No More Blown Tips... How Stupid
I think I read somewhere that he resorted to the rubber palm pads on Book of Hate after wearing through the skin on his hands, so it sounds like he really tried to get the route without them first.SCIN wrote:Also, Randy Leavitt wore palm coverings for his ascent of Dihedron in Joshua Tree and Book of Hate in Yosemite.
Personally, I think this is all a game. If it's fun for you to do some crazy kneebar route with rubber knee pads, then go for it! If it's more fun (aka less painful) to boulder with sticky rubber finger-thingies, then great! It seems like these things are only an issue when people compete against each other. I'm thinking of a slab route I was on in Yosemite with looooong runouts on glassy rock - it was put up before sticky rubber. I had a ton of fun doing it in modern shoes and that's great for me, but I can't compare myself to the (insane) oldschool hardmen who put it up pre-Stealth.