RRC Archives

pigsteak wrote:zspider....I'm waiting.

(of course there are differences, but both raised the bar way beyond the current level in each discipline.)

Might as well include Harold Bloom. He's "raising the bar" in literary criticism.

ZSpider

jim wrote: Impressive feat by Reardon, especially given the fact that he had to lug those 20 lb. balls up the cliff with him.

I agree. Just incredible. I liked that he downplayed it as an on-site because he gathered lots of beta.

ZSpider

not to downplay what he did. it is fucking impressive!!!! but wasn't it technically a flash. i mean getting multiple move by move descriptions is a flash. i know it is just semantics but that is why words have different meanings, to express different concepts.

it was a bad ass climb however he did it.

merrick wrote:not to downplay what he did. it is fucking impressive!!!! but wasn't it technically a flash. i mean getting multiple move by move descriptions is a flash. i know it is just semantics but that is why words have different meanings, to express different concepts.

it was a bad ass climb however he did it.

Not to worry there. Reardon goes out of his way to mention that he got tons of beta. I don't think he much cares what the technical term is for it.

ZSpider

so you still didn't tell the world why there is a major difference? in your mind, which feat was more impressive?

and if reardon doesn't care what others think, why all the toys left behind to "prove" he was there? also, why go back to shoot photos and put in a mag? of course he cares what others think. that doesn't make him bad, or his accomplishments less, for caring.

Piggie, you're forgetting that you're not cool or accomplished unless you're apathetic about both.

pigsteak wrote:so you still didn't tell the world why there is a major difference? in your mind, which feat was more impressive?

and if reardon doesn't care what others think, why all the toys left behind to "prove" he was there? also, why go back to shoot photos and put in a mag? of course he cares what others think. that doesn't make him bad, or his accomplishments less, for caring.

I didn't say he didn't care what others thought. I said I don't think he much cares what technical term is applied to it. The feat stands as is. I think he's satisified to let others quibble over the words to describe it.

And everybody understands the difference, you included.

ZSpider

Soloing and roped climbing are two different things altogether. Its apples and oranges.

I've soloed my fair share of climbs, and I could never begin to compare the mindset of a solo to that of a lead....and those that follow that pursuit regularly and at a high level almost certainly consider it a sport in itself.

So, arguing whether one achievement is greater is pointless. John Bachar is gonna tell you that Reardons feat is more impressive. Ron Kauk is gonna tell you that Caldwells is. They've been fightin over ethics and morals since the early 80's.....

ok, in my mind the nose feat is a more major achievement. what reardon did is pull out more of the psychological stops, but in pure hard ass climbing, beth and tommy (first name basis, you know) raised the bar just as much as Lynn did when she originally took it down free.

and of course he cares what technical term is applied. if people say he roped soloed the thing, I bet he'd care, knowing that was not his true style. on site soloing is way more of a jump than roped on siting. string that dude to a cord on the same route, and it wouldn't measure a blip in the mags. Unroped "SOLO" is the key term that I bet he cares millions about.

(I took a stand, b/c you seemed unable to do so. you just wanted to throw out "everybody knows the difference", when in fact I would say most people don't know the dif, and most people don't even care.)

I will bite as well.

man of course there is a difference. tommy took the greatest accomplishment in climbing of the last decade and doubled it. reardon focused on a small subspecialty (albeit an impressive one) and took it up a notch. in some respects it is like climbing 5.15b. fucking awesome, pushing the sport forward, and outside the realm of any but elite climbers. but what tommy and beth did is like wolfgang taking the sport up leaps and bounds into the unimaginable. except for on a big wall free climb every aspect of the game comes into play. those routes have everything from slab to offwidth. you need to move fast, you need to push for alpine length days.

anyone who read tommy's story about freeing the dihedral wall could tell just from his training that he was in a different realm than anyone else. that training regime would kill many climbers from sheer over exhaustion.

and i still think what readon did is awesome and I still give him mad props. i just don't personally feel it is in the same league as tommy doing the nose and freerider in a day free.