Posted: Tue Nov 01, 2005 11:27 pm
...tommy is da man.
Page 2 of 2
Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2005 1:50 am
Insane man. Some people are humans and others are machines. Tommy Caldwell is definitely a machine.
Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2005 2:27 am
What has really been burning me since I first read about this is that in most other sports an accomplishment like this would be all over the news. Why is rock climbing ignored by the media. I would have to say that what Tommy has just done is perhaps one of the greatest athletic feats ever accomplished.
Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2005 2:43 am
"The Nose-Freerider combination has 65 pitches, or approximately 6,000 feet, of free climbing, including nine pitches of 5.12, one of 5.13 and one 5.14a, plus dozens of burly 5.10 and 5.11 pitches."
Climbing.com story
Climbing.com story
Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2005 3:59 am
In other news.......remember little Ben Safdi from Cincy?
Front page of climbing.com
"Colorado Alpine Sickness
RMNP and Mt. Evans report. Freaks of the Industry (V14) was sent by Daniel Woods, Ben Safdi, and Dave Graham."
Who says plastic don't make ya strong?
Front page of climbing.com
"Colorado Alpine Sickness
RMNP and Mt. Evans report. Freaks of the Industry (V14) was sent by Daniel Woods, Ben Safdi, and Dave Graham."
Who says plastic don't make ya strong?
Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2005 5:52 am
captain static wrote:What has really been burning me since I first read about this is that in most other sports an accomplishment like this would be all over the news. Why is rock climbing ignored by the media. I would have to say that what Tommy has just done is perhaps one of the greatest athletic feats ever accomplished.
Climbing is boring as hell to everybody else. Telling an average person that someone climbed El Cap free twice in a day would mean absolutely NOTHING. Face it dude....climbing just isn't, and never will be, anything but a tiny little cult sport.
Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2005 1:52 pm
Knocks my freakin socks off. Certainly the greatest free climbing ultra-marathon ever. I lack the imagination to have any idea of what might come next. Of the many lessons that we can take from Tommy's accomplishment, don't overlook what may or may not be the most obvious one. Tommy is probably the best coached, most well prepared climbing athlete ever.
I used to run in to Tommy and his Dad, Mike, skiing far in the backcountry of Rocky Mountain National Park when Tommy was five years old. They always had a home gymn, and Tommy was working out with serious determination at age nine. I have no idea how young he was when he started. Mike was a former body building champion, and an extremely successful wrestling coach when we were guiding together at Colorado Mountain School.
I remember having some really interesting discussions with Mike about great athletes, why they were so good at what they did, and why their sons so seldom played at the same level as their dads. Mike believed that genetic makeup obviously wasn't the deciding factor, for the sons had pretty much the same makeup as their fathers. Mike thought that while the best athletes obviously had the basic physical gifts, the difference between good and great was between the ears. That the great athletes had the hunger, the motivation, and the humility to work as hard as it takes to get where to they wanted to go. This is somewhat more difficult when you are born the progeny of a millionaire athlete. Not much hunger there.
So I guess what I am trying to say is that Tommy's greatest strength is in his head. He has the hunger, and the mental strength and determination to go far beyond competing with others. For there is only one person he is in competition with, himself.
I used to run in to Tommy and his Dad, Mike, skiing far in the backcountry of Rocky Mountain National Park when Tommy was five years old. They always had a home gymn, and Tommy was working out with serious determination at age nine. I have no idea how young he was when he started. Mike was a former body building champion, and an extremely successful wrestling coach when we were guiding together at Colorado Mountain School.
I remember having some really interesting discussions with Mike about great athletes, why they were so good at what they did, and why their sons so seldom played at the same level as their dads. Mike believed that genetic makeup obviously wasn't the deciding factor, for the sons had pretty much the same makeup as their fathers. Mike thought that while the best athletes obviously had the basic physical gifts, the difference between good and great was between the ears. That the great athletes had the hunger, the motivation, and the humility to work as hard as it takes to get where to they wanted to go. This is somewhat more difficult when you are born the progeny of a millionaire athlete. Not much hunger there.
So I guess what I am trying to say is that Tommy's greatest strength is in his head. He has the hunger, and the mental strength and determination to go far beyond competing with others. For there is only one person he is in competition with, himself.
Posted: Wed Nov 02, 2005 2:16 pm
Are you fucking kidding me!