UKC

USA climber Ethan Pringle is having a fabulous year climbing. He recently repeated Sonnie Trotter's route The Path 5.14 R (UKC news report) and is making good progress on Chris Sharma's Dream Catcher (5.14d/9a) also at Squamish, which he has been working in tandem with Cobra Crack.

Report: http://www.ukclimbing.com/news/older.html?month=08&year=2008#n45263

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:
well done to him!!!

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

Mick, sorry if I am exhibiting enormous ignorance here, but has Ethan established many of his own routes? I generally hear about him on other people's (especially Sharma's - e.g. Es Pontas, Realization, the monster project at Clark Mountain etc.), but appreciate that this may be a skewed perspective.

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:


A bit of pedantry: your use of the word headwall is rather misleading (was it cut and paste from a Dumbarton news item?). The Cirque of the Uncrackables is a crag structured in a way that would be recognisable to Brits as an 'edge' ... the routes are single-pitch and all of similar length, the crag is wider than it is tall and there's a path along the base. A headwall implies to me a wall that caps a lower face (c.f The Salathe Headwall on El Cap). The Cobra is just a continuous crack, though an awesomely steep and perfect one. I hiked up to it two weeks ago and was struck by two things: 1. it's a very long uphill slog to get there, which must be daunting for stick-insects like Ethan Pringle adopting it as a project, 2. despite all the recent attention the crag remains in pristine condition ... just chalk on the crack and a photographer's sling high in a nearby tree.

In reply to TRNovice:

i think he is travelling around repeating the world's hardest test pieces....that seems to be his thing atm not first ascents.

i think he has got a bit of stick for this which i don't think is justified.

In reply to tobyfk:

I ran into Ethan in the Astroman cave in Mallorca last year and he didnt strike me as a stick insect, he just looked annoyingly fit, something he demonstrated a moment later by warming up on Astroman making it look about 6a.

In reply to tobyfk:

Thanks Toby.

Mick

In reply to Richard Horn:

OK, bit of an assumption by me there not to mention lazy use of a tired cliche. Anyway, it's a long walk ... further than Ceuse but perhaps a little shorter than Cloggy.

In reply to Morgan Woods:

Wonder where rumours like this emerge from?One word can explain this perhaps...jealousy.

In reply to Morgan Woods:

I'm more than aware of the comments about this, which is why I tried to phrase my request for information neutrally. It is not an unreasonable question, and any criticism is probably mostly in the eye of the beholder.

In reply to witnessthis:

What's wrong with repeating some of the world's hardest routes?

Pringle is a super talented climber making ascents of some of the world's hardest routes in very good style and relatively fast.

Sport, trad, dws and bouldering - one of the world's best.

Best not to get hung up on whether he is doing first ascents.

In reply to TRNovice:

i'm only vaguely aware of such criticisms, it may have been a bit of random spray in ST or Gripped forums.

i can understand why you've phrased your question thus, just not sure why this would be an issue in the first place. FA's need their routes confirmed and by doing repeats you can get more done in a given year.

In reply to Morgan Woods:

The reason for the question (whether this is valid or not is another matter) is that us humans tend to remember firsts. Sure Trotter and McLure on Rhapsody certainly got some attention, but a lot of this was people waiting with baited breath for a grade confirmation or downgrade.

There is also the side issue (cf. http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=306548 for example) of whether repeats are truly as hard as FAs.

Most top climbers seem to have a desire to stamp their own name on things. Maybe this is a refreshing lack of ego on Pringle's behalf, but (as in most avenues of life) a certain degree of ego tends to go hand-in-hand with top-level achievement.

I just find it interesting.

In reply to TRNovice:

Two Pringle FA's

Fears of Ixcatan, 5.13d/14a (1st ascent), Ixcatan, Mexico

Let the Love Die, 5.14b (first ascent), Black and Tan, Utah

http://www.ethanpringle.com/?page_id=2

He seems a sound bloke from what he writes and he's crushing everything in sight. Awesome.

How anyone could be negative about his achievements is beyond comprehension.

In reply to seagull:

Exactly. It never occured to me that there could ever be any negativity related to travelling the world bagging early ascents of the world's hardest routes.........that was of course before I tuned into UKC

The Ent

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

Thanks Mick .

In reply to seagull:

<standard UKC response>I would be grateful if you could point out the alleged negativity on this thread.</standard UKC response>

In reply to TRNovice:
>

In reply to TRNovice:

What "alleged negativity on this thread"? Morgan Woods said that he's had some stick. I said I can't comprehend why anyone would be negative about his achievements. The post wasn't even directed at anyone so that it couldn't be taken the wrong way.......

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com: ¨

I'm shocked no one has pointed out, that Ethan hasn't done squat on Grit...

In reply to HeMa:

I saw him do a squat on grit a while back. But he was just.....ya know...squatting.

In reply to seagull:

OK - my misundertanding

In reply to Fraser:

>"I saw him do a squat on grit a while back."

Did he mention when he planned to pop along to Dumby for a go at the hard(ish) eliminate there?