Go at this whole gig for the peace and solitude of the mountains.

Seems many have evolved into what the GYM life has promoted, Social Climbing....Good for them.

Not me.

I have many Secret Spots out there that only a handful of my closest acquaintances know about. The number One of those being my Wonderful Wife whom I have shared all these precious and very delicate areas with.

This whole climbing gig for this dude is one of meditation, seclusion and being one with the environment, alone with one or two of my partners.

Some of my heroes felt the same way about this game. Maybe that is why I respect them.

The oldest of them being Norman Clyde who spent more time alone and soloing than he did with groups of folks. I believe that is why he and gents the likes of Bonatti, Messner, Bongard, Fowler, Dunn, Humar and many others, were tough sons of b's that did stuff many would never dare doing with a partner, let alone on Solo. I find myself with the same mindset and have done so since I began playing at this game over 4 decades ago.

You????

PS: I was out fishing at the Lower Owens before the latest weather settled in, all alone, peaceful etc. Then, a bunch of yelping and hooplaing began and totally ruined the peace of the moment. I looked up, and sure enough, it was a bunch of "Padded Climbers' cheering each other on with loud burst of profane screams. All from above in the area of boulders that are part of the "Happy's".

Oh how wonderful that was.....

If no one else in the world climbed, neither would I, I think.

squishy wrote:I don't get it...

So this is a social climbing vs solo climbing thread?

Too bad the definition of climbers isn't strong enough to make your point mean anything...you just listed "mountaineers" who do not resemble the "climbers" as the word is used today.

Nothing like reading the OP before posting.....

"Some Climbers still..."

And no Squishy... no vs. at all.

Please do not presume or assume.

Just a thread to see where folks lie on this game.

As far as the highlighted portion, interesting that you again assume this with your very limited time at this game.

I'm with you Chief. I've got nothing against other people. The world would really suck without them. However, I don't go into the mountains to hang with the masses. I go there, in part at least, because I want to commute with nature, not other people. When I want that, I stay in town.

If I want a bunch of epithet screaming pad people--shirtless but wearing beanies--posing for their girlfriends--in bikini tops and wearing cowboy hats, I'll go to the Milks on a weekend. But even there it's annoying and I definitely don't want to see that when I'm gazing in awe at the peaks above Dusy Basin.

(ramble alert) Really depends on the mood: from time to time it can be really great to grab a few three or four people and head out to Owen's or the Buttermilks or wherever, and yes it fills that need to be social, just like going to a party or making dinner for all yours friends together: we drink, we laugh, we take it easy and blow off steam and hang out a bit. But by hitting those kinds of locations we are ourselves buying into the loss of solitude and the willingness to be part of a crowd-ish scene. From time to time, that's what fits the need, but it's pretty rare comparatively. For the record, I think we're always respectful of the pollution-pollution as well as noise-pollution issues

I'd put that at 10% of our quality time, though. Another 60% is with a single partner, two max, working something in Yosemite or the Leap or King's or Needles, or preferably something new at altitude! Those are good, quiet trips, and create the foundations for friendships lasting decades and solidify our commitments and abilities to each other and ourselves for bigger, life-affirming climbing goals

The best 25% is solo, just going, just exploring the peaks and valleys, ridgelines and streams far off the trails. Then it feels real, then its about letting go of everything for the time you commit: returning totally exhausted physically, and completely reborn mentally - the trips where you just smile secretly to your own memories for days afterward and where the slightest traffic noise is a hateful blaring

oh yeah. 5% is spent here

I won't diss the sport climbing scene : it is what it is, it's just not my gig, but whatever keeps people out of my own not-so secret haunts (i'll always share knowledge of a great area with an awesome partner) up high, the happier i am. in my limited experience, most of the sporty scene isn't really interested in my kind of territory anyway, so they don't exactly take a lot of convincing to stay in the Gorge (too much work, some of us might say...but i would never say that, 'cause i'm too nice..)

