RRC Archives

Howie Feltersnatch wrote:
An argument could be made that by documenting your ascents and publishing them you are robbing the next generation of explorers of the opportunity to have the same experience you had. I was once told that I "owed it to the next generation of climbers" to document everything I have done so that they can know about these routes and follow them. I would argue that by documenting them I am assuring that a large portion of them cannot follow my experience because they will approach it with preconceived notions and too much information.

Howie Feltersnatch wrote:The thing is Larry, Pigsteak can't go repeat your routes and have the same experience you are advocating as he will already know too much about each route before he leaves the ground. The only way he can understand what you love about rock climbing is to try and replicate your experience elsewhere; and maybe he already has and is simply trolling.

I don't know how pigsteak goes about developing new routes but I have done just a few myself and know this; absolutely nothing is as fulfilling as walking up to a gear line, becoming inspired, racking up and sending it with no inkling of what you might be getting yourself into other than what you can gather from the ground. You rely on your abilities to get yourself out of whatever jams you might get into. This to me is what defines the traditional form of rock climbing that emphasizes adventure, commitment, and the unknown above pure athleticism , rankings, and working toward attaining distant goals (which is also loads of fun and fulfilling). It is just another form of climbing like aid climbing, sport climbing, alpine and ice climbing, or bouldering; each with their own set of standards for how to approach them "fairly". The challenge shouldn't be to repeat 10 of Larry's routes but instead to go find 10 of your own gear routes that test your abilities and composure.

And then don't spray about them. New routes to onsight with absolutely no prior information are becoming less scarce all of the time. An argument could be made that by documenting your ascents and publishing them you are robbing the next generation of explorers of the opportunity to have the same experience you had. I was once told that I "owed it to the next generation of climbers" to document everything I have done so that they can know about these routes and follow them. I would argue that by documenting them I am assuring that a large portion of them cannot follow my experience because they will approach it with preconceived notions and too much information.

You wont find me disagreeing with you about "trad dads" on some accounts. Many of them simply hiding behind their inability to push themselves or reliving their old glory days (as is common in any recreational activity), but some of them are having experiences you can't have if you take out the element of the unknown.

Everything I have written so far is rambling and somewhat off topic but I have been looking for a way to express this for sometime and came to it by following the line of thinking that A) you shouldn't rap gear routes and take so much of the experience out of them and B) When you climb in an adventurous manner, and learn to not let your ego drive your climbing experience, but rather your sense of self fulfillment and adventure, then you won't give a shit who got the official First Fucking Ascent (I am assuming I understand the acronym FFA correctly).

pigsteak wrote:couldnt agree more ynp. the red is truly special. hope you have a wonderful holiday season.