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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Topic Author's Original Post - Jan 7, 2017 - 04:38pm PT
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When the internet was in its infancy, a guy started www.jumptheshark.com.
This website spoke of long-running TV series - in particular Happy Days with Ron Howard as Richie Cunningham and Henry Winkler as Fonzie - popular even iconic places that had outlasted their time.
"Jumping the shark" referred to an episode whereby the writers had used up all their ideas, and out of apparent desperation they resorted to having Fonzie jumping over a shark on waterskis. Unbelievably lame, yet true. Remember, this show was supposed to be about teens in the 1950s. After a dozen seasons, these "teens" were well into their 30's, and The Beatles were nowhere to be seen.
So "jumping the shark" refers to something long in the tooth, that was once "the place to be" but now limps along.
Has Supertopo "jumped the shark"?
Supertopo seems lame these days - sad but true.
1) Anyone got stats on the number of hits this forum receives now, compared to the past?
2) Anyone else like me find precious little climbing content here?
3) Anyone else like me visit rarely, and when you do visit, are disappointed?
4) Anyone else find this place populated by a bunch of old-fart hasbeens, who don't climb anymore, but have annoying and irrelevant opinions on everything? And find the real climbers absent, except for a few notable exceptsions? [God bless you Vitaliy for putting up with us dinosaurs]
5) Anyone else dream of finding a great climbing post here, but departs disappointed frequently? [I am rethinking my position regarding Patrick/Avery, for instance, as I have really loved his Mt. Alberta N. Face thread].
6) There is no sixth thing
I've been asking Chris Mac for years to separate this place into two sections - climbing stuff and non-climbing stuff - but it remains the same as ever, full of annoying political posts and so on.
Don't give me the horsesh|t that this is a climbers' forum and not a climbing forum, either.
I'm bored. Unhappy. I want to learn stuff, and share stuff. Maybe I should write a book?
Is it time to move on to another place? What are the alternatives? Do I need to "get a life"? Do I need to go climb some rocks? Is the virtual campfire a thing of the past? Am I missing out on something Better in Life? Am I LAME?? I like to think of myself as " bitchin' " but am I really just a relic?
Please help me denizens of Supertopo! Should we try to make this place great again, like a Merrica? Or should we pack up our pigs and go home?
Let's hear your thoughts. Are you an active climber? A hasbeen? A neverbeen? A punter like me? A Big Wall Gumby like me? Or maybe you are a Real Live Hardman? You might even be a woman ... there are actually one or two left here, heavens knows why all the others left?
Yours in disappointment,
PtPP
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Tom Patterson
Trad climber
Seattle
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PtPP - I'm the hardest of the hardmen out there. There's no one on this forum that climbs at the level I do, and in fact, 5.16 is only imagined...because of me.
Sorry...channeling my inner "Trump--the Climber"...
I don't know about stats, etc., but I do know that--like Las Vegas--every so often, the bells go off, the lights start flashing wildly, because someone begins a thread that can only be found here. It keeps me coming back, and I always find some amazing gems here. I think it's worth wading through the crap for them.
Also...maybe you should write a book. You've got a buttload of El Cap routes under your swami, and I, for one, would enjoy a narrative of your experiences through the years.
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jgill
Boulder climber
The high prairie of southern Colorado
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Anyone else find this place populated by a bunch of old-fart hasbeens, who don't climb anymore, but have annoying and irrelevant opinions on everything?
Watch your tongue, Junior!
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rottingjohnny
Sport climber
Sands Motel , Las Vegas
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Pass The Piton Phonz...
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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And then there is the phylogenetic scale of beens from top to bottom...
Beens
Hasbeens
Wannabeens
Neverbeens
The bottom two can never reach the exalted state of hasbeens
Two hasbeens...Jay Smith and I are off to carry loads into San Lorenzo....thats in Patagonia for you neverbeens.
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 7, 2017 - 05:13pm PT
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Aren't you eating frijoles right now, Jim?
LOCKER!! Laughing my ass off!!!!!1111
Yeah, who wants to hear from guys like John Ph*cking Gill and Jim Ph*cking Donini??? ;)
Show us a trick, John. Something current and gymnastic! A live selfie standing on your head or something. [be careful]
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SC seagoat
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, Moab, A sailboat, or some time zone
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How'd you meet Anita?
Susan
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 7, 2017 - 05:15pm PT
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^^ Now THAT is a story, which you probably know...
So there I was, hanging out at McTopo, and this snarky email arrives in my inbox. I'm thinking, "This has to be Klaus, trolling me...."
But no, it appears to come from a legit person, Anita514. So I look up Anita on Facebook. How many Anitas from Montreal can there be? And I see this smokin' hot hottie with this Anita Look, taken from favourable camera angles, climbing all sorts of rocks.
And I'm like, Dang. I rather like the look of that girl. Most assuredly "my type". I would really like to get to know this Anita with the snarky email. So I "friend" her on Facebook, and she accepts. I peruse her profile, and I see ... [uh-oh] "In a relationship with Luc Monodoigt."
Qu'est-ce que tu le f*ck?
