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Australian Mountaineering 4-May-2004 At 4:00:30 PM Damietta

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Andrew Lindblade is surely Australia's premier mountaineer, in terms of the sheer audacity of his achievements - they display committment, technical difficulty, boldness, low (zero) support and no hype.

That's why I was surprised to read his article on the banality of Australian climbing in the most recent edition of Rock. Pehaps I missed the point, but could I be confused for having put down the article with the impression that if you're not at the cutting edge you don't count? Andrew laments the relatively low standards of Australian climbing, by international standards, and describes the well worn path of a season in NZ before heading for the big ones, and as a result poses the question "we must ask why we climb?"

Well, certainly not to get myself killed for national pride. If I wanted to do that I wouldn't choose the mountainside. I would say that I can make a mark on the world in other, more beneficial (to others) arena, but climbing at the level I decide to keeps me sane on my days off.

Damo