UKC

I was just wondering what a "real" climber would be.
Someone who can get up a Moderate on a top rope?
Someone who can climb Extreme routes?
Someone who has bought themselves a rack/rope?
Someone who cares enough to look at rocktalk everyday?

In reply to Ben Faber:

Or maybe just someone who climbs?

In reply to Ben Faber:

somebody who can climb proficiently (at their given grade) with out assistance (top rope/aiding etc)

In reply to The Pylon King: Well put, but surely there must be a bottom limit or not?

In reply to Ben Faber: It doesn't really matter what grade you are climbing at or whether you are leading or seconding. It really comes down to do you go out and climb.

In reply to Jason Kirk:I climb both indoors and out but does climbing souly indoors count?

In reply to Ben Faber: It depends who you talk to. I climb inside but it's not the real thing.

In reply to Ben Faber: it's not what you do it's how you do it.

I do it badly, so no; I'm not a real climber

In reply to Ben Faber:
who cares? do you own thing as long as you enjoy it and it fulfills you. I've often heard people say, 'you're not a real climber unless...... or you're not a real surfer unless......' pretentious bulls%%t

In reply to Ben Faber:

You can call yourself pretty much anything. Myself and some friends discussed this the other day and it boiled down to how you'd introduce yourself, I mean you wouldn't say "Hi, I'm LetoII god emperor of the known universe" would you! You'd just say "hi, I'm me". Besides, if you're insecure enough to worry about acceptance then you're probably trying too hard.
For what it's worht, so long as you have fun and enjoy climbing, in whatever aspect then you're a climber in my book. I'd tend to say I'm predominantly a climber as it happens to be my favourite sport/activity/pastime (please god don't start an argument on what it is again) but I do other things too.

LetoII
(Climber/surfer/mountain biker/kiter/windsurfer/walker/BMS/student/etc..etc..yawn what a boring git)

In reply to Ben Faber: If you need to ask the question, then probably not...

In reply to Ben Faber:

someone enjoys climbing.

In reply to Ben Faber: you are what you are my friend and if you climb your a climber if you walk your a walker etc etc.

theres no specific code saying if you dont climb to 7a your not a climber i mean what is this world coming to when you have to meet a certain criteria in a sport you do to be classed as actually doing it ?

if you try your hardest and enjoy it then your a climber in my books!!

In reply to Ben Faber:

You can call yourself what you like. Other people will almost certainly call you something else so its not worth getting too uptight about.

For what its worth, To be a 'real climber', you must have passed through a phase of reading guidebooks sitting on the bog.

In reply to GrahamD:

blimey been climbing for 5 years solid 10 years on and off - still I'm not a 'real' climber as I really haven't done that,,,,,, but then I'm not the kinda person who reads on the bog

like it's been said above if you enjoy it then thats all that counts,, screw anybody who thinks otherwise,,,

In reply to gingerdave13:

No - if you haven't read a guidebook on the bog you are definitely not a real climber.

In reply to Ben Faber:

When you walk down the high street and your first thought as you see each shop front is "I could get up that".

In reply to smithy:

Or walks on a hill and has to be rescued if the bbc/media is to be believed

In reply to featuresforfeet:

And waiting for a friend at the cash point, you've got to have had a crack at that fine looking arete.

In reply to Ben Faber:

A real climber will have all (or at least most of the following):

At least one pair of well-worn rock boots
At least one pair of well-worn mountaineering boots
At least one guidebook not neatly on a shelf but e.g in the loo, kitchen or beside bed
Odd bits of climbing gear scattered around the house, and not all neatly stashed away in a cupboard.
Caused embarrassment in a public place, e.g a pub, at least once, by demonstrating a climbing move with graphic use of the arms
Fallen off leading on real rock, and/or injured him/herself quite badly climbing, at least once
Climbed at least one drainpipe or part of a public building simply as a climbing challenge
Odd mementos eg. a bit of rock from a high summit, an old nut or peg that was involved in some near-death experience etc etc on various shelves.
Had at least one epic in the mountains that has been so bad that they have vowed to give up climbing if they ever get down safely.

Nothing to do with grades, or with gear they might have bought.

In reply to featuresforfeet:

Or more worryingly, when you're at a relative's funeral surrounded by sobbing family and gazing up at the interior of the church and thinking "This place would make a brilliant climbing wall..."

Sorry Auntie B..

In reply to Ridge:

A visualised ascent of the rafters has got me through many a wedding.

In reply to Ridge:

Quality. Staying at Bryn Dinas a mate and I found our way (we'd had quite a few a stumbled all the way back from Bethgelert)into the dining room and decided it was vital we circumnavigate the room without touching the floor.

