UKBouldering.com
the shizzle => chuffing => Topic started by: andy popp on November 19, 2021, 08:14:12 pm
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The 1930s, hands down, no question. I think that it was in the 30s that climbing as most have of us have practiced it since truly took shape. Also: Colin Kirkus.
Now, the most over-hyped ... ?
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I tend to think it was the Brown Whillans era that made the biggest jump in standards and shaped the modern sport in terms of possibilities if not quite style, moving from mostly cracks to multi pitch extremes taking demanding lines head on. And there's a good argument to be made for the eighties too I think as modern gear and training came together.
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:agree: with JB.
Conversely, 2010-20 was a good decade for the death of climbing.
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Gotta be the 80s for me.
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Pete Livesey. Before him, Alan Austin. After him, Ron and Jerry. Right Wall, Lubyanka, Footless Crow, the development of Gogarth. John Allen on the grit. So the 70s for me.
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Gotta be the 80s for me.
Inclined to agree, enough gear to stop yourself dying, so many adventures to try
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What is the difference between the best and the most important?
Depends a lot of how much you value alpine climbing I guess? For France it must be the 40s if alpine climbing is the most important/best form of climbing and the 80s if rock climbing is the best. Or late 20s to mid 30s if bouldering is king.
For Scandinavia it is the 70s for both alpine and rock climbing and 00s for bouldering. For US it has to be the 60s? For Spain the 90s for sure.
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'83-'93
Dawes, Lycra, Slate, Buoux, Gogarth, Huber, Stone Monkey, Wolfgang, Ben, Jerry, Porsches, 205s, Bedford Rascals, Malham, Parthian, Free Salathe, Hubble, Reve D'un Papillon, Verdon, Pritchard, 8a - 9a, comps, walls, Jibe, Masters of Stone, most of the greats still alive, etc
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Pete Livesey. Before him, Alan Austin. After him, Ron and Jerry. Right Wall, Lubyanka, Footless Crow, the development of Gogarth. John Allen on the grit. So the 70s for me.
70’s Defo for me… Ed Drummond, Allen and Bancroft, Tom Proctor, Andy Woodward; Llyn and Gogarth exploration; aretes and blank walls on the grit; free routes on the lime; Peak, Wales, Lakes, Scotland and SW E*** classics; hard Boulder problems (e.g Jim Holloway’s stuff and the Font monsters); hard A4/5 in the valley; Himalayan Oxy free & Alpine fast ascents. This is the decade that flipped post-war climbing into the 80’s.
Edit: Friends, RP’s, Painter’s pants, flares, EB Super Graton’s, Boreal fires (just in ‘79), and headbands.
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What is the difference between the best and the most important?
Yeah, I totally skipped over explaining that distinction (the thread was just a lighthearted response to something in the best descent thread). I think most important is always thought of in terms of advances in standard. By best, I think I meant most interesting. So, for me, the 30s is when we get the first real, extensive democratisation of climbing and climbing becomes a part of people's lives in the same way it is today for most of us: fitting climbing in around work, evenings out on local crags, weekends in Wales or Lakes, maybe even the Alps for a week or two in the summer. A pastime, but a really important one. There were some great characters and for me Kirkus is head and shoulders above everyone else. Cloggy was properly opened up for the first time too. But grades probably didn't advance that much; E2 was climbed in the late 20s and I'm not sure things really took the next step forward until the 40s.
I suspected the 80s would be a popular choice. Personally, perhaps because I was there for some it, I'm a bit bored by the romanticisation of the decade.
Not much love for the 90s?
ps. I very deliberatley specified British, otherwise it just becomes impossible.
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Not much love for the 90s?
In terms of increase in standards the 90s felt like a fallow period after the unprecedented rise in the 80s. For the average person-at-the-crag the 90s was without a shadow of doubt the best decade by far.
It was the first decade when, it seemed to me, women started climbing in larger numbers. Which isn’t to say there were not very significant individual women climbers before then but it felt like the time when it no longer came as a surprise to see a good number of women climbing at the crag.
