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'Pass the Pitons' Pete
Big Wall climber
like Ontario, Canada, eh?
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Topic Author's Original Post - Jan 30, 2011 - 12:01pm PT
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I scarfed this image off Spaz's Facebook.
To me, it is just plain wrong having some dude free climbing - with no rack! - in a big walls guidebook.
Sure, a very small percentage of big wall climbers are up there free climbing, and for a select few it is the Way of the Future.
But the rest of us wankers are out there aid climbing. Wouldn't it be better to have some guy strung out on hooks and heads with a big ass rack of pins and cams? Also, should he knott be climbing above a portaledge bivi with lots of piggage hanging around, with the ground visible far far below, itty bitty trees and little toy cars in El Cap Meadow? Except for the Yosemite rock, this dude could be free climbing most anywhere.
Think of the cover of the Reid guidebook, the photo of Big Wall Pete on the headwall of Sunkist - now that is a big wall climbing photo that really takes hold of you, and makes you want to grab the guidebook off the rack and buy it. It's what big wall climbing on El Cap is all about.
The photo above appears a step backward - "plain vanilla" and entirely forgettable - and makes the front cover of what is certain to be a really great guidebook to be walls look like a FREE CLIMBING GUIDE. And I am thinking that if you want to SELL guidebooks about AID climbing, you probably ought to have a picture on the cover of a guy aid climbing.
"Pass the Pitons" [not the chalkbag] Pete
P.S. The back cover photo ain't bad, though it would be nice to see a guy sitting on a portaledge, instead of dangling in his harness. Any fool can be uncomfortable.
P.S.S. And if you spelled "mantel" as "mantle" anywhere in the book I'm gonna puke... ;)
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mojede
Trad climber
Butte, America
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Jan 30, 2011 - 12:17pm PT
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"Way of the Future"--has a nice little ring to it...
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Adamame
climber
Santa Cruz
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Jan 30, 2011 - 12:20pm PT
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When asked what should be changed in the guidebook on this forum, many responded by saying more free climbing info. Here is the result, Yosemite Big Wall Free Climbs.
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WBraun
climber
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Jan 30, 2011 - 12:20pm PT
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Aid climbing is bondage.
That's what you like Pete.
Free climbing is searching for freedom from bondage ......
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rincon
Trad climber
SoCal
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Jan 30, 2011 - 12:24pm PT
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Write your own book if you don't like it.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Jan 30, 2011 - 12:39pm PT
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Spacepig- Why not just admit that you have no style or imagination at all?
The cesspool of excess that you proudly root around in looking for some scrap of self esteem is truly disgusting to those of us that don't have your pervasive character flaws and committment to utter mediocrity.
PS- Very few climbers have lowered the Captain to your accustomed depths.
PPS- Both spellings are acceptable.
PPPPPPPPPPPPS- What other sort of response are you expecting?
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Jan 30, 2011 - 12:53pm PT
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easy to criticize such a choice,
what would you put on the cover, PtPP?
certainly not a picture of wanking... (for the wankers?)
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Watusi
Social climber
Newport, OR
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Jan 30, 2011 - 01:05pm PT
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As a Graphic Designer I find it quite appealing! :)
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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Jan 30, 2011 - 01:12pm PT
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Sheesh! Art critics. WYODG. (Write your own darn guidebook.)
And as Steve points out, and you should know as a Canadian, the proper spelling is "mantle", although the spelling "mantel", used in the American dialect of English, is also tolerable.
Edit: May have to double-check the OED on that one.
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klk
Trad climber
cali
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Jan 30, 2011 - 01:13pm PT
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Wouldn't it be better to have some guy strung out on hooks and heads with a big ass rack of pins and cams?
no
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hoipolloi
climber
A friends backyard with the neighbors wifi
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Jan 30, 2011 - 01:16pm PT
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Here we go...
As a free climber, I think its awesome to see these topos and photos of free climbing the captain.
As an aid climber, I love to see some great photos of truely bad ass mountain scaleing (hooking, nailing and gnarlyness)
It seems like a constantly growing group of people are free climbing the captain, although it also seems like its a tiny tiny group compared to those on the aid routes. It also seems that the captain is about aid routes, but this may be quickly changing. There are a few free routes, compared to the hundred or so aid routes.
