Blowtorching holds to dry them. This is a practice that was largely unknown to me until my trip to Sweden this last September. Here’s a little backstory. I was invited to come climb in Vastervik, Sweden for the International Boulder Meet by the Tourism Bureau. I had seen some photos and video of the area in the past and the quality and quantity of the rock and lines looked enticing enough to make the trip worthwhile. Out of the 10 day trip, we encountered a few wet days. Nothing out of the ordinary for Sweden. After the rain, the crew was motivated to climb so we ventured out to the boulders. After finding a few of the top outs wet and some of the holds were dripping, we were supplied with blow torches to speed up the drying process. With no prior experience with the ethics of blowtorching and with a crew of people also engaging in the practice, I dried a few holds in this manner. It was an isolated incident and I have never used a blowtorch since. At the time I had no reason to believe that it could be damaging to the rock. The holds that we dried didn’t break or show any signs of damage afterwards. If I had known otherwise, I definitely would not have used it. It is most certainly not worth damaging rock just to get an extra day of climbing. Unfortunately, out of the number of people using the blowtorch, of course, I was caught on camera. And the following has ensued:
https://vimeo.com/52712636 (Comments Section)
http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=531974
http://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/topic,21222.0.html)
Following the aggressive and sometimes unnecessarily harsh response from some members of the climbing community and some time to reflect, I feel the need to respond to this issue in a public manner. But first, I want to publicly apologize for my actions and agree that the practice of blowtorching rock is not an acceptable practice. That being said, this particular issue and the way it was handled and responded to by the online climbing community brings up a variety of questions and concerns that I have:
1. Ethically, how does the blowtorching of rock compare to chipping, manufacturing, comfortizing, and gluing of holds (practices that have frequently taken place in the past and continue to be practiced by the leading role models of climbing)?
2. As a climbing culture, supposedly more connected than ever via the internet, how have we progressed to the point of being so quick to judge and ridicule others, whom we’ve never met, purely from information gathered from blogs and videos?
3. The amount of unnecessarily negative comments that continually get posted on climbing message boards world wide is continuing to increase. As a climbing professional who has received his fair share of “hate” mail/comments, am I expected to spend my free time sorting through the potential issues that warrant a response?
4. Are professional climbers required to assume the responsibility of ”setting a consistent example for others” even when there isn’t a shared set of global ethics? Seems like a lot to assume. For example,would Alex Honnold be held partly responsible for the death of a free soloist who was inspired by his accomplishments in that realm?
5. As a community, is it possible for us to agree on a shared set of ethics in regards to the development of new lines and the care and maintenance of existing ones?
6. As climbing continues to grow, is it possible for us to adapt to the exponentially increasing changes in our climbing environment? I certainly hope so. But how do we ensure that we adapt in a positive, constructive manner prior to catastrophe? For example, the increased traffic of less knowledgeable, “new” climbers to our outdoor areas. New ethics will come into play and how do they get circulated?
And on a more philosophical note…
7. Moving forward can we observe the world around us day by day without making quick judgements, but instead, constantly try to see things from another’s perpective? Just because we have arrived at our own set of conclusions in one way, doesn’t mean someone else’s experiences haven’t led them down a different path filled with different conclusions that in their mind are rightly justified.
I’m looking forward to hearing some responses. But please, keep it constructive.
The first thing that comes to mind is that you neglected to mention in this post that criticisms of the blowtorching were deleted from the Vimeo video thread. If that’s true, my first question is why? You also talked about universal standards, and I disagree. Excuse the slippery slope, but as soon as we start applying International standards, I see legislated standards not far behind. Mostly, I don’t want to be told that I have to climb in a certain style in my backyard, because they are climbing that way on the other side of the planet.
Internet flaming has been part of the game since the Web’s beginnings, and good luck changing it. Your best bet is to ignore, ignore, ignore. If you are climbing in an ethical manner, and abiding by local ethics when traveling to foreign areas, don’t worry about what some anonymous troll posts in a forum.
A key part of being a professional at anything is knowing how to roll with the punches.
P
I played no roll in the deleting of comments on Vimeo. That’s Bearcam’s Vimeo page and I have nothing to do with it. And I didn’t really see the relevance of noting that fact when this post is only to do with discussing the ethics of climbing.
I definitely agree that universal standards might not be the way to go. Communities and people around the world have different ideas and ethics and they are, for the most part, entitled to them. Maybe everyone would be a little better off and a little more understanding with that kind of perspective.
