On 13/09/2016 Tastrad wrote:
>This thread is partly in response to rowans comment about my first ascents.
>
>He said
>>"Well it's just taste I guess. But I found that your self appraisals
>of your first ascents was a state wide running joke when I was in Tassie.
>You have climbed some awesome routes first but not as many as your guide
>books claim. I was told on several occasions whilst at the crag to take
>two stars off any Gerry route in the guide. That was locals beta."
>
>It made me wonder who these locals were, and then I got to thinking whether
>their opinion, or the opinion of interstate visitors like rowan and One
>Day Donkey Boy has any credibility, and is their assessment of a climb
>worth listening to.
>
>I went through my Climb Tasmania guidebook, which has the best 850 routes
>at the 25 best crags and took note of the first ascensionists. I did this
>because it is mainly these people whose opinion I respect when it comes
>to judging a route's quality.
>The first ascensionists have runs on the board, they have done some hard
>yards, scrubbed some climbs, done some exploring, invested in bolts, worked
>the routes and made an effort to develop the sport.
>
>Knowing most of these people, I have found them less likely to be critical
>of a climb, because they know what effort goes into a first ascent. And
>if they are scathing of a route, I take notice because they usually have
>good reason to be, and they also know people are sitting in judgement of
>their climbs. I also respect others opinion to some degree because any
>climber can assess the quality of a climb, but the opinion of first ascensionists
>with runs on the board holds far greater credibility.
>
> Before people claim that I am biased towards my own climbs (which I am
>a bit), this guidebook was a big collaborative effort by the Tasmanian
>climbing community, and the key players were asked to submit lists of the
>best routes and assign star ratings to the climbs. A big plus for the guidebook
>is that there has been very little criticism of the guide because everybody
>down here wanted the guide to succeed and many people were consulted on
>all aspects of the guide especially on which climbs made the selected best
>list. The Climb Tasmania guidebook is now generally accepted as the `go
>to' book documenting the best climbs in the state.
>So who have been the main pioneers of the best routes in Tassie?
>
>Of the 850 climbs selected by a panel of local climbers, 364 of them were
>put up by 4 people; myself, Nick Hanc--k, Bob McMahon and Garry Phillips.
>42% of the classic routes in Tassie were pioneered by these 4 guys.
>Now my old mate Bob has passed away, so that means Nick and Garry are
>the two guys whose opinion on Tassie climbing I respect the most. If they
>think my climb is donkey dick quality, then it probably is.
>
>Expand the list to people who contributed over 20 classics, and you end
>up with only 6 more people and 539 climbs. 63% of the classic routes in
>Tassie were put up by 10 people, guys like Neale Smith, Sam Edwards, Simon
>Parsons, Dr John Fisher (not CJ), Norm Selby and Roger Parkyn. I listen
>to these men because they have done a huge amount of quality development.
>
>Expand the list to people who did the first ascent of ten classics or
>more, and you end up with another 20 people: Bryan Kennedy, Ingvar Lidman,
>Andrew Martin, Doug Fife, Michael Fox, Lyle Closs, Ben Maddison, John Fantini,
>Mick Ling, Kim Carrigan, Danny Ng, Nic Deka, Doug McConnell, Pete Steane,
>Garn Cooper, Simon Young, Phil Bigg, Ian Lewis, Al Williams and the Jackson
>brothers. I have climbed or socialized with most of these people, and if
>they talk about route quality or climbing ethics, I will take note..their
>opinion has weighty credibility.
>
>A few people deserve special mention because of a few singular amazing
>efforts: Jake Bresnehan and Kim Robinson for some very hard climbs, Adam
>Donoghue for his efforts in the Tyndalls, Steve Monks and Simon Mentz and
>John Ewbank for the Totem Pole, and Chris Dewhirst and Dave Neilson for
>pioneering climbs at Frenchmans.
>
>So the locals that Rowan spoke to who said to take two stars off my climbs..if
>they are not some of the people I have listed above, then their opinion
>has little credibility in my opinion. Which probably leads into another
>potential thread..I hate the star rating system..it is too subjective and
>results in many excellent climbs of 1 or 2 star rating being neglected,
>because everybody only wants to climb 3 star routes (hint: want to climb
>3 stars? Just look for G.Narkowicz FA in the guidebook)
>
This iz gunnaB anutha 3 star shred 4sure!
So if i put up a heap of shit routes then i get good at assessing shit?
An can then tell the world itz not shit?
Nar. Even my friend ed would say i need a bigga yardstick than that.
Choky don't need anotha dogz at cragz shred whileva we have dogz with bones shreds 2 distract us here. |