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Climbing today... (Read 102244 times)

Oldmanmatt

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Climbing today...
March 15, 2016, 03:49:05 pm
What's the UKB view on this?

http://eveningsends.com/lifestyles-of-the-rich-and-famous/


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SA Chris

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#1 Re: Climbing today...
March 15, 2016, 04:10:27 pm

Footwork

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#2 Re: Climbing today...
March 15, 2016, 04:18:53 pm
I agree.

The latest South Park season has revolved around ads, how they've infiltrated our society to the point we don't recognise them anymore. South Park are always on point.

The rise of instagram, social media is a good/ bad thing. It's good as it gives climbers a quick way of knowing what's been cleaned/ done/ beta and that long kick up the arse needed to venture out. I'm guilty as the next, having climbed 6 years at Caley and never once gone to West Chevin. Dan Turner posted a picture on social media of a great looking line and hey, Will and I were down there the next evening enjoying a few climbs. Have we become less adventurous? I'm pretty sure 'To me to you' at Brimham has never been so popular, yet in the past couple months it's had a flurry of ascents thanks to people posting pictures and beta on social media. Or maybe it was always as popular before instagram, just no one would know when it had last been climbed. 

However, I agree with Puccio's sentiments. Thousands of 'likes' for the most trivial bollocks must be frustrating for her. Then again, don't hate the player, hate the game. And the game has changed.

duncan

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#3 Re: Climbing today...
March 15, 2016, 04:29:45 pm
I met [well known Australian climber] on a UK tour in 1983. Says he: "I couldn't believe how shit [well known English climber] was when I saw him actually climb. He's all over the magazines".

GraemeA

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#4 Re: Climbing today...
March 15, 2016, 04:32:42 pm
What's the UKB view on this?

http://eveningsends.com/lifestyles-of-the-rich-and-famous/


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I love the way that Pooch ends her tirade against publicity and media with a list of her sponsors and their hashtags.

a dense loner

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#5 Re: Climbing today...
March 15, 2016, 04:46:43 pm
If it's that lengthy tirade about her seeking out problems that don't suit and not climbing for the grade it's the biggest load of bollocks I've ever heard.

Muenchener

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#6 Re: Climbing today...
March 15, 2016, 04:49:07 pm
I think the article is complete bollocks, frankly. Who are all these people who are allegedly becoming famous sponsored climbers without actually climbing anything of note?  Yes, there is one person – whom he doesn’t name in the article but does link to an article with her name in – who is well known for being only fairly good at climbing whilst also being good looking and very good at self-marketing. I genuinely don’t know who the numerous others are supposed to be. 

Sure, the Austrian state chooses to fund and support athletes in utterly obscure, minority interest mountain-related sports – for entirely rational reasons because their national economy is more or less completely dependent on having a high profile in mountain-related sports. Whereas the American economy isn’t and their government doesn’t. And that’s fortunate for the Austrian athletes and tough for genuinely world class American athletes like Pooch. But nobody is forcing those American athletes to pursue careers in a sport where they know in advance that there is basically no money to be made.

Muenchener

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#7 Re: Climbing today...
March 15, 2016, 04:59:38 pm
I met [well known Australian climber] on a UK tour in 1983. Says he: "I couldn't believe how shit [well known English climber] was when I saw him actually climb. He's all over the magazines".

Quite. Twas always thus - in the good old days fame depended on being good at getting into magazine editors' cliques, now it depends on being good at social media. Neither is necessarily directly correlated with climbing ability.

And [well known English climber] did eventually manage to get his level of actual achievement to match his level of self-belief.


Wood FT

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#8 Re: Climbing today...
March 15, 2016, 04:59:50 pm
I don't really understand Puccio's point but I enjoyed the Bisharat article, you can go relatively far if you know how to use social media.

slackline

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#9 Re: Climbing today...
March 15, 2016, 05:01:34 pm
If it's that lengthy tirade about her seeking out problems that don't suit and not climbing for the grade it's the biggest load of bollocks I've ever heard.

You have people read the Internet to you? :clown:

Alex Puccio's Instagram post is cited but its a longer article by Andrew Bisharat that Matt has linked to.

petejh

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#10 Re: Climbing today...
March 15, 2016, 05:16:46 pm
Ha! 'kinell

I don't think Puccio's post is the main topic - that would overlook the rest of the article.

I suppose if you're climbing for any reason other than internal motivation/internal reward then you're taking part in a popularity contest, with all the bullshit lack of meritocracy that comes with trying to appeal to a wide audience of nobodies.

Truly cutting edge climbers will probably always be recognised as such by their peers, and average climbers who showboat themselves will also be recognised as such.

