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addiroids
Nov 1, 2001, 1:05 AM
Post #1 of 2
(1765 views)
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Registered: Oct 11, 2001
Posts: 1046
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Here is a response I tried to post to another thread that I can't find anymore. It is about a guide to keep your faith in guides that there are still some good ones out there that don't do it only for the money/groupies:
In talking about Josh guides:
Sure some guides suck, but I just saw one who was the coolest in my book. Read on...
We were at Atlantis wall when this guide shows up and starts the 2nd day of an Intermediate course on
anchors and placements. They were building anchors on the ground and extending them for TRing. Well
about 1 hour later, this girl shows up and says, "You are the worst guide I have ever had!!!" We
TOTALLY thought she was one of his friends and was joking because nothing else was said [we were 100'
away and 100' up on the rocks - don't ask me the hypontenuse on that one). Well, it turns out that
she was 30 minutes late, they assumed she wasn't coming back for the second day because her friend
wasn't either, and so the left the meeting place. This bitch just kept bitching and finally the guide
politely ripped her out right in front of the class who had endured her the day before. He cussed a
little, but there was no real "anger" in his voice. He totally kept calm. She decided to stay and
she kept bring it up. He pretty much ignored her and then gave her the "Your life depends on me, so
don't piss me off!" line. That shut her up, but we still left to go climb Sail Away (5.8 ****]. It
was a great hand-fingers crack and it was great to lead it after I followed it two years ago