And you are certainly correct about ignoring the anonymous, hateful web posts. In this situation I just saw it as a way to hopefully spark productive discussion.
Thanks for your comment.
Unfortunately it is in our nature to destroy nature. Thankfully we have the ability to recognize this, hopefully we will learn from our mistakes, and do what we can to avoid/prevent making these mistakes again. The best we can do is spread our knowledge and share our wisdom. You are doing exactly that!!! There are way too may practices in climbing that are at the very least questionable. I think if we all try to envision “better ways” such as Chouinard did, we will continue to grow and do less harm to our ever prescious rock. Do what you feel is right, continue to push limits, and happy climbing!!!
If thr rocks wet, let it dry out naturally. I don’t agree with torching the rock. There’s still moisture behind the rock after a rain; and the heat from the blow torch will cause the water to overheat which could lead to a crack or a minor explosion. Ever hear rocks pop or wood that is burning around a ring of fire? Can be painful if you are next to the pop.
What about this?
I’ve seen photos and videos of pro climbers on private property. Without a doubt, I am sure the property is private. Why do climber’s feel that they are above the no trespassing sign? Do their sponsors condone his/her action? What kind of an example is that setting for the noobs or for the weekend warrior? I’ve been on private property before, but it wasn’t without permission from the landowners.
I’d like to hear your input. Thanks!
Carlo
I think it’s reasonable and respectful of you to apologize for blowtorching if you feel like it’s questionable or unethical. One should always come to their own conclusion about what is ethical and what’s not in climbing.
As for the community, it’s less of a climbing community thing and more of an internet thing. Commentators on internet forums etc have always been hateful and shallow and that will never change. The best advice I can give is to ignore all haters and try not to let them affect your life.
Remember that for each hateful video comment / forum post you see, there’s a 100 people who support you – unfortunately that group is just less vocal.
Climbing is a personal journey. You are amazingly talented and it’s always motivating to watch you climb. Keep it up, keep the motivation high and continue to climb with your heart. In the end that’s what matters.
I’m really surprised to hear that you were unaware that blow torching rock is damaging and poor practice.
You are a professional climber with years of experience and knowledge. I assumed that all professional climbers were selected as ambassadors based on their value as ethically knowledgeable and responsible role models and inspirations for the community. Unfortunately I believe the decision is likely more commercial.
I think it is a good idea that you apologized publicly for your mistake. The climbing community seems to expect professionals to be accountable for their actions and to set a good example for everyone.
It’s relieving to know that you understand what is expected of you by the climbers who support you and (hopefully) by your sponsors.
Right on man..
“Moving forward can we observe the world around us day by day without making quick judgements, but instead, constantly try to see things from another’s perpective? Just because we have arrived at our own set of conclusions in one way, doesn’t mean someone else’s experiences haven’t led them down a different path filled with different conclusions that in their mind are rightly justified.”
haters gonna hate.
Little bitches!
Got your back Carlo…
Frankly, I find this all a bit amusing. The sheer number of people who are condemning your (Carlo) actions is laughable. I don’t think you should have to apologize for using a blow torch if it is accepted practice in the region where you climbed. Doing so would be succumbing to the verbal thuggery of a bunch of arm chair critics. Let me present a few points:
1. It appears that much of the criticism has originated from the UK. That would lead me to believe that it is considered reprehensible in their territory – which is fine. I find it peculiar that no (apparent) Swedes or people from lands where the practice is prevalent has voiced a concern.
2. For those arguing damage to the granite and “micro fractures” – oh please! I didn’t see any of the self-professed geologists on the forums suggest this is fact. Gentle heating is not going to destroy the granite. I saw a few people attempt to make an argument that sounds something like “the pores [in the granite] will collapse due to capillary forces being generated because of the surface tension as water (liquid) becomes steam (vapor)”. As any well-informed materials expert will tell you, it is inversely proportional to the pore size. So you may be causing “nano” or even “meso” fractures (I personally would consider that a stretch, but what do I know…) Nothing that’s gonna affect the macroscopic integrity of the rock. It just won’t be as porous.
3. Point #2 is completely irrelevant. You maintain your own set of “ethics”, as do other people. These things vary from time to time and place to place. See: moral relativism. It still applies to climbing ethics.
