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Captain...or Skully
climber
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Jan 26, 2013 - 12:40am PT
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But(gasp) They could DIE!!!
Boldness is scary. Or necesscary. Hmm. ;-)
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nah000
Mountain climber
canuckistan
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Jan 26, 2013 - 02:11am PT
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you know who is the perfect exemplar of this new age of depravity?
josh wharton. that guy won the ouray ice fest three years in a row but he never does anything that has any real level of boldness or adventure... i think there's this other guy with the same name who did a bunch of crazy bold routes in the karakorum... but like alex lowe and jeff lowe, i'm sure it's just a similar name. there is no way there is any relation between the bolt clipping m-climbing comp winning josh wharton and the pakistani trad route multiday sufferfest climbing josh wharton. it's just not possible.
or vince anderson, route setter for the 2012 ouray comp. another modern prancer. i know for a fact that that guy was basically dragged up the rupal face by steve house. he had to have been. because while steve house may clip bolts at smith, i'm sure it is just for rehab after the psychological and physical decimation of one of his REAL climbing routes. i know the almighty steve house wouldn't intentionally climb this overbolted risk free sh#t regardless of whether it was summer or winter.
but you know who is really to blame for this depravity?
john gill. that's right if there is anybody that normalized and accelerated the acceptance of "adventureless" and "risk-free" climbing it's him. sure he claims to have done a bunch of solos when no one was looking, and he climbed the occasional high ball thimble type climb to keep up his cred, but for the most part he just piddled around on little rocks. most of the time he didn't even get high enough to need bolts. and sure his fame comes from climbing done in the summer. but after he took that first step, it was just an inevitable straight line to overbolted, risk-free m-climbing.
if john gill was a drug he'd be marijuana. he was the gateway climber to this soulless modern world of adventureless and risk-free climbing that we are all now forced to face.
i for one hope he is publicly ostracized for the ethical damage and downfall he wrought on our wonderful religion, er i mean, sport of men.
long live the summit!!! long live the nut and the hex!!! death to all who prostrate themselves at the altars of closely spaced bolts, and ice free m-climbing!!! can i get an amen brothers!!!
enjoy your trollicious evenings gentlemen.
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norm larson
climber
wilson, wyoming
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Jan 26, 2013 - 07:50am PT
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Well, climbing takes many forms these days and not all are recognizable as climbing to us old guys. Still the young bucks love it and it sparks them so what the hell. A few years ago I went to an ice crag with a couple of younger climbers and they were dry tool bouldering on some overhanging problem and tumbling off into the snow. I took off my gloves and climbed it with my hands and it was about 5.5. They looked at it totally different than I and we both thought the other missed the point. But I do agree that mixed means mixed ice and rock and snow. And the best place for that is high on some peak. But thats just me. At least when they are out there doing what they do they are away from the computer for a minute ot two.
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climbski2
Mountain climber
Anchorage AK, Reno NV
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Jan 26, 2013 - 10:23am PT
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^ +1
Also they might just live a bit longer and have a blast doing it. Something to be said for that.
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Borut
Mountain climber
Ljubljana, Slovenia
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Jan 26, 2013 - 10:38am PT
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I go to the drytool crag for training. Puts muscle in and you learn good tricks. It's my first season in tooling and D7- is the max i led (D is like M, but definitely without ice).
Borut
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philo
Trad climber
Is that light the end of the tunnel or a train?
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Jan 26, 2013 - 11:18am PT
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Hey Jim I just started a Happy Birthday thread for Jimmy Newberry the patron saint of the Black Canyon.
I hope you post to it. Because anyone who doesn't think that is a climbing related thread should hang up their harness.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 26, 2013 - 12:13pm PT
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Tick...tick....tick, wonder that myself. No shortage of talent or motivation, every year i think that so and so are going to nail it FOR SURE! Almost seems to be a brooding mountain god having fun with folks.
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tradmanclimbs
Ice climber
Pomfert VT
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Jan 26, 2013 - 07:01pm PT
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A friend of mine put up Pipe Dreams 180m WI6X M6ish R @ lake willoughby a few years ago and he was bitching and moaning that all the M prancers were hitting up some over bolted (his opinion) french line on the same wall but not repeating his trad line. when he gets ranting he goes off about knowing doubble digit M climbers who can not lead the bigger WI5+ routs @ the lake simply because of no sac;)
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bigwall shitter
Social climber
the wild west
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Jan 26, 2013 - 07:28pm PT
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hard M climbs with no ice and bolts every 3 feet (no, I'm not exaggerating, they are actually that close together) are way homo, but are also way fun. I went out with my buddy and jumped on a M11 20 foot horizontal roof thing that was one of the coolest things ever. Where else do you get to swing around and throw yer feet over your head, all without being sketched at all because the pro is big fat bolts. However, this can sometimes happen:
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ron gomez
Trad climber
fallbrook,ca
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Jan 26, 2013 - 07:43pm PT
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Doninu FROZE my adze off watching that comp in Ouray IN cold weather gear. It was brutal, but yeah was kinda funny watching the only ice on the route was the approach and a one or two move section prior to the hanging log. Bridwell commented he NEVER climbed a rotating log on a climb before....so OLD SCHOOL!
Peace
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jogill
climber
Colorado
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Jan 26, 2013 - 08:35pm PT
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if john gill was a drug he'd be marijuana. he was the gateway climber to this soulless modern world of adventureless and risk-free climbing that we are all now forced to face
Oh Oh! I feel so bad . . .
;>)
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OldEric
Trad climber
Westboro, MA
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Jan 26, 2013 - 11:13pm PT
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I guess that sabbatical was short lived. Pity.
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nah000
Mountain climber
canuckistan
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Jan 27, 2013 - 02:04am PT
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jogill says:
Oh Oh! I feel so bad
and you should feel bad, john. you most definitely should.
while i'm not a high priest, i've spent enough time in their presence, that i believe the path to your redemption can be found by praying to st. preuss upon rising, st. messner at noon, and st. blanchard as you lay down for rest.
and remember john, your admitting this is only the first step. it is your soul that is at risk. you have spent a lifetime exploring the darkest potentials of man. and what's more, you spread this message of darkness throughout the world. so pray my brother, pray. your everlasting soul depends on it.
i'd like to take this time to speak to the rest of my brothers and sisters.
if this wretched leader of sinners can turn away from his path of darkness, then we too, can face our own depravity.
it is time to turn away from the man filled caves that we have occupied for too long. turn away from the grunting and the sweat filled lust for just one more move. the pumped clenching for just. one. more. soul. destroying. bolt.
please brothers and sisters, i beseech you, turn away from the darkness.
we have been misled. by the john gills, the will gadds and the aleister crowleys of this world.
please brothers and sisters.
though the end draws nigh, there is still time.
come back into the alpenglow.
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