Gear felt like it was designed for climbing and not a cast-off from mountaineering. There were good microcams, grigris, bolts, 5.10 Pinks and (I can't believe no-one has mentioned this) bouldering mats! Everything since then has been tweaking and marketing.
International travel was cheap: it was the decade when nipping off to Catalonia for a week became routine. There were few speed cameras and roads were quieter. The music was fantastic which further encouraged the dash to the crag. I'm obviously ignoring the ecological impact of all this...
Indoor walls were now decent, fun, replicated outside climbing, and had gym mats underneath them, which meant that you could reach a good standard whilst still having a life outside climbing.
Numbers were increasing but being a climber was still a slightly weird thing to do and felt like an identity. You’d still look twice at someone wearing a Rab jacket in London. There was still grass under Deliverance.
No social media!
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And Lynn Hill fell the length of Styx wall, recovered and won the World Cup anyway before nipping up The Nose. (Edit: sorry just seen Andy’s ‘British’comment.
I don’t think there is a single decade to highlight over all the others tbh
I suspected the 80s would be a popular choice. Personally, perhaps because I was there for some it, I'm a bit bored by the romanticisation of the decade.
Yeah me too. I looked elsewhere because we all romanticise our youth to some extent.
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Not much love for the 90s?
In terms of increase in standards the 90s felt like a fallow period after the unprecedented rise in the 80s. For the average person-at-the-crag the 90s was without a shadow of doubt the best decade by far.
Some good points!
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I don’t think there is a single decade to highlight over all the others tbh
No, of course not. Just some fun in the hope of provoking some partisan to and fro.
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Not much love for the 90s?
Hmm I always think I wish I had been a climber in the 80s but that does sound flipping brilliant to be honest.
Crags would have been way quieter too! Oh to have been born in the late 70s!
In terms of increase in standards the 90s felt like a fallow period after the unprecedented rise in the 80s. For the average person-at-the-crag the 90s was without a shadow of doubt the best decade by far.
It was the first decade when, it seemed to me, women started climbing in larger numbers. Which isn’t to say there were not very significant individual women climbers before then but it felt like the time when it no longer came as a surprise to see a good number of women climbing at the crag.
Gear felt like it was designed for climbing and not a cast-off from mountaineering. There were good microcams, grigris, bolts, 5.10 Pinks and (I can't believe no-one has mentioned this) bouldering mats! Everything since then has been tweaking and marketing.
International travel was cheap: it was the decade when nipping off to Catalonia for a week became routine. There were few speed cameras and roads were quieter. The music was fantastic which further encouraged the dash to the crag. I'm obviously ignoring the ecological impact of all this...
Indoor walls were now decent, fun, replicated outside climbing, and had gym mats underneath them, which meant that you could reach a good standard whilst still having a life outside climbing.
Numbers were increasing but being a climber was still a slightly weird thing to do and felt like an identity. You’d still look twice at someone wearing a Rab jacket in London. There was still grass under Deliverance.
No social media!
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Not much love for the 90s?
Hmm I always think I wish I had been a climber in the 80s but that does sound flipping brilliant to be honest.
Crags would have been way quieter too! Oh to have been born in the late 70s!
In terms of increase in standards the 90s felt like a fallow period after the unprecedented rise in the 80s. For the average person-at-the-crag the 90s was without a shadow of doubt the best decade by far.
It was the first decade when, it seemed to me, women started climbing in larger numbers. Which isn’t to say there were not very significant individual women climbers before then but it felt like the time when it no longer came as a surprise to see a good number of women climbing at the crag.
Gear felt like it was designed for climbing and not a cast-off from mountaineering. There were good microcams, grigris, bolts, 5.10 Pinks and (I can't believe no-one has mentioned this) bouldering mats! Everything since then has been tweaking and marketing.
International travel was cheap: it was the decade when nipping off to Catalonia for a week became routine. There were few speed cameras and roads were quieter. The music was fantastic which further encouraged the dash to the crag. I'm obviously ignoring the ecological impact of all this...
Indoor walls were now decent, fun, replicated outside climbing, and had gym mats underneath them, which meant that you could reach a good standard whilst still having a life outside climbing.
