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bachar
Trad climber
Mammoth Lakes, CA
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Topic Author's Original Post - Feb 14, 2006 - 11:49am PT
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I go to the Gorge and there's like 10 cars max, I go to the Happy Boulders and there's like 20+ cars on most days. I know bouldering is super popular these days - is the same thing happening in other areas out there??? What gives???
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WoodyS
Trad climber
Riverside
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Feb 14, 2006 - 11:51am PT
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I haven't noticed an uptick in JT.
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Rhodo-Router
Trad climber
Otto, NC
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Feb 14, 2006 - 11:54am PT
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It's the cool thing to do. For about 6 years now, where have you been?
F*^&n old dads...
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salad
climber
San Diego
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Feb 14, 2006 - 11:57am PT
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dude, brah, its the trend. climbing without a rope is so pure. plus, when my ritilin script runs out, i cant focus long enough to climb more than 20 feet at a time.
plus, who has time to learn knots and rope work?? i need instant gratification.
seriously tho, for me, one reason why i tend to bolder more these days is because of the family. if we take a vaca up to the bishop area, its much easier to spend the day bouldering cause the wife and toddler and I can be together having a good time all day.
with the second kid due anytime, its getting more and more difficult to sell those 3 day big wall weekends where the fam stays home.
in her defense, tho, she sat in camp 4 alone, with a 2 year old, pregnant with morning sickness for 5 days in a heat wave while i melted my way up lurking fear this summer. i think she had more fun.
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pud
climber
Sportbikeville
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Feb 14, 2006 - 12:25pm PT
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if i were a teenager...
Let's see.
All i need is a chalk bag, shoes and maybe gas money and i can hang out and smoke someone elses' pot and watch fit, half-naked women do gymnastics.
and the question was?
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Rhodo-Router
Trad climber
Otto, NC
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Feb 14, 2006 - 12:28pm PT
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It's sort of like when your favorite local band suddenly becomes wildly popular, and even though you still like them there's all these new folks around w/whom you now unwillingly have something in common that you sorta were happy keeping amongst your friends.
By this I mean that most of us would agree that bouldering is wonderful, and it's no surprise that it's suddenly very popular, but there certainly seems to be a fashion element that's increasing that popularity beyond the intrinsic appeal of the activity itself.
The low barriers to entry certainly don't hurt its appeal. Remember when sport climbing took off, and people said it was b/c it was so simple and user-friendly, it was real climbing dumbed downfor the masses?
This makes that sh#t look like neurosurgery.
Plus, when I look at the demographics of the local boulderers-come-lately around here, what I see is people who enjoy feeling very strong, pulling off huge moves, and not having to focus or endure very long: an activity highly suited to folks with very high testosterone levels, and short attention spans. And whattya know? They're a bunch of strong young dudes. Go figger.
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Russ Walling
Social climber
This ain't Tijuana
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Feb 14, 2006 - 12:36pm PT
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JT bouldering is dead. I haven't seen a single person on the Function, High Heeled Sneakers, Betty Joe Yablonski, or the So High all year. Not even with a 15 foot stack of pads.
Plenty of n00bs on rope though....
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Apocalypsenow
Trad climber
Cali
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Feb 14, 2006 - 12:47pm PT
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C'mon Bachar. They carry a mattress on their backs and no protection. Of course there are so many of them. Breeding like rabbits!
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burp
Trad climber
Salt Lake City
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Feb 14, 2006 - 01:05pm PT
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In my mind, it's definately an extension of the indoor gyms.
Some of the bouldering areas in LCC (Utah) look like skateboard parks now ... gobs of folks hanging around on a huge platform of stacked pads, getting their latest send videotaped / photographed, and cranking harder than I ever could(!).
Enjoy!
burp
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aldude
climber
Monument Manor
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Feb 14, 2006 - 01:07pm PT
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I figure eventually boulderers will get done PRACTICING and go real climbing!
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WBraun
climber
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Feb 14, 2006 - 01:08pm PT
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I hope they stay on the boulders. The roped climbs will remain free.
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Apocalypsenow
Trad climber
Cali
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Feb 14, 2006 - 01:32pm PT
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Fully agree with that one.
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nature
climber
Flagstaff, AZ
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Feb 14, 2006 - 01:38pm PT
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Bouldering has basically killed off roped climbing with the current generation, the vast majority want nothing to do with it. Think the crags are empty now? Wait till the old guard quits - there'll be nobody
I can only hope this is true. May the pad-people enjoy pebble pinching for all eternity. I'm to old and fragile to boulder anyway. After all, every fall is a ground fall and my ankles no longer appreciate that.
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capndick4
Boulder climber
where the moon tells secrets...
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Feb 14, 2006 - 01:39pm PT
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part of the appeal of bouldering is not having to use the ropes, pro, etc. The only thing you really need is yourself. And a crash pad for safety of course. I agree though that it seems there are too many 'trendies' showing up. People not concerned about doing it because they love to but to impress others. I hate it when I'm climbing and I hear someone ask their friend if they got good pics or footage.
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G_Gnome
Trad climber
Ca
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Feb 14, 2006 - 01:48pm PT
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I saw oodles of people walking to and fro with pads on this weekend in JT. Of course, except for Toe Jam that meant all the climbs were empty for us to enjoy. I like it.
What's kind of funny though is that Stoney Point has less people bouldering than I can ever remember. Maybe the holds are too small for beanie heads to use?
And Joe, us oldsters are never going to quit climbing!
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Apocalypsenow
Trad climber
Cali
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Feb 14, 2006 - 01:48pm PT
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"Need a crash pad," remember when you couldn't walk up to a boulder without finding some carpeting at the base?
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Landgolier
climber
the flatness
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Feb 14, 2006 - 02:47pm PT
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oooh it's going to get so much worse before it gets better. At an outdoor comp last year we had no less than 3 vans full of 10-15 year old kids constituting the various local gyms' "teams" (WTF!!!) roll up in the morning, with soccer parents in SUV's coming in right behind to yell at the kids, bitch about how the event was run, talk sh!t about the other "teams," and generally suck in the way that only upper middle class parents can suck. Of course the kids pulled harder than me, but what's the point?
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Rhodo-Router
Trad climber
Otto, NC
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Feb 14, 2006 - 02:49pm PT
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I always preferred solo sports to the team kind. Bit of a bummer to see this coming up here.
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Rock!...oopsie.
Trad climber
pitch above you
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Feb 14, 2006 - 02:52pm PT
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Landgo -
Holy crap man! Why were you still there? "Comp" means it's time to hop in the vehicle for a quick roadtrip to anyplace else.
--->bob
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Patrick Sawyer
climber
Originally California now Ireland
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Feb 14, 2006 - 02:55pm PT
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Uh... I really am looking forward to ramping up my climbing activity after years of relative inactivity. But even a cursory browse of this forum (and a couple of others) makes me wonder if I'd enjoy being out on the rocks (cliffs/crags/boulders/mountains) with a lot of the people out there now. On some thread (can't think which) somebody mentioned that gym climbing was the bane of climbing. I agree.
I guess I believe too much in trad climbing and alpine climbing.
But, to each their own.
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