UKC

What do ideas/techniques/things do you see as uniquely characterising the UKC community?

Naturally we're all biased in what we observe and remember of UKC, tending to favour things we have strong opinions about. And things you remember of UKC may only be the opinion of a single person who just seared an impression into your memory

I'll start:

- Solo top roping with shunts

- Adversity to teethed ascenders

- Strong feelings about dry tooling

- Protecting the belay considered paramount (belay off harness)

- Aid climbing rarely mentioned

- Pro discussed almost exclusively nuts, hexes or cams

- Frugul in rock climbing gear purchases

- Feelings of supporting ones local store instead of buying over the internet

- Ropes not viewed as temporary/disposable goods

- Avoidance of abseiling

- Low grigri acceptance

In reply to needvert:

ron hills are the only clothing that works in britains unique weather.

anything the americans have done we have done earlier and better - except get the name right and sell it for profit.

impact on natural venues is wrong unless it includes toilet blocks.

red necks throwing bottles and dumping shopping trolleys at crags is normal.

dmm is a welsh foundry, not a japanese adult tv provider.

tea is somehow better than coffee.

The use of gritstone as the metric for climbing ability as in "what have they done on grit?"

In reply to needvert:

Climbers Damaging the crag Environment for their own selfish ends are Accepted, if not downright Lauded as heroes.

Anyone doing similar for non Climbing reasons is a blasphemous disgrace to humanity.

In reply to needvert:

Simplistic threads like this when we are a diverse community.

In reply to Choss:

Good point, see numerous anti wind topics.

In reply to needvert:

Grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades, grades.

In reply to Skip:

Glad you see the Inherent contradictions present go climbing. Faux outrage at graffiti, toppling a non ecologically important 'logan' stone, etc.

We Climb because we Like it. I do. The act of doing so has an environmental impact on the crag environment. I do my best to minimise my footprint, but dont have any illusions that by climbing i care for the ecology of crag environments.

If i did really care, i would stay away and Leave it to Nature.

We Manipulate the environment we use to best suit our desire to Climb. We have no more right to do so than anyone else.

glad you Appreciate the dichotomy. I hate hypocrisy 7;^)

In reply to needvert:

What grade is 3ps?

It was far better in my day.

I could do that with half the gear and only wearing a cloth cap.

Top roping is baaaad.

How to train.

and fantastic venue information - I've been on some great holidays thanks to information I have got from here...

In reply to needvert: Is TPS HVS or E1 ! Used to try to count the HVS/E1 votes but lost the will to live after a while!

In reply to needvert:

oh and bolts...

In reply to needvert:

all boulderers wear beanies.

In reply to needvert: Oh an people taking seemingly trivial threads and trying to hammer again their point about something else.

In reply to puppythedog:

Aint that a bitch!

Dont you just hate that shit 7;^)

In reply to Choss: We are part of nature.

In reply to 1poundSOCKS:

Plenty of ecological scientists would disagree. Depends whether you Take an anthropocentric or ecocentric philosophical view of humanity?

Dont wanna argue a Point on a LightHearted thread, but fair go to answer Critics of my input i think.

In reply to Choss: Scientists love to categorize things, and love to argue about it endlessly.

I don't dislike what you said at all, I just don't think considering that a natural environment can ever be closed system, on which we have no impact, is some kind of ideal.

In reply to 1poundSOCKS: Chickens.

In reply to johncook:

vs

In reply to needvert:
Tribal warfare.

One type of climb, climbing, climber, protection, gear, guide book, website etc is exclusively better than another.

The big guns using ammunition loaded with stories, emotions, opinions and even waffle appear to be more powerful than the swords of scrutiny, fact or logic.

In reply to MikeYouCanClimb:


So... Pretty representative of society as a whole then?

In reply to Choss:

You mean like people building or expanding cities and roads? The damage climbing does to the environment is insignificant compared to mass building projects, do you really see a climber brushing a new route of lichen as being as damaging as building the M1, or the M6, or Birmingham?

In reply to Timmd: Eggs?

In reply to Al Evans:

Doubtful given that Choss said "similar". He probably is referring to geology students chipping rock on field trips.

