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by dimxasnewfrozen 4168 days ago
Why leave such a condescending comment? What they did was remarkable.

I'm also a climber but this attitude drives me nuts with the climbing community. It's not a dick measuring contest. Why even mention aid climbing and that it's more scary and that climbing 5.10 is for "noobs"? That has nothing to do with what these guys did. These guys didn't do it for their ego or because it's "scary". They did it because it's extremely difficult and they've been working on it for 7 years. They did it because they were so invested mentally and physically that it was a challenge they needed to complete.

But yes, I do agree that the media has/had no idea how to cover this - it's been pretty awful.
1 comments
sandworm 4168 days ago
Condescending to the media coverage. If the climbers do an interview and announce, as CNN did, that they have completed the "First assent of El Capitan" then I will have a very condescending comment for them too.

Ego is part of climbing, much more so when you have cameras following you. There is something innately gratifying in climbing to a place normal people cannot go. These guys aren't Buddhist monks humbly surmounting a climb as an exercise in meditation. It certainly isn't all ego, but to say that ego isn't part of the equation is disingenuous.

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dimxasnewfrozen 4168 days ago
I agree. Ego is definitely a part of climbing otherwise climbers wouldn't have a reason to push themselves. But Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson climbed that mostly for themselves. I'm sure they enjoy the media coverage. Who wouldn't? I'm sure their sponsors love it even more. But that type of ego is much different than calling 5.10 climbers noobs and that aid climbing is more dangerous than trad climbing/sport climbing/top roping (I'm not arguing that it isn't, but there's no point putting down other forms of climbing). That's what I was getting at.

I suppose I'm just annoyed by the amount of judgment that exists in climbing. We all have our own motivations and aspirations when it comes to climbing. Some climbers just feel like they need to prove something to someone else.

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