Numbers were increasing but being a climber was still a slightly weird thing to do and felt like an identity. You’d still look twice at someone wearing a Rab jacket in London. There was still grass under Deliverance.
No social media!
Not much love for the 90s?
In terms of increase in standards the 90s felt like a fallow period after the unprecedented rise in the 80s. For the average person-at-the-crag the 90s was without a shadow of doubt the best decade by far.
Some good points!
I kind of fucked it above.
What I meant to comment was...
I always think I’d have loved to have been a climber in the 80s but being a climber was n the 90s sounds pretty cool too tbh.
Oh to have been born in the 70s...
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'83-'93
Dawes, Lycra, Slate, Buoux, Gogarth, Huber, Stone Monkey, Wolfgang, Ben, Jerry, Porsches, 205s, Bedford Rascals, Malham, Parthian, Free Salathe, Hubble, Reve D'un Papillon, Verdon, Pritchard, 8a - 9a, comps, walls, Jibe, Masters of Stone, most of the greats still alive, etc
That's a pretty good call for "ripping it up".
The 70s must have been pretty good, but the government funding scheme really helped the 80s flourish with a romanticism riding on the back of the imagination of the 70s. Plenty of parties back then too ;)
No bouldering mats either ;D
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What was best (not most important) for climbing: No bouldering mats, or no social media?? :-\
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'83-'93
Dawes, Lycra, Slate, Buoux, Gogarth, Huber, Stone Monkey, Wolfgang, Ben, Jerry, Porsches, 205s, Bedford Rascals, Malham, Parthian, Free Salathe, Hubble, Reve D'un Papillon, Verdon, Pritchard, 8a - 9a, comps, walls, Jibe, Masters of Stone, most of the greats still alive, etc
That's a pretty good call for "ripping it up".
The 70s must have been pretty good, but the government funding scheme really helped the 80s flourish with a romanticism riding on the back of the imagination of the 70s. Plenty of parties back then too ;)
No bouldering mats either ;D
The 70’s also had government funding as well. ;D
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'83-'93
Dawes, Lycra, Slate, Buoux, Gogarth, Huber, Stone Monkey, Wolfgang, Ben, Jerry, Porsches, 205s, Bedford Rascals, Malham, Parthian, Free Salathe, Hubble, Reve D'un Papillon, Verdon, Pritchard, 8a - 9a, comps, walls, Jibe, Masters of Stone, most of the greats still alive, etc
That's a pretty good call for "ripping it up".
The 70s must have been pretty good, but the government funding scheme really helped the 80s flourish with a romanticism riding on the back of the imagination of the 70s. Plenty of parties back then too ;)
No bouldering mats either ;D
The 70’s also had government funding as well. ;D
And far better than sponsorship and social media.
Donkey jackets were cheaper too.
What was best (not most important) for climbing: No bouldering mats, or no social media?? :-\
They aren't unconnected.
.. fantastic times.
Social media was pre party drinks in the Padarn, sharing Gogarth exploits with "Spirit in the Sky" blaring out from the Duke box.
:2thumbsup:
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I was still in monkey boots and scrambling using hauser ropes with my Dad and Uncle at this point in time.
Pete Boardman who was an alumni member of the cub and scout troop I belonged to took us top roping on Holyhead Mountain on a summer camp, maybe 1978??.
I used to think you needed a license to go climbing that you had to apply for at the Post Office like for fishing or owning a dog.
Jumpers for goalposts..
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I can tell you exactly, with reference to the comment in my logbook from 29th September 1983:-
'First route in my new Fires. Thankfully reasonable and very enjoyable pitch. Made the reach easily. Cruised.' *** (This was a really significant day. I'd been waiting months to get my hands on a pair of sticky boots, which Jerry and Gore had been climbing in for a while, but no-one else had a pair. This was the day an advance shipment arrived at Wild Country (the importer) and I collected my pair from their factory in Tideswell on the way to the crag. I'm not sure just how much better they were than what I was wearing before, but psychologically it was a massive boost. Everything felt easy this day, and my feet stuck to the rock like glue. I was climbing with Tony Ryan that day, but despite being a far better climber than me, he couldn't match my performance on any of the routes I did).