Now how can I compete with Luc Monodoigt? 'e is, 'ow you say? Ze great Franche climb-eur. 'e makes wit' da one-fingeur pullups on de monodoigt pockets, non? 'e is jeun, 'e is 'andsome, and all dat merde.
So I dismiss Anita as "out of my league", "too hot to handle" etc.
But I keep coming back to her profile, again and again .... You know, just because.
And then one day, lo and behold - a true life big wall miracle - her profile status reads, "Relationship status: single."
Single? SINGLE!!!!
So I go, "type type type type"....
And da rest is, 'ow you say? 'eestory, non?
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Avery
climber
New Zealand
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What do you mean "rethink"?
My Alberta thread is back up and running.
I don't climb anymore (haven't for years) but I do try to put climbing content ahead of other things.
(PS: I'm not sure I should be posting this Pete. After-all it's not March/April yet. That's the time you said I'd be welcome to say hello)
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jonnyrig
climber
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1. Forum
2. Trip Reports
6. Really easily offended people. They're everywhere. Between them and the trolls, it's hard to keep a good thing going.
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pyro
Big Wall climber
Calabasas
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In 2003 the front page stayed the same for a few days total ghost town
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Dickly
Social climber
KY
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No way this forum rocks, I lurk here all the time waiting for the next lesson from the Bearbreeder, GRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!
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anita514
Gym climber
Great White North
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zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
(I can't believe Reilly hasn't posted yet)
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perswig
climber
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I may be wrong, but I think Susan's point may have been missed.
Dale
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10b4me
Mountain climber
Retired
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I may be wrong, but I think Susan's point may have been missed.
Lol
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Edge
Trad climber
Betwixt and Between Nederland & Boulder, CO
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Did the Happy Days shark jumping episode come before or after the episode where Fonzie battled an alien to pave way for the Robin Williams spin off?
Cuz you might have to ask if the Taco is "mind fvkking the Mork" instead.
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the albatross
Gym climber
Flagstaff
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It seems like traffic has slowed down a bit in the last couple years.
I think a forum is what you make it and what you might expect to get out of it. I typically don't talk much about the climbing I've done though it's safe to say at least a third of the big wall aid and free routes in Arizona have my name attached as a tiny footnote (established 2002-2014). It's a personal thing for me, having had some rather nasty experiences in the past with climbers as a result of sharing. Plus most of those places I want to remain wild and maintain an aura of mystery.
Almost three years ago I watched a very close partner break his neck rope soloing which entailed a lengthy and complicated rescue, he recovered and has moved far out of state. Four months later my other closest adventure partner took his own life. Still get out climbing a bit here and there, mostly new crag routes.
PTPP you seem to enjoy sharing your climbing adventures on the Big Stone. I may have missed the TR, but if not it would be awesome to hear about that huge storm on El Cap last Fall.
Best,
Albert
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Crazy Bat
Sport climber
Birmingham, AL & Seweanee, TN
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I remember a cool thread about some dork being stuck and unable to find the route. It had fallen off. LOL
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pud
climber
Sportbikeville & Yucca brevifolia
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Anyone else like me find precious little climbing content here?
You mean like this thread?
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Peater
Trad climber
Salt Lake City Ut.
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I'm 60 and haven't been on ST all that long. But:
I really enjoy the old stories.
I love to hear what ex or not ex climbers are doing now. (building houses or trailers, gardens, growing food, etc)
The topics of interest that we gravitate to after we can't pull 5.??. I love to hear about their lives.
I love that no one corrects your spelling or grammar.
Trolls tend to see this place as a waste land.
Every one seems to know one another and get along.
ST may have changed over the years but I do like the way it is now.
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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So, if I understand your unhappiness, it's that there aren't enough posts about climbing, and too many posts about other sh#t. That about sum it up?
Well, yeah, sometimes seems that way. But there are a few things that makes me want to say...
Don't like the politard sh#t? Then don't click on it.
Don't like it that climbing posts are pushed out of sight by the other sh#t? Yeah, I... Hey, wait a minute... I don't read everything on ST, but if what I do read is any indication, the poster known as PTPP (yeah, that would be you) posts mostly about what wine he drank last Friday. Well, that and selfies of himself and Anita.
Is there a teachable moment somewhere in this?
(And, for the record, I have no problem with you posting about your Friday night beveridge or your sweetie. Fine with me -- I enjoy that along with the climbing stuff.)
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ionlyski
Trad climber
Kalispell, Montana
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Shouldn't you be getting drunk?
Oh wait-that was last night, my bad.
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Ben Harland
Gym climber
Kenora, ON
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RE climbing content: Hey Pete, any chance you feel like telling us the story of the Monument up at Lions Head?
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zBrown
Ice climber
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Clinging content.
Wasn't it Mother Superior who jumped the gun?
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 7, 2017 - 08:11pm PT
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No whack, but plenty of dangle!
John Kaandorp, Steve DeMaio and I were - so far as I am aware - the first climbers to ever walk along the base of White Bluff on Georgian Bay, opposite the Lion's Head crag where we also put up the first routes [all trad lines, no bolts]
Walking along the base of White Bluff, our eyes just about popped out of our heads when we saw this amazing roof crack!
