Yeah, I could see it now....

"Hey baby, what do you think about me clove hitching my ice tool to your butterfly knot?"

Some say its true.... Tragedy of the Commons and all that horseshit. Well what say you Commoners? Are you killing our sport? Once it was only the dirtbags and us elite who climbed, now they climb on orange juice commercials. Does ths represent the Death of Climbing? Death by Noob?

DMT

Well, you've uncovered our secret plan. There's no point in denying it now. Yeah, we're out to get you. We're the dudes out there throwing full bottles of beer at you from the overhangs (don't worry, they're light beer). We're the ones buying up all the North Face and Prana attire we can find. We're the ones out there wearing out holds, spilling toxic chalk everywhere, and chopping bolts because we don't like where they are on routes.

And you know what, Dingus? You can't stop us. You have the knowledge, but we have the numbers, and we're out to get you!

Keep your nightlight on. Wear your tinfoil hat. Because the moment you don't is the moment we jump you in the dark or beam distracting thoughts into your head and make you run out past twenty or thirty meters of clips on the wrong route. And you know what happens then, don't you?































That's when tubgirl and goatsex get you!

Over the last 8 years since I started climbing, I've grown and learned about what our sport means. I've encirled myself with like minded people. We pick up trash when we see it, we rappel instead of lower to save the rock and rappel rings, we stay on trails and even help build them, we trad climb in the mountains, we watch sunsets and view scenery, and at the same time we try to push our limits and find out what we're made of.

Being a true part of the climbing community means helping ensure that the resource will always be there, interacting with the environment positively, and loving all forms of climbing. It means congratulating success instead of envying it,......
Josh

That's when tubgirl and goatsex get you!

"NOOBIE" HERE!!!!!!!!!!!
I am disapointed, though not deterred. So, if the latter was truly your motive then I am fairly sorry for contributing to your failure...
Again.......I AM A NEWBIE! (and be WARNED. for I may "kill" surfing as well. Although, wait, I suppose that has already been done thirty years ago by some Poser-Ass-Newbie-TeenyBopper named Greg Noll, and his infamous band of "Cool Seeking" miscreants, who ironically revolutionized the sport by raising the bar far above anyone's conception of what was possible.
So what does Noll and surfing's recent stardom have to do with the DINGUS question?
EVERYTHING!---NOobs are essential for the progressive movement of ANY sport, skill, or art form. Even the Ignorant or just plain Stupid ones will eventually teach a lesson to the entire sport and it's community. The Lesson, I believe, will resemble something always known, and yet too often forgotten. Perhaps the most valuble lesson of them all:
Why Do We Do This?
Why do YOU love this?
What are we In It For?
Is it really for fame, glory, and the superfluous "honor" of being called (or worse) calling yourself ELITE?
If so, than I feel sorry for you.........I feel sorry for you all. I feel sorry that you have waisted 10, 15, 20 years of your life pursing artificial rewards, and pedestals of Gold and Ivory.
I AM A NEWBIE!
though I am not deterred by the ever infectious presence of pretentious OLDIES in every facet of society; From my own father, who thought that low paid immigrants were killing "His" roofing business, to record execs hating Itunes, and Napster for Killng the music industry, to Newport roasts of Bob Dylan Killing Folk music, to HighTip PopTarts accusing Marlon Brando of Killing acting, to CD's killing cassettes killing 8-tracks killing records, to Hemmingway killing the classics, to Video Killing the FUCKING RADIO STAR.......
Idiots and Macho-Title Seekers will never survive in any arena where Will to Power is the supreme prerequisite, and change is inevitable.
And so, all nOOB fearers fear not. Natural selection will undoubtedly weed out the weak and weary.
I don't know about all of YOU.......
but I am here because I call no other place home.
Without the mountain.........my soul would die.
I am certain of it;
So, WHY have I chosen to pursue learning the art technical rock climbing and alpine mountaineering at the ripe-tender age of 26?
SIMPLE: I have finally realized that there are still so many more rooms in OUR house still unexplored.
Why stop at the living rooM?
But then again.........I am just a nOOB!

My FINAL opinion (I pomise):

EGO IS KILLING OUR SPORT!! ---beware of yourself.

EGO IS KILLING OUR SPORT!! ---beware of yourself.

Ego is the BASIS of our sport mate!

DMT

Good troll... I think this one has legs.

Hemmingway killing the classics,

"NOOBIE" HERE!!!!!!!!!!!
("blah, blah, blah" - I mean "...") to Hemmingway killing the classics...

Not death by noob. Everyone's a noob at some point, and if there weren't noobs, climbing would die out with all the old climbers.

I would call it evisceration by popularity. There are a lot of people who try it as a novelty, to be cool, without appreciating the risks or understanding the culture. Because of that, it also gains more social and political visibility in the mainstream ... it's no longer a fringe activity or necessarily as "extreme" a sport in the public eye anymore. That's good and bad in ways ... but I would say that the primary result is the dilution of climbing culture.

Even 15 years ago, when I first started climbing, you needed to meet people and learn from experienced climbers to really get to know the crags, the process, and the ethic ... and the ethics were very strong within the community. But, at that time, I was warned of the growing number of "sport" climbers (as opposed to what those guys were calling "nature" climbers) who didn't appreciate preservation of land, the access issues, or the integrity of the stone. I came back into the fold a couple of years ago, and found that most of their warnings were very well-placed, but that the result of that growth was that the sport was also more accessible than it used to be, adn it was easy for me to just jump in.

But, whatever. It'll always be a great pursuit, and it's inherently self-selecting - the people that aren't made for it will either fade away, stay in the gyms, or kill themselves in the process. I think climbing, by its very nature, will stay reasonably pure, even if it changes over time.

At least have the decency to spell Hemingway correctly.

You didn't get jumped into the gang by running the Hex Gauntlet?

n00b.