4. To the people advocating for the scene of you (Carlo) heating the rock to have been edited out or removed… this is plain ludicrous! If it had been removed or not included, you (Carlo) would instead be dealing with an internet controversy of “OMG, I saw a pro climber, Carlo, totally torch the sh** out of this boulder problem and it was conveniently omitted from the video. These pro climbers are a bunch of *****” – There is simply no pleasing these type of folk.
5. And those further complaining that even if it’s okay in some places to do it, it shouldn’t be publicized, you are advocating for a type of censorship. Then you complain about your comments being deleted and the video producer censoring your! Double standards much!! How about I suggest something more reasonable: if someone uses a torch in your backyard because they saw Carlo do so, you can smack them. But to try to impose your dogma onto the entire climbing population is simply arrogant.
Anyways, that’s all for now. For those who disagree, this is just my opinion and I am voicing it. If I were Carlo, and I were to go back there and end up in the same situation. I would torch the heck out of those holds
(internet sarcasm folks).
In my life I have blow torched hundreds of holds. The people I climbed with blow torched them too, as did their fathers all the way back to the might rock god himself. We climbed in an area that always was wet when the temps were good enough to not cook eggs on the boulders. Don’t worry, it wasn’t your crag. Here is my question, who here has actually seen a hold break because of blow torching? I did NOT spend hours reading about this, so I’m sure another website has documented hundreds of trolls spewing emotional tales of how their proud project was destroyed because somebody laid the mighty blow of the torch to it. My understanding, being founded on the knowledge of people with geology and physics degrees, is that blow torching granite (and basically most other popularly climbed rock media besides sandstone) from a distance that evaporates the water on the surface (i.e. not right up against the rock) doesn’t harm the rock. Yes, I said it. We continued to break holds at our crag at the same rate as at other crags cause choss is choss, and most of ‘merica is choss.
p.s. I don’t even like Carlo, I just thought this was silly.
It seems to me if you were given a blow torch by some locals to dry holds, then its not against “local” ethics. When rock is rapidly heated the moisture inside usually causes the rock to spall or fracture, a common occurrence where I am from caused by wildfires. I dont think what you did deserves any hateful comments. There are so many ways that climbers damage the rocks, typically if someone is criticizing you for something like this then they have never bolted a route or cleaned a boulder. I dont think people go out and are wanting to destroy the rock but when your bolting its sort of part of the process (bringing down loose flakes, brushing, etc.), irregardless if its ground up or rap bolting. Anyway dont listen to the haters Carlo, their comments are just a facade, they are truly upset because you crush and they are jealous.
You did nothing wrong and fuck Jamie Emerson for another veiled attack on you. You have an excellent attitude and should keep up the good work.
You guys don’t get it, I think Carlo has got it.
Graeme,
Do you have a particular problem with me outside of this whole blowtorching situation? Your comments are continually less than respectful, particularly towards strangers on the internet. It does not reflect well on you.
Besides this, I appreciate the comments and responses from everyone. Well stated and constructive.
Hi Carlo,
respect for raising this subject again instead of letting it flow down into the big gully of similar internet shit storms. Good way of dealing with this.
1. You were not the first I have seen blowtorching rock in a video. The same practice was shown some 12 – 24 months ago in a good video about climbing in Sweden. Another pro climber (no I wont mention the name) was blowtorching some dripping holds. The only difference was that this guy was a local and it was a route, not a boulder. Nobody gave a shit about that when the video was common in the web. So yes this seems to be common practice in Sweden.
2. How to protect the environment… Hypocrites, hypocrites, hypocrites ! The best way to protect the environment is to stay out of it. So please all you hypocrites stay in your climbing gyms and your debate circles or even better stay in bed. The environment will thank you and me too. Climbing has become a sport for many in the last 20 years, with all possible negative impact coming along with that. You can see the difference on crags just throughout the last 5 years. Dirt everywhere, fire places in a protected area and crowds picknicking on the path through the gorge I have just seen two days ago in Tenerife. This place was empty 4 years ago. As more people climb, there are more people without any ethics, bringing in their attitude from the city. Everybody should look for his own impact and try to be respectful. Bring a bag and take some of the garbage with you when you leave the crag, that would be better than blaming sombody for using a blowtorch.
All the best
Roland
Carlo,
you shouldn’t need to apologize…you should be applauded. You were simply following the ethics of the local community which is what we always should do.
