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General Climbing Discussion

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themouseyponders.... 11-Nov-2004 At 10:21:13 AM adamk

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I think each individual develops a climbing philosphy that can be influenced by many and varied factors. Dividing climbing up into adventure and 'shiny clippers' perhaps only serves to denegrate and divide the climbing family. In my own case physical limitations mean that i will never climb high twenty graded sport climbs. However the couple of climbing apprentices i have had who have climbing abilites far beyond mine i encourage to see trad and sport as a slightly different means of achieving the same purposes and that is to have fun getting to the top of a rock in a way that challenges you and extends you...same with soloing, bouldering whateva. Moving beyond the whole oldschool nuts versus bolts argument i think the whole idea of a climbing apprenticeship is fantastic in a philosophical sense particularly if a 'grommet' has many wise masters that enables them to develop a well rounded narrative of what climbing is about.
I love reading articles about Claw, Shepard etc because it shapes my philosophy and in turn those i climb with. Shepard talks about the environment and i start to think about descent gullys and next time i'm at Araps grommet and i discuss the merits of walk off's versus rap offs. Apprenticing climbers is like a whole pay it forward process that keeps the climbing community...as climbers and as human beings...moving forward and growing.