The bit in quotes I hand wrote in my diary on the day. The bit in brackets is an explanation (just in case anyone ever gets to read them after I've gone :lol:) written last year when I transcribed (word for word) all my original diary comments into my online logbook, as a lockdown project.
The route in question was Honeymoon Blues. I on sighted this, Piranha and Bigger Splash the day I got my first pair of Fires...
Happy memories :)
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I used to think you needed a license to go climbing that you had to apply for at the Post Office like for fishing or owning a dog.
Somehow that's just really lovely.
Great tale from Neil too.
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I can tell you exactly, with reference to the comment in my logbook from 29th September 1983:-
'First route in my new Fires.
* * * *
The route in question was Honeymoon Blues. I on sighted this, Piranha and Bigger Splash the day I got my first pair of Fires...
Happy memories :)
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Great accounts Neil. On-sighting Piranha is a fine effort. The Firés may have been better than the Hanwags Quent is wearing in Rock Climbing in Britain ;D I think The Snivelling was my first outing in them. I remember trying hard to imagine that the edges were as sharp as they appeared in the Wild Country adverts too!
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Great stuff Neil! I wish I'd written down what I got up to in that much detail. I do remember Chris Gore staying with me in Bristol in summer 1983. He had a pair of Fires but wasn’t going to lend them to me or anyone else. We had to make do with a variety of dreadful footwear like Hanwags (https://www.instagram.com/p/B1wm8J5Dd1y/) or Galibier Contacts (https://www.instagram.com/p/CWeTNr1NxM_/). Autumn of 1983 I had tweaked my shoulder (some things never change) and decided to go on a non-climbing holiday in India and Nepal and on to Australia. En route I got an excited letter from my climbing buddy Matthew raving about the new shoes, claiming anyone could climb Grit 6b in them. Shortly after, that's exactly what lots of people did and more.
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I had only just bought a new pair of boots - Contacts, in fact, as I remember - only a couple of weeks before Fires suddenly appeared in the shops (obviously we'd heard all the rumours about them). Despite one pair of shoes already being a huge outlay for a poverty stricken student, I had to immediately go out and buy the Fires too. I'm not sure the Contacts were ever worn again.
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Mine were 1985 from Wye Kayaks in Hereford, my Dad bought them for me as a birthday present. As for most important decade, can I go split of 1978-1988
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If you're going for that sort of split you should have to specify the starting months too, say May 1978 - April 1988 :yes:
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surely 80 to 90, with ascent of Hubble marking a high point in the progression of the sport over the preceding decade..
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I'm going to say... the current one just for sake of argument.
Reasons;
-Standards have never been higher and some of the strongest British Climbers of all time are operating right now (McLure, MacLeod, Caff, Shauna, Hazel, Emma Twyford, MTS etc)
-The next generation coming up are showing truly incredible ability and are not even really in their prime yet (Aiden, Will, Ibbotson boys etc)
-We're climbing now and this is our time, respect the past and be inspired by it but there's never been so many people training hard and trying to do hard stuff IMO.
-Social media, less of a straight positive but it's a huge definer of what the world of climbing is moving towards and how the community interacts. Its a massive change. Maybe not for the better, but still.
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Ignoring the fact that this is supposed to be about the 20th century and not the 21st century, how can the best time in British climbing history be any other time than now?
Naturally, things progress, so we now have more/better of the following:
more developed crags/boulders/routes
better equipment (this one is massive encompassing shoes, mats, modern trad gear, etc. I've enjoyed bouldering in temperatures above 25°C this year thanks to my portable fan!)
access to better indoor climbing
more climbing history and culture to draw inspiration from (plus forums like this and other online platforms)
better training knowledge for those who care for it
easier than ever to document your own climbing
you can wear a kneepad and only be ridiculed by a minority of dinosaurs
So now is the best time in British climbing history, and the present will continue to be the best time, unless something big happens like mass access problems.