Plain sailing until serving-hatch arete on which we spent a good two hours discussing theoretical moves and falling off. We gave it F7a+ and called a day at 4 am.

Apologies to anyone staying who we woke up - and for the footprints around the serving hatch.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

Oh well. That puts paid to me as a climber. I've never badly injured myself climbing.

In reply to Ben Faber:

I won't consider myself a climber until I've done my first trad lead.

At the mo' I'm into sports and bouldering...but will be going to do some winter stuff early next year and some trad as soon as next year...so maybe by next summer I'll be a climber with an eye on mountaineering

I think its to do with self-reliance, for me anyway

In reply to Alison Stockwell:

I said most, not all, of the things in the list, Alison!

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:
Pretty good list, done them all apart from the last two - had a few epics in the mountains, but never so bad I vowed to give up climbing!

What my mates vowed is another matter...

In reply to Ben Faber: A climber - someone who climbs...it's in the dictionary........seriously it's anyone who climbs whatever their motivation/level of enjoyment/goals/purpose

I think there is something about how often you do it and do you have future plans and a desire to progress in some way - technically or personally

In the end it is up to the individual to define themselves not others...I saw myself as a songwriter from the day I wrote a certain song which I was well pleased with...in fact I'd written songs as good as that one (or better) previously but once I'd written that particular song I regarded myself as a songwriter. I have no songs published or songs recorded but that might happen. I haven't climbed 'that' climb yet so I don't call myself a climber but I do climb regularly (mainly indoors owing to opportunity) - tricky isn't it? Defining things I mean...

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

In time honoured fashion....


Only one? You're kidding us, right? How about half a dozen or so..


A couple.


Oh yes, it's a constant battle with my other half...


One cupboard really wouldn't be enough.... Garage, maybe.


Oh yes...


A fair amount of air time. The latest resulting in a dislocated shoulder and a summer so frustrating I seriously contemplating turning my back on it all. I'm glad I didn't and am in teh early stages of starting to train again.


Lichfield beer festival. On outside of a public building, later condemned for structural damage - I didn't think I was that heavy, honestly...


I have a mangled nut sitting on my desk in front of me now.


Descending from remote summit in the alps, abseiled over the edge of a large overhanging wall only to find myself feet short of the slabs below. Bad time to learn how to do a long free hanging prussik back up a rope. All went horribly wrong and nearly detached myself from the rope whilst dangling is space.

Various water based epics with my main climbing partner. When will we ever learn. Caught in thunderstorm at the top of a 16 pitch grantite slab route, only way off was to abseil, then the snow on the peak above started to avalanche onto the slabs.

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

well i'll just bloody have to do it then,,,,

In reply to Ben Faber:

Anyone who climbs on a regular basis is a climber. For example, I'm a climber...my sister (who has tried it twice) is not.

I prefer to think of myself as a climbing who braches out into mountaineering a fair bit but it's climbing which is my real passion.

In reply to Simox:


yours or other peoples?

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:


Nationwide bank police were quite understanding,,, why is it that the banks are always the most suitable for climbing,,,,could get into serious trouble,,,

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

Nearly there, but the ultimate for being a real climber is to have torn out pages of your guide book to use as bog paper when you have been caught short in the hills....

I did burn it afterwards in case you are wondering about litter.

In reply to Trangia:

That's all very well but you might not have a Portland guidebook to hand.

In reply to the OP:

Real climbers climb in the rain......

Actually, a good working rule is that anyone who replies to threads like this with the usual fluffy platitudes about how anyone who's ever climbed indoors is just as much of a climber as anyone else is most unlikely to be a real climber.

jcm

In reply to Ben Faber:

Mostly my climbing is unreal

In reply to es:
HA good answer,,,

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:>
--- several & I still have those rollerskates you can tie to yer shoes in the cupboard...remember them?

---an unbelievably f*cked up pair of Sportiva Neps, after one season...an old pair of Super Cracks from 6 yrs back - now plant pots & eyeless, as are the Neps. Tough boots my ass.

--- My Wadi guide lives in the toilet, as does the dog, who drinks from it...stacks of guides laid flat in piles a good coffee table makes.

---- Ice axes hanging from the loft hatch - burned out melted figure 8 [clog original] as wall art in the living room...etc...crampons made by BMW [!] still on living room floor next a solid brass ships propeller [stolen by hacksaw]

---- It wasnt me, I was in Balachullish at the time..ask Norrie. Gary Latter is a lanky Magnus I believe, quite given to gesticulation...Unlike Cubby whos hairy forearms slow him down aerodynamically...

--- 78 ft pendulum screamer off my E9 in Lewis which hurt a bit. A bigger one in Verdon. Several more than that. Tripping on pavements after to much pop also counts.

