In reply to UKC Articles:
I don't think this article is healthy for climbing, climbers or UKC. If it was a thread (and maybe a little shorter), I would assume it was a troll.
- "Being short is not an excuse, but here I am complaining that being short is the reason some moves are difficult" is just nonsense.
- Finding routes that don't suit your style and trying them anyway might be demotivating because it makes you feel crap. That's your ego talking. If your aim is to progress (and the author has referenced that as the aim in the article) and become a more rounded and able climber then climbing routes that tax your technique, strength, flexibility and endurance are all needed. If you avoid every climb that feels awkward or hard for you, you are only stunting your own progress. If your goal is to go to the wall for some exercise and progression isn't a priority, by all means climb routes by the setter you like (which btw is very much an individual thing, different people prefer routes by different setters, depending on their style, a broad brush "men set reachy/too technical easy routes" is just sexist nonsense).
- I remember a route setter who was frequently accused of setting reachy routes despite being about 5'4". "the next hold is too far away" is a crutch that holds people back and this article just enables that.
- Obviously the writer's experience will be unique but to compare my experience of climbing in the time she was young; people already came from all different walks of life. One of the few things I can wholeheartedly agree with is the suggestion that a better balance of genders among route setters would be a good thing.
- Stopped progress is the plateau effect that every climber has to deal with at some stage if they want to continue to progress, it can happen for a variety of reasons and it is really hard to escape from. I would strongly recommend that the author read around this feature as it sounds like (within the limits of what I can ascertain from the article) that she has externalised the cause of her plateau to reachy routes. Dave Mac has some really excellent advice in his book 9 out of 10 climbers make the same mistakes.
- A smear is a technique that involves using a foot where no hold is available, this might be a technique that could help the author to avoid some of the jumps she refers to.
- A good route/problem tester should be able to give feedback about whether moves are too long without needing themselves to be very small, it appears the author is unaware of this.
- Someone once told me that nothing anyone ever says before the word "but" really counts. Congratulations on writing an article with 25 buts, most of which seem to have been employed with the aim not of diversifying the range of climbs available but of pressuring route setters to set all their climbs in the style the author is most fond of.
BUT (hahaha...)
- Bad route setters do exist. So do bad teachers, bad lawyers, bad accountants.... The solution is professional progress with route-setting abilities as the author suggests, having a wider range of setters also helps. The lens the author has brought to this article however is so very narrow, focussing on a single feature of route setting about which she has a particular bugbear and as such I find it to be wanting.