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Alpenweg
Trad climber
St. Gallen Switzerland
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Topic Author's Original Post - Jul 18, 2009 - 11:08am PT
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i live in switzerland where some of the climbing originated
here we have a club "swiss alpine club" if you are a non club type or large group person as i am, you are to do it all on your own
we have a climbing web site for gym climbers and boulders, not that it is negative to be a gym climber or a boulder
it is just hard to find a partner to do a long route with
but as for trad climbing not many people have the skills or motivation here to train themselves to learn, hell why do i want to place gear when i can clip a bolt
so alas i am a low end sport climber
my experience in california was one of encouragement and go for it attitude
this attitude wears off on one after being exposed long enough and thus you will find yourself going for it too! you can do it!!!!!!!!!
it is not cultural here not to give encouragement
here we do not high-line, we do not do much trail work and we diffidently will not let you climb with our group if u are alone
even if you ask nicely
i have never ran into such a bad vib in j.t or anywhere in the states for that matter
ok, (never) is a big word
i wish i were in kansas
alpenweg
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survival
Big Wall climber
A Token of My Extreme
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Jul 18, 2009 - 12:15pm PT
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alpenweg,
Come back!!
I have had a few good experiences with Euros and a few negative ones too. Definitely not so welcoming to "outsiders".
Come to New Mexico some day and we'll go trad til we puke!!
Bruce the old school used to be has been....
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survival
Big Wall climber
A Token of My Extreme
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Jul 18, 2009 - 06:34pm PT
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Alpenweg,
We have our little "clicks" that you can't break into sometimes too. Especially if you are new to an area and you happen to bump into someone that thinks they're the "cutting edge" dude, and he's got some sub-men attending to him...HA!!
But for the most part, I have been able to find a pretty warm welcome most places in the states, with good climbers willing to share their info and experience. But it sounds like you already know this.
Bruce
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Jul 18, 2009 - 08:16pm PT
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An american girl I was travelling with in Italy around 15 years ago snidely asked me if I noticed the difference between Swiss and Italian highway tunnels. She was living in Geneva so naturally she had more culture than a rube like me. When I confessed my ignorance in the matter she, rather haughtily,remarked that the Swiss tunnels were cleaned once a year whereas the Italian ones were left dirty. That affected my opinion of Swiss culture until I met David Fasel (sp?), that boy can let down and party, climbs hard to. I'm sure that there are others like David who you can hook up with. If not, come back for another visit. California is great but you should give Colorado/Utah a try to.
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Jan
Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
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Jul 18, 2009 - 08:28pm PT
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When I lived in Geneva, Switzerland, we had somewhat the same problem, which we solved by climbing in France and Italy for the most part. In the 1970's still, women were not allowed to join the Swiss Alpine Club (or vote in most cantons) even though the second best climber in Switzerland was a woman who had just climbed the north face of the Matterhorn with her husband in winter. We joined the French Alpine Club instead and hung out in Chamonix. For ease of climbing partners and friendly attitude however, America can't be beat.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
Monrovia, CA
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Jul 18, 2009 - 08:55pm PT
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I've known Swissies who decried the stuffiness there.
Good book on Suisse is John McPhee's "La Place de la
Concorde Suisse". (uh, despite the title it is in english)
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Jul 18, 2009 - 09:31pm PT
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Have they ever cleaned up anything in Colo/Ut? I haven't seen it, but it very well might have happened, by now, this far into the 21st century, back in the sticks....
The provences are still the midwest of thirty years ago. They still enable/encourage folks to smoke almost everywhere in those backwaters, yuck!!
get with it, y'all!
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Jul 18, 2009 - 09:39pm PT
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Jaybro! Gee wizz smoking in Colorado- healthiest State in the Union according to the stats. I like Wyoming too, got married there twice. It's a bit limited vis a vis rock climbing but it used to be fun to get into punch ups with cowboys- those dudes don't know how to fight.
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Captain...or Skully
Social climber
way, WAY out there....(OMG)
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Jul 18, 2009 - 09:41pm PT
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Startin' to sound a bit like Hayduke there, Donini.....
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Jul 18, 2009 - 09:45pm PT
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Ah Captain!- referring to the distant past when I was young, dumb and full of....
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Captain...or Skully
Social climber
way, WAY out there....(OMG)
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Jul 18, 2009 - 10:00pm PT
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I thought you'd like that, Jim.
