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micronut
Trad climber
Fresno/Clovis, ca
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Jun 19, 2017 - 11:13am PT
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Interesting topic Ed.
I can only imagine how Big Wave surfers feel. Here's Jeff Clark back in the day on Mavericks....surfing it nearly alone for over a decade.
And check it out these days when a proper swell comes in....
And that is a wave that can kill you. A relatively small population of the surfing world can step up to that wave, yet look at what it has become. Sometimes I think we climbers have it good.
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AP
Trad climber
Calgary
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Jun 19, 2017 - 11:30am PT
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The world is feeling population pressures all over.
Climbing gyms and sport bolting seemed like a good idea at the time but they sure drew tons of people into climbing.
Two of the best trad climbers around, Alex H and Sonny Trotter, came from this world so it can't be all bad but I kind of wish things had stayed the same.
Nothing ever stays the same though.
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mooch
Trad climber
Tribal Base Camp (Kernville Annex)
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Jun 19, 2017 - 11:45am PT
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The most I've ever waited for a select route was for 'Whodunnit'. What a frickin' abortion! After that, much more obscure areas that sport gems for a lifetime. Yep, lemmings.....the lot of 'em!
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Ksolem
Trad climber
Monrovia, California
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Jun 19, 2017 - 11:48am PT
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Select guides are having unintended consequences, although I'm not sure how the result is not predictable.
Internet guides are having similar results, they tend to focus on a small cross section of popular routes.
Still, California is full of great climbing where you'll rarely see another soul. And in many cases the adventure is half the fun.
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WyoRockMan
climber
Grizzlyville, WY
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Jun 19, 2017 - 12:05pm PT
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A whole lotta "Git off ma lawn!" vibe here.
I see the popularity of climbing as a mostly positive thing. I'd rather see people getting out and being active than the alternative. My perspective is probably a bit skewed though, if another party is at the local crag, that's a busy day.
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Cragar
climber
MSLA - MT
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Jun 19, 2017 - 12:15pm PT
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unintended consequences
Boy howdy! Any guide for any form of rec has these 'consequences'. Before google earth and the internets we got 15' and maybe a couple larger scaled 7.5' maps and just went where the eye took us via the art of the cartographer, not the text of a climber, biker or hiker that might accompany a map or be in a guide. I do and have always thought that climbing guides are the most necessary of the guides for users safety sake; all teh other guides are just like extra cans of spray paint. The mountaineers came out with some 50 classic hikes of the PNW or something lame like that and it had a hella neg impact on some very beautiful and unique lake/canyon zones in my area. These zones are in the GreatBurn of 1910 so the ecology is really coo compared to what lies adjacent it. In a little over 10 years the place has been trampled, trashed, the wild goats wait for the trash of campers/day hikers and folks just figured they could make campsites anywhere and they did, destroying unique bankside habitats and micro waterfalls. It was total wilderness quality, like parts of Glacier, now not so much...and I'm not just talking about the human wilderness construct, I am including the living things that do not understand our views of wilderness as well. Frikkin' guide books. I love them for some things and loathe them for others.
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Cragar
climber
MSLA - MT
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Jun 19, 2017 - 12:59pm PT
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Shoulda kept it to themselves.
True but I do like me a good climbing guide book, I thought Brad did an awesome job on the Sonora Pass gig.
yeah I remember those select guides...? I gotta say Milktoast, thee most Milquetoast of guide book companies is McFalcon, computer generated everything and questionable knowledge...but hey, they get 'em out there quick! Hand drawn topos are coo.
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norm larson
climber
wilson, wyoming
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Jun 19, 2017 - 03:55pm PT
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You know while agree that there are way too many climbers these days I do remember waiting in line for CPF in 1983. The best era in the past 4 decades for crowds on the routes I like was the nineties when everyone was "sport" climbing and the "real" climbs were uncrowded.
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G_Gnome
Trad climber
Cali
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Jun 19, 2017 - 04:58pm PT
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Had the entire crag to ourselves yesterday. But then you did need to walk a little ways up and down to get to it.
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thebravecowboy
climber
The Good Places
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Jun 19, 2017 - 05:04pm PT
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I like sacrificial cows. Keeps the resta-um fresh and ready
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Contractor
Boulder climber
CA
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Jun 19, 2017 - 05:12pm PT
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Don't forget the "Beta Matrix".
Anyone with a smart phone and half a brain has access to tens of thousands of "how to" videos, trip reports, gear reviews, maps, directions, photos, Google Earth, inexpensive or used gear on the internet, partners, climbing specific social media sites, and most importantly- the climbing blogosphere (how else would you learn to say "locals only brah").
And if they live long enough, they can graduate to Super Topo curmudgeon status.
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Mark Force
Trad climber
Ashland, Oregon
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Jun 19, 2017 - 05:20pm PT
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And if they live long enough, they can graduate to Super Topo curmudgeon status.
Haha, guffaw, snort, chortle, snicker...
Good one.
Hey, wait a minute...
...you talkin'' to me youngster?
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Contractor
Boulder climber
CA
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Jun 19, 2017 - 05:39pm PT
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You're alive so you've earned it:)
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hooblie
climber
from out where the anecdotes roam
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Jun 19, 2017 - 06:19pm PT
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still waiting for the hallmark card and three day mattress sale honoring those of us who planned barrenhood
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Kalimon
Social climber
Ridgway, CO
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Jun 19, 2017 - 06:58pm PT
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No crowds here . . . in fact it could use a little more traffic.
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rgold
Trad climber
Poughkeepsie, NY
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Jun 19, 2017 - 07:05pm PT
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Be careful what you wish for...
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tuolumne_tradster
Trad climber
Leading Edge of North American Plate
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Jun 19, 2017 - 07:11pm PT
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Brad Esser & I were down at Chiquito Dome a couple of weeks ago...we had the whole place to ourselves :) Wouldn't recommend it now though...too hot!
Chiquito Dome
Brad on Not Advertised...
I remember back in the late '80s waiting for CPF...
Here's a Conga Line on Snake Dike in 2015. I count 6 parties...
Cathedral Peak in 2012
;)
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guido
Trad climber
Santa Cruz/New Zealand/South Pacific
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Jun 19, 2017 - 08:32pm PT
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Ah yes, HD cables -1961 after an ascent of the Salathe SW face route................................
Bitchen Bill Amborn.
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Kalimon
Social climber
Ridgway, CO
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Jun 19, 2017 - 08:38pm PT
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Priceless image Guido . . . gracias.
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Nick Danger
Ice climber
Arvada, CO
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Jun 20, 2017 - 06:32am PT
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I spent a wonderful few hours in my old stomping grounds in Taylor Canyon outside of Gunnison this weekend. They have added a paved parking lot and an outfitters' company (rafting and rock climbing), so lots of people on the weekend as well as on Monday. Actually, it was nice to see some of the old test pieces I put up in the early 1970's so popular, and it was nice to get a ride on someone else's top rope up something I am WAY TOO over the hill to lead today. The irony was to see all of the crags I had wanted to develop up Spring Creek utterly devoid of human presence. I drove by one such crag and recognized it from the very few visits I had made BITD and it look, based on the vegetation around it, like it had not been visited since. There is a ton of rock waiting to be climbed out there, with nobody around it these days. You just gotta look for it, and not always look that hard at that.
Concerning Frostback's suggestion of Nevada, In the three decades that I have been doing geology out there I have seen several lifetimes of virgin rock just waiting for some climber to come along and climb it.
Life is good and rock is plentiful, ya just gotta leave the crowds behind and go lookin' fer it.
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