We threw paper-rock-scissors to see who got to lead the roof. I guess we aided up the corner, took a belay on the inside, and I think we split it into three pitches. I seem to recall I got the roof crack - pretty rad. We of course knew little about aid climbing, but managed to get across it.
Not my photos, just my route..... stolen off Mr. Google
I remember an epic rappel in the dark from a bunch of bushes at the top of the crag, stuck ropes, and all that.
Later on the phone I told Dave Smart that we had discovered a 30-foot roof crack "somewhere on the escarpment". Steve DeMaio was so incensed that I revealed the very existence of the crack, he wanted to call the route Breach of Faith, for my breach of our secrecy pact. He had just read The Breach, that silly novel based on [the author's idea of] real life written by some pussy who wouldn't name Henry Barber, who allegedly abandoned him on Mt. Kenya, when Mt. Kenya still had snow and ice.
I've forgotten what we actually named the roof crack, The Monument was a far better name chosen by someone later.
It was too hard for me to free climb, way out of my league, but John and Steve took a whack at it. Eventually the brothers Smart got round to it, but they too never free climbed it. Amazingly, Peter Croft came [probably brought by Reg and Dave] and flashed the thing on sight - damned impressive, possibly one of the great on sight ascents in climbig history!
Kaandorp took forever to get laid, poor bastard, even longer than me! He finally hooked up with his buddy Joe Oliver's cousin Kit. Her dad was a pharmacist and she provided free condoms!
So John named a route at White Bluff "Tik in the Toc" as in "Kit in the Cot". For years the route appeared misspelled as "Tick in the Tock".
Similarly, he put up another route named Sir Od, named after Dr. Doris Ullman, a girl we used to see at the Bon Echo hut, and with whom John was somewhat infatuated. Of course, that route was misspelled Sir Odd. Over on Metcalfe Rock, I think that one was.
Speaking of Metcalfe Rock, on the first ascent of the immodestly named Dynamic Duo, John and I ran up to the crag in the dark the night before, to see if there was any chalk in the crack. There wasn't, and we were worried that Pete Reilly might scoop us on the FA.
The next morning, John suggested we warm up on something easy. There was a nice looking hand crack a little way right, so I thought I'd have a go at it. Turned out to have a pretty hard start with no pro. The kids from a nearby camp said they called it Superman, but no one had ever led it. I nearly blew it, but somehow managed to wobble up. Some warmup.
When Dave Smart wrote it up in the guidebook, he said "Superman - you'd better not goof the crux on this one unless you can fly!"
Bolts?! We don't need no STEENKEENG bolts!
[Thanks for asking, Ben. Hey - do you have a "Kenora Dinner Jacket"??]
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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John Kaandorp, Steve DeMaio and I were - so far as I am aware - the first climbers to ever walk along the base of White Bluff
Steve got involved in some great rock climbing in Alberta. Any idea where he is now? Or what he's been doing for the last twenty years?
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 7, 2017 - 08:20pm PT
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Steve's out west someplace, an engineer in the oil and gas industry last I heard in the Calgary area.
He had quite an epic on Mt. Peter What's His Name the politician where his partner died on the mountain after a lead fall.
Steve did some bad ass stuff on Yamnuska, and even scarier stuff on Chinaman's Peak above Canmore. I wonder if that have renamed it Asian Person's Hat?
I haven't stayed in touch with either of them, as neither appears to be interested in climbing forums or Facebook or any of that stuff.
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AP
Trad climber
Calgary
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Steve is around Calgary. Maybe semi retired? I haven't seen him in a while.
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Ghost
climber
A long way from where I started
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He and Jeff Marshall climbed a big wall on Windtower. They called it "Iron Butterfly" Steve sent me a fairly haunted and haunting story about it for the CAJ way back in the late 80s.
I think some fairly badass climbers have tried to repeat it, but no one has succeeded.
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Fritz
Social climber
Choss Creek, ID
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As Ghost posted:
Don't like it that climbing posts are pushed out of sight by the other sh#t? Yeah, I... Hey, wait a minute... I don't read everything on ST, but if what I do read is any indication, the poster known as PTPP (yeah, that would be you) posts mostly about what wine he drank last Friday. Well, that and selfies of himself and Anita.
Is there a teachable moment somewhere in this?
Yeah! It's never pretty, when an old ST poesteur suddenly decides to get reformed and berate his fellow sinners.
Luckily, I'm not------reformed. Sluuuurp!
Hey! I even posted a climbing trip report within the last 18 months.
A SLICK ROCK Adventure in Idaho with a single Blue Camalot Belay aug.2015
http://www.supertopo.com/tr/A-SLICK-ROCK-Adventure-in-Idaho-with-a-single-Blue-Camalot-Belay/t12821n.html
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WyoRockMan
climber
Grizzlyville, WY
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It's kinda like golf.
You play a round, let's say you shoot 105 because you're a wanna/never.
Of those strokes (minus the mulligans of course) maybe 2-3 are in that sweet spot. The oh yeah, I feel it, kind of stroke.
So you come back. In anticipation of that 2-3.
Posts are similar in ratio, the good ones are worth the waste of the others.
But it's all fun. Especially if you can laugh at the ones that are too damn serious.
