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General Climbing Discussion

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Havachatwithhexy... 3-Mar-2005 At 12:28:30 AM Onsight

Message

On 2/03/2005 simey wrote:
>Like I said, I don't have a problem with the mainstream media reporting
>climbing and climbers trying to make a buck out of climbing.
>
>But the idea that climbing needs mainstream coverage to gain credibility
>isn't necessary. And although this might sound selfish, I really don't
>care if the top climbers in the country get free airfares to compete in
>some overseas event, or to tackle some big mountain, particularly when
>the rest of the climbing population work their butts off to realise their
>climbing dreams. In fact I would rather see an all-expenses paid climbing
>trip given to some VCC member
Fair enough but as far as sponsorship is concerned then I think the "why not" question still applies. It’s not so much a problem of sponsorships being misdirected but of some companies doing sweet f**k all. If there are decent sized companies making significant money out of climbing, either directly or indirectly, then don't you think they have some sort of "moral obligation" to "put something back in" and that sponsorships of climbers who represent the sport in meaningful ways is one (of several) valid ways that they could do that?

On 2/03/2005 simey wrote:
>... particularly when
>the rest of the climbing population work their butts off to realise their
>climbing dreams.
I agree with what you were saying, to a fair extend, but I think this is where we might differ a bit. If you’re a top climber – a highly dedicated climber – then I think it's entirely natural you’d want to look for practical ways whereby you can get the opportunity to progress your own climbing further, or simply do more of it, or to tackle bigger and/or more distant challenges that might be more costly than normal! If in the process they are also helping progress climbing in a meaningful way and/or representing the best aspects of the “sport”, then I’d be real happy to see more of them get the opportunity. I’d agree though that if all you’re going to do is compete overseas then its value in itself is highly questionable. And I’m sure there are things that some climbers could do to progress their own climbing, or the “sport”, that certainly don’t require sponsorship.

>I don't think 3AW talking about James Kassay winning some bouldering comp
>contributes anything meaningful to the world of climbing.
That’s an entirely hypothetical example of course and probably best to leave names out of it anyway…
But other than that I’d agree. Someone talking about winning a bouldering comp is possibly just going to make climbing sound like a boring one-dimensional activity and give the impression it’s about “winners” and “losers” as opposed to etc etc. But if on the other hand – as Tel suggests – they can articulate about things like
>climbing past
>and present
in a knowledgeable and interesting way – which shows appreciation of their place in that history — then of course by all means go for it. From what I’ve seen it’s not always going to be like that though.

Anyway, thanks for the inspiration above Hex. I’m going to try surfing this weekend – thought I’d see what all the fuss is about. BTW, surfing has, or at least had, a similar culture to climbing right? Could be interesting…