UKC

Too much negativity (dude)

I know I'm taking the risk of sounding like a stoned hippie here but, no I ain't trippin'... dude, what's up with all the negativity in the climbing media world (man...)? Where's the love? ;)
It seems most of us have a hard time recognizing the great achievements that difficult ascents are, without having to find some technicality, such as grade, style, gear etc to question. Maybe it's only human and thus about jealousy and I'm not saying we shouldn't discuss grades or style, but lately, perhaps more than ever, the emphasis has been almost entirely on these technicalities it seems. Instead of acknowledging a stellar performance, we, as a collective, kind of belittle it... Inevitably, this leads to many people shying away from grading their FA's or commenting on the grade, cause they know it's more than likely they'll get their suggestion shoved back in their face if they're "wrong". And yes, as usual, you could accuse me of being a hypocrite, but who ain't?
E-grade, V-grade or French grade... the physical difficulty is still the same and it doesn't change regardless of which grading system you choose. I mean, I'm 195cm, using feet and inches won't change my height. Same thing.
Anyway, I'm tired of this, so from now on I vow to, in my reporting, try to focus a lot more on finding interesting information on things like the characteristics of the climb, how the climber experienced it, the history...etc. Of course, it won't always be possible to find this information, but I'll try.
This said, I'll still discuss grades. It's way too fun to quit, but let's leave the up- or down grading to the people who've actually done the routes or boulders instead of trying to get ahead of the process.

This post has been read 1,462 times

Return to Latest News


28 Sep, 2009
I am the "ring leader"?! I think not, but if there's any truth in that statement, I'd better change.
Loading Notifications...
Facebook Twitter Copy Email