And to the rest, you can’t compare an open fire or a wildfire to some blow torching. An open fire or a wildfire produces a lot of heat during a long period of time which causes the stone to become so hot you burn yourself on it long after the fire is put out. When you use a blow torch you can touch the hold immediately after you remove the blow torch. The sun can many times heat the rock more than the blow torch…
Graeme is as ALWAYS just a prissy little b****.
Heating up wet holds is practiced throughout most of Scandinavia and so far the granite rock has stayed the same. Carlo you did nothing wrong following the local ways.
Crimp hard boyz!
Just the other day I was bouldering in an area where I had not been before. After a nice session and a strong coffee nature called and I gracefully removed myself from the main area. Under a lone boulder, that I thought was well outside the climbing area, I took a rather large dump after which I made an unfortunate discovery. After finishing my bussiness I looked up and to my shock I noticed quite a few chalked holds. In my emberrassment I tried to cover up the culprit with leaves and dirt but lets say the damage was already done.
All in all a very unethical situation of which other climbers might bare the consequences. I consider myself very lucky there are no pictures of the incident circulating on the internet. In the future i will deffinately be more considerate when it comes to finding a private spot to shed some weight.
My point is that people make small mistakes and learn from it. We shouldnt judge so quickly but be nice and openminded.
I remember seeing this video, and thinking that the blowtorching was meant for a different purpose:
I imagine that slippery foot-holds on popular routes mainly arise because rubber wears into the small dips in the hold and eventually makes them even, removing the friction. Has anybody tried blowtorching a slippery foothold to see if the rubber burns and makes the hold better again? Or does the loss of friction actually arise from our shoesoles ‘sandpapering’ the foothold… I’d imagine rock would be tougher than that.
1. From an ethical stand point, altering the holds such that the next person to climb doesn’t get to feel the same problem, but something different. You have changed what the first ascensionist did. This should be minimized, since you are enjoying the work of others.
2. We have progressed to this point because the internet allows us to be anonymous. And people are not naturally understanding, but become that way through experience and maturity. But don’t feel too bad from anonymous hating, image how many others have a sense of respect when the read/see these things and don’t comment.
3. Climbers are stereo-typically egocentric. One point, climbing shirtless in a cold gym. No, I’d say you are not expected to address every hateful comment. Climbers are also typically young/immature, myself included.
4. Yes and no. It depends on the publicity of their actions and where it takes place. If you want to chip holds, blow torch wet rock, manufacture holds, then do it on rock that you own, on land you own, and not on publicly accessible crags. Climbing is also risky. We all know it and we all must be responsible for our own actions and accept the consequences of such risky behavior.
5. Not sure but that would be nice. One way to progress in that direction is to speak with older climbers and original equippers. Be respectful of the future generation as well. Realize that when you get the send, that is not the end of that line. I say find a large forum, and put issues to a vote, then publish the results of that vote and vote on it again and again with different audiences.
6. Yes, we can adapt. Circulation of ethics could be done by having just 1 section in every guidebook discussing the ethical issues that have come up at that particular crag as well as other issues at other places and how they effected the community, the people involved, and the rock itself.
7. Probably not as a whole. Doesn’t mean personal growth isn’t real or important, but human beings are irrational, judgmental, jealous, prideful, and often times hateful. All you can do is try to make yourself better, into the person you want to be, and try to positively effect those you spend time with. Choose your friends wisely and don’t associate with people that make you compromise your morals. I wish those negative aspects of humanity weren’t so prevalent, but from what I’ve seen, they are. They exist in me to varying degrees, and I assume the same is true for everyone.
In summation, you’ve done everything right here, even if you now look back on your actions and feel as if you would now act differently in the same situation. You apologized, opened up the topic for discussion, and did not inject personal emotion into it. What else do the proverbial “they” want from you? What do you want for yourself? Very good article, keep up the good work.
I dont know why discussions in the net tend to get to hatefull every time. But i think it does not really reflect the opinion of the mayority but rather the view of grim people. As a climber that wants to be present in the public, may it be to meet demands by sponsors or just to share the experience with others, one will most likely have to live with this. A pro could also try to stay more anonymous like for example fred nicole did it.
A good video from a known climber will be watched thousands of times and every statement on the website will be read much more critically compared to some random other guy. Its to some extend naturally not? The higher you get to more will people want to see you fall from the throne. More hatemails means you have made it to the top. (Notorious J. Larssen might be excluded from this assumption)
Regarding västervik, lets say blow torching is discussed contraversely and you might have to watch out for these traps a bit more. But in some ways its similar to any other job. If you are professor you better make sure your publications are watertight otherwise all hell will brake loose.
