"Fashion and trends and crowd following and suddenly a once mystical area is swamped by hordes of braying Londoners and Brummies, gangs of students and beginners who can't resist the newly bolted 4+ slabs, girls who like crimpy bloody slabs, and vapid UKC sheep full of internet information and empty in soul and spirit, all queuing for routes and blethering on about their latest big ticks and big numbers"
And its this unwieldy sentence I wanted to bring to your attention. I see this more and more, and I dont like it. The people I see coming into climbing aren't climbers, they're consumers. They're not in it for the right reasons, they're doing it for misplaced reasons of kudos and in the particular example I'm thinking of, to garner sponsorship, in the mistaken belief (one presumes) that there is money to be made :
"Anway,(sic) if you are a company, i will attempt to onsight simbas pride, for a sponsership? Or just break my legs for you......Please..or snap some fingers? /....Anything!!"
It just all seems particularly avaricious. I grant you, I had delusions of grandeur as a youth but theres something quite distasteful about voicing such aims publically. Before I go and leave you in peace, I find people writing about climbs and including the grade after the problem name galling too. For instance "I went and did XXXX v27, then nearly flashed YYYY v15", its saying 'look at me, look at how good I am! this is the level I'm at - fuck you' and theres no need for it. IF you are writing a guidebook - put the grades in, if you're talking about your day out its not necessary.
10 comments:
Even more annoying, over confidence for the future..
"I reckon 9a/+ sport, as for bouldering, i have no idea as i'm not very good at it compared to sport... Perhaps V13? But i'm more of an onsighter and i reckon i could onsight 8b+/c one day... Gotta get training!!!"
Bunch of cocks.
Thanks for the post :) Put our hits up pretty sweet aha! i think you need to chill.relax (chillax) abit. We are not all "cocks" at all, and we are just doing our own thing. My profile is obviously NOT true aha, but its funny how it worked up , i dont climb for money at all! How the hell do i make money from climbing ha, it costs me around 20 pound per session! I climb for my own experiences, and adventures, and with friends, And the flow, and movement, My climbing is about sleeping in grotty limestone caves with only a train ticket home!
The Bouldering tense seem pretty tense at the moment, a lot of people being bitchy about what my mate HAS climbed!But everyone needs to just respect each other, and act like what you call "climbers" Which we are definitely climbers!I dont intend to ever really get sponsored, if i do then that's nice, it will help abit.
Don't despise our site, and the fact where doing our own thing, it is new, and abit wooh! But that's good!Were psyched! And official climbing bums! that's what the UK climbing scene needs, some proper psyched people who don't go around bitching.
take it easy
The Bouldering "scene" i ment
I don’t think anyone has a problem with ‘psyched young climbers’. What is annoying is a group of youngsters going on about how they can climb this grade or that and proclaiming that they are what climbing needs and the great future of climbing. It is not really your place to make these statements about your ‘group’. I feel the climbing community is one where you, quite rightly, start at the bottom and work your way up, earning the respect of others by quietly listening, learning and taking on board what better and more experienced climbers have to say. Jumping straight in and saying that you’re the future is a little rich really and, in my eyes, makes it appear that you think you already know better than anyone else. I don’t think any of today’s top climbers got where they are by going round shouting about themselves and their achievements, they just got on with their climbing and let the praise and compliments come from others, rather than showering them upon themselves. Maybe the subtle, humble approach is one you might find more successful…and popular…
"I don’t think any of today’s top climbers got where they are by going round shouting about themselves"
... Jerry wasn't into modesty, though he had a sense of humor. And he really was the best. "Only three people can pull on those holds: me, myself and I" - what a guy.
Gareth whomever you are - this is the nail on the head. I didnt articulate very well what I meant, which was that the lack of humility really grates on me and all the others who've put in so much soul, sweat and tears into getting where we are, whilst posts and commentary such as yours Brandon appears to belittle all that we've trained so hard to get.
It just seems like you and your gang have divorced yourselves from reality, you seem to have no idea what it takes to get to the level you're aiming for. I'm not saying you shouldnt aim for the top, but approach it with respect for others. If you are the best then its fine to say so, if you're not then saying you are gonna be makes you a wannabe.
How did the move to Sheffield go Copley's? Pleasant sessions at the works etc?
The move to Sheffield, well it hasn't happend yet, becuase I don't really know what I am doing, I may be moving to NZ, but I jsut don't know yet. But for now i'm making my wall into a cave. And Dobbin, I don't know who you are, but that shoudn't really make a difference anyway, but, I don't think I've met anyone that climbs, for money, firstly becuase, escpecially in the UK it is kind of impossible to make decent money from it and I think even most beginners are aware of this when they start that they won't get rich from it, if they do make it to the top levels. Me or my brother don't think we are ''the future'', we just have some goals that we would like to achieve, and talking about them with my mates gets me psyched to train. And as for spending years gradually earning ''respect'' from people, well, that ain't really what I climb for to be honest. One last thing, if you do have a problem with me or anything you can email me anytime, becuase I don't really ever come onto your blog to check what your write, unlike some people which seem to constantly check my blog and www.red-tips.com to see if I've wrote anything that they might be able to make themselves get mad at and do their own little blog post to show how angry they are.
p.s. Hopefully there will be a video soon which will help resolve some problems on the internet.
Post a Comment