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It's a shame that the only exposure that rock climbing gets in the mainstream media is this sort of thing. "Crazy climbers risking their lives!" There's actua

It's a shame that the only exposure that rock climbing gets in the mainstream media is this sort of thing. "Crazy climbers risking their lives!" There's actually a little bit more to the sport than that. It's the reason that Americans tend to ask me "you don't do any of that free climbing, do you?" whenever I tell them I'm a climber. Yes, that's all I do. But you're probably thinking of "free soloing", which is much less common, and would take a lot of explaining to make you understand why it's really not as dangerous as it looks. But anyway, that's not what climbers do for the most part. I guess for the New York Times, regular hard rock climbing and bouldering is just not that exciting. Yes, this guy is hanging by two fingertips, 30 meters off the ground and doing things with his body that most folk wouldn't consider possible. But he's not about to die so this isn't really all that interesting. Certainly not interesting enough to push a photo of a celebrity getting out of a car off of page C6. In Europe, most regular people I meet tend to know some basic things about climbing and bouldering. In America, nobody seems to have ever heard of the sport. It's all either Mt. Everest or Crazy Free Solo Guy.

PJDK 12y ago
I used to think this, but I was amazed and impressed by the amount of attention the El Capitan Dawn Wall climb received in the media. That was very much about pushing the technical limits with only the normal climbing risks. I was particularly impressed because as far as your average non climber is concerned there are things you can walk up and things that are impossible. It's hard to grasp what "very difficult" means if you have no frame of reference. You can grasp what "very dangerous" means though.
sulam 12y ago
FWIW this is the wrong forum to talk about Americans not climbing. It feels like half the software engineers I work with are climbers, at least as far as gym climbing is considered climbing. This is in San Francisco, and I used to climb a lot but don't anymore, just so you're aware of my selection biases. :)
thaumaturgy 12y ago
The U.S. has a pretty big pile of rock gyms. Even a couple of small towns in the East Bay had them (although they've since closed). An increasing number of regular type gyms have a small bouldering wall. Yosemite sees a lot of climber traffic during most of the year, as does Joshua Tree and Mount Rainier and "the Gunks" and more. I'd be surprised if you could meet anyone in Colorado or Utah that didn't at least have a passing knowledge of climbing of some kind. It's a pretty mainstream sport now. But Honnold and others that push the boundaries of the sport are a special case that get a lot of attention even from other climbers. The NYTimes isn't that interested in plain ol' bouldering probably because anybody that's in reasonable physical condition who spends a few months training can pull a V3 somewhere. Hell, with modern equipment, 5.10a is approachable by novices in a lot of places.
legohead 12y ago
I just got into climbing a month ago, I've been to the gym about 7 times now, and am absolutely in love with it. I think it's one of the perfect sports/activities for programmers, but like you said, nobody talks or knows much about it! Some guy at work kept asking me to go, he had a free guest pass. One day I said why not, and went. I didn't know that there were routes on the wall, and game-like rules. When you see pictures of rock walls, you assume the climbers are just grabbing onto any hold and going up the wall -- which is really not that interesting. What people don't know is you only have certain holds you are allowed to grab, and have to figure out how to get to the top with strategy and skill. I hate biking, running. Pilates/yoga is okay. Bodybuilding was okay. But climbing, is awesome. You are basically playing a game, getting stronger, getting in shape, and getting more skilled at something. I almost don't want to tell people about it though, because I want to keep the gym membership somewhat small ;)
- benyami 12y ago
  I often see developers at the climbing gym I frequent.
- snowwrestler 12y ago
  Well, on real rock often climbers do just grab or stand on whatever they can to advance. But it's still interesting because there is usually not much available. The complex route tagging in gyms is so they can simulate the relative lack of "holds" on real rock, while packing a lot of routes into a small space. Keep with it but be careful--climbing is addictive. You might find yourself quitting your job and living out of a van in Colorado to climb every day...
  - simplemath 12y ago
    >be careful... you might find yourself quitting your job and living out of a van in Colorado to climb every day... That sounds terrible, why would anyone do such a thing? Brb, quitting job, buying van.
- etrautmann 12y ago
  My experience in SF is that 85% of the people at the climbing gyms are either scientists or engineers. Somehow it got popular all of a sudden.
slm_HN 12y ago
>I guess for the New York Times, regular hard rock climbing and bouldering is just not that exciting. There are some standards for newsworthy topics. Regular rock climbing isn't newsworthy. You can't fault the New York Times for not covering every regular guy as he climbs a regular rock.
michaelbuddy 12y ago
Niche sports will never be understandable to the public. Even mainstream sports aren't. The only thing the public knows is how to recognize patterns. The best you can hope for is getting a trickle of a few more people interested in the sport so they make the equipment a little less expensive over time. Talk about amazing things people can do... do you know how many amazing athletes are in the street begging for change? Whether they be breakdancers or doing magical acrobatics. Practically homeless, amazing skills. People think the novelty of niche sports is interesting for about 45 seconds but don't give a shit about the details. I'm not even sure how anyone has ever been made to care about a sport. Seems impossible from where I stand. Maybe because beer and sitting on your ass daydreaming is the majority of being a spectator and people are happy to do that on the weekend without argument.
- js2 12y ago
  Indeed. I just finished two books[1] by authors who were at one time the best in the world at their sports, and they are virtually unheard of. There's amazing athletic talent in the world that is hardly ever recognized. [1] Eat and Run by Scott Jurek and Swimming to Antarctica by Lynne Cox. Two very amazing endurance athletes.

