Discussion Topic |
|
This thread has been locked |
reddirt
climber
PNW
|
|
|
Oct 20, 2011 - 01:34pm PT
|
Should evangelism cease?
the fundamentalist kind? yes please...
|
|
Hawkeye
climber
State of Mine
|
|
|
Oct 20, 2011 - 03:47pm PT
|
One should not claim to be a modern elite alpinist when rock climbing 5.9 is a challenge. A number of Slovenian alpinists can climb 5.13 off the couch. The most important ingredient in todays elite alpinists is rock climbing ability, not that other factors are not critical.
are you saying that climbing 5.9 was a challenge for mark? and that he was claiiming to be a modern elite alpinist?
i was just curious.
|
|
johnkelley
climber
Anchorage Alaska
|
|
|
Oct 20, 2011 - 04:10pm PT
|
Twight's writting was definently a positive influence in my climbing career.
Renny Jackson's intrest and the information he supplied was a hugh boost for me. The technical knowledge that Jim Beyer shared was another huge one. I learned SO much from him. Charlie Sassara's general stoke and motivation is another one that stands out in my mind.
Donni, not so much. I remember Donni giving me sh#t for wearing a TNF suit in Ouray in the mid 90's. Completely out of the blue and from a complete stranger. I had no money at all in those days and used whatever I could get. I was climbing with Beyer in Box Canyon that day and remember the two Jims talked a while about whatever old guys talked about in the 90s.
|
|
survival
Big Wall climber
A Token of My Extreme
|
|
|
Oct 20, 2011 - 04:13pm PT
|
He's writing about his own fear, not ours.
He's running from himself.
Sure, there's snipets of all of us in there, but I wouldn't trade my wife and kids for all the frozen bivouacs in the world.
He's afraid he might have to commit to something.
He doesn't eat for free all his life, that's for sure.
"You're gonna have to serve somebody.
Yes, you're gonna have to serve somebody"
Bob Dylan
Howzabout some service to the people that care about you and something larger than yourself at the very least?
If you care about no one, you'll die an adventurous lonely man.
|
|
Fat Dad
Trad climber
Los Angeles, CA
|
|
|
Oct 20, 2011 - 04:16pm PT
|
Mark's writing is a breath of fresh air It's a gush of air alright, but I wouldn't call it fresh.
I think Chief hit it on the head. His persona as a writer is probably much different than the man. Good climber; bad writer.
|
|
jogill
climber
Colorado
|
|
|
Oct 20, 2011 - 04:34pm PT
|
civilized life is life-killing
On behalf of the huge proportion of the population falling into this category, I respectfully disagree.
|
|
bit'er ol' guy
climber
the past
|
|
|
Oct 20, 2011 - 04:37pm PT
|
I climbed it with Beckey in '46
|
|
FeelioBabar
Trad climber
One drink ahead of my past.
|
|
|
Oct 20, 2011 - 04:55pm PT
|
just a piece of writing. One man's view. Who cares? and why take it so seriously?
some of you should pen your, "I'm not a sheep, and I love my wholesale, drop shipped, mediocrity" pieces as a rebuttle to this.
that'll show Twight once and for all.
Meet him once.....pretty chill guy it seemed.
|
|
nutjob
Gym climber
Berkeley, CA
|
|
|
Oct 20, 2011 - 05:09pm PT
|
+1 for Survival and Melissa
|
|
Mangy Peasant
Social climber
Riverside, CA
|
|
|
Oct 20, 2011 - 05:32pm PT
|
and how we should all be drinking our own piss and eating our own feces to survive on climbs.....cause that's what REAL climbers do.
Um, that's how I survived my recent lead on Double Cross.
I guess I'm a real climber after all.
BTW: Survival, that was brilliant. Well said!
|
|
rockermike
Trad climber
Berkeley
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Oct 20, 2011 - 06:50pm PT
|
I didn't really intend this thread to be an evaluation of Twight (maybe I miss labeled it), but what's more interesting to me is the choices we face in our life, and how the house, cute kids, and a sweet smelling young wife lure us away from the life of risk, adventure and foul weather (I assume most of us knew that life at least when we were young). I've been on both sides and I can sure say that the corporate cube and family era sure were sad years. Now my wife has long since dumped me (good riddance - ha), my daughter is well launched into her own life, I'm dirt broke and I can't find work - so the wilderness is again my last refuge. Not that I'm a hard-man in any sense of the word, but waking up in a tent and having to break the ice off the creek to get your morning water sure is a different universe from stopping at Starbucks on you way to the office.