I love aid climbing, its not about it being in 'bondage' or 'being neither,' its about problem solving and technical skills. Its a different game than free climbing. Maybe not for everyone. I like to try to do aid routes as fast as I can, incorporating a high level of physical fitness into the aid game, not just a 2 or 3 pitch a day cruise. I also free climb, a lot, and I love that too, aid climbing has made me a far better free climber. It has given me a strong head and better understanding and confidence with my gear.
ps.
Steve Grossman, you could not think of anything more productive than just name calling? Must it always fall to this on this forum? Fine. You are a jerk. PtPP is far from mediocre, he may have strange style compared to most, but he has a resume of routes to back his style up.
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this just in
climber
north fork
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Jan 30, 2011 - 01:24pm PT
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That cover looks badass!!! They're climbing a big wall, what more do you need? Sure Ammon should of made the cover but he doesn't shave. Wait is that a beard on the cover....
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Jan 30, 2011 - 01:29pm PT
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I would have no problem reading that, even from my aiders.
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waulrat
Big Wall climber
Santa Rosa, CA
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Jan 30, 2011 - 01:29pm PT
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I hear you Pete... big wall book should have a big waller racked up. I want to know where the free climber is going without gear? Whatever picture ends up on the cover doesn't matter to me, as long as there are big wall topos inside. When boulder problems show up in the book then I might gripe about it a bit.
PS, Am I mistaken here, or is that my man Skully on the back cover?
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Haggis
Trad climber
Scotland
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Jan 30, 2011 - 01:37pm PT
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i dont mind the cover but i have a question.
if he is climbing an obviously impressive route - where is his rack?
I mean don't get me wrong i fall off E2 better than the next guy but even I carry a few bits and bobs with me.
to be serious - was the photo staged or the gear pre-placed or the gear pointless or is he just bad ass?
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Jan 30, 2011 - 01:39pm PT
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Hoi- Because of the positions and advice that Pete puts out on this form he gets both barrels whenever I feel like it. We have unfinished business as Beatrix Kiddo would say.
Only a handful of people get my ire on this form and Pete is one of them. If you have followed our little snit, you would already know that.
Style is the technology and tactics employed to meet a particular climbing challenge and Pete is laughably retrograde.
Done anything outstanding yourself?
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Adamame
climber
Santa Cruz
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Jan 30, 2011 - 01:42pm PT
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If you are freeing a bigwall doesn't that still make you a bigwaller? And having been on The Captain with a "free climber" I noted that on many pitches this climber set off with only a hand full of pieces, even on long 5.13 pitches. Isn't it possible that the pictured climber has all their gear hidden on the left side of their harness?
Whoa there Hoi, give Grossman the respect he has earned.
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Haggis
Trad climber
Scotland
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Jan 30, 2011 - 01:49pm PT
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I said nothing about free climbing vs aid climbing and i am scottish so what side of the question do you think i lie???
ive only climbed the cap twice but i doubt very much that i would set off even on the stove legs with less than 4 cams and a draw or two plus some gear for the belay and i wouldn't hang all that one side.
I do however take photographs and I know that gear is very bad for the image and i know the image was taken from above (duh) so.... pre placed or staged or simply hardcore
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cragnshag
Social climber
san joser
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Jan 30, 2011 - 04:01pm PT
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Have to agree with OP. Most folks climbing Yosemite Valley big walls go with the intention of being in aid mode for a good deal of the time. Sure, the "wave of the future" is freeing big walls, but that reality will only be for a select handful of mutants who can climb 5.13. For the rest of us normal folks we typically try to free climb as hard as we can on big walls- because it's fun, faster, and shows good style. And when we can't we go into aid mode.
It seems that everyone is freeing big walls, but that is only because the magazines and the media like to report new and exciting things. In the eyes of the media, there's nothing exciting about Joe six-pack climbing the Salathe Way in mostly aid mode. But guess what- it was exciting to Joe, who bust out of his aiders for the last 40' of 5.10b to the anchors. He will remember that as well as the walls when he is on his third hook in a row.
All that being said, it's not my book, so the authors can put a photo of a lycra clad sport-weenie for all the difference it makes.
My vote would be for a photo of a wall gal, with an enormous rack, hand placing a pecker into a tiny slot. :)
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bluering
Trad climber
Santa Clara, CA
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Jan 30, 2011 - 04:19pm PT
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My vote would be for a photo of a wall gal, with an enormous rack, hand placing a pecker into a tiny slot. :)
Yesss!!!!!
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