---- You missed out traversing the gutter above the local take-away & a short Chinese man trying to hack off any dangling limbs. Also traversing red brick military sniping range walls & climbing Kendal town hall on Hogmanay with RAF rescue in cahoots. [the police let us off] Bouldering Angel of the North...Portree Co-op...various perma-dry motorway bridges

---- An original Wild Country wedge 9 on cord, my dogs collar. He has also saved my life, so is deserving of wearing it. Secondly, various holds from Dumbarton, Arrochar, Coire Lagan...maybe I can sell them on Ebay & make Dave MacLeod bid for the crux moves on his own project...

--- Aye, nearly lost my life getting out a blizzard on Rannoch. Later repeated the experience several times globally on a few things quite a bit higher than Mont Blanc & took up sport & bouldering elitism as a kind of retirement fund.


No-- grades are numbers. You can number deaths, you can number success, you can number boulder lines, you can number sport, you can number trad...but can you move free, latch, swing & stay solid, flexible & alive with everything thats gone before...Aye, we do what we do non?

In reply to Ben Faber:

It's all to easy to say "someone who does what I do", but I suppose it is a series of states of mind. For instance, choose any one (preferably more) from the following:

reading guidebooks whilst on the bog (others have also said it but it's here for completeness)
Not wanting to drive to the crag so that you can *study* the guidebook.
Testing the temperature of the bath with your elbow so that you do not wet your hands before reading the guidebook.
Checking every available feature and fitting in the house for its suitability for training.
Buying a guidebook - because you want to.
Lying in bed, working the moves in your mind.
Not worrying about jamming scars.

As you can see, climbing becomes all-encompassing, intense, passionate. To paraphrase: if you need to ask.....

Bob

In reply to Bob:
.....then you aren't one?

I've just realised I fulfil every one of your criteria (although I dont read them in the shower) which has got me a teeny bit worried in all honesty Obsession is an understatement.

In reply to Si dH:

Been there, done that!

My mum thought that it was a fad that would pass in a year or so....

Bob

In reply to Ben Faber: Someone who can climb something

In reply to Dave Stelmach:
i can climb 'something', i would call it the stairs though

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

Phew..thought I might not make it for a moment there! 8/8

Offwidth in Malaysia

In reply to Bob:

Wow! I complete two good lists in one thread. This is getting a bit too good to be true? Logging on to climbing websites at 8 on a sunday morning from the other side of the world must add climbing points as well (plus working on improvements for my climbing site an hour earlier?)

Offwidth in Malaysia

In reply to Ben Faber:I think the real climber is one who doesn't have any rock for climbing but never give up making anywhere possible to climb.maybe office walls for climbing when there is nobody in office at nights.like I do.

In reply to Ben Faber:

Just to muddy the waters, difference between 'a climber' and 'a mountaineer'.

Personnally I think of myself as I mountaineer, (I graduated to rope use from hillwalking) and think of cragging only as practise for 'real climbs' (4 pitchs or more).

Thats not to say I don't enjoy cragging, or think its a lesser sport just prefer being in the mountains.

In reply to Ben Faber: Join the BMC because you'll go bankrupt without the discount on the climbing gear you find yourself buying on impulse?

In reply to Removed User:

Then there is that can of worms of when does a hillwalker/scrambler graduate to the heady title of mountaineer ?

In reply to Ben Faber:

"At least one guidebook not neatly on a shelf but e.g in the loo, kitchen or beside bed"

Oh yes, thats a definite. And since the girlfriend left me a couple of weeks ago, i have one in every room, and also in the car!

In reply to Ben Faber:

Isn't it also obligatory for real climbers to have a karabiner clipped to their day sac even when they are commuting to work or strolling through Hyde Park? Otherwise how else would strangers be expected to know that they were a real climbers?

In reply to Jenn:

All but the last one!

In reply to Ben Faber: I'm a real climber cos I climb stairs and have been known to bivvy half-way up (Big Stair Climbing)

In reply to LetoII:

Sodding guides all over. some in a pile at my side after a session here, some in the car, bedroom, easy chair.

Wanted, more bookshelves, which are best for my mix of books of all sizes?

In reply to Trangia:

No, no ! the krabs on the day sac (and the chunky altimeter watch in Cambridge etc.) are for the lifestyle climbers.

In reply to glyn28:

You may jest but my daughters are proficient at this. They normally go up via various variants of Bannister Rail but we recently had a big upset when the eldest on-sighted Stairwell Direct on the first attempt after the youngest had been working on it for weeks.
Still, they have to learn about the realities of life I suppose.

In reply to Ben Faber: you have to talk like this:
"yeah word i was bearing down on this shit crimp and i had to do a one-armer but instead i hooked this nubbin and rockedover onto this fat sloper, gurning to f*ck"