In reply to Al Evans: That reminds me about a video I saw of Ron Kauk, basically about the U.S. park service attacking climbing for it's environment impact in Yosemite, whereas they'd built a new tunnel and road into Yosemite to get even more tourists in. They're motivations are pretty obvious.

In reply to needvert:

Invalidation of "the full tick" due to use of side runners and/or mats.

Endless debate over whether someone can claim a ground-up because on one retreat downclimb they may have accidentally weighted a bit of pro

Even less love for tri-cams than for Gri-Gris

In reply to Al Evans:

I wasnt referring to Large infrastructure Projects.

But over the years i have seen Lichens, Mosses, flowering plants, trees, rocks, etc removed by Climbers. As well as Several downed birds nests, and a bees nests Knocked down. Erosion of crags, and footpaths, rope grooves in trees and soft rock. litter of all Kinds, human faeces. And why do you think fulmars puke on Climbers? because they are being stressed by their Presence.

I do consider these more Damaging than a bit of graffiti, or a small ecologically Unimportant toppled old rock.

I Climb because i enjoy it. It has an Undeniable impact.

The Point i made was how on the forum, there is a Moral disconnect between Climbers Perceptions of their impact on crag Environments, and the impacts of non climbers.

In reply to johncook: You forgot those who think it is E0.

In reply to needvert: Sentiment can win over progress.

(Joe Brown not placing a chock stone on Right Eliminate, and then lots of people wanting one to be in the route...)

In reply to needvert:

Pedantry


"Aversion"

In reply to 1poundSOCKS:

"Their"

In reply to Choss:

I'll follow on from Martin above -

....and the random, odd use of capital letters. I know it's irrelevant to the discussion which are interesting by the way), but as someone of a certain age who had the Queen's English beaten into me, it's distracting me from your point

In reply to needvert:

Grammar. ^

In reply to johncook:

It's soft HVS!

Another UKCism - old people complaining about grade creep and young people celebrating grade creep.

In reply to Jimbo C:

I find i have to go through modern guidebooks i buy, downgrading everything to its Proper grade by about 2 grades on average.

In reply to JohnnyW:

yEAh, i HaTe thAt toO.

But what have you done on... no wait, that truly is annoying!

In reply to Martin W:

Only one mistake? Not bad by my standards!

In reply to needvert:

Is it still an onsight if I thought I heard someone in the pub talking about the route although it might have been about something else entirely and all I heard was 'it's aaard'

In reply to pasbury: Just a flash I'm afraid, unless you're a famous climber and the sponsors want a proper onsight to report.

In reply to needvert: Cheap. Cheap Eastern European diesels with 150k on the clock.
Hate bolts. Except on holiday.
Agonise over the minutiae of gear and racking. And belays.
Don't see the point of climbing walls or training. Climb Severe.
Don't see the point of bouldering. Climb Severe.
Think Arcteryx is talking crazy money
Like a nice comfy, wear all day climbing shoe. And socks. And Ron Hills.

In reply to needvert:

A failure to celebrate difference.... do we really want to all be exactly the same?:

Fitter Happier
post productive
comfortable
not swearing too much
regular exercise at the fit club (3 days a week)
getting on better with UKContemporaries
at ease
reading well (no more black and white pages and sketched crags)
a patient better poster
a safer avatar (baby smiling in back seat)
sleeping well (no bad dreams)
no paranoia
careful to all animal shots (never washing spider pics down the plughole)
keep in contact with old cams (enjoy a deep sink now and then)
will frequently wreck credit at (immoral) UKB (soul in fall)
favours for favours
fond but not in love
charity standing orders
on sundays ring road wall-plastic
(no killing moths or putting boiling water on the ants)
car wash (also on sundays)
no longer afraid of the shark
or midday wad'os
nothing so ridiculously teenage and desperate
nothing so childish
at a better pace
slower and more calculated
all chance of escape
now self-belayed
concerned (but POWER-less)
an empowered and informed member of UKCity (pragmatism not idealism)
will not cry in pub (sic)
less chance of illness
fires that grip in the wet (shot of baby strapped in back seat)
a good memory
still cries at a good film
still 'kisses' with some dynos
no longer empty and frantic
like a rack
tied to a stick
that's driven into
frozen winter shit (the ability to laugh at weakness)
calm
fitter, healthier and post productive
a gig
on a page
on antibiotics


(Apologies to Radiohead)