Carlo – no I don’t have any issues with you.
When I said you get that means that you apologised quite openly and at length, and good on you for that. Others that have posted say you shouldn’t apologise, hence my comment that they don’t get it.
Carlo,
I understand that people who live in a warm climate, has scared seeing your action. Are not used to do so because they have sun and good weather most of the time.
I am one of those people but I learned to climb in the Tyrol, where the climate is humid and often rains or snows. Here is what I discovered and learned to climb most of the time, you have to dry the rock.
Cultures are different in different places and people should start to learn and understand but we know how easy it is to judge.
Ignore the comments from people who do not report anything and keep calm.
I’m only going to respond to #2, #6 and #7 with the same response for all three.
Climbing is on it’s way to being mainstream. Now days it’s not only climbers that climb, but morons, criminals, perverts, crazies etc etc… As climbing becomes mainstream, the community reflects mankind in general. With all the good that it may bring, it also brings the bad. On-line mankind seems to be a lot quicker to express hatred, speedy remarks, hasty judgments, penalizing by the all knowers etc etc. The climbing scene is getting more of this as it becomes more mainstream. It’s just a natural evolutionary step every community takes when becoming mainstream, it can’t be stopped.
haters gonna hate.
Mir – Britain is not a warm climate and it rains a lot. And you do not have to dry the rock, it is a choice that you make.
And to whoever said that there are no Swedes complaining, check the 8a.nu thread, there are multiple nationalities saying blow torching is wrong including Swedes.
Graeme…
Exactly!!! Is a choice but your anger will not let you read clearly. We talked about different countries but whatever.
By the way… 8a.nu is the Bible or great testament of the climbers?
Keep Calm & Climb on
I think all the negativity comes from ignorance. As someone who uses a blow torch regularly on all types of rock, and has been for a long time, I can tell you that it does no harm – As long as its done properly! That means keeping the rock as cool as possible, by simply brushing over the rock with the flame just until the water has evaporated. I know of several climbers who have been using propane torches for 20+ years without any negative effects to report. One of them being a geologist. The ignorant people see the black streaks on the rock and say, “Oh look at that! That is from a blow torch. How unethical! How could someone do that!”, well guess what.. That is from chalk and disgusting human hand grease. As a developer of several virgin areas, the proof to me is seeing rock that was never ever blow torched developed black streaks, while rock in the same area was heavily torched and had no change. That being said, there are a few types of rock that should not be blow torched – basically anything porous enough for water to get inside, overheat, and cause an explosion – but this kind of rock is not good for climbing anyway, and I can only think of a few examples. Chances are your favorite, beautiful, “unharmed” classic has been blow torched dozens of times, and you would have never ever guessed it if I hadn’t told you.
Of course if you heat a rock for long enough its going to damage it, But that’s why it’s “unethical” right? Because we can’t trust all the stupid climbers to do it right, so we just say its wrong. Meanwhile all the legit and experienced climbers are using them ALL THE TIME. Maybe its time we educate climbers about potentially damaging practices instead of condemning people who actually know what they are doing. Its just like bolting, if you don’t know what you’re doing you’re going to fuck it up – that doesn’t mean that no body should be bolting. There are two types of climbers in this world; developers and repeaters, leaders and followers, wolfs and sheep. If you’re not using a blow torch, you’re probably the later.
Carlo-
First, IMHO you did the right thing by being open and transparent. That’s the main point I want to make, and any haters who are attacking you are just being foolish or hasty.
Any comments that follow are, shall we say, optional for the reader.
Second: BITD we used torches to dry rock… in Kingston Quarry. This was the late 80s/early 90s. As some of you may know, Kingston was entirely drilled/chipped [aside from one or two rare routes]. Hence none of us had any compunction about blowtorching the smooth, water filled pockets- they were smooth from drills which had sculpted them. All the routes followed [still follow] a wave of muddy limestone which, though relatively solid [I say relatively, because a large wall with only a couple of lines on it- universally regarded by all of us as 'spooky'- ENTIRELY collapsed some years back] was the byproduct of quarrying.