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 7, 2017 - 08:55pm PT
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Yes, Peter Lougheed.
True, dat - except whenever I played, there was only ONE shot that made me want to come back.
"You know, Pete - you could be a pretty good golfer, if you could learn to hit the ball straight..."
"You wanna break a hundred? Go around, not over, the water hazard...."
Maybe you guys are restoring my faith in McTopo.....
Hey - we get a new You Ess Ambassador. They recalled the last guy, gonna send in a new one. Hopefully one in favour of oil and stuff, so we can get the oil sands back up and running. You know, give Steve DeMaio some more work!
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the albatross
Gym climber
Flagstaff
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I feel so lucky to have befriended Fly'n Brian in his last decade. This is him climbing an A4 beak crack first ascent out in nowhere. If he had fallen in the first 70' of this pitch he would have slammed down onto us and the tiny ledge (he ended up having to drill a bolt and free climbing a lengthy section of "5.9" when the seam ended).
I only know of one of Brian's A4 first ascents that has seen a repeat (Sauron's Eye). Sure mss that man.
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clinker
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, California
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Roll back the clock by putting WOS on this years itinerary. Seriously though, what routes have you climbed on The Captain and is anything on your bucket list?
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mouse from merced
Trad climber
The finger of fate, my friends, is fickle.
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topo pity party
i miss weej for the fortieth time
i just realized how much i miss whitemeat
something is rong but i don't know what it is
but still you won't throw away your eye phone
will you, mister jones?
--mfm
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norm larson
climber
wilson, wyoming
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By your definition I think that I personally have jumped the shark. Lots of good company here though.
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Wayno
Big Wall climber
Seattle, WA
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Jump the Shark? More like jump the Tuna. Or one of those Cialis commercials.
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SC seagoat
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, Moab, A sailboat, or some time zone
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So I dismiss Anita as "out of my league
'Nuff said. ;)
Susan
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nah000
climber
no/w/here
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jumped the shark... like completely?
nah... just look at the front page... too much vitality to completely dismiss.
jumped the shark... like in decline?
sure. form [of the contributors] follows function [of the website]. this website with its inability to personally curate any content [by being able to subscribe or not subscribe to certain threads, posters, etc] or ability to have any feedback outside of commenting [no up or downvote, not even a view count] means that there are more productive places for most [and especially younger] people to "waste" their online time. and so what we see on supertopo is an in general decline due to its reinforcing positive feedback mostly for a. people who already have community with people on here in real life or b. people who've already spent so much time here that for better or for worse this is their online climbing home...
without changes to the board this place will continue to be an ever aging rest home for the online climbers who found this board during a certain epoch of internet social history. [as always imesho]
while i get they've got better things to focus on with more immediate returns... that said it's too bad cmac and co don't take a cue from the online social media that has been taking the place of these bare bones forums... they have the foundation [a pretty diverse and interesting cross section of older climbers] that if they made a few changes to the function of the board they might very well be able to bring some of the people who have left back and/or more importantly bring in some new blood that has mostly found this format to be irrelevant given other more responsive formats...
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Curt
climber
Gold Canyon, AZ
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Do I need to "get a life"?
Yes.
Curt
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wayne w
Trad climber
the nw
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Mike. hits the nail on the head...again.
Thanks for posting up that shot of Brian, Albatross. I miss that salty badass too!
Here is one of him on top of El Cap after we did Bad Seed in 19:12.
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WanderlustMD
Trad climber
New England
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Dingus has had some good thoughts about this in the past, if I remember correctly.I think there is a natural evolution in forums. RC.com had some good folks for a while, but things typically just sorta fade.
This could be due to a few factors:
-It is easy to get off topic and/or degenerate in certain discussions.
-ST is pretty Cali-centric
-There aren't a ton of TRs up lately (I don't visit that often, but a quick skim a moment ago saw 1-2 TRs in the first four or so pages). TRs are what keep things interesting for me.
-Having said that - and keeping in mind that we are all on our own individual stages of development through the arc of climbing - there are only so many times I can read a TR about a certain route before it gets sorta dry. Props to whoever is actually out climbing, of course.
-I don't think the political threads and/or non-climbing content effect the forum on an individual level (I honestly couldn't tell you which users identify with which end of the political spectrum because if I see a political thread title, I don't click on it) but I think that creates bad blood which spills into the overall draw of the forum; notable users leave, people get offended, yada yada.
ST is still a useful resource because most of the folks on here know what they are talking about and have been around the block a few dozen times. I personal enjoy and appreciate that POV. The flip side is that certain topics of discussion such as "improved methods for X" are tricky because if you've been doing things the same way (haul systems or whatever) for 25+ years you probably aren't going to necessarily want to mess with it. There are execptions of course.
Other forums have an audience that is more receptive to that sort of thing, but they also tend to have a wider experience variable, potentially creating a "blind leading the blind" situation. In the times I've wanted advice on how not to die, I've often posted here or contacted people I know from here.
It is what it is, and it's all good. Thanks to Mac for keeping the resource open in the first place, eh?
-Matt
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Avery
climber
New Zealand
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"a serial deleting drama leech"
For one terrible moment, Jebus, I thought you were referring to me!
