Public Service Announcement: Be Careful at Stone Fort (Little Rock City)!

Hey guys, so I don't necessary like posting stuff like this, but I also know how important it is. According to the Stone Fort facebook page, some climbers have been breaking rules at the boulder field. That's a really really really bad thing. Here's part of the status in question which was posted on December 29th of last year (a few weeks ago):

Attention Climbers... We need to address a few things before they get out of hand. Night climbing is NOT allowed. Camping is NOT allowed. All climbers must leave bouldering field upon nightfall. Bringing alcoholic beverages is NOT allowed. Glass containers are NOT allowed. No pets aloowed. Please follow the rules so everyone can enjoy Stone Fort Bouldering. Rules are posted onsite & the S.E.Climbers website.

While I understand how tempting it can be to want to climb at Stone Fort after dark or climb boulders which are closed off (aka on the course), it's super imperative that we all follow all the rules so that Stone Fort stays open for years to come. The SEC has worked really hard to ensure that we have access to one of the best boulder fields in the south year round, and it would really suck to see that ruined by some climbers who couldn't wait until the next morning to start work on their project.

As climbers, we kind of thrive on the notion of being misunderstood. Climbing is our thing and we like that most people don't fully understand/fit in to our culture. Well it's one thing to be a fun loving dirtbagger who lives out of his/her van traveling across the country, but a completely different thing to be a disrespectful climber who ignores local regulations for the sake of climbing a rock (think about it).

I've never been to Hound Ears because it's only open 1 day a year. Imagine if Stone Fort followed the same pattern.

Stone Fort is not a climbing gym. You shouldn't take your boom boxes, bring your cooler, or camp out over night. I'm urging all of us to please pay close attention to the local protocols and please don't let Chattanooga rock climbers become a group synonymous with rule breaking and negligence.

I'm stepping off my high horse and asking you (the community) what you think. What should we do about this issue?

The Great Girlfriend Debate

Sorry it's been a while since my last article. Since I last wrote I've become a WFR, visited the entire southeast over Christmas break from school, not touched a single rock, and (most importantly) started dating a girl.

Now I know what you're thinking and you're probably right. Girlfriends have a way of distracting climbers from their most sincere passion of getting on top of big rocks and make them want to be productive members of society. It's for that very obsession that I've witnessed more than a few females (or males on rarer occasions) who've been dragged to the crag by their significant other in an attempt to justify and share their climbing experience.

Which brings us to this...

THE GREAT GIRLFRIEND DEBATE!

Climber girlfriends (or boyfriends) offer a wide range of benefits to the rock warrior in all of us. They're a built in belayer/encourager/partner in crime/spotter/cook/psych factory yeller/etc. But what if our significant others.... wait for it....

don't....like.....climbing?! (gasp!)

Well that's what I'm accustomed to seeing and honestly, I think it sucks. Running a free climbing gym for a university, I constantly experience newcomers trying out bouldering and route climbing with varying levels of success and follow up. After doing it for three years, I've started to notice some trends in the people who come back and those who never grace our walls again. Believe it or not, girlfriends who are persuaded into climbing by their boyfriends rarely ever make a return trip to the climbing area. And in really bad cases, they become embittered towards climbing and their boyfriend ruining not only the experience but also the relationship.

I was out at Leta one day when I saw a guy leading trad with his girlfriend (could have been wife) as a belayer. He was trying his luck at a 5.8/9 (i think) crack climb. It was not going well at all. First of all, he outweighed her by a good fifty pounds. He was probably 6'3" with a broad build and she was probably 5'7" and rather skinny. While she appeared to have some experience with belaying, she was by no means an expert and by no means excited to be there.

Dude took fall after fall on a single piece of gear he'd placed about fifteen feet off the ground. How he got that piece there I'll never know since I didn't see him get past it again. I think he may have been embarrassed by his newbiness since I was belaying my crusher friend on a 5.12 a few yards away. I feel rather comfortable calling him a newb because all his trad gear was real shiny. Each time he fell, he yelled at his girlfriend about her belaying technique as if she were to blame for his punting all over the route. He then proceeded to come off the route and help her anchor to a tree (she was complaining that belaying him was hurting her). He told her she was doing it wrong. I wanted to tell him that it probably had something to do with where she was standing and the fact that he was way bigger than her, but I also didn't want to be an ass.

Moral of the story is this: Making someone climb who doesn't want to is only going to make you have less fun and damage your relationship. 

I know that sounds kind of high-horsey and I must admit that I've taken my girlfriend to the climbing gym a few times*. But I think what's important is that we climbers remember that climbing is just PART of who we are. If your significant other WANTS to try climbing, then you have the great opportunity of sharing that part of your life with them, but if they don't want to then please don't make the rest of us look like idiots by forcing someone into our hobby.

Beth Rodden: Just one example of a badass climber chick!

*She loves it. Can't wait to take her outdoors for the first time.

