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Pioneers of Tassie's Best Climbs 15-Sep-2016 At 2:37:44 PM Tastrad

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Tristosterone says many of my climbs were a waste of time..maybe for you mate to repeat them, but definitely not for me..I have exhiliarated with every new climb. Thanks for the compliment re the guide. One Day Donkey Boy reckons I slipped up with Blackwood Rocks...its the best sandstone crag in Tassie..but that's not saying much as it is a bit sandy..buts lots of people have appreciated well bolted moderate sport routes, and developing it was two years worth of great fun. Over-rated star quality..take 2 stars off my climbs? A couple of issues here..basically I climb in a crew of 4 people who are new routing every single time we climb..so yes, its a bit of a bubble and we judge the quality of our own climbs and we write them up..so when they haven't had a repeat or only a couple of ascents by our mates, the stars could be out of wack..plus one does tend to be enthusiastic when the latest project goes down as a lot of time and effort has been invested. Nevertheless, our small crew has climbed all over the world and people like Ingvar Lidman know what a quality climb is. Some of the people I mentioned said take some stars off Gerry's routes..good..bring me back to earth a bit..on the other hand, it was funny to see Garry and Nick stripping stars off one another's climbs. Which is why the whole star system is subjective bullshit, and some very good climbs gather cobwebs and grass because people gravitate to the 3 star routes. I deliberately wrote the first edition of Climb Tasmania in 2005 with no star ratings, because as a selected best climbs guide, I thought it was obvious that every climb in there would be a winner..but no..people want stars. There are no women on the list because no women have contributed classic new routes to Tasmania, except maybe Heather Hankock.. But I would listen to someone like Liz Oh if she commented on a climb, because she has runs on the board in terms of impressive leads of climbs of all types from hard sport, multi-pitch, scary trad,and she travels widely to most crags and lets her climbing do the talking. I listen to Jed Parkes, though he hasn't done many new routes I know of..but nevertheless, he is out every weekend travelling to cliffs all over the state and is not afraid to shirk the issue and gets on climbs of all types and grades. So you don't have to be a men of the ben, but nevertheless, for me its the route developers and the people who have heavily invested in a place,that have the most credence when it comes to judging a climb's quality..so if a fly by night like One Day Donkey Boy, or a bottom feeder like tristosterone comes through and says lots of climbs and whole crags are shit..thats their opinion..sorry to waste your time..but I won't listen to your opinion and you can both join in a threesome with the nearest donkey.