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OlympicMtnBoy
climber
Seattle
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Apparently there are climbing threads on reddit about slinging cams! Maybe that's where the young kids are?
Seriously though, keep posting your own adventures and others will do the same. It's a little slow sometimes, but I manage to find some good threads here once in a while. Also I love hearing from the old people too!
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Wade Icey
Trad climber
www.alohashirtrescue.com
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again? still? what?
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ontheedgeandscaredtodeath
Social climber
SLO, Ca
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I've seen that image or photoshop for years on the taco and finally have to ask WTF does it mean?? Who are those people and what is their significance?? Please advise.
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clinker
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, California
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I've seen that image or photoshop for years on the taco and finally have to ask WTF does it mean?? Who are those people and what is their significance?? Please advise.
It is how to put the meaning into meaningless.
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ß Î Ø T Ç H
Boulder climber
ne'er–do–well
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It's Steve and Eydie Gorme.
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kunlun_shan
Mountain climber
SF, CA
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^ For some unknown reason, locker has a fascination with Engelbert Humperdinck....
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drljefe
climber
El Presidio San Augustin del Tucson
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That's a tad off-putting.
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Gregory Crouch
Social climber
Walnut Creek, California
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Jan 10, 2017 - 07:57am PT
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Nothing more boring than everybody standing around a campfire talking about climbing.
Thereby proving what our ex-girlfriends learned long ago--that we are monomaniacal solipsistic morons-savant.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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Jan 10, 2017 - 08:43am PT
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Did I jump a shark here, or was I just being atavistically self-indulgent?
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 10, 2017 - 10:23am PT
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Doesn't need much moderation. Just split into "climbing stuff" and "non climbing stuff".
"that we are monomaniacal solipsistic morons-savant."
The Old Bull speaks the truth.
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Gregory Crouch
Social climber
Walnut Creek, California
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Jan 10, 2017 - 10:33am PT
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Why bother splitting it? Just ignore the threads you don't like and click through the first few pages to find the ones you do. And if ones you like reading and contributing to get too far buried, use the search function. (In my case, they're the surfing and books I've read threads.)
Leave the vitriolic rhapsodies about the Donald's manboobs and his tiny hands to the Politards. Problem solved.
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clinker
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, California
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Jan 10, 2017 - 10:35am PT
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Insert, scratching themselves.
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 10, 2017 - 10:37am PT
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I don't think that's a viable solution, Greg.
The whole forum - in my opinion - has really gone for a sh#t. Climbers who used to contribute good stuff, like say Mark Hugedong, are long gone. Almost no women here, either. Why is that?
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Gregory Crouch
Social climber
Walnut Creek, California
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Jan 10, 2017 - 10:49am PT
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Mark Hugedong? A valued contributor and community member, for sure, but you wonder why the women won't hang out?
Even if that bearded zenmeister is out there sitting in a cave pretending he's above all this, I'd bet money he still lurks.
When the stars align he'll swoop out of the firmament to enlighten us with his opinion.
As for the women, I lament their absence, but if they don't want to hang around with dirty, smelly climbers who don't have the sense to scrub off their locker room talk in the showers, I don't blame them.
Unless Tami scared them off. In which case I don't blame her.
Things go in cycles. There has been a similar downturn in the baseball forum in which I participate. One particularly obnoxious troll took the fun out of it for a while, but he's gone and it's working it's way back.
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blahblah
Gym climber
Boulder
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Jan 10, 2017 - 05:47pm PT
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Are there any ongoing political threads?
This is about the closest one I can find.
Big news today--lots going on, curious what everyone makes of it.
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 10, 2017 - 06:49pm PT
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+1 tut.
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Jan 10, 2017 - 07:02pm PT
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can't believe someone didn't post the primary source...
[Click to View YouTube Video]
banal, to be sure...
...but as far as I know (and I've only been posting since 2003) winter can be a slow time for climbing, and most of the "new" stuff posted in STForum from spring, summer, winter has been throughly masticated.
This leads to the standard consequence, following the gastro-intestinal metaphor, they byproduct is a set of OT threads, the reaction to them, the call for action and change, the defense of the way things are, and so forth, until spring rolls around someplace and someone gets some climbing in.
Some years there is even ice somewhere, someone finds it and climbs it and posts about it to the disbelieving majority of fair-weather rock climbers who are most vocal here...
as far as I can see, there isn't anything climbable within hundreds of miles of me... and I'd rather wait until Feb. to try to find something a bit further afield in a more moderate climate.
There'll be time to post about climbing then...
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Jan 10, 2017 - 07:35pm PT
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I'm here fer th' cartoon fodder.
Alpinist 56, page 113 "A Climber's Guide to Climberz"
hmmm...
I'm a little ticked off that in the box "Age 70+..." and "I climb becuz..." there is the bubble "Who d'ya know admits enjoyin' off widths?!"
first of all, the punctuation looks familiar,
but worse, I'm not 70+ yet... maybe I look like it though.
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 10, 2017 - 08:53pm PT
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^^ A B.C. ladyboy?
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
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Jan 10, 2017 - 09:33pm PT
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I only read the forum for the pictures.
