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4000 New Routes (Read 10194 times)

kc

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4000 New Routes
July 13, 2013, 06:29:33 pm
Well done Gary.
There are a few good ones in there somewhere.

http://www.sportsclimbs.co.uk/

See fuckbook link.

lagerstarfish

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#1 Re: 4000 New Routes
July 14, 2013, 10:31:06 am
obsessed?

good effort

Gus

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#2 Re: 4000 New Routes
July 14, 2013, 03:26:09 pm
Amazing effort fro Gary! What a hero!

Doylo

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#3 Re: 4000 New Routes
July 14, 2013, 07:48:54 pm
Crazy stat!

lagerstarfish

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#4 Re: 4000 New Routes
July 14, 2013, 08:09:17 pm
his belayer deserves a medal

or a couple of days off

mrjonathanr

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#5 Re: 4000 New Routes
July 14, 2013, 09:56:11 pm
Never knew the Stranglers had recorded so many songs.

Fiend

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#6 Re: 4000 New Routes
July 14, 2013, 11:12:44 pm
I wonder how many stars?

Also, from his facebook page:

Basic Information
Gender:  Male
Interested in:  Men

Doh  ::)

petejh

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#7 Re: 4000 New Routes
July 14, 2013, 11:40:56 pm
his belayer deserves a medal
...

Belayer?   :-\

 :P

Clart

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#8 Re: 4000 New Routes
July 15, 2013, 07:35:58 am
Fair play to Gary, I've climbed a lot of his routes locally and some of them are 3 star classics. It must be an awesome amount of time and effort he's put in over the years, respec'.

grimer

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#9 Re: 4000 New Routes
July 15, 2013, 09:39:39 am
Wow! Amazing stuff :-)

Davo

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#10 Re: 4000 New Routes
July 15, 2013, 11:25:22 am
his belayer deserves a medal
...

Belayer?   :-\

 :P

Sorry, don't understand this. Are you saying you don't believe he has done all the routes he claims?

By the way this is an honest question and not a wind up. Personally I think that 4000 routes is an amazing effort.

Dave

tomtom

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#11 Re: 4000 New Routes
July 15, 2013, 11:33:02 am
his belayer deserves a medal
...

Belayer?   :-\

 :P

Sorry, don't understand this. Are you saying you don't believe he has done all the routes he claims?

By the way this is an honest question and not a wind up. Personally I think that 4000 routes is an amazing effort.

Dave

I read Petes comment on belayer - to refer to belayer being the singular not plural - implying that only one person had belayed him up all those routes - which would indeed be quite a task :)

Davo

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#12 Re: 4000 New Routes
July 15, 2013, 11:36:43 am
Fair enough - apologies.

My impression was that it was trying to question if he had a belayer for all of his ascents.

Dave


slackline

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#13 Re: 4000 New Routes
July 15, 2013, 11:43:00 am
...if he had a belayer for all of his ascents.

I've read in the comments of guides that some routes he's put up were first done as solos.

shark

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#14 Re: 4000 New Routes
July 15, 2013, 11:56:51 am
his belayer deserves a medal
...

Belayer?   :-\

 :P

Sorry, don't understand this. Are you saying you don't believe he has done all the routes he claims?

By the way this is an honest question and not a wind up. Personally I think that 4000 routes is an amazing effort.

Dave

He did famously claim two routes on the same day in different parts of the country. Speaking personally he also retro bolted a route of mine then renamed and claimed it.

4000 routes is in quantitative terms a big achievement - but just because he climbed them first doesn't mean they wouldn't have been climbed - well the better ones at least. 

I have other issues about Gibson's contribution but there seems to have been a swing of opinion which means puts me and other "detractors with axes to grind" in the minority.

Davo

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#15 Re: 4000 New Routes
July 15, 2013, 12:01:03 pm
He did famously claim two routes on the same day in different parts of the country. Speaking personally he also retro bolted a route of mine then renamed and claimed it.

4000 routes is in quantitative terms a big achievement - but just because he climbed them first doesn't mean they wouldn't have been climbed - well the better ones at least. 

