Has the fad of bouldering left us?

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Mungeclimber

Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
Topic Author's Original Post - Sep 3, 2010 - 01:54am PT
Will we now get back to the only real climbing = multi pitch climbing?

everything else is just 'practice'?


I think it was Vic Copeland's piece or maybe Mick Ryan who wrote about bouldering being a fad.


Has it come full circle yet? Or objectively speaking is there more dollars spent on bouldering gear and comps than on 'regular' climbing?


Just an evening thought.


what do you think?

MisterE

Social climber
Bouncy Tiggerville
Sep 3, 2010 - 02:11am PT
Will we now get back to the only real climbing = multi pitch climbing?

Pot-stirrer.

Climbing is technical movement over your chosen medium: be it pebbles, large rock formations (free or aid), clip-ups, chalk cliffs, buildings or ice.

Division tears the community.
Chinchen

climber
Way out there....
Sep 3, 2010 - 02:31am PT
I boulder because I cant find partners to "climb" with.
Jaybro

Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
Sep 3, 2010 - 02:35am PT
It may have left Us....
deepnet

Boulder climber
CA
Sep 3, 2010 - 02:41am PT
thats like comparing a poem to a novel
PhilG

Trad climber
The Circuit, Tonasket WA
Sep 3, 2010 - 02:45am PT

Let me think about that question.
Porkchop_express

Trad climber
Springdale UT
Sep 3, 2010 - 02:57am PT
wow. great picture...that says it all.

Personally I enjoy each manifestation of climbing for what it is and the enjoyment I get out of it. Higher is usually more fun for me, but the gamble of not having ropes adds a different kind of flavor. Eventually I may get far enough to get that same spice run out high on a multi pitch and then the equation will get even more complicated...

Its all fun...my goal is to be very well rounded.
Anastasia

climber
hanging from a crimp and crying for my mama.
Sep 3, 2010 - 03:00am PT
So... Climbing a boulder is a fad and climbing a mountain is a sport? But babe, you told me that size didn't matter.
AFS
Curt

Boulder climber
Gilbert, AZ
Sep 3, 2010 - 03:08am PT
Has the fad of bouldering left us?

Oh I hope so.

Curt
ß Î Ø T Ç H

climber
Sep 3, 2010 - 03:12am PT
I think the OPe is trolling for a nugget of wisdom from jogill .
PhilG

Trad climber
The Circuit, Tonasket WA
Sep 3, 2010 - 04:23am PT
OK, OK, I have an answer


if it's fun, just do it!
Lambone

Ice climber
Ashland, Or
Sep 3, 2010 - 04:33am PT
are you kidding? no munge you just hang out with the crusty supertopo vets.

The Circuit is building the largest indoor bouldering gym in the country right now in Portland.
Frogjamm

Trad climber
San Francisco
Sep 3, 2010 - 05:07am PT
Yes, the seventies are right around the corner. Fear not, this brave new world will implode soon enough.
karodrinker

Trad climber
San Jose, CA
Sep 3, 2010 - 10:16am PT
Hah! No way, in fact the "fad" is now to boulder big walls! Go Honnold!
Ghost

climber
A long way from where I started
Sep 3, 2010 - 10:17am PT
Its all fun...my goal is to be very well rounded

Well, just wait a while and you, like most of us, will become rounder and rounder.
Steve Grossman

Trad climber
Seattle, WA
Sep 3, 2010 - 10:21am PT
Who am us anyhow?!? Bouldering is still growing even though it makes my joints ache just thinking about it. LOL
Spider Savage

Mountain climber
SoCal
Sep 3, 2010 - 10:23am PT
No. It's worse than ever. The latest Climbing has an article on bouldering in the Sequoia back country (With Angel Wings right there!). Also, someone recently did a piece on Himalayan high country bouldering.

This is not good. I can barely climb V0.
goatboy smellz

climber
Nederland
Sep 3, 2010 - 10:36am PT
I'm going to start a munge climbing fad, 51% of the route
must be covered in moss or rapidly decomposing
choss to qualify.
Hope to have the website up later this year.

It's gonna be huge!
Moof

Big Wall climber
A cube at my soul sucking job in Oregon
Sep 3, 2010 - 12:23pm PT
I think we have seen a general softening of the 'chic' of climbing. Not long ago it seemed like we had climbing walls as backdrops of sitcoms, Mathew McConaughey falling off sport climbs as a plot device, and so on. Either I'm watching less TV (sadly not true), or climbing has faded out of our national fascination a bit.

Bouldering still has a lot of ethics to overcome, driven largely by the low cost of entry, IMO. A pair of shows and a pad, and your good to go. Little to no mentoring required. Braided trails andflattened foliage results.

Not dead, but thankfully it looks from my meager perspective like the explosive growth of climbing in general has slowed.
Mungeclimber

Trad climber
sorry, just posting out loud.
Topic Author's Reply - Sep 3, 2010 - 01:06pm PT
nice philG! thread stopper in 3 posts. :)



killer response everyone btw.


this one wins a prize!


I'm going to start a munge climbing fad, 51% of the route
must be covered in moss or rapidly decomposing
choss to qualify.


brilliance!


I kid and pot stir in the OP...

However, I've always thought bouldering was the most democratic form of technical climbing, essentially scrambling or what John Gill calls 'option soloing'

Yet, I find myself bouldering less and less, tho no less inspired by folks sending the shiz and was partly curious as to whether we just hang with the crusties or whether bouldering numbers have dropped?

given the number of young kick ass folks sending at planet granie on a tuesday night or thursday in the winter, the answer is a resounding ' fuk no, it's still going strong and more so than ever'

the barrier to entry is low, and as said above, the ethics and adoption of ethics may not be there just yet.

carpet swaths will return!!!
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