bad. Quote
Jake_Gano Posted October 20, 2011 Posted October 20, 2011 The copyright date for Extreme Alpinism is 1999. It wasn't too long after 2001 that I picked up a copy. I was a starry-eyed aspiring mountaineer looking for as much vicarious climbing as I could find living in the midwest. Good reviews of the book didn't hurt. I was expecting another how to book that would reaffirm the qualities of my new spendy goretex coat and remind me how to size my ice ax. Boy was I wrong. I didn't even know the kind of climbing he was talking about existed, but that book was a wakeup call to what else was out there. Even though I'm still far from a supreme alpinist, that book has been the most influential and inspirational I've owned. Quote
Alex Posted October 20, 2011 Author Posted October 20, 2011 Thanks for the correction on the publication date. Interesting that the Climbing mag article I was reading would re-tread the Twight pics, I thought it would be the other way around. Quote
Dannible Posted October 20, 2011 Posted October 20, 2011 10 years ago I went on my first overnight hike (with an external frame pack and big, heavy tent) without my parents, and my friends and I did some class 3 scrambling on a little cliff that I'm sure our parents wouldn't have approved of. It would be over a year before I first really climbed outside. 9 years ago I joined a search and rescue group, and during our training found that some strange part of me enjoys being cold, wet, and tired. Extreme Alpinism is a great book. I probably read it fifty times in my first few years of alpine climbing, and still look at the pictures now and then to get stoked. Kiss or Kill too. Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.