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Norman Claude
climber
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Topic Author's Original Post - Jun 20, 2010 - 12:16am PT
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The sponsored athlete can be a despised, revered, icon. I’m jealous of the life of ease. I want to ski powder all day, get fed peeled grapes and do stuff with girls all night. And please, video coverage when I climb the Nutcracker. Maybe a documentary of me on Royal Arches. Cameras rolling and the groupies waiting at the catered lunch.
But the times are tough. Budgets are cinching up. Marketing wonders why the blank it’s paying these free loaders a dime.
Well here’s why it’s worth the rubbed and polished dime. An athlete can feel the pop or the dull nothing at the end of a carve. The athlete can feel the extra nano ounce of strength it takes to pull back the cams to get a placement as the jams turn to jelly.
And that’s important data. It leads to products that are just hands down better. But here’s what’s also important. The world would be a way worse place if Croft couldn’t find his moves worrying where his next pound of Peet’s was coming from, or Lonnie Kauk had to lose his dream line washing dishes.
If you’ve ever had the chance to climb, ski or shoot the breeze with these artists you know there’s something going on that you can’t match, but damn if you don’t hope some of it rubs off.
Art brings life to life. And that needs a buck in the hat. That buck is hard to find these days. “It is thus” as some dude once said.
Hear this corporate world: we appreciate you keeping the game and the art going.
Thanks. It matters.
Claude Fiddler
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Brian More
climber
Rancho Palos Verdes, CA
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Jun 20, 2010 - 01:24am PT
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Yes, sponsor all...
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Captain...or Skully
Social climber
Aw, Pshaw, you wouldn't even understand....
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Jun 20, 2010 - 02:01am PT
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Or NONE.
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Scared Silly
Trad climber
UT
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Jun 20, 2010 - 12:21pm PT
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Most of those being sponsored are not athletes. The word athlete came into play to give both the company and those being sponsor some air of legitimacy. Why? cause being a professional wanker just does not have the same ring so they are now professional athletes who wank. Now there is nothing wrong with being a wanker, I mean we all love to wank and I have friends who are wankers and are being paid to wank but let calls a wanker a wanker and not hide it under the covers.
Now lets talk about all this "extreme" BS. It what they are doing that extreme? Not really. Again just another way to get yourself noted. If you want to talk extreme - how about the first nude snow board circumnavigation of the South Pole while singing "God Save the Queen". Now that is extreme.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Jun 20, 2010 - 01:27pm PT
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As my brother and friends so nicely put it, everyone's a guide.
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wack-N-dangle
Gym climber
the ground up
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Jun 20, 2010 - 01:29pm PT
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Wow! Not to sound too much like a groupie, but thanks for posting here Claude. I admire your climbing and photography. Also, when I ran into you at the Mammoth Mall about 15 years ago, I appreciated you casually taking a minute to chat. I wish I would have bought one of your cibachrome prints, but it was a stretch on lift operator wages.
wildernesslight.com
It seems that the character of celebrity athletes gets unduly distorted. The humble and accomplished are sometimes exaggeratedly lionized, and those prone to poor tempers or a maniacal focus can be slandered and villified. They're just people. Still, their feats inspire. Finally, doing more with less can sometimes be that much more impressive. Relatively, "professional" climbers receive a pittance. In the past, this was more true. I think climbing loses something without a little dirtbag cred and suffering.
Also, did anyone start a welcome thread for Claude? It looks like he has been here for a while. I'm not anyone to do it. Still, I'm sure that many of his partners in crime post here and have a story to tell.
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| Messages 1 - 7 of total 7 in this topic |
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