Anyway, for myself - I'm supposed to be looking for work right now, but I keep flipping the web browser over to maps of Bolivia - day dreaming of a bike trip, rather than updating my resume and sending out apps. Not sure if I'm off my rocker or reading the universe properly. As Steve Jobs said "live each day like its your last". hmmmm
|
|
Karen
Trad climber
So Cal urban sprawl Hell
|
|
|
Oct 20, 2011 - 07:38pm PT
|
That was how I felt in my twenties, left the culdesac and other hindrances and have not regretted it.
|
|
tolman_paul
Trad climber
Anchorage, AK
|
|
|
Oct 20, 2011 - 07:49pm PT
|
In many ways putting up with the bs of corporate life, and deal with the drudgery of raising a family is a Grade 10, 5.17 X adventure.
So you put yourself on the line, cheat death and do something "rad" in the mountains for a day or two, or maybe a month or two. Then you hit the bar afterwards. Have you changed the world, have you made anyones life better?
Raising kids is something in life that can make a positive difference in the world. You think avoiding risks on a rock is difficult? Trying teaching and mentoring someone in a way that they'll be able to make the proper decisions to keep themselves safe during their entire life.
I'd love to shut off the computer, give the corporate world the finger and head out for an extended road trip. Put myself on the line, ascend many amazing faces. That would be great fun! But I have a repsonsibility, mouths to feed, minds to guide, lives to protect.
Ridiculing those that take the difficult road that has no base of adoring fans is what should be admired, vs. a self centered and self agrandizing life.
|
|
survival
Big Wall climber
A Token of My Extreme
|
|
|
Oct 20, 2011 - 08:12pm PT
|
I'm supposed to be looking for work right now, but I keep flipping the web browser over to maps of Bolivia - day dreaming of a bike trip, rather than updating my resume and sending out apps. Not sure if I'm off my rocker or reading the universe properly. As Steve Jobs said "live each day like its your last". hmmmm
I hear ya man. Just not sure how that squares with the number of 60 year olds I know who don't have two sticks to rub together and are wondering what they're gonna do for the next 10-15 yrs. Think climbing mags will mail 'em some big checks?
Hey, I know, let's ask Bridwell.
Wait, he hates democrats, maybe the repubs will help him out.
|
|
Timmc
climber
BC
|
|
|
Oct 20, 2011 - 08:12pm PT
|
Jees, give it a rest, the guy wrote most of this dark stuff in the late eighties- a different time for sure.
Skinny puppy, Cold War, lycra.....
Alpine climbing can and does bring out the existential.
|
|
bergbryce
Mountain climber
South Lake Tahoe, CA
|
|
|
Oct 20, 2011 - 08:36pm PT
|
You'd probably write like that too if all you listened to was crappy punk music.
|
|
survival
Big Wall climber
A Token of My Extreme
|
|
|
Oct 20, 2011 - 08:36pm PT
|
Twight's a pussy.....
|
|
aguacaliente
climber
|
|
|
Oct 20, 2011 - 08:56pm PT
|
Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a f*#king big television, Choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players, and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol and dental insurance. Choose fixed-interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisure wear and matching luggage. Choose a three piece suite on hire purchase in a range of f*#king fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who you are on a Sunday morning. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing sprit-crushing game shows, stuffing f*#king junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pishing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, f*#ked-up brats you have spawned to replace yourself. Choose your future. Choose life ... But why would I want to do a thing like that?
It's not my lifestyle and it's not particularly constructive but I think someone's got to shout it every now and then to keep us all awake.
|
|
TruckeeJC
Social climber
Truckee, CA
|
|
|
Oct 20, 2011 - 08:56pm PT
|
I've had several opportunities to meet Mark, and in person he is super friendly, helpful, a music lover, and an awesome athlete. He really is a person who you can spend a few hours with and be inspired by. Its fun to climb ice with Mark. I think most people only know him through his writing, which is about as reliable as knowing people on SuperTaco through their posts. Tami is absolutely right that his writing is a persona, like Todd Skinner's cowboy act, a way to make a living in this tough world. At least he had a vision, trained for it, and followed through- more than most of us. Sure, the work was superlative to the extreme, but if you had half a brain cell, you could read into it. I think Tami captured it beautifully years ago with cartoon that said things like " I eschew clothing and solo", and "get cold, wet and mortally frightened..".
People, it was a game, and if you think he is really like that, you've been drinking too much kool-aid. He wrote about all of us. There is nobody here that can honestly say that some piece of his ranting did not touch our spirit in some way... maybe it pissed you off, maybe it motivated you.... He was trying to wake us up, make us better. Anyway, he's been into road biking lately and working out to better himself. I'd be a better man if I followed in his footsteps.
-Peace
|
|
ms55401
Trad climber
minneapolis, mn
|
|
|
Oct 20, 2011 - 09:13pm PT
|
funny, I have found virtually all first-person climbing narratives I've come across to be uniformly awful -- except for Twight's canon (or should I say cannon?)
|
|
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!