UKC

Does Hard Climbing Matter?

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 Michael Ryan 28 Nov 2012
I’ve been recently thinking about whether climbing hard matters. Now, before you go and make that annoying relativistic argument that of course it doesn’t matter because climbing isn’t important because it’s not curing cancer or stopping global climate change, let’s just accept that by that logic nothing ever matters because we all end up dead anyway. Over 107 billion people have been born on earth and not one single person has ever made it out of here alive, so just forget about even trying.

Neat how the Andrew Bisharat can turn a piece about Chris Sharma and the '500 or more 5.14c-crushing locals' into piece about the meaning of life.

http://www.rockandice.com/news/2372-tnb-does-hard-climbing-matter
 walts4 28 Nov 2012
In reply to Mick Ryan - UKC and UKH:

Reasonable article, but on the same link, there is access to the North American accident reports which are fairly thought provoking.

Although the incident of the climber being attacked & stung by bees over a 1000 times brought tears to my eyes!
 Fraser 28 Nov 2012
In reply to Mick Ryan - UKC and UKH:
>
> Neat how the Andrew Bisharat can turn a piece about Chris Sharma and the '500 or more 5.14c-crushing locals' into piece about the meaning of life.

Apologies for the minor pedantic insert. What the article actually says is: "He was your average 5.14c-crushing local. I asked him how many people in Spain can climb 5.14b. He said he didn’t know, maybe 500 or more."
 bluesharper 28 Nov 2012
In reply to Mick Ryan - UKC and UKH:

I should probably thank Andrew for his comments and you Mick for bringing it to the forum.
The part about meaning of things in the face of death was paradoxically very refreshing to my thinking
Although my conclusions are completely different as I'm a Catholic and I believe in eternal life.
So I think climbing hard can be important in some circumstances. But it has to be in the correct place in the hierarchy.
I'm still strugling with finding this place and putting my climbing there.
In a way I'm more in the 'everything matters' camp.

On another note:

These 35 5.14b and higher climbers in a town of 6000 also make me think.
To be honest I'm not sure I can comprehend fully how they achieve it.
But I would like to know how
 Kemics 28 Nov 2012
In reply to bluesharper:

everyone be calm, this thread is about to be hijacked by a religious debate.

The only thing certain is uncertainty. No one comes back from the dead (as in brain dead not heart stopped and then resuscitated thankyouverymuch) so no one can tell us what comes next. Anyone who tries is either lying or guessing.

Does hard climbing matter? No. Not more or less than anything else, the only thing is do you enjoy it. If you enjoy climbing hard then yes?

 Nick Russell 28 Nov 2012
In reply to Kemics:
> (In reply to bluesharper)
>
> The only thing certain is uncertainty.

I thought the only certainties are death and taxes
 Kemics 28 Nov 2012
In reply to Nick Russell:

clearly you've never worked on a building site :P
In reply to Mick Ryan - UKC and UKH:

It matters if you are not achieving a grade that you think is attainable for you. It is sometimes surprising what people are capable of. I was surprised when one of my climbing partners managed 8a which I haven't tried and we are fairly similar.
 Mark Kemball 28 Nov 2012
In reply to Mick Ryan - UKC and UKH: When anyone asks me what is the point of climbing, I say it's completely pointless, as pointless as trying to kick a ball between two sticks.
 John H Bull 28 Nov 2012
In reply to Mark Kemball:
I always say the most pointless things are the most enjoyable. Works every time.
ice.solo 28 Nov 2012
In reply to Mick Ryan - UKC and UKH:

hard climbing matters in the same way threesomes do; you may not be doing it yourself, but it gives direction to the aspirations and standards of many.

stagnation is a terrible thing.
 henwardian 29 Nov 2012
In reply to Mick Ryan - UKC and UKH:
> Over 107 billion people have been born on earth and not one single person has ever made it out of here alive, so just forget about even trying.

a bit over 500 people did actually :P
 paul mitchell 07 Dec 2012
In reply to Mick Ryan - UKC and UKH: No,hard climbing does not matter.
Climbing is a personal matter and one attributes to it what one wants.
However,having the access to climb DOES matter.Usually the harder one climbs the more one bores/terrifies one's partner.

As for zillions of people doing hard bolt climbs,so what?
Bolts bring the level of the climb down to an 'acceptable' level of risk.
Then it is just a matter of strength and patience.Climbing junk food.
Revelations has been soloed,so we could say that bolt climbs give the best a chance to solo hard.Such solos may impress us,but hard climbing is not important.
Where are the queues for Indian Face?


Mitch

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