10,000 hours?

[Savage]

so to be an expert doctor, one must do ob/gyn, family, oral, brain, emergency, etc?

I would consider a doctor's field to be there area of specialty. So a doctor that practices OB/GYN would have to be an expert in that field.

Even still, all doctors must learn about all the different fields during their studies. And they will do rotations in basically all of them. So i would consider them to be versed in all aspects of medicine... even though they would only be an expert in a specific area.

And i dont think climbing hard makes you the expert, its knowledge of the subject. Do you think a Mountain guide that is trained in all forms of climbing is less of an expert because a 12 year old kid that weighs 100lbs can climb 5.14 and the guide can only climb 5.12?

[mpittdawg]

With an open ended rating system, and people constantly improving (even the pros) is there such thing as an expert climber?

[JB]

i once heard a plumber say:

"I'm an expert. You know what that is? Well, an "ex" is a has been, and a "spurt" is a drip under pressure."

There ya have it.

[kato]

I associate climbing expertise with knowledge, esp. when understanding the consequences of certain actions, and knowing how to deal with problems. Can you place gear so there's no rope drag? Do you know when to use dual ropes? Can you tie a harness with a strip of webbing? Rappel with only biners? (or only a rope?) Can you keep your cool when you get weather on a route? Can you coordinate an evac? I've climbed with people that do not climb hard, but when things don't go as planned, I'm glad for their expertise.

[captain static]

Spot on kato. I have a climbing partner who is an active member of the Rocky Mountain Rescue Group. The people in RMR are truly experts. If you want to see an example of their expertise read about one of their rescues last year of an injured climber on Redgarden Wall in Eldo: http://www.rockymountainrescue.org/abou ... nter08.pdf

[steep4me]

I, like many others, have logged more hours than that and I can still barely redpoint easy 12's. I consider expert as 13a and up. Maybe 10 more years of climbing 3 days a week will do it for me?

[steep4me]

I guess the big debate is how to define expert. I was thinking "expert level of difficulty" in terms of what the person climbs. I have seen lots of people who think they are experts in terms of knowledge about climbing safety and knots, gear placement, anchors, etc that can't climb an ant hill, but they are experts in terms of the "non-climbing part" of climbing I guess

[KD]

I think if you can quote john long until you puke and if you can remember all the kn things from mountain gears catalog, then you are at least well on your way to expertise. I used to believe that about freedom of the hills but john long is a cheaper book. Any real expert knows to save money.

[Saxman]

I, like many others, have logged more hours than that and I can still barely redpoint easy 12's. I consider expert as 13a and up. Maybe 10 more years of climbing 3 days a week will do it for me?

Logging hours is not the same thing as training. Gladwell is talking about dedicated training in a limited field of study or athletics, not just time put in.

[p0bray01]

heck I have done 10.000 hours of a lot of things but that does not make me an expert at any of them....