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Charlie Barrett Abuse
Wellsy:
https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/climbing/climber-charles-barrett-assault-trial/
The above is a link to the pretty horrific story of continued sexual abuse by Charles Barrett in the US over literally decades
It feels like this is something to discuss? I know it made me feel horrified and deeply uncomfortable and I have to say Kevin Jorgeson and Alex Honnold come off pretty poorly in it...
Davo:
A grim tale indeed! Not sure that I agree about Honnold and Jorgeson.
Wellsy:
Can I ask why? I feel like Jorgesen must have heard things by the time he was promoting Barrett's climbing and guidebooks on social media, and Honnold was told he knocked his ex out in a fight and basically said "damn, that's crazy" and just never... thought about it again? Seemingly?
This guy's behaviour was protected by the climbing community, I think it's fair to ask why and how and who knew and what they did about it.
jwi:
I kind-of agree with Wellsy.
Now, I do not look to climbers for moral leadership, nothing that I've experienced have lead me to think that is a good idea.
However, all of us should look out for other climbers and make climbing as safe as possible. That includes excluding climbers who are a menace to other climbers from the community. That is also what I've seen happen a few times. The climbers in question then start going after/hanging out with beginners and are often very helpful for them and teaching them stuff — and I find that just telling said beginners that the guy you're climbing with is a dangerous narcissist is rarely usefull.
Davo:
--- Quote from: Wellsy on February 03, 2024, 02:22:26 pm ---Can I ask why? I feel like Jorgesen must have heard things by the time he was promoting Barrett's climbing and guidebooks on social media, and Honnold was told he knocked his ex out in a fight and basically said "damn, that's crazy" and just never... thought about it again? Seemingly?
This guy's behaviour was protected by the climbing community, I think it's fair to ask why and how and who knew and what they did about it.
--- End quote ---
Yes of course, happy to give some reasons. I agree with most of your points that some people in the climbing community have clearly protected him and at the very least turned a blind eye to his extremely dark and clearly criminal side.
It’s just that I wouldn’t like to be judged on my acquaintance with a climber that I had hung around with at a crag, done a few routes with and then heard a few questionable things about. I also think that there are some people out there (and I suspect most of us have met someone like this) that are on first acquaintances very charismatic, easily likeable and on the surface someone that we would like to hang around with but when you get to know them better it turns out that they have a dark side. Clearly if you only ever meet this person in a social climbing situation it is hard to see this dark side to that person and you could be forgiven for being happy to say that you like them and think they are a good guy.
Also I don’t think the article really makes clear how well Honnold or Jorgeson actually knew him.
Anyway, he was clearly a very grim and disturbing person.
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