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best climber?????


rhyso

18-Oct-2007
5:29:28 PM

I was reading a while back that after 100 plus goes, sharma sent his huge, eff-off hard arch project.
alot of the climbing fraternity then stated that he is the best climber in the world for he climbed the hardest route in the world.......
what do you think, does scaling the hardest route after 100 plus goes make you the best, or is he just hell persistent and only conquered it through that persistence?


penguinator

18-Oct-2007
5:33:10 PM

Well persistence would definitely be in the criteria for being a good climber....

TLockwood

18-Oct-2007
6:13:15 PM

where do u draw the line between someone who flogs the bejeazus out of a desperately hard 35 or however hard and then finally sends it, compared to someone who consistenly onsights grade 27/28 or so?


nmonteith

18-Oct-2007
6:50:55 PM

Sharma can consistently onsight 29+ so i think he's godo that angle covered. He tends to focus on
bouldering or bouldery style climbing...

TLockwood

18-Oct-2007
8:54:53 PM

Twas just a thought, more of a generalisation, not directly aimed at him, just thinkin about how you judge a better climber, someone who takes many goes to do an extremely hard climb or someone who is consistent a few grades lower?
then bring in the factor of whether they climb all styles or just one?
do we need a best climber for each style and then a best all rounder?
Does purer(?) ethics make someone a better climber?
define climber? does that include aid climbers? yes, they are scaling a cliff but not by means of free climbing.. plenty of questions that need answering before finding the best climber..
thats all the questions i can think of for now.
I havnt seen or read enough about the top end climbers to know who does or doesn't fit this bill.
personally i think a quality climber (i dont like the word best) is someone who can consistenly climb all styles at a high level, with decent ethics such as sensible bolting, doesnt use chalk (yeah im biased so what), who doesnt work the bejeezus out of a route to get up it (i prefer the style malcolm mentions in his interview, r.e. gear in, in a day and yo-yoing).
well thats all i can be bothered thinking of for now
just my two bob


six-sevens

19-Oct-2007
6:44:56 AM

The best climber is the one who gets the most enjoyment and reward from climbing and climbing culture.


Phil Box

19-Oct-2007
7:27:24 AM

Wot sixes and sevens said. /\/\/\/\/\/\


meinmuk

19-Oct-2007
7:37:49 AM

The best climber is clearly the one with the most posts.


meinmuk

19-Oct-2007
7:38:34 AM

The best climber is clearly the one who posts the most.


Capt_mulch

19-Oct-2007
8:14:23 AM

Being the best implies that you are competing against someone. It's between you and the rock, and you're as good as you want to be. Good spelling and grammar and a positive outlook on life help too of course.


Chalk Free

19-Oct-2007
8:38:22 AM

On 19/10/2007 six-sevens wrote:
>The best climber is the one who gets the most enjoyment and reward from
>climbing and climbing culture.

I'm with you. Otherwise there is not much point to it.


Eduardo Slabofvic

19-Oct-2007
9:32:52 AM

Sharma can no doubt crank, but what's he like at 8000m without supplementary oxygen, or on steep ice,
or loose rock, or climbing that statue of Mao whilst drunk, or that multi pitch runout death route, or
climbing that bridge next to the police station, or that big wall A5 aid route, or ...........


nmonteith

19-Oct-2007
9:46:12 AM

On 19/10/2007 Eduardo Slabofvic wrote:
>Sharma can no doubt crank, but what's he like at 8000m without supplementary
>oxygen, or on steep ice,
>or loose rock, or climbing that statue of Mao whilst drunk, or that multi
>pitch runout death route, or
>climbing that bridge next to the police station, or that big wall A5 aid
>route, or ...........

A lot of the 'top' sport climbers have switched styles with relative ease. Huber brothers have done it all
(grade 35 sport routes, himalyan ascents, hard aid). Leo Holding did Everest last year without 02 and
dressed in 1930 clothing didn't he?, and he has also climbed very hard sport routes. Vic's own Andrew
Lindblade managed grade 31 ticks, gnarly aid and high altitude. If you want to tick the very hardest
moves in the world you need to focus on that, which is what Sharma does.

You will never be the very fastest 100m sprinter if you train long jump, javelin and pole-vault at the
same time.


HM33

19-Oct-2007
9:51:44 AM

Maybe the Climbing World cup should be run like a Pentathlon which includes:

Bouldering
Sport Climbing
Aid Climbing
Mountaineering and...
Extreme Belaying?


nmonteith

19-Oct-2007
10:05:25 AM

...the 50m Jumar comp should be compulsory. It was by far the most amusing of the Oz Climbing
Festivals comps. Where else could you see top climbers throwing up, or so tired they couldn't finish? It
knocked everyone for 6...


Eduardo Slabofvic

19-Oct-2007
10:30:23 AM

On 19/10/2007 nmonteith wrote:
>You will never be the very fastest 100m sprinter if you train long jump,
>javelin and pole-vault at the
>same time.

...and you can't claim to be the worlds best track and field athlete if you only hold the 100m record and
don't compete in, and excel in, all the other disciplines.


evanbb

19-Oct-2007
11:19:09 AM

On 19/10/2007 nmonteith wrote:
>...the 50m Jumar comp should be compulsory. It was by far the most amusing
>of the Oz Climbing
>Festivals comps. Where else could you see top climbers throwing up, or
>so tired they couldn't finish? It
>knocked everyone for 6...

Totally agree. I watched most of the comp, beer in hand, and it was hillarious. I particularly enjoyed the dismay on people faces jumarring their guts out, and not actually moving , cos there was slack getting let out on the jumar rope.

And my 2c on the 'best climber'? Clearly a sport climber's concern. To be the best you've got to be better than someone else, and if you want to be better than someone else, you need to climb harder grades. I think a Pentathlon of sorts would definitely sort the sheep from the goats. There was very much a 'competition style' climber 10? 15? years ago in the Lynn Hill hayday. Anyone know how the comp specialists have gone since then? I know Sharma's won some comps, and climbed some hard stuff, but have any of the comp specialists done anything relaly cool on rock?


Organ Pipe

19-Oct-2007
11:33:45 AM

On 19/10/2007 six-sevens wrote:
>The best climber is the one who gets the most enjoyment and reward from
>climbing and climbing culture.

I really like this. Well articulated 6-7's


Phil Box

19-Oct-2007
11:53:16 AM

Hell yeah, the jumaring contest was the best thing at the Blue Mountains festival. Totally sucked the life out of people as they made their way up the rope and then didn't make any headway due to the rope being paid out via belay device. Awesome comp. Definitely must be on for next time.


GravityHound

19-Oct-2007
11:57:15 AM

On 19/10/2007 six-sevens wrote:
>The best climber is the one who gets the most enjoyment and reward from
>climbing and climbing culture.

yep. well said.

but is it about who is the best at the moment or who has pulled off legendary stuff in the past consistently? what could people in the 30's have achieved with todays techonolgies? i am not really into sport sharma and his pursuits make no sense as do the achievemnts of other sport climbing greats. the 'best climbers' have been people like messnr, child, buhr, the white limbo boys, Bonnington, the list goes on. the earliest alpinist because they did so much with so little technology we rely on now and people who have consistently put up new lines on big faces alpine style.

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