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Chockstone Forum - General Discussion

General Climbing Discussion

 Page 1 of 2. Messages 1 to 20 | 21 to 23
Author
i wonder ?
maadness
7-Aug-2007
7:24:59 PM
i wonder how many of the people climbing these days would of been climbing if they were ( being in the same age as they are now) in the 50s/60s or 70s/80s ?
TLockwood
7-Aug-2007
7:38:40 PM
There certainly would not have been an influx of gym bunnies onto the climbing scene due to the lack of climbing gyms and exposure.

dougal
8-Aug-2007
10:00:31 AM
Certainly would make a dent in the numbers. Gyms remind me of nightclubs more than climbing.

steph
8-Aug-2007
10:07:50 AM
yeah i assume that for most of us, the initial exposure / attraction was through a school or indoor gym experience. Then over the years, you start to head outdoors and learn those skills etc. For it to be the other way around, you'd probably need to live close to the outdoor scene or have been exposed to it through older generations bringing you up with it. So i'd agree there'd be way fewer of us.
Pommy
8-Aug-2007
10:34:01 AM
Brisbane is probably an exception to the norm, what with having Kangaroo Point as most peoples first place to experience climbing.
It's half way to being a climbing gym though.

muki
8-Aug-2007
11:29:09 AM
My introduction to climbing was in the late 60's as a child, growing up and wanting to climb things,it
just seemed natural!
So if I found some cliffs I just started climbing up till I reached the top, no scene no gear no older
generations to bring me up with it.
But I did develope a three point contact rule for myself, and on the day I broke this rule I fell 6 stories,
luckily through a small tree towards the bottom of the cliff, that broke the fall, this led me to want to
give it up as a bad bet.
Many years later I discovered ropes and harnesses.
This was my starting point for roped climbing and with the basic gear (harness, rope, and shoes) and a
borrowed rack I started leading at Frog buttress and could onsight 18/19 on my first day on rope, due
to many years soloing as a child.
I used books to learn the finer points of anchors and rope technique, and did'nt get to a gym till many
years later, and thought it a strange and artificial experience, with all the holds going the wrong way, ie
sticking out, rather than going into the wall, still don't enjoy gyms that much, but am interested in
checking out the new melbourne gym on my next trip there, as I believe they have a crack!
TLockwood
8-Aug-2007
11:59:09 AM
the nunawading hardrock has a crack and two offwidths, id be interested if anyones tried the offwidths.

muki
8-Aug-2007
12:29:30 PM
Did all the nuna cracks last time I was there (a while ago now)
lost aa bit of skin in the of widths, wasnt dressed apropriatly (head to toe tape)

steph
8-Aug-2007
3:08:44 PM
On 8/08/2007 TLockwood wrote:
>the nunawading hardrock has a crack and two offwidths, id be interested
>if anyones tried the offwidths.

Yeah we often try them, especially when it's the first trip to the gym since an outdoor stint and we're missing the feel of real rock. I wasn't aware that anyone had actually topped the offwidths but i suppose it depends how far out the articulating wall is. It's mainly a lot of fun with a whopper of a swing at the fall!

steph
8-Aug-2007
3:15:51 PM
On 8/08/2007 bomber pro wrote:
>My introduction to climbing was in the late 60's as a child, growing up
>and wanting to climb things,it
>just seemed natural!
>So if I found some cliffs I just started climbing up till I reached the
>top, no scene no gear no older generations to bring me up with it.

I'd say in the majority its still the other way round cos assuming there are no cliffs within 'child's reach' it would be difficult to get that first exposure during the 50's-70's etc whereas now the sport in its many varieties has a more prominant presence.

cruze
8-Aug-2007
3:42:03 PM
First climb was toproping the bluestone above the light tunnel in Canberra near ANU. Second climb leading at Booroomba in seat belt harness, my older brother's commando boots and gear that I didn't even know what it did. Lowering off a huge hex (probably held in by 2 crystals of granite) was one of the most frightening experience of my then 16 years. And yet I could never understand why my parents refused to drive me anywhere for the sake of 'climbing'... And that was only 13 years ago!

