Trad as a Fad?

[dustonian]

The Red is such a bizarre little bubble of dependent sportwankery. I've never been to a place with so many people that have never placed a piece of gear in their lives, have no idea how to build an anchor or self rescue, and have no awareness of any of the history of climbing or where the sport came from. Half the people can't even rappel or tighten down a loose hanger for chrissakes! Even most of the climbers in Rumney go to North Conway or the Adirondacks from time to time for the kick-ass crack climbing.

[pigsteak]

why hate on sport? can't we all just get along......

[dustonian]

I never said I hated it... I like it. I just think it's strange to climb exclusively in only one style or discipline. Most of the good climbing in the western US is traditional, so climbing only sport would get old pretty quick... not to mention you'd be missing 90% of the most classic routes. That said, yeah, the majority of the best routes in the Red are rap-bolted sport routes, but there are some killer traditional lines to do too. Why skip them?

[climb2core]

Just because you like apples and oranges doesn't mean the next guy should like both too.

[dustonian]

I'm not saying you "should" do anything, I like that traditional climbing isn't popular in the Red because the sport crags are kind of a circus sometimes. I do think it's weird though to go to a classic crag like Long Wall on perfect sunny days in the mid-50s over the winter and not see another soul around... T-Wall would have 20 parties on days like that!

I guess I just think of it all as rock climbing without really categorizing it too rigorously... sport and traditional aren't that different when you're climbing trad well. A lot of the best gear routes we've been doing lately climb like sport routes with perfect placements. Or they'll be perfect splitter cracks up to a face crux. The stuff Andrew G has been doing over the last year will have like V8-11 boulder problems above bomber gear... Definitely "sporty"

[caribe]

trad is boring and time consuming. doing 2-3 pitches a day while belaying for an hour.

I suspect your little pig tongue is in your little pig cheek, but how the hell does Spicy Jackson put up with your ass? I dont' know who you hang with, but I was out with a team of 3 on Saturday. We did 5 routes each, all new for us: four 8's and a 10. I was beat. The very next day after the consumption of too much EtOH I was climbing sport at my limit.

[caribe]

I will trad climb when I can't get up 5.11.

Why, after the switch your new grade limit will be 5.5. You can't climb 5.11 trad now.

[dustonian]

Nice work on Haas route, Arty. I need to go do that one.

[Shamis]

The purest form of climbing is a ground up first ascent of a climb on gear or solo. That will never change.

[dustonian]

Mos def