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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Jul 18, 2009 - 10:01pm PT
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How easy it is to find partners in a new place, or to break into the scene in a new place, isn't always dependent on the place. Sometimes it's you (or me or whomever is the new guy).
And any place with more than two climbers probably has more than one group or clique or whatever. Some might be closed, or populated with dickheads, but maybe others are open.
I've never climbed in Switzerland, but since this is the internet I'm completely free to spew about it, right? And my feeling is that it just ain't possible that every Swiss climber is a dickhead who hates newcomers/visitors/foreigners.
What I do know is that a lot of people have told me that Seattle is one of the worst (i.e. most closed and hard to break into) climbing scenes in the US. But when I moved here I found myself welcomed whereever I went, and never had trouble finding a partner.
I think it's a lot more complicated than just: "This place has a friendly scene and that place doesn't."
D
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Captain...or Skully
Social climber
way, WAY out there....(OMG)
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Jul 18, 2009 - 10:04pm PT
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Yeah, but your fabulous red underwear is world renowned, now.
Maybe they were conspiring for a peek?
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taorock
Trad climber
Okanogan, WA
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Jul 18, 2009 - 11:09pm PT
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Mr Donini,
That american girl Jane?
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Jul 18, 2009 - 11:19pm PT
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I dunno Jim, I have been married when i lived in Wyoming, but i never got married there, that's so, Hemingway...
and health (especially mental,) is all in the mind.
Actually, to get back on topic, the extended BAWC is about as good as climbing granfaloons get!
Stay tuned for steel cage match to the end, Donini v Scarpelli, the battle of the Italian stallions...
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klk
Trad climber
cali
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Jul 18, 2009 - 11:28pm PT
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well, you're never a local if you weren't born there. your kids might be, but you won't. that was true where i was born, and it's true in most rural areas of the globe: france, austria, italy, southern illinois, name yr poison.
that said, the swiss were really nice to me. but it is switzerland. calvin. etc. easier to be anonymous and new in the metropolitan u.s. where everyone is a transient. and it sucks to be lonely in bad weather.
but dude, it's summertime. berner oberland, martigny, grindelwald, etc. world is yr osyter. tirol and dolos are a short drive. cote d'azur is just not that far. even in sui, the food is pretty good compared to most of the us. do you really want to eat curry pizza?
bouldering at furka pass. climbing at, well, anywhere. hiking everywhere. those kute girlz yodelling. the catholic regions. join the frickin sac.
yeah, it ain't spain or italy or even the tirol, but jet keep tellin yerself: julia child learned to cooj in switzerland.
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survival
Big Wall climber
A Token of My Extreme
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Jul 19, 2009 - 12:00am PT
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cooj?
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dogtown
climber
Cheyenne,Wyoming
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Jul 19, 2009 - 03:34am PT
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Donini v Scarpelli,
Scarpelli win's, sorry man, he's just to bad ass. Hell I don't think I can do it,and I play in his playground.
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Jan
Mountain climber
Okinawa, Japan
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Jul 19, 2009 - 04:10am PT
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Thanks to Donini's contribution about climber-cowboy dust ups, I now understand my reception when I landed at the airport outside of Jackson Hole in 1972.
Just coming from Europe, I assumed there'd be some public transportation from a regional airport to the National Park. No such luck, so I decided to hitchhike. I think to myself - I'm 28 years old, in great shape and not bad looking, and a girl, so it should be no problem to get a ride. I didn't realize that my big pack with ice axe and crampons tied to the back would be such a handicap. To my amazement, car load after car load of drunk cowboys cruised by throwing empty beer cans at me and shouting insults. No rides.
Finally, a Park ranger came by and let me in, saying it was strictly illegal for him to give me a ride in a Park vehicle, but he felt sorry for me! I was delivered to the climber's campground and straight away, I met a couple of interesting guys, neither one into particularly hard climbing, so we did the Grand together via the tourist route and they delivered me to the airport on my way to Mt. Ranier.
Moral of the story? Most, but not all Americans are friendly to climbers, and at least the reserved Swiss will never throw things at you!
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ß Î Ø T Ç H
Boulder climber
the ground up
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Jul 19, 2009 - 04:18am PT
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survival , sick pic . even those boulders under the tree would be full or part-time work for me .
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