on the dreaded gym front, let me put in these two cents, FWIW: yeah, i totally don't understand why anyone would ever even be interested in only gym climbing, or only sport climbing, and the 'scene' is pretty obnoxious at times - it's really an alien thought process.

but don't hammer too hard on the guys & gals like us in the Bay Area who don't have the luxury of real rock in the backyard. there are a few sh*t piles of crud 15 or 20 minutes drive from here, and a few small gems 30 or 40 minutes away (wild horses won't drag THOSE locations out) - and everything worthy is 2.5-5 hours drive, minimal. So if we're in the gym 3 or 4 days a week, believe me, some of us are dreaming of granite! i think it's a testament to the profound spiritual rewards of climbing (and California in general) that so many of us make the drive to the East Side or dive into the valleys down south literally every weekend.

Without the solitude it just isn't the same. At least part of the time on each outing I want to be the only one there. It helps me soak it in all the way without interference.

I love to be alone. Going up in the mountains by myself is one of my favorite things to do. Usually the rock climbing scene is next to nothing in the winter here in the Black Hills, so solitude is not hard to find.

I try to enjoy life, no matter what it offers.

Chief, don't worry, be happy.

Used to be, you could find that solitude on days at the Leap, or in Eldo, or on Lookingglass; but that was many years ago, when there were few other folks and they climbed quiet.

These days, you gotta go a long way out.

That's one of the good sides of a zillion folks out climbing; pushes some of us further into the backcountry to place we might not have seen otherwise.

Don't have to be confined to the Climbing game either.

I have many a fond memories of many a 3-5 week paddling trips where my partner and I never saw another human.

Several of these trips I went alone.



ROB...

I don't try, I do.

Oh I am sooooooooo very happy now that I live in a village of less than 350, hundreds of miles away from the masses, high in the Eastern Sierra.

Two days ago as I was getting into my truck and driving off to work up at 9K....



Early yesterday morning at one of my offices...


I don't try... I do.

BRANDON... Up for some ICE? If ya are, gotta be during the week. No people around.

Who's to say what form of climbing is right or wrong? The pad climbers have as much right to be there as anyone else. Same for the hill walkers. Maybe that's not your cup of tea. Hey, to each his own.

Judge not lest ye be judged.

It cuts both ways you know. Did you ever stop to think that from their perspective you were spoiling their solitude?

Think about it.

Solitude Thread: Nice one Chief

I grew up in Idaho with people who crave solitude. I understand.

I never have trouble getting solitude in LA. Sometimes you'll find me alone at night high on some peak or ridge looking down at the lights. Like Verdugo hill, Lukens, Yerba Buena and many others in the Front Range. Love being the thick of downtown too. It's a different kind of wilderness.

I have noticed that many climbers are social. They are not interested in climbing unless someone is watching.

Alpinist wrote:Who's to say what form of climbing is right or wrong? The pad climbers have as much right to be there as anyone else.

PS: I was out fishing at the Lower Owens before the latest weather settled in, all alone, peaceful etc. Then, a bunch of yelping and hooplaing began and totally ruined the peace of the moment. I looked up, and sure enough, it was a bunch of "Padded Climbers' cheering each other on with loud burst of profane screams. All from above in the area of boulders that are part of the "Happy's".

Never said it right nor wrong.

Just shared their complete lack of respect for anyone else that was enjoying the peace of the moment.

Please Read the entire post...

"PS: I was out fishing at the Lower Owens before the latest weather settled in, all alone, peaceful etc. Then, a bunch of yelping and hooplaing began and totally ruined the peace of the moment. I looked up, and sure enough, it was a bunch of "Padded Climbers' cheering each other on with loud burst of profane screams. All from above in the area of boulders that are part of the "Happy's".

I guess that is acceptable behavior. Infringing on the peace and quite of another and showing absolutely no respect for their presence in the area... figures.

And believe me, I was there long before they showed up in their caravan of nine cars.

SpiderSavage wrote:I have noticed that many climbers are social. They are not interested in climbing unless someone is watching.

That's not true; I can always spray about it online later. Believe it or not, there are actually social networking sites specifically for climbers.