The most important decade may differ but I think it is a much less important quality and don't really care.
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Reasons why this current decade is nowhere near the best and arguably a fair bit worse than previous decades:
1. Very little revolution in physical climbing standards, more of an evolution and consolidation.
2. (Social media driven?) obsession with physical climbing standards, "hard" and numbers, rather than quality, exploration, diversity.
3. No progression whatsoever with climbing ethics, in fact given the continued advancement in both equipment and information, it seems to be a regression in ethics.
4. A constant detrimental dichotomy in outside climbing with honeypot stuff that is massively overpopular overchalked and eroded, and unfashionable stuff that is massively neglected and returning to an unclimable state (across the genres).
5. Shit parking options.
6. Worsening / less stable weather.
7. Imminent threat of Saint Greta curtailing travelling for climbing.
8. Ken being right about the thin end of the wedge.
9. Homogenous semi-domination of Rockfax (and UKC?)
10. 4 hour videos about sticking an egg up your bum (actually this may be a positive).
Conversely there are a few improved things:
1. People who post videos / photos / information about diverse / exploratory / unfashionable stuff to try to spread the load.
2. Online groups when they're used well to share information, promote good practise, organise clean-ups etc.
3. Modern Ground Up / BMC / Wired / YMC etc guides.
4. The vast amount of indoor walls giving diverse training options in shit weather.
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Compare the demise of the great printed magazine vs the amount of high quality climbing literature available (most notably via VP).
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I'm going to say... the current one just for sake of argument.
Reasons;
-Standards have never been higher and some of the strongest British Climbers of all time are operating right now (McLure, MacLeod, Caff, Shauna, Hazel, Emma Twyford, MTS etc)
-The next generation coming up are showing truly incredible ability and are not even really in their prime yet (Aiden, Will, Ibbotson boys etc)
-We're climbing now and this is our time, respect the past and be inspired by it but there's never been so many people training hard and trying to do hard stuff IMO.
-Social media, less of a straight positive but it's a huge definer of what the world of climbing is moving towards and how the community interacts. Its a massive change. Maybe not for the better, but still.
Personally I'd pick a decade where I didn't have months of being confined to my house or ill-defined local area, the indoor walls didn't all shut and where I was free to meet and climb with people outside my household.
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Great accounts Neil. On-sighting Piranha is a fine effort. The Firés may have been better than the Hanwags Quent is wearing in Rock Climbing in Britain ;D I think The Snivelling was my first outing in (Firés).
That's a coincidence Dave, as my first ever E5 was The Snivelling, climbed 24/5/83 on sight in (wait for it) Handwags :lol:
They were a bit like wearing a pair of snug fit wellingtons, though with slightly worse friction. I'm wearing the same pair on Edge Lane in Ex Rock. That was my second E5, again on sight. A month later I on sighted The Cad in the same pair - which was my fifth E5.
Isn't is funny how the psychology of these things works? Clearly, looking back, Hanwags were like wellies, but I'd seen Ron wearing a pair in Gordale in 82(*) and was determined to get a pair for myself. When I finally did, up went my grade :-\
* - my logbook at the time reads '27/4/82 Gordale, Face Route, Mild XS. Brilliant route climbed in ideal conditions (very hot and quiet). 1 fall on pitch 1 due to loose rock. Followed up by Ron!!' :lol:
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Wad points to Wellsy and Liam for the stern defences of climbing today, whenever that is.
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The 10 years up until the date of the start of the pandemic, as Nutty points out! This will also exclude the Olympics then :)
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The 10 years up until the date of the start of the pandemic, as Nutty points out! This will also exclude the Olympics then :)
Maybe not the "best" era to be a climber but probably the easiest (lots of decent walls, rockshoes to suit every foot shape and situation, pads, clipsticks, cheap travel etc.).
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I'm going to say... the current one just for sake of argument.
Reasons;
-Standards have never been higher and some of the strongest British Climbers of all time are operating right now (McLure, MacLeod, Caff, Shauna, Hazel, Emma Twyford, MTS etc)
-The next generation coming up are showing truly incredible ability and are not even really in their prime yet (Aiden, Will, Ibbotson boys etc)
-We're climbing now and this is our time, respect the past and be inspired by it but there's never been so many people training hard and trying to do hard stuff IMO.
