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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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Topic Author's Original Post - Jun 5, 2003 - 10:21pm PT
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Hey Supertopo Folks
Thank to everyone who contributed their views to the Registry Idea. Your input changed the plan dramatically. I will include the introduction to the evolved plan below.
If you like the idea, maybe you'll help us spread the word to collect the stories.
Peace
Karl
this is at
http://www.rockclimbing.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=32934
This is my proposed introduction to the First Ascender Registry. This thread can be used to develop resources and structure for the registry, coordinate information gathering, and discuss issues.
It refers to changes that are coming soon to Rockclimbing.com but aren't implemented yet. Stay tuned!
peace
Karl
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First Ascender Registry Introduction
Technical Rockclimbing is a relatively new sport but one which is bound to endure. Many of the pioneers and vanguards of rockclimbing are still with us. Inevitably, those people will pass with time while the routes that they established will live in geologic time. If humans can save themselves and this planet, there will be climbers enjoying the classic routes hundreds of years from now.
We have a unique opportunity to give something to those future generations of climbers. We can still record the history of the sport through the opinions and stories of those who helped develop it. If we do that, we will have a people’s history of the sport that won’t be narrowly focused on one area, or the achievements of a few. We will have an intimate view about how different people experienced the evolution of rockclimbing.
The climbing community has always accorded some value to the style and ethics displayed by the first ascent party. Style and ethics became a moral battleground in countless climbing areas. It’s a dramatic story of preservation versus development, of change versus tradition, and a tale of inspiration, ego, and discovery. The story of new routes goes beyond the technical difficulties to include friendship with partner, membership in community, and living large.
The culture of climbing has constantly changed and will continue to do so. More folks are introduced to climbing at the gym nowadays rather than outside in nature. Sport climbing has greatly influenced the development of new routes. These changes are going to influence the culture of the sport. Many climbers have strong opinions about how trad and sport routes should coexist in major climbing areas. Our Sport has been mostly self-regulated, and most climbers want to keep it that way. Our climbing resources are finite. We have to use them wisely together.
Climbing has always been a breeding ground for advocates of harmony with nature. Many of the pioneers of the environmental movement were first climbers. I believe that the process of change in rockclimbing will be smoother and more positive if the future generations have the record of the opinions, perspectives and anecdotes of those climbers who established the routes.
I also believe that climbing will be more fun if we can share in the adventure of those who were on the route first.
The First Ascent Registry works like this. The first ascender creates a profile under their name. They tell us whatever they want to share about their experiences and opinions as a climber. They can write a little or a lot. They can tell us epic campfire stories or share the ethos of their adventures. They can tell us what climbing means to them. There is freedom of speech, but a climber cannot discuss racist, sexually explicit, pornographic, or criminal acts or use profanity since those are the rules for all communication on the website. I’m sure we will be able to get the truth out anyway.
Each route in the Rockclimbing.com database has a field for “FA Notes” The first ascender can easily create their route in the database if it isn’t already there, and link it to their profile. The “FA Notes” field gives the climber a chance to tell the story of a particular route. They can write a quick comment or a long story.
Each route will also have a place for everyone else’s comments about the route, beta, trip reports and feedback.
Not every old school climber will jump on the net and fiddle with our database. That makes this people’s history a community project. We need to talk to the pioneers of routes and record their stories with permission to put them in the public domain. To avoid a few pranksters from spoiling what cold be a great resource, those who wish to volunteer to collect data from other climbers will need to contact the manager of the area that contains the route or some other rockclimbing.com administrator to be authorized to post FA Data.
Let’s collect the history of our sport and pass it on. The Internet makes a worldwide database of history possible and free to all. You can make a difference in a unique experiment in history.
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JR
climber
boulder, CO
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There is freedom of speech, but a climber cannot discuss racist, sexually explicit, pornographic, or criminal acts or use profanity since those are the rules for all communication on the website.
By not allowing the first ascencionists to mention drug use (i.e. criminal acts), we may be neglecting some important historical information regarding many first ascents, especially those that occured in Yosemite and environs in the 60s and 70s. Though we certainly don't want to condone mixing drug use and climbing, the two were fairly well intertwined back in the day.
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Karl Baba
Trad climber
Yosemite, Ca
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Topic Author's Reply - Jun 7, 2003 - 01:47am PT
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I felt a bit concerned and worried about including that restriction as well. Those of us who frequent these web sites know we can f%$#$ing swear without spelling out every letter and talk about burning one without it being a confession of a criminal offense.
I think they mean criminal offenses in a nastier way than dirtbag climbing hijinks anyway. They don't want somebody posting that they set the rapbolters car on fire and stuff like that.
I'll try to get a better clarification on where the boundaries really are.
Peace
karl
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