PJDK 12y ago

I used to think this, but I was amazed and impressed by the amount of attention the El Capitan Dawn Wall climb received in the media. That was very much about pushing the technical limits with only the normal climbing risks. I was particularly impressed because as far as your average non climber is concerned there are things you can walk up and things that are impossible. It's hard to grasp what "very difficult" means if you have no frame of reference. You can grasp what "very dangerous" means though.

sulam 12y ago

FWIW this is the wrong forum to talk about Americans not climbing. It feels like half the software engineers I work with are climbers, at least as far as gym climbing is considered climbing. This is in San Francisco, and I used to climb a lot but don't anymore, just so you're aware of my selection biases. :)

thaumaturgy 12y ago

The U.S. has a pretty big pile of rock gyms. Even a couple of small towns in the East Bay had them (although they've since closed). An increasing number of regular type gyms have a small bouldering wall. Yosemite sees a lot of climber traffic during most of the year, as does Joshua Tree and Mount Rainier and "the Gunks" and more. I'd be surprised if you could meet anyone in Colorado or Utah that didn't at least have a passing knowledge of climbing of some kind. It's a pretty mainstream sport now. But Honnold and others that push the boundaries of the sport are a special case that get a lot of attention even from other climbers. The NYTimes isn't that interested in plain ol' bouldering probably because anybody that's in reasonable physical condition who spends a few months training can pull a V3 somewhere. Hell, with modern equipment, 5.10a is approachable by novices in a lot of places.

legohead 12y ago

I just got into climbing a month ago, I've been to the gym about 7 times now, and am absolutely in love with it. I think it's one of the perfect sports/activities for programmers, but like you said, nobody talks or knows much about it! Some guy at work kept asking me to go, he had a free guest pass. One day I said why not, and went. I didn't know that there were routes on the wall, and game-like rules. When you see pictures of rock walls, you assume the climbers are just grabbing onto any hold and going up the wall -- which is really not that interesting. What people don't know is you only have certain holds you are allowed to grab, and have to figure out how to get to the top with strategy and skill. I hate biking, running. Pilates/yoga is okay. Bodybuilding was okay. But climbing, is awesome. You are basically playing a game, getting stronger, getting in shape, and getting more skilled at something. I almost don't want to tell people about it though, because I want to keep the gym membership somewhat small ;)

benyami 12y ago
I often see developers at the climbing gym I frequent.
snowwrestler 12y ago
Well, on real rock often climbers do just grab or stand on whatever they can to advance. But it's still interesting because there is usually not much available. The complex route tagging in gyms is so they can simulate the relative lack of "holds" on real rock, while packing a lot of routes into a small space. Keep with it but be careful--climbing is addictive. You might find yourself quitting your job and living out of a van in Colorado to climb every day...
- simplemath 12y ago
  >be careful... you might find yourself quitting your job and living out of a van in Colorado to climb every day... That sounds terrible, why would anyone do such a thing? Brb, quitting job, buying van.
etrautmann 12y ago
My experience in SF is that 85% of the people at the climbing gyms are either scientists or engineers. Somehow it got popular all of a sudden.

slm_HN 12y ago

>I guess for the New York Times, regular hard rock climbing and bouldering is just not that exciting. There are some standards for newsworthy topics. Regular rock climbing isn't newsworthy. You can't fault the New York Times for not covering every regular guy as he climbs a regular rock.

michaelbuddy 12y ago

Niche sports will never be understandable to the public. Even mainstream sports aren't. The only thing the public knows is how to recognize patterns. The best you can hope for is getting a trickle of a few more people interested in the sport so they make the equipment a little less expensive over time. Talk about amazing things people can do... do you know how many amazing athletes are in the street begging for change? Whether they be breakdancers or doing magical acrobatics. Practically homeless, amazing skills. People think the novelty of niche sports is interesting for about 45 seconds but don't give a shit about the details. I'm not even sure how anyone has ever been made to care about a sport. Seems impossible from where I stand. Maybe because beer and sitting on your ass daydreaming is the majority of being a spectator and people are happy to do that on the weekend without argument.

js2 12y ago
Indeed. I just finished two books[1] by authors who were at one time the best in the world at their sports, and they are virtually unheard of. There's amazing athletic talent in the world that is hardly ever recognized. [1] Eat and Run by Scott Jurek and Swimming to Antarctica by Lynne Cox. Two very amazing endurance athletes.