Some climber dude (I forget who) said, paraphrased: "Only chalkless barefoot free soloing[1] is proper free climbing[2], all the rest is just disguised aid cli

Some climber dude (I forget who) said, paraphrased: "Only chalkless barefoot free soloing[1] is proper free climbing[2], all the rest is just disguised aid climbing [3]" If you've ever gone climbing, and compared your experience wearing random shoes (or no shoes) with wearing proper climbing shoes, I think you'll agree that the difference is tremendous. If you consider oxygen an unfair advantage, you will need to include many other tools as well. Also, in alpinism, the stakes are so high that I don't fault anyone for using the tools necessary to make sure they make it safely back down - for their sake, and for their would-be rescuers' Competition sports climbing is another matter, but its connection to alpinism is as tenuous (or more so) as that of biathlon to hunting in the scandinavian winter. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_solo_climbing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_solo_climbing [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_climbing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_climbing [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aid_climbing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aid_climbing