It’s interesting to wonder in retrospect what the ‘local ethics’ were at Kingston. Many Gunks climbers used it as training for their trips to Buoux. All the routes are bolted. Nothing’s longer than 60 feet. Nothing’s easier than 12a. And, again- everything is manufactured. I personally drilled/chiseled/climbed a short bouldery 13c there, and climbed many of the other routes. This practice of course diverged significantly from the Gunks ethic, which has been VERY careful about bolting for decades. But Kingston’s only 20 miles away and was our playground for a couple of years. It’s hard to define ‘local’ here.
I’m not making a conclusion, just adding some meditation to the thread. For folks interested in diving in deeper to this, how about climbing in east Germany, Czech, and across bohemia, in the 50s/60s/70s? One bolt per PITCH, and yes, they were usually short pitches, but they were done ground up, often barefoot, and no other metal protection allowed because the stone was too soft to take pins or nuts w/o scarring immediately. Do some research on Bernd Arnold & co. to learn more about this… interesting blend of ethics. Knotted slings as passive pro: OK. One bolt at belay per pitch: OK. Anything else: NO. This was an influence as I understand it on Bachar’s ethic on the Bachar/Yerian.
Third, and finally: there’s a great old story about blowtorches and Todd Skinner. [RIP- he was a terrific guy, I only met him once and my memory is of a true, honest soul who loved climbing]. This story revolves around Todd’s work on City Park, at Index. Here’s something I found googling it a moment ago. http://www.climbingwashington.com/features/walkinthepark2.htm
Yes- this last is partly for comic relief, but also to point out how absurd, pointless, and beautiful the whole noble exercise we call climbing is. CHEERS!
I have recently heard about people blowtorching holds at the gunks and they have literally melted the rock and left the holds feeling like glass. Ignorance is no excuse but its entirely real. I have seen so much rock get ruined by ignorance in the past year its just disgusting. I am just a normal climbing operating at a decent level but nothing remarkable. I just hate that I’ve had numerous project legit taken from me and changed. I don’t know if its all the climbing movies or all the new climbers that just go out and do what they want but it all lames me out. I used to think the beauty of climbing is that you can come back to something year after year and try it as it more or less stays the same. As of late that is not the truth and it seems that if i don’t get something done right away it might not be there next time. I personally have no patience for this and will not tolerate any form of rock destruction. Its a real shame that you got called out for doing something completely wrong…. or maybe since your one of the people in the spotlight its your responibilty to know these things. You did finish highschool, which means you have been taught about rock types and reactions to heat. I honestly can’t believe i keep reading about this.
You’re an incredible role model and asset to the climbing community, and you have handled this as gracefully as possible.
Thank you for all that you’ve done, and please don’t let the angry internet masses pull you down to their levels.
keep climbin!
Y’dun mucked up. Glad to see you own up to it.
As far as the ethics. You’re using a blow torch on a route… That’s RIDICULOUS. I don’t see much more conversation necessary.
Leo por aqui un monton de tonterias.
Que Carlo no lo hizo bien? Posiblemente. Creo sinceramente que la roca debe de secarse sola, naturalmente.
Pero eso os da derecho a intentar desacreditar a un deportista que hace tanto por el bouder a nivel mundial? Estais todos locos. La gente puede equivocarse. Rectificar. Y se acabo.
Y los que aprobechan un error para intentar dañar la imagen de un personaje publico.. Son personaje lamentables.
Carlo cuidate mucho, olvida estas tonterias y sigue siendo tu.
Dejad de escribir y empezad a escalar.
I think it’s interesting that most of the answers to this post have focused on the ethics of torching a hold instead of talking about the REALLY important questions- 2 and 3.
What is the point of climbing if it’s not to better ourselves in some way? We do it to push the limits of what we think is bodily possible, or to share your life with someone through a rope, or simply to get away from the bullshit of the everyday grind and spend meditative time in nature. Bouldering is a humbling practice- one can only take themselves so seriously when faced with so much failure before success.
How is it that someone who is defending the ethics of bouldering can effectively make a case when they use language like “the stunted, buffant retard”. And no, it’s not ok to excuse this kind of behavior by saying things like “haters gonna hate” or “the climbing scene just isn’t what it used to be- there’s a lot more assholes out there now.” At that point, we’ve lost sight of the most important ethical issue in climbing altogether…
I could go on, but I think Brendan Leonard puts this all into perspective more elegantly, so here’s a link.
http://semi-rad.com/2013/02/are-you-making-the-world-awesome-or-angrier/