What I guess I am saying is that people even in the 90s were starting their climbing careers outside of the gyms. I guess given the ridiculous number of climbing parties that I see every time I go to the gym, most people nowadays seem to lose their climbing virginity at the age of 8. Lucky buggers!
TLockwood
8-Aug-2007
4:13:55 PM
i lost mine at 5... hehehe :P

wallwombat
8-Aug-2007
7:06:10 PM
I decided I wanted to climb after reading the Chris Bonington book, 'I Chose to Climb'. I was about 12 and a teacher at my school lent it to me. I was instantly converted. After reading that I devoured any book on climbing I could get my mitts on. I read so many of them that I knew a lot of climbing theory well before I first tied into a rope.

I remember making a harness out of the straps and waist belt from an old rucksack and some etriers out of some dog leashes and 'nailing' up the back wall of my parents terrace house. My rack consisted of assorted screwdrivers, chisels and 9 inch nails. I ended up taking a whipper from the top when the phillips-head screwdriver I was attached to popped. I didn't know about bounce testing back then!

Mum used to love it when her friends asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up and answered, "a mountain climber". Unfortunately I haven't become a mountain climber yet but I have climbed lots and lots of cliffs. Mountaineering isn't too far off though! The dream is still alive.

I'm pretty sure I would have ended up climbing, no matter what. Gyms had no part in me taking up climbing. I don't really like them and seldom visit them. Taking up climbing was more of an extension of bush-walking for me and stemmed from my love of the exploring the outdoors.
maadness
8-Aug-2007
8:46:10 PM
i suppose as i posted the question id have to say when i started ,which was back in '86 after a friend took me to arapiles which was much more fun than throwing a grappling hook up to the highest branch i could then climbing the rope and branches futher to the top. but i was kind of wondering with the increase of design of some protection methods ( manly glue in bolts to old carrots or pitons) people would find it a much more dangerous activity than they are willing to throw themselves into.

GravityHound
9-Aug-2007
7:34:55 AM
my dad quit climbing in the late 50's early 60's because he thought it was too dangerous (he has climbing a gym recently i think and enjoyed it). i couldnt understand why until i relaised he was using hemp ropes, no harness (just the rope tied around his waist), very little protection on lead (the occaisonal piton but that mostly for belay points) and belaying was by wrapping the rope around your body. he still thinks leading on trad is too dangerous (dont thin khe understands it properly) and up until a fortnight ago didnt realise you could top rope outside.

i reckon climbing is in the blood, its an innate interest, and if the opportunity to climb is there you take it and become a climber.

wombly
9-Aug-2007
9:13:44 AM
twas '97 when i began climbing, when i was ushered up Spiegels's in a party of 3, and from there i was smitten. My second trip was to araps a few weeks later where i was to have my first lead. I did end up a the gym a few times that year, but it definitely wasn't my entry into the sport. Having said all that though i've since become a hex munching crack climber, so it probably wouldn't have mattered if i'd started in the 90s or the 60s/70s...

IdratherbeclimbingM9
9-Aug-2007
10:05:53 AM
On 7/08/2007 maadness wrote:
>i wonder how many of the people climbing these days would of been climbing
>if they were ( being in the same age as they are now) in the 50s/60s or
>70s/80s ?

This question is a little ambiguous and can be read from an older perspective.

If I was the same age that I am now back in the 50's I probably wouldn't have been climbing.
... Not because of gyms / the lack of; but because I may not have survived the mistakes I made back then for the length of time it takes to get to my age now, if you follow the convoluted logic!
... and I prolly wouldn't be climbing or posting now as that would put me (at 100++), well over the average life expectancy for males in Aust. by today’s numbers!!
ithomas
9-Aug-2007
2:56:41 PM
Hi Bomber
Idid a little climbing at Frog Buttress in the same time period as you (late 60's - 70's) but I don''t recall ever seeing you and I thought I knew everyone. Have you changed your name? Falling 6 stories must have been grim. Where was that I wonder? Perhaps you are joking?
Ian
kcwat
9-Aug-2007
3:29:33 PM
Oh dear here we go again. Why do people insist on questioning BPs posts?

BP states that he started climbing solo in the late 60s as a child on an undisclosed cliff, and MANY YEARS later found ropes, gear and harnesses which he put to use at Frog.
ithomas
9-Aug-2007
4:47:30 PM
Oh dear here we go again. Why do people insist on questioning BPs posts?

Dear Twat
Because I am interested. Why else?
Ian

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There are 23 messages in this topic.

 

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