-Social media, less of a straight positive but it's a huge definer of what the world of climbing is moving towards and how the community interacts. Its a massive change. Maybe not for the better, but still.
Personally I'd pick a decade where I didn't have months of being confined to my house or ill-defined local area, the indoor walls didn't all shut and where I was free to meet and climb with people outside my household.
Fair but also if you said okay the last ten years leading up to today, then I'd say the majority of that has been great and that modern British climbing has never had higher standards or been more accessible for punters like moi.
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'83-'93
Dawes, Lycra, Slate, Buoux, Gogarth, Huber, Stone Monkey, Wolfgang, Ben, Jerry, Porsches, 205s, Bedford Rascals, Malham, Parthian, Free Salathe, Hubble, Reve D'un Papillon, Verdon, Pritchard, 8a - 9a, comps, walls, Jibe, Masters of Stone, most of the greats still alive, etc
I pretty much concur with this, and am going to be a curmudgeon about a number of modern developments...
- Walls were fairly shitty in the 1990s, but felt fairly hardcore and underground, compared with (quite) a lot of modern ones which are like tube-socked CrossFit / hipster magnets with an emphasis on latte art>Instagram dads>giant blobs>SUV parking>guys in their 40s who like to reminisce about One Summer
- Generally feeling like being a member of a kind of counter culture (albeit one largely made up of long-haired physics graduates) and normal people looking at you like you're slightly unhinged when you tell them you're a climber, as opposed to to everyone today replying yeah I love bouldering we read about it in the guardian and can't wait to try some speed climbing.
- Energy drink sponsorship
- Men looking rad wearing tights / moustaches / experimental haircuts vs distinct lack of personal style identifiers
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I'm with you Yossa!!
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Me too. You left out walls being places where you went to get strong an doing hard stuff, rather than avoid showpony parkour style boulderers jumping about.
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- Walls were fairly shitty in the 1990s, but felt fairly hardcore and underground, compared with (quite) a lot of modern ones which are like tube-socked CrossFit / hipster magnets with an emphasis on latte art>Instagram dads>giant blobs>SUV parking>guys in their 40s who like to reminisce about One Summer
I wasn't there to see the walls in the 90's but I'd bet the house they weren't as good as Manchester Depot, which has at least 5 boards and all the hardcore training equipment you'd ever need. The coffee/art/clientele has zero impact on my enjoyment of climbing.
- Generally feeling like being a member of a kind of counter culture (albeit one largely made up of long-haired physics graduates) and normal people looking at you like you're slightly unhinged when you tell them you're a climber, as opposed to to everyone today replying yeah I love bouldering we read about it in the guardian and can't wait to try some speed climbing.
I get this, but it shouldn't affect the enjoyment of actually climbing.
- Energy drink sponsorship
zero impact on the enjoyment of climbing
- Men looking rad wearing tights / moustaches / experimental haircuts vs distinct lack of personal style identifiers
zero impact on the enjoyment of climbing
1. Very little revolution in physical climbing standards, more of an evolution and consolidation.
zero impact on the enjoyment of climbing
2. (Social media driven?) obsession with physical climbing standards, "hard" and numbers, rather than quality, exploration, diversity.
Zero impact on the enjoyment of climbing if you don't worry about this stuff yourself.
3. No progression whatsoever with climbing ethics, in fact given the continued advancement in both equipment and information, it seems to be a regression in ethics.
I don't even know what this means. New equipment like kneepads mean I can kneebar up some dinosaurs old project? sounds like a win to me for the enjoyment of actually climbing.
4. A constant detrimental dichotomy in outside climbing with honeypot stuff that is massively overpopular overchalked and eroded, and unfashionable stuff that is massively neglected and returning to an unclimable state (across the genres).
Yeah, this is real, but there are as many quiet spots to choose from than ever. I seldom see anyone when I'm out climbing.
And so on....