So What Do You Think?!

Secret Stashes: Necessary or Selfish?

Back whenever I first moved to Chattanooga, I was totally unfamiliar with the concept of a "secret stash." Back in Franklin, the problem was more about finding the rock than keeping it a secret. Also there weren't enough climbers around to have to worry about access being ruined by the community. Now that I'm in Chattanooga, it seems I hear about a new secret boulder or project just about every time I go to the climbing gym.

So what is a secret stash and why is there a debate over them? 

Well a secret stash is a climbing area kept secret by those who know about it for a few reasons. Usually the main reason is that the climbers understand that if hoards of gumbies* attacked the climbs access would very quickly become an issue. That means secret stashes are often times on private property. I've heard that out west this isn't as much of an issue because the boulders are in non-wooded areas and everyone knows where they are. Well in the southeast, our boulders and crags are neatly tucked away into the forested landscape surrounding the cities. As they said in Heart of Stone, you can literally walk off a trail and find a brand new boulder field no one's ever climbed before.

Another reason boulders are kept secret is so that the climbers themselves can work their projects or develop climbs without having to worry about someone else coming along and sending their project. I know it sounds somewhat selfish and immature, but it happens all the time.

Before I had climbed at secret boulder fields I thought they were dumb. I thought that climbers were selfish little kids with a toy they were unwilling to share. I wanted that toy. Then I climbed at a place most people don't know about, and it totally changed my mindset. Instead of waiting my turn amongst throngs of people, I climbed whatever I wanted. Instead of looking at rocks so covered in chalk that it might as well be route tape, I saw boulders that had never been touched! It was a really awesome experience and it's funny that I'd never had that feeling before. Being able to develop and climb boulders no one has ever seen is a special sort of thing. It's way more mental than the purely physical pursuit of hard climbing.

Before climbing invaded the internet, (I'm kind of assuming here) people didn't find out about secret stashes unless they were physically taken to the crags, meaning they were personally invited and therefore understood whatever sensitive issues the area faced. Nowadays all it takes is one sick picture on deadpoint or 8a to bring the climbers a running. I'm not so sure that's a good thing.


What do you think? Are secret stashes good for the community, or stupid and selfish? 
This is your chance to weigh in. I created this blog so that we, the community could talk about this stuff without having to worry about pissing each other off. There's no right or wrong answer, like your high school English teacher, I just want to know what you think.

*Gumby here meaning a climber noob. Someone who doesn't understand the etiquette and it's painfully apparent in the way they act.

"Pro" Climbers: Fact or Fiction?

This issue is to me the new world debate in the culture of rock climbing. On one had there are fundamentalists who believe that rock climbing is a purely personal endeavor without commercial value and should be treated as such. In my experience, these are the guys and gals that fought for climbing the hard way by developing boulders, boulting routes, or just trad climbing. They're afraid of the new culture all these little gym rats are creating. With the focus more and more on competitions and gym climbing, I suppose they see their lifelong hobby turning into something more like professional basketball than exploring the woods. I use "they" very loosely on both sides because I find myself split between halves.

stone cold killer

If those climbers who don't like the idea of "pro" climbers can be considered (for simplicity's sake) the old timers, then I guess the Adam Ondras and Ashima Shiraishis are the young bucks pushing the sport to a whole new level of competitiveness.

I used to laugh when my friends asked me if I wanted to become a professional climber since I was at the gym all the time. I told them there was no such thing as a professional climber. Except for a handful of heavily sponsored old farts who dominated the brands, there just wasn't a way to make a living off climbing. That's what I said, apparently I was wrong. Now I know that very few guys outside Sharma and Lynn Hill are making a comfortable living off of rock climbing. Most are just dirtbags with free shoes, but with the way climbing is going, I'm not so sure it'll stay like that.

Like I said before, I find myself split here because I don't like the idea of climbing areas being overrun by hoards of climbers, but at the same time I can't say I blame anyone for trying to make a living off of rock climbing. If I were strong enough to make rock climbing a profession and I had sponsors offering me money to travel and climb, of course I'd do it. So maybe those of us who aren't elite level athletes are just jealous?

With an industry which is growing as rapidly as climbing is, there's really no telling how all the people of the community will be affected. Maybe access will become a real issue and the secrecy with which crags are guarded in the Southeast will become even more fierce. Maybe the community will become so embittered and disenfranchised towards one another that we won't even spot each other at boulder fields anymore. I'm being terribly sarcastic here, or rather hoping that what I've said is sarcastic because it could never happen.

With Tommy Caldwell updating us on his progress day by day, hour by hour, from an iphone while on El Cap, it's clear that times are a changin.

So what does that mean for the rest of us? Are professional athletes the first step in the de evolution of a pure outdoor pursuit, or the greatest tool in the advancement and preservation of the climbing community? Does it all matter? 

I want to know what you think.