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shipoopoi
Big Wall climber
oakland
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Jan 10, 2017 - 09:59pm PT
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that shark episode was awesome. fonzie was taking on the local hot shot water skier, and when he heard that he had to jump over sharks, fonzie asked if the shark was a female, at least. lol
pete, yeah, you should go write a book and stop posting here with all your trivial spew...supertopo would be way better off. not that the book would ever sell anyway cuz you would never be able to finish it.
why don't you go over to your fri night drunk thread and rub the infiniti pool in our face some more,
shipoopoi(not Klaus)
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 10, 2017 - 10:19pm PT
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"you better have some cold sierra nevadas on the bridge next spring or yur gonna get that ass whupping i owe you
I will! Green labels.
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 14, 2018 - 03:32pm PT
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Just askin.... place seems irrelevant now....
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MikeL
Social climber
Southern Arizona
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Apr 14, 2018 - 03:44pm PT
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With all due respect to idealism, things that appear in front of us (ala, ST) usually do so for a host of reasons. You may think that the purpose of ST was and has always been about technical climbing information in one form or another.
Age cohorts go through different phases that develop different values, norms, and beliefs. What we were are no longer what we are. You look in the mirror recently?
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 14, 2018 - 03:49pm PT
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Yes! Plenty of hair, almost none of it grey, except my beard.
WHATEVER YOU DO - do NOT look at the Friday Night Posting While Drunk Post photo of me. It's frightening, even to me.....
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anita514
Gym climber
Great White North
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Apr 14, 2018 - 04:03pm PT
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Pete's been climbing some pretty steep ice all winter. What about you, MikeL?
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 14, 2018 - 04:57pm PT
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Me climbing ice. Very very steep. Pumpy. Ouch. Hard. I suck. Could barely hang onto the tools..... Steepest longest hardest ice I've ever climbed in my life.... rather steeper than it looks in this photo ... YOU try it!
Ha! You Californians! What do YOUS know about ice? Lee Vining? Ha! Come to Quebec. The Quebecoises are some of the baddest ass mofo climbers I have *ever* met!
But I got up. ;)
MikeL has calluses on his fingers...
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anita514
Gym climber
Great White North
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Apr 14, 2018 - 05:08pm PT
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Pffff that's nothing
Try being a desk jockey all winter long
*snore*
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zBrown
Ice climber
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Apr 14, 2018 - 05:18pm PT
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There is a very easily implemented and egalitarian method to address the issue of the OP.
climbingcontentman (ccm) bump
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anita514
Gym climber
Great White North
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Apr 14, 2018 - 06:40pm PT
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Thus spoke Malemute. We owe him awe.
Thread is now officially closed.
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 14, 2018 - 06:45pm PT
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"My name is Ozymandias King of Kings
Look on my Works ye Mighty and despair"
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BLUEBLOCR
Social climber
joshua tree
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Apr 14, 2018 - 08:38pm PT
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Well you would think supertopo should be the most appeased
with unpredictability!
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MikeL
Social climber
Southern Arizona
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Apr 15, 2018 - 08:50am PT
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Anita: Pete's been climbing some pretty steep ice all winter. What about you, MikeL?
Only out of bed, Anita. Like I said, everything changes.
PTPP: MikeL has calluses on his fingers...
Only from working metal these days, Pete.
I hear your kind of comments all the time from older people (my age) who live all around me here. “Why aren’t things the same?”
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 15, 2018 - 09:10am PT
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Funny how that happens, eh?
I go back to repeat climbs that I used to free solo thirty-plus years ago, and I can barely lead the things now!
Rock climbing is HARD, man.
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wilbeer
Mountain climber
Terence Wilson greeneck alleghenys,ny,
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Apr 15, 2018 - 06:59pm PT
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I want to concur with DMT and tut,keep on trucking Pete and as always ,cheers
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nah000
climber
now/here
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Apr 16, 2018 - 12:33am PT
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short answer [assuming my assumption below is correct] is: yes, supertopo has jumped the shark.
longer answer: but it was already quite some time ago. and so the denouement has been a slow and gradual one, rather than a catastrophic one.
the above analytics are based on the assumption that post numbers, as noted in the web address bar, are numbered sequentially and so post #1 was the first post ever posted on day 1, #2 was directly after and so on.
while further analysis could zero in more precisely as to the exact year [or even dayish] that supertopo jumped the shark, what the excel chart above shows is that for the first four years or so supertopo was basically a dead zone. then it started to take off and expanded for the next few years until peaking in terms of posts per day engagement somewhere likely around 2010 or 2011ish. from then on it has been on a steady decline and has now dropped to almost a third of the heighth of its popularity.
* at least if the above foundational assumption is correct and we are also basing popularity on numbers of posts per day [an admittedly arguable assertion].
edit: and here's a crude representation with the x axis being the number of days supertopo had existed with day zero being Sept. 6, 2001 and the y axis being the smoothed number of posts per day [with some skewing occuring due to the quick and dirty way i "processed" the limited data that i used... but whatever: this is for quick and dirty illustrative only purposes]
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Apr 16, 2018 - 04:03am PT
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There’s periods
Of growth
And times of renaissance
The Taco is in the latter!
