best all around climber in the world

we all know sharma is the king of sport... but who is the best all around climber in the world

i say tommy caldwell he has freed the nose, sent a potential 5.15 and boulders extremely hard

what do you all think

Dave Macleod is certainly in the running.

Dave Birkett...he has sent numerous unrepeated climbs and he has made what is considered to be the hardest traditional 'on-sight' ascent in the world at Dove Crag: the aptly named 'Fear of Failure' (E8 6c). On-sight ability is a great measure of one's true rock-climbing ability since circumstances that are novel to the climber are encountered such as moves, mental challenges, and strategy. Also, since many of his climbs have been unrepeated, and their rating is based solely on his opinion...there's a possibility that they may actually be harder.

This kid... totally up and coming.

youtube.com/watch?v=2s4vu5w…

caldwell

If you are looking for the best "all around" climber - Than you should include many different forms of climbing - including trad, sport, speed climbing, big walls, solos, ice, and bouldering. It would be hard not to include (in no particular order), Rolando Garibotti, Dean Potter, Steve House, Josh Warton, Kelly Cordes, Jonny Copp, Colin Haley, Will Gadd and several others as worthy contenders for your trivia knowledge quest.

I was thinking Josh Wharton myself. He seems to be very well rounded right now. I just read about him doing a "project" the thought up: Boulder V10, climb 5.13 rock and M10 mixed in a week, which he did. He also won this years Ouray Ice Competition. He excells at pretty much every form of climbing he does, sport, trad, bouldering, ice, mixed and alpine.

I'd go with Dean Potter.

Roland Thompson is the only candidate for best all around.
He climbs a full zone higher than anyone else.
This was a real no brainer.

Russ Walling!

Hank Caylor

No mention of Tomo Cesen?(wink)

Lee Smith

All around ?

Alex Huber

When you say 'All Around' that must be Rock, Ice, Alpine,ect

Dave Macleod

Walter Bonatti.

Unless we're talking about free soloing then the question implies that the climber must also be a partner. IMHO if you really need to get it done, anywhere in the world, in any kind of conditions, and you want your partner to be someone you can tolerate in those conditions for an extended period, then Jonny Copp is your man. No one is as psyched. No one charges as hard. I think he has the talent and the personality. JC partnered with Mike Pennings, Josh Wharton, Timmy O'Neill, Kelly Cortes, Micah Dash and others accounts for an incredible amount of hard climbing and first ascents everywhere from Pakistan to Patagonia. He might not be able to climb as hard a technical grade as Tommy C. or some others in the gym or at the sport crag, but he probably could if he gave a flying fuck about that. And I absolutely guarantee you that there are very few people on the planet that can carry a 100lb haul bag of gear as far Jonny Copp. With absolutely no complaining and a smile on his face. He's a mutant, he doesn't get tired or cold or hungry.

I'm always curious about this phenomenon...what I'm referring to is the description of really, really strong climbers as "mutants," as if they're somehow not human. I know that it's partially in jest, but I think it also discredits all of these people's hard work, and assigns their performance to some magical characteristic that they possess, obtained by sheer luck. I understand that many of these athletes may have better genetics, what have you, than the rest of the climbing population, but I think that for the most part, they just work way harder than any of us at it. So why don't we celebrate their effort, instead of relegating them to the unapproachable status of "mutant?"

p.s. I'm not upset by this, nor am I trying to protect the people who we call mutants...they don't need protection. I think it's just a more honest way to talk about people who we often meet at the crags all over the world.

Dave never thought about it like that, and it is true these people are some of the most physically fit people in the world and their strength and determination rivals anyone else's on the planet. their commitment to their sport is so strong and we should celebrate their accomplishments, not lower them to sub human. i think by calling them sub human it may make us feel better about ourselves because it places them in a different category than us.

Jeez, you people on this site can be ridiculous. Do you sit around and wait for someone to post something that you deem controversial or politically incorrect so you can make a comment? What's up with you guys from Plymouth? Are you the PC police all of a sudden?

Technically, in a science fiction analogy, a mutant is someone who starts off as human then becomes something else...not necessarily sub human. More likely super human. Whether by being immersed in radioactive toxic waste or by years of hard work. You people take things a bit too seriously when you start to nit pick about word choice. Relax. Jonny Copp is one of my best friends and I would never demean him in any way.

Russell Holcomb wrote:Jeez, you people on this site can be ridiculous. Do you sit around and wait for someone to post something that you deem controversial or politically incorrect so you can make a comment? What's up with you guys from Plymouth? Are you the PC police all of a sudden? Technically, in a science fiction analogy, a mutant is someone who starts off as human then becomes something else...not necessarily sub human. More likely super human. Whether by being immersed in radioactive toxic waste or by years of hard work. You people take things a bit too seriously when you start to nit pick about word choice. Relax. Jonny Copp is one of my best friends and I would never demean him in any way.

Hahaha...Russell...I'm not jumping on your back about this...I think you're the one that needs to relax. And no, I don't sit around and wait, I just keep my eyes open and notice things that I think are curious. You can go ahead and keep using whatever language you want, that's your prerogative. I'm just amused (really, I laugh out loud sometimes) by word choices that are used with apparent ignorance for what they imply.

But yes...people on this site can be pretty ridiculous.

And, that's great that you're friends with Jonny Copp. Going climbing with him must get you SUPER psyched!