In reply to Alan James - UKC:
> (In reply to JRG)
> [...]
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> Here is a section from chapter 8:
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> The mind and gear
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> Climbing protection has two roles to play - physically, it is there to stop our falls, but it also provides psychological support in spurring us on. An attempt is more likely to end because we aren’t happy with the protection than because we physically can’t do the next move. Often, it is psychologically advantageous to place more protection than is strictly needed in order to boost our mental morale, whether the physical cost of placing the extra protection is worth paying is a matter of judgement.
>
> Anyone who has climbed with marginal protection will testify that what seems crazy from the comfort of flat earth, may make complete sense when you’re runout on the lead. Placing protection that is barely able to support the weight of the quickdraw you’ve clipped to it clearly isn’t a good idea from a ‘fall arrest’ perspective, but often, the mere act of having a rope leading upwards rather than downwards, and the visual impact of having something clipped is enough to get you through a bold section and out of trouble. Needless to say, ‘psychological protection’ is something that requires a calculated approach, though once in a while, it actually holds.
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> The book has a very broad appeal. We have designed it to be useful right though your climbing career, but that inevitably means that it will contain stuff that isn't useful for everyone at the same time.
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> Alan
This probably means I will have to read it otherwise I get shot down - nevertheless, when some of us started climbing there was little by way of advice and so we asked someone we knew to take us climbing or went to a crag and watched what happened etc etc (twangs braces). On a route, if we were terrified we placed more gear, if we could (and if we had anything that fitted). If we could not we either retreated or climbed out (or died messily). We did not need telling.
The impression given is that somehow, by reducing an essentially silly but worthwhile activity to a set of cartoons and stating the obvious makes climbing something that Tom, Dick and Jenny can easily take up safely. I have no problem with folks having a go - I did. My problem is with yet another book that seems to add little, however admirable its aims and however eminent a climber the author.
I certainly cannot claim to know it all (and only a fool would) though I am amused by the changing fashions in climbing technique. The fact remains that some people are not equipped, either psychologically or physically, to do anything remotely difficult or dangerous. They should not be encouraged. Those who are so equipped do not need jolly cartoons.