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climber mag 3-Sep-2006 At 10:51:20 AM PreferKnitting

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On 22/08/2006 crazyjohn wrote:
>Funny you mention this fashion advice in the Uk mag. Its in the US Climbing
>magazine as well. Its a little picture of "whats hot and whats not" in
>the bottom corner of a one page story on the consumate climbing bum Chongo
>Chuck who was just found guilty of illegally living in Yosemite. This one
>page illustrates a big split in climbers, at least in the states where
>there is more of a divide between the haves and the dirt poor... Its basically
>a look at the dichotomy in climbing between the yuppy/professional/rich/trendy/lifestyler
>climbers vs. the too busy climbing to work/eat/worry about freakin fashion/dirtbag/climbin
> bums. Most bums probably wouldnt be reading the magazine anyway... I was
>reading it at the library while printing online topos and checking out
>the local climbing guides. Guess I tipped my hand as to what side I fall
>in.

I thought that the article about 'what's hot and not' was strange because it seemed to empoly a technique that magazines like Cleo or Cosmo use to herald and tell readers what is in and out per month- that idea alone is another discussion of it's own. But in a climbing magazine shouldn't the focus be on, well, climbing? And to read that jeans are 'so in darling' seems even more offensive and trit and irrelevent in a climbing magazine. Climbing magz need to refocus and delve deep to find more worthy articles that could have taken up that space, because there are worthy and interesting articles out there.

As for the possible upcoming debate about 'what constitutes a climber and how you distinguish them from 'fake climbers' - well all I can say is, climbers are a bunch of misfits and therefeor a single definition would be hard to come by. Climbers with money and those climbers without are just one subcategory taht exists. But i dno't think money is the defining factor.

the article about Chongo Chuck and his outcome is unfortunate and I think his situation is an inadvertent result of parks bodies trying to protect the national park and control the number of people in it.

I'm glad i live in australia far from the yosemite circus.