I have other issues about Gibson's contribution but there seems to have been a swing of opinion which means puts me and other "detractors with axes to grind" in the minority.
[/quote]

I kind of remember something about that 2 routes on same day thing.

I am genuinely curious as to why he isn't held in higher regard by the climbing community in general, although to be fair he does seem to be on this thread.

Cheers Dave

Fiend

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#16 Re: 4000 New Routes
July 15, 2013, 12:02:15 pm
I think there is a reasonably clear distinction between Gary's routes that are obviously good (whether Lundy classics or just pretty decent routes wherever), and some of the more recent routes in Peak quarries that ascend something that approximates rock but has no other merit and ideally wouldn't have been climbed (and I've met people with concerns that Gary's bolting of choss is encouraging less experienced climbers onto dangerous terrain). Obviously there is a grey area inbetween but it seems appropriate to praise him for the former quality routes but not for the latter. Both a ceasless tide of crap new routes AND a futuristic eye for a line??

shark

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#17 Re: 4000 New Routes
July 15, 2013, 12:12:37 pm
I am genuinely curious as to why he isn't held in higher regard by the climbing community in general,

Cheers Dave

In summary:

New route greed
Dubious FA claims
Bad bolts
Bolts/situ gear at Pembroke and Lundy
Excessive gardening / chipping of routes
Chossy routes best left to nature
 
Other than that - great guy

T_B

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#18 Re: 4000 New Routes
July 15, 2013, 12:18:29 pm
Is he including Always the Sun in that 4000 I wonder?

(Climbing could do with a bit of cycling-esque "truth and reconciliation" I reckon.

Doylo

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#19 Re: 4000 New Routes
July 15, 2013, 12:20:55 pm
If anyones got OTE 56 there's a good article on him by John Horscroft:

Quote
The late 70s and early 80s were a time of fierce competition and Gibson was soon ruffling feathers.  People began to question the veracity of some of his claims and rumours were rife that he could not have done certain lines because they were later found to be two grades harder than those suggested by Gibson.
Keith Sharples, peak activist and occasional partner of Gibson's at the time has said that he would mysteriously complete a route just after every other witness had left the dale.  He was becoming a victim of his own ambition and , addict like was prepared to go to almost any lengths to get his publicity fix.  As the rumours became more widespread, Gibson found the sheer volume of routes he was producing meant he was under closer scrutiny than most......
While he stands by the vast majority of the routes he claimed, including other causes celebre such as Big Bug at Tremadog and Snapdragon in Cheedale, he is candid if vague about his cheating. "Its true i claimed routes that i hadn't done, that i weighted gear during first ascents and i claimed routes 'early'

Controversial but impressive guy.

Davo

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#20 Re: 4000 New Routes
July 15, 2013, 12:33:35 pm
I think I remember reading that and a distant memory of that article plus various peoples' comments is what prompted me to ask earlier.


remus

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#21 Re: 4000 New Routes
July 15, 2013, 12:50:59 pm
Regardless of his faults his contribution to british climbing is huge and, to me, a net positive.

Doylo

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#22 Re: 4000 New Routes
July 15, 2013, 12:55:58 pm
Regardless of his faults his contribution to british climbing is huge and, to me, a net positive.

 I agree

petejh

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#23 Re: 4000 New Routes
July 15, 2013, 01:58:51 pm
Davo - you were right to think what you originally did. It's not exactly controversial to say that Gary hasn't climbed every route he's claimed to have. What isn't in doubt is that he's equipped more routes than anyone. I've actually seen it in action at Craig Arthur - saw him bolting a couple of lines there, he said he hadn't climbed them but on checking his website when I got home he'd already named, graded and dated them. C'est la vie, his contribution is massive and generally I've got lots of respect for much of what he's done even with the odd white lie.

Regardless of his faults his contribution to british climbing is huge and, to me, a net positive.

lagerstarfish

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#24 Re: 4000 New Routes
July 15, 2013, 03:21:47 pm
the mainstream media should be jumping on the bandwagon and telling the world about a man who has new routed his way up the equivalent of Mount Everest... 6 times! Often scaling rocks that were previously thought of as unclimbable!

 

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