Simple feelgood solution - out the social media big hitters by creating a general consensus of 'climbing waddage' parameters to column inch worthiness: e.g. onsight/redpoint grade and other more nuanced stuff.
Then place climbers on Scott Semple's 'grid of worthy/unworthiness'. Simple.  :worms:

(edit) to give some context, from before social media really took off: http://climbingnarc.com/2010/04/being-sponsored-is-a-sin/

(I watched Scott's talk in Banff that night, bit of an icy atmosphere!)
« Last Edit: March 15, 2016, 05:23:53 pm by petejh »

tomtom

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#11 Re: Climbing today...
March 15, 2016, 05:21:50 pm
Is the article about Grimer? ;)

Muenchener

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#12 Re: Climbing today...
March 15, 2016, 05:26:43 pm
The point of the article is that there are people who aren't genuinely great at climbing getting more fame/money than people who are. With one possible exceptionI don't know who these alleged people are, and nobody seems to want to name any.

36chambers

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#13 Re: Climbing today...
March 15, 2016, 05:43:26 pm
"Is Marketing Climbing Now More Important Than Actual Climbing?" - With regards to climbing media (and sponsorships) of course, why would it be any other way?

Quote from: OP article
For a long time, the climbers who were cutting edge were the ones who went out and made names for themselves by actually pushing the limits—through new routes and first ascents. Media and sponsorships followed as a result, but the climbing really was their primary focus.

Surely that's all that needs to be said. Make a name for yourself, get sponsored. Your value to the sponsor is simply how well you sell their product, there's no actual reason why this must correlate with ability. What a backward sport this climbing is.

 :offtopic: Am I the only one who really doesn't want climbing to be in the olympics?

edit: Muenchener already covered this.

Oldmanmatt

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#14 Re: Climbing today...
March 15, 2016, 05:46:01 pm
Then again...

That person (the moderately good one, that everyone suspects the Pooch rant is all about (lets ignore the teeny bopper that's directly challenging her title)) actually seems to be the sixth best boulderer (comp) in the US at present and given the participation population in the US; that's not bad.

And, from the "Brand" point of view, it's not ever going to be about "the best", the sponsors want the faces that will best sell their product/lifestyle.
That could never be just the topdogs, the same four or five faces selling everything.


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36chambers

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#15 Re: Climbing today...
March 15, 2016, 05:50:13 pm
What's the UKB view on this?

http://eveningsends.com/lifestyles-of-the-rich-and-famous/


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I love the way that Pooch ends her tirade against publicity and media with a list of her sponsors and their hashtags.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BCfxb-ppa4D/

Muenchener

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#16 Re: Climbing today...
March 15, 2016, 06:51:56 pm
more accomplished climbers who choose to fly below the radar.

They presumably don't have a problem, since it's their choice. The people who might legitimately have a problem are the genuinely world class climbers who are striving to be picked up by the radar but failing. If they exist.

a dense loner

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#17 Re: Climbing today...
March 15, 2016, 07:00:40 pm
As an aside, who's Andrew Bisharat?

slackline

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#18 Re: Climbing today...
March 15, 2016, 07:03:45 pm
the sponsors want the faces that will best sell their product/lifestyle.

Not climbing but another 'lifestyle' sport, surfing, where the top female Brazilian surfer wasn't considered pretty enough to get full sponsorship.


petejh

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#19 Re: Climbing today...
March 15, 2016, 07:17:54 pm
As an aside, who's Andrew Bisharat?

A version of Grimer who says potayto not potahto

slackline

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a dense loner

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#21 Re: Climbing today...
March 15, 2016, 07:36:13 pm
Having just looked at that link to the surfer I'm not surprised, she's a fucking dog and I wouldn't be buying any sex wax she advertised

Footwork

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#22 Re: Climbing today...
March 15, 2016, 07:49:59 pm
Having just looked at that link to the surfer I'm not surprised, she's a fucking dog and I wouldn't be buying any sex wax she advertised

I do hope you're joking

rich d

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#23 Re: Climbing today...
March 15, 2016, 07:57:33 pm
Don't understand why people moan about lack of sponsorship in climbing, if you want to make money in sport then decent in football/golf/tennis etc. Sponsorship is about return for the companies, and doing some eliminate arse scraping 8b then not telling anyone about it is probably less useful to twitter/facebook/instagram shares for them than looking good in a pair of hotpants.
Plus is the climbing market actually worth any money? Most of the Rab gear I see is on parents pushing kids on swings in the park..

a dense loner

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#24 Re: Climbing today...
March 15, 2016, 08:02:54 pm
Exactly rich, I buy shitloads more kit than my kid. Pointless aiming it at her. Tell me you're not in marketing ;)

 

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