In reply to mrjonathanr:
Generally when people look at the exceptional performers in the sport they admire and judge them in absolute terms - how they measure up against the hardest routes. Its the result that ultimately matters apart from a gender distinction and to a lesser extent age. On the world stage it doesnt matter whether you are born with strong fingers, tall, disciplined, enthusiastic - its the result that counts and that in turn is dependent on application but not necessarily the % of your ultimate potential that you express. This is why I have a bit of problem with the hero worship that goes beyond admiring talent and applied talent.
Some advantages/talents can be improved/trained more than others but from a learning point of view I think most of us have more to learn from the 'hard-gainers' who leveraged the most from mediocre improvable talents than necessarily from the absolute best. Having said that the personal 'soft' talents of dedication, discipline, enthusiasm, vision are at least as important in the application of realising physical potential. Moffat's capacity for self-promotion and self-belief was another standout talent, creating and duly filling the concept of perceived best/greatest climber in the world; still getting disproptionate press attention when Neil Carson was quietly putting up routes of equal or greater difficulty at LPT.
You joining us at the tor on saturday ?
