Is it Risk or out of Cash.

Been looking at "What's Knew" Seems like trad is now well out of fashion .. its all bouldering and sport. Is it because climbers no longer like risk or are they running out of cash to buy the expensive trad gear ? 

Commitment in general

Feeling feisty again Paul!!!!

Plenty of hard trad being done still, though with more people climbing overall--and more doing sport and bouldering ( a lot of which can be pretty committing ), this aspect may not be as visible as in the past.

my guess is he can't get it up anymore so has reverted to trolling on the internet..

Nick Goldsmith wrote:

my guess is he can't get it up anymore so has reverted to trolling on the internet..

Ouch!!

Isn’t there a different, more sensitive way you could say this???

ed “nah, most likely not….” e

Enough good stuff got bolted.

What is easier to find a rock or a rock with enough weaknesses for gear but simultaneously strong enough to hold gear?

A TikTok influencer? Huh, I thought I was logging on to Mountain Project.

I put up trad climbs when I am too scared to commit on my hard sport routes, and too broke to bolt any more!

In all seriousness, there will always be more potential for sport and boulder development than trad development, at least here on the Front Range.  Establishing new trad routes takes more time as well, most cracks don't start out life in a pristine state.  So given its harder to find good trad routes and harder to establish, it does make sense more boulder and sport development occurs.  

Climbing has become a social sport and the majority of the population gravitate towards lower risk/ higher reward time investment in more social settings,leading to sport/bouldering popularity.  There are plenty of people still putting up rad new trad climbs, you just don't see it through all the noise.  Don't worry, the torch was not dropped yet.

T Taylor wrote:

What is easier to find a rock or a rock with enough weaknesses for gear but simultaneously strong enough to hold gear?

This. All the plum trad lines have been plucked. All you need for good a sport route is a blank face, a bolt gun, and a chisel.

Nick Goldsmith wrote:

my guess is he can't get it up anymore so has reverted to trolling on the internet..

Dude is likely still more of a baddass than you can be in your wildest dreams, gets it done without having to tell everyone on the interweb ;)

Paul Ross wrote:

Been looking at "What's Knew" Seems like trad is now well out of fashion .. its all bouldering and sport. Is it because climbers no longer like risk or are they running out of cash to buy the expensive trad gear ? 

I don't get surprised with trends much, but this has been going on for over five years now and has improved my life tremendously.  Less dogs, music, crying babies and rescues.  

Testosterone shortage, in the main.

So you all are saying trad climbing is falling out of favor?

I personally would say outdoor bouldering is very popular, based on what I have seen in a few trips to Castle Rock State Park,  and Indian Rock (mostly Mortar Rock) in Berkeley. At Mortar they mostly seem to be hanging out with a gazillion pads spread everywhere, and  blocking the pedestrian walkway. But The Pit doesn't seem to popular. 

One day at Castle Rock I told a group of young'ns about the birth of the idea for Boulder Pads, of course we didn't imagine that it would really come true...........

Paul Ross wrote:

or are they running out of cash to buy the expensive trad gear ? 

Apparently you don’t know how much portable fans and livable vans cost.

It is the inexorable pattern of human behavior to make everything easier and safer. Thus resulting in the soft, overly sensitive creatures that we have become.

Maybe boulderers and sportos are just the ones who feel compelled to tell everyone about their super sikk new find

1/10

Eric Craig wrote:

One day at Castle Rock I told a group of young'ns about the birth of the idea for Boulder Pads, of course we didn't imagine that it would really come true...........

Aren’t the pads because bouldering makes people horny and it makes sex in the woods more comfortable? 

T Taylor wrote:

What is easier to find a rock or a rock with enough weaknesses for gear but simultaneously strong enough to hold gear?

I never had a problem finding unclimbed multi pitch rock both in Colorado and Utah and sure if blank sections appeared we placed a bolt for aid or protection ... sorry I do find your post  confusing .

oldfattradguuy kk wrote:

Dude is likely still more of a baddass than you can be in your wildest dreams, gets it done without having to tell everyone on the interweb ;)

to suggest that Paul Ross doesn't spray is fucking hilarious.