I think the positives of the present day massively outweigh the negatives.
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- Walls were fairly shitty in the 1990s, but felt fairly hardcore and underground, compared with (quite) a lot of modern ones which are like tube-socked CrossFit / hipster magnets with an emphasis on latte art>Instagram dads>giant blobs>SUV parking>guys in their 40s who like to reminisce about One Summer
Yes, but i'll wager most of the SUV parking/guy in his 40s/Instagram dads, reminiscing about One Summer are what became of the young things in the 90s walls. And you could justifiably add - men in there 40s droning on about how walls used to be more underground in the 90s to your list :lol:.
I for one don't miss vertical brick walls with concreted in lumps of polished rock and no pads hiding at the back of a squash court.
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Sorry - I thought this was a vaguely light-hearted fun-poking exercise about retro wads, rose-tinted beer towels-for-feet and stories about van cornering speeds and scrunched up malt loaf, rather than a legally-binding manifesto to be presented in front of an arbitration panel.
(although I did have a really good time aged 14-16 taking more and more irresponsibly long falls onto various pieces of second-hand trad gear on a concrete climbing wall with bits of rock stuck into it, so there.)
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I also had a really good time aged 16-17 taking more and more irresponsibly long falls onto a big pile of gym mats we'd dragged under the wall. Zero supervision, not like today's police state where it's hard enough just to sneak in for free.
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Sorry - I thought this was a vaguely light-hearted fun-poking exercise about retro wads, rose-tinted beer towels-for-feet and stories about van cornering speeds and scrunched up malt loaf, rather than a legally-binding manifesto to be presented in front of an arbitration panel.
You thought right, but you do still have to submit to the arbitration panel, obviously.
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To respond to the OP. I do think there's a lot to be said for now, but I think it was probably easier to have fun and also be a 'top level' climber in previous decades. I.e. you could train less; party as much as you wanted; be as unPC as you felt like; and not have to live exclusively on a diet of eggs and raw beef.
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Also in the 90s - insane levels of syke (especially for a kid in the south east) every time a new issue of OTE came out. Reading the Nose in a Day article completely blew my mind. Ditto turning on Transworld Sport on a Saturday morning (generally focused on French people on mono skis and prehistoric mountain bikes) and suddenly seeing Jerry in all his colour-coordinated fleece and cotton-lycra glory complaining to Lynn Hill that all the French people put their quickdraws in little nylon pouches...
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I for one don't miss vertical brick walls with concreted in lumps of polished rock and no pads hiding at the back of a squash court.
They were pretty much defunct by the start of / early 90s surely? Aberdeen Beach Leisure Centre one managed to persist slightly longer.
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normal people looking at you like you're slightly unhinged when you tell them you're a climber, as opposed to to everyone today replying yeah I love bouldering we read about it in the guardian and can't wait to try some speed climbing.
:lol: :lol:
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zero impact on the enjoyment of climbing
zero impact on the enjoyment of climbing
zero impact on the enjoyment of climbing
Zero impact on the enjoyment of climbing if you don't worry about this stuff yourself.
And so on....
You are quite hilarious ;D
I think andy initially meant "best" as in "best for the overall existence of british climbing" not "having the most enjoyment of climbing for the typical punter taking part". Which is a bit of a different question. In terms of my own enjoyment of climbing, I still enjoy it this current decade DESPITE all the stuff I mentioned above (apart from #4 which genuinely impinges on my enjoyment), and when I don't it's usually my own punterdom.
Regardless it's somehow not surprising that new-to-climbing indoor-and/or-training-derived performance-fixated Goal Climbers (hi Wellsy as well!) find a current decade that is all a-fucking-bout indoor-and/or-training-derived performance-fixated Goal Climbing to be the "best one". Hold the fucking press! :o
P.S. Ethics - general physical performance has improved/broadened a lot, as has technology / protection / information about routes. The amount of onsighting / flashing hasn't. Maybe less relevant to bouldering, but it's got it's own problems in that massive advances in brushing technology hasn't kept the tickmarks and chalk-caked holds off....