Enjoy and learn from it ( you cold learn stuff!) or
Move on to the next fad
Whinng about the Taco is a self fulfilling prophecy,
For the whiner
I’m off to do
Some aid climbing
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Nick Danger
Ice climber
Arvada, CO
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Apr 16, 2018 - 07:10am PT
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For me the Taco is digital family. Like all families, it is not always smooth sailing, but we are still family. I love being able to honor past friends, some still living and some not, with remembered adventures of yore. As my body ages and I slow down, I still like to get out and am motivated by various tales of power posted here, so thanks, everyone, for added value to my day.
Cheers
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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 16, 2018 - 07:21am PT
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I have such a wealth as technical Age Climbing and think while climbing tips to share, but it seems futile to bother anymore in a climbing for them will so little of the content is devoted to climbing any more. So I just don't bother.
It is sad, really. We used to have people posting great things here, but all the non climbing stuff has scared away the people who actually go climbing.
What the numbers of 5 don't take into account is how few of the remaining posts on the website have anything to do with climbing.
Anyway, my book is coming out this year, in collaboration with Fabio. In it you will read all of my big wall tips and all sorts of things I've never published anywhere before, with great photos and explanations. All of this information condensed from 60 different routes of El Cap, and 800 nights in my portaledge. Eventually, you learned a trick or two...
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WBraun
climber
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Apr 16, 2018 - 07:28am PT
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If you actually have a life then all this drama here has no real effect ultimately on oneself.
Do you people actually HAVE a life?????
The politards have NO life.
They spend all their dumb ass time focusing on Trump and everything associated with him .....
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hooblie
climber
from out where the anecdotes roam
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Apr 16, 2018 - 08:03am PT
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what is there to disparage about a blank page?
douse the expectations and be the contributor you'd like to encounter.
quants will never get the soulfulness of an earnest share.
(no offence to the always coherent nah000)
besides, there's a ton of gold left in those archives ... doh!
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Gary
Social climber
Desolation Basin, Calif.
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Apr 16, 2018 - 08:50am PT
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I have such a wealth as technical Age Climbing and think while climbing tips to share, but it seems futile to bother anymore in a climbing for them will so little of the content is devoted to climbing any more. So I just don't bother.
Could you translate that into English? I tried Google but it crashed my machine. Thanks!
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anita514
Gym climber
Great White North
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Apr 16, 2018 - 09:19am PT
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Gary - Pete uses the dictation thingy on his phone so we get a lot of long sentences that don't make sense
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L
climber
A place where Blue is the new Black...
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Apr 16, 2018 - 01:34pm PT
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What is it about Fabio that makes my knees turn to I-Can't-Believe-it's-Not Butter?
Edit: Since someone deleted the awesome photo of Fabio with his tub of "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter", this post makes no sense. C'est la vie.
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Russ Walling
Social climber
from Poofters Froth, Wyoming
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Apr 16, 2018 - 01:41pm PT
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^^^^^
It might be his glue-on widows peak?
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L
climber
A place where Blue is the new Black...
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Apr 16, 2018 - 01:47pm PT
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That's it!!!!!!
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Russ Walling
Social climber
from Poofters Froth, Wyoming
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Apr 16, 2018 - 02:01pm PT
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Best "peak" glue on in the biz...
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RURP_Belay
Big Wall climber
Bitter end of a bad anchor
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Apr 16, 2018 - 08:05pm PT
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Ed posted the link, but all you really need is the one image:
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shipoopoi
Big Wall climber
oakland
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Apr 16, 2018 - 08:46pm PT
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pete, you have NOT done sixty routes to the summit, stop claiming that right now. its gotta be more like 57 or 58 dood. ss
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Apr 18, 2018 - 07:09am PT
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I’m getting a glue on widows peak!
At least it’s good for plugging competing
Books....
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WBraun
climber
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Apr 18, 2018 - 08:01am PT
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pete, you have NOT done sixty routes to the summit, stop claiming that right now.
I'd say way over 90% have never climbed to the summit of El Cap.
It's another 1000 feet of steep slab to the real summit ......
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Apr 18, 2018 - 08:41am PT
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Sure, the forum has hit rock bottom, or close to it.
But there is some subjective, positivist irony here!
It's so cleaned out in terms of participation, that now when I go on many threads, a lot of the riffraff general public is absent, and once again, as in the heyday of 2006 through 2009/2011, the threads I read are populated primarily with people whom I well recognize, respect and enjoy. (We're just less active than we once were, so not generating as much TR type content. So it goes.)
Now that the forum has crashed, it seems only us diehards are left: and this is a good thing!
Also, the front page stays static for much longer, somewhat due to the fact that there is less junk: less junk in terms of topics, and less junk in terms of meaningless argumentation.
And as of late, (though of course it is cyclic as always), I see more climbing/outdoor oriented stuff on the front page than I have become accustomed to seeing over the last half dozen years.
Here's a sample of 32 topics on the front page from yesterday:
(It will enlarge to a readable size)
Going for a loose count to include climbing and outdoor/nature related threads, I count 20 out of 32. So two thirds of the content is relevant: not bad at all.
And as in this thread right here, right now, I'm likely going to be very familiar with about the same ratio of those avatars who post up, if not more!
