Sad representation of Boulder climbers

EdAsh wrote:Matt, You're way too smart for me... I would have to look up every other word to respond to you ... "Piss off" was meant in fun... cheers, eddie

Aww shucks, you just hit me after my smart pill snack and ran afoul of my affinity for giving the denizens of one of the most beautiful places on earth a hard time! I'm still bummed I moved 30 miles downriver and commute to play now.

jmeizis wrote:I can't tell if she's being self depricating, sarcastic, and funny or taking herself way too seriously.

All of the above, and she doesn't do any of them justice in that trashy article. Elitist doesn't even begin to describe the Boulder Snob she mentions four times in this sad excuse for ranting. Quit yer whining, take the damn belay test and STFU. This article defines the uppity attitude of the Goretex Vortex, and also why I will never live in Boulder.

I want the last 5 minutes of my life back.

Is just me or did someone pick up their toys from the sandbox and stomp home to mommie?

It would seem to me that the purpose of requiring a climber to test on an ATC is to make sure they understand proper belay technique, which is required for the proper use of a GriGri (I have one and love it). The gym is probably concerned that a climber will be complacent while using the GriGri since it "autolocks" on a fall.

On second thought, maybe they should allow testing with the GriGri. That way, they'll see if the climber is sloppy in their belay technique. What could be better than requiring a "climbing snob" to re-learn basic belay technique?

chris deulen wrote:I want the last 5 minutes of my life back.

+1
Keep her in Boulder.

I'm sorry if I'm falling off topic...
There was just a lengthy thread about how many people use incorrect technique with a grigri. Everyone should know how to use an ATC (I would hope anybody on the business end of the rope would deem these skills necessary in their belayer as well).

Last week a girl at my local gym asked me how to set up her ATC because it had "been a while" and her flailing gestures with the rope towards her harness clued me in that she was trying to tie the figure 8 in her hand to her device somehow... terrified for her and her partner, who, based on his sweet tube socks under his rental shoes, was unable to provide helpful input and had no idea how at risk he was climbing with this girl, I told her the guy at the front desk was the best person to ask for belay advice. I think that gyms need to be more strict about their policies, I don't know how these two got past the front desk in the first place. Any great climber/ sweet gym leader who is as snobby as the author of this article and super-plastic-5.13-awesome should be glad that the gym takes extra precaution to know that everyone present knows the ropes (pun intended) before sharing the wall with each other.

+1 on what was said above....

Exactly my point

Did any of you people actually read the article? It was pretty self-deprecating and pointed out the luxuries (us) climbing snobs have come to expect from Boulder climbing gyms.

I admit, if I went to a gym somewhere that made me RENT (!gasp) lead ropes I probably wouldn't do it. I would probably even whine about it, and resume top-roping.

I've never met Ms. Fields but from other articles she publishes I think she often has a good, honest viewpoint on the silly sport called climbing. And for the record I remember seeing her articles in the paper since I was a freshman, which was more than two years ago.

I think it's important this time of year to reflect on how much better we have it than everybody else ;)

+1 Phil

While I didn't think it was the best article in the world, its really not that hard to see that she was trying to be "tongue in cheek".

-Patrick

Ryan Williams wrote:Every community has their morons. The best communities keep the morons from going public.

Really though, do we have to have this conversation every other month? This is a local piece by a woman who is obviously proud of her town. If it was an article in the Moab Times about how much better their crack climbing is then no one would blink an eye.

Will I think that's a slightly different example. Moab has great cracks in their deserts, they can be happy for themselves. However, if they were to go anywhere else and go "Wow this is shitty!" then that's the problem.

So Boulder has a massive climbing scene, and a single gym will see enough customers that lead ropes can be for free, and the scene has enough real climbers that belay tests aren't as big of a deal. Other places don't have that luxury. So a Midwest gym might need to make money wherever it can.

Disregarding all sarcasm or tongue in cheek mindset on her part, it's like an American going to Africa, and going "What the hell?! Where is the vending machine in this village?!"

Just because Boulder residents have many luxuries in climbing does NOT mean that they can expect that level of service from anywhere else. Instead it should make them feel fortunate rather than snobby.

+1
Nicely put Brendan!

CoffeeClimber wrote:The best part about Boulder is that if I'm low on cash, I can borrow money from practically anyone. Especially the first week of every month because most of them just got their trust fund check.

FAIL! Your put-downs suck man. This weakness should be censored IMO.

wow.

As an Upper Limits lover during the cold Midwest winters, I greatly appreciate both locations! I support whatever safety measures/fees they need to enforce to insure they stay in business. Some people don't know how fantastic they have it...

+1 Brendan :-)

Don't flame me........

Still wondering why you'd climb in a gym if you live in Boulder..... really?

Anthony O. wrote: The website J1 links the article to is from the COLORADO DAILY, not the DAILY CAMERA, so therefore that is the Daily I was referring to. I know she writes for the Colorado Daily, but did not know she also is featured in the Camera. Edit to add: at the bottom of the Daily Camera article it says "Jenn Fields' Field Notes runs every Monday in the Colorado Daily". Which brings me back to mine and Andy's comments on that paper being worthless.

Maybe they both just pick up the same "tweet" ?!?!