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This decade is the best for climbing cos I'm climbing now and I don't give a toss about what anyone else is up to
Happy now? ;p
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It's 9:15 pm and either fucking baltic and/or pissing down. You're not climbing *right now* :P
I'm not sure Grand Historian Popp should approve of your appropriation of "best". I doubt 30s were the best for him from personal experience but then again who knows. And he does seem to approve of the cheery, upbeat pair of you ::)
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I just got back from not doing Beach Ball (got to the last slopers just couldn't quite get to the jug, several moves progress though) how dare you slander my hardcore credentials
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I climbed in the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, 2000’s, 2010’s and now. However I can’t remember which was the best, in fact as anyone seen my chalk bag I’m sure I left it round here somewhere.
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It's just behind your live-streaming Iphone on a tripod, tucked next to your portable fan, i think it might be obscured by a discarded kneepad.
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or, given current sizes, you might have fallen inside it and not noticed.
80's style ones that you could only get 3 or 4 fingertips into were way cooler.
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What about for best climbing decade you also have to consider the decade for best music… :worms:
I’d love to have a combination of the apparent freedom from the over-sharing of social anxieties and social comparisons of the pre-social media decades; with the standards, equipment, walls/training knowledge of today. Which I guess is kind of what Wellsy is saying. Climbing’s great, just got to ignore the other shit and do you own thing.
And with music from the 70s, 80s, miss out the 90s and early noughties, but include the last 10 years.
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It's just behind your live-streaming Iphone on a tripod, tucked next to your portable fan, i think it might be obscured by a discarded kneepad.
Thinking about it, the best period was when R man’s tripod went missing.
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And with music from the 70s, 80s, miss out the 90s and early noughties, but include the last 10 years.
Are you insane? the 90's might not have been the peak of innovation in music, but it all came together perfectly: techno, hip hop, and house emerged in the previous decade, but they were perfected in the 90's, along with the rise of DnB, grunge, trip hop, IDM and the last time alternative rock was any good... The 90's were great for music!
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:2thumbsup: Tattooed goal climber beast is right about that one. Creation of hardcore / gabber, and the refinement and settling of death metal in the early part of the decade too. Also less the mere rise of DnB and more of the invention of jungle / DnB and it's most excellent diversifying and cementing in place.
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In order to develop more of a sense of a shared experience and emotional consensus, perhaps we could organise something along the lines of Life Swap…?
Andy could take Liam to get fitted for some nice jumpers and tweed, and then the two of them embark on an odessey of onsight soloing in the rain around Wales, Scotland and the Himalaya.
And then Liam could show Andy how to shotgun a can of MaxCreatineTenzing, check out some cordless fans at B&Q, and then go on a Kilterboard rampage around the country in an electric SUV.
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In order to develop more of a sense of a shared experience and emotional consensus, perhaps we could organise something along the lines of Life Swap…?
Andy could take Liam to get fitted for some nice jumpers and tweed, and then the two of them embark on an odessey of onsight soloing in the rain around Wales, Scotland and the Himalaya.
And then Liam could show Andy how to shotgun a can of MaxCreatineTenzing, check out some cordless fans at B&Q, and then go on a Kilterboard rampage around the country in an electric SUV.
Excellent!
There's even a picture of me in a tweed jacket in Dawes' autobiography.
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LOL, you're on a roll at the mo, Yoss ;D
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In order to develop more of a sense of a shared experience and emotional consensus, perhaps we could organise something along the lines of Life Swap…?
Andy could take Liam to get fitted for some nice jumpers and tweed, and then the two of them embark on an odessey of onsight soloing in the rain around Wales, Scotland and the Himalaya.
And then Liam could show Andy how to shotgun a can of MaxCreatineTenzing, check out some cordless fans at B&Q, and then go on a Kilterboard rampage around the country in an electric SUV.
I can see LDNCLMBR getting its first TV series commission from this. Pairing off UKB members for Life Swaps.
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Fiend and Barrows please. A contest to see who has the best rubber appendage.
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Barrows is gonna need more lube.
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Barrows is gonna need more lube.
To apply to or to have applied, that is the question.