 We own it again!!!
(So we are the kings and queens of nothing, but hey, I like open space, and as hooblie noted: what is there to disparage about a blank page? ... Yes, that's where creativity happens)
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MikeL
Social climber
Southern Arizona
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Apr 18, 2018 - 09:09am PT
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Tarbuster: . . . it seems only us diehards are left: and this is a good thing!
I suspect the subjective experience of climbing has brought many people to this site, not only because it talks about the technical aspects of moving over rock, but because climbers like to hang-out with other climbers. They share some beliefs, some values, and some norms of behavior (i.e., they share a culture). I enjoy shucking and jiving with folks in all the communities I participate in, and I recognize that community members talk more much more than HOA, climbing, academic, spiritual, artistic, etc. matters (some of my communities). I’d suggest that at the base of every community are connections that coalesce from learning about each other socially—that is: what we believe, what we want, what we think, what we’ve experienced. Hearing how a man treats his children or a woman treats her employees, what he or she thinks about art, where they’ve been in their lives all help us to learn who or what we are talking with. Communities seem to be like language: organic; with lives all of their own. No one can appear to control them. They seem to be the result of a mutual agreement among members: people select in and out, and the community selects and deselects participants.
I got into climbing because I wanted to build and test my character. I volunteered for Viet Nam back in ’67 for the same reason. Both worked out pretty well for me, but not without a fair amount of difficulty and error (and fear).
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Apr 18, 2018 - 06:23pm PT
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Yeah, most of those still harboring gross amounts of black, gunky cognitive dissonance in their shadows have gone elsewhere to continue the purge of their edgy discontent, self-selecting themselves for a protracted dip into another shallow party pool with a new batch of like-minded, reactionary miscreants, leaving only us self-actualized, gleaming old souls here to wallow around in the drunken promised land of our self-made punch bowl! Woo hoo & yeah baa-bee!
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L
climber
A place where Blue is the new Black...
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Apr 18, 2018 - 06:53pm PT
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Tarbuster: ...leaving only us self-actualized, gleaming old souls here...
I was going to answer this assertion with a chipper "You called?"
...but then I remembered what a very wise Buddhist monk once told me:
Old Souls = Slow Learners
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Apr 18, 2018 - 07:03pm PT
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L say:
Old Souls = Slow Learners Ha ha, exactly!
And the corollary to that is: when we try to hang a garland on someone by calling them a survivor,
That's just signifying another one of us who's been caroming about on the skid plate of his/her ass.
Ah, but it's the togetherness. That's what it be and where it's at!
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Fritz
Social climber
Choss Creek, ID
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Apr 18, 2018 - 07:30pm PT
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Tarburster! As one of the "Non-Yosemite" old-farts still hanging around this forum, I commend you, for not only all your wonderful earlier posts, but this recent thread.
Gud Work!
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L
climber
A place where Blue is the new Black...
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Apr 18, 2018 - 07:40pm PT
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Well truthfully Roy, I'd rather be an Old Soul/Slow Learner with the likes of you and Fritz here, than a quick study sitting on my enlightened arse in some ashram, bored outta my gourd.
Know what I mean?
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Apr 18, 2018 - 07:58pm PT
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Quick anecdote for you, Laura:
I've done my fair share of sitting, (code for: not nearly enough) and stumbled through plenty of reading in and around the genre, (just like a good Westerner, way more reading than sitting, ha ha), and beyond that, I've known a few Dharma Brats as well. (Rich kids whose parents send them to a Buddhist community instead of prep school).
So this German kid is doing his sitting in an ashram (oops Hindu), or some suitable room or meditation hall somewhere within the sangha or whatever, and one of the spiritual leaders, you know, the Rinpoche, one who remembers and all of that groovy (or not so groovy) stuff, asks the young man: "how's the meditation going?"
"Oh, not so good, struggling in fact, so, you know … Very good."
Okay ... how about this one:
I once asked a climber chick friend of mine what she thought about trying some meditation. Her answer: "I'd do it if I thought would help me, Roy, but that stuff's way too boring". (!)
Hi Fritz!
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Fritz
Social climber
Choss Creek, ID
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Apr 18, 2018 - 08:16pm PT
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Hi Tar!
I stole this Christmas card photo of yours many years ago.
Still one of the best ever!
Anywhere!
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Apr 18, 2018 - 08:18pm PT
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Great Sand Dunes, Southern Colorado, Fritz.
Going hard at it.
And actually, the woman whom I quoted just above (Sue Wint) took that picture!
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MikeL
Social climber
Southern Arizona
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Apr 19, 2018 - 09:39am PT
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Tarbuster,
I may have written too much about communities. Sorry.
In my work, I saw that communities work because people come to know each other socially. In Japan and China, they'll take you out for a very late night with plenty of alcohol to see who they're really dealing with.
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Tarbuster
climber
right here, right now
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Apr 19, 2018 - 09:48am PT
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Not by any stretch, Mike, did you write too much!
And I concur with all of it. (I tend to go all romper room on these topics, with a kind of jocular, tongue-in-cheek treatment throughout)
Have had some experience with Japanese businessmen!
They drink like fish!
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