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Chockstone Forum - General Discussion

General Climbing Discussion

Topic Date User

2-Jul-2016 At 10:46:14 AM simey

Message

On 1/07/2016 One Day Hero wrote:
>On 29/06/2016 technogeekery wrote:
>>I'm a big believer in
>>paying qualified people for good advice / instruction.
>
>The older and crustier I get, the more this idea annoys me. A lot of the
>skills needed in climbing seem to be based on problem solving and judgement.
>Can you really teach that stuff? I think that too much instruction might
>just allow talentless arseclowns access to more remote locations in which
>to have their accident.

Quality instruction can certainly can help improve people's judgement and fast track them through years of dangerous practice and/or bumblying. Just ask a few of my ex's that I taught to lead... they will certainly tell you that I ripped into them if I thought their judgement was lacking (followed by a more calm explanation of where there was room for improvement). But I often had them leading fairly hard, fairly early... because I could see their potential. Conversely there have been plenty of people whose climbing ambitions I have had to rein in because their ability and judgement simply wasn't yet at a level to try particular climbs.

How many climbers have come unstuck by going for it when perhaps they shouldn't have? Why wait for that to happen? A good instructor can point out a lot of pitfalls in someone's approach and demonstrate where their focus should lie. They can also point out what new tricks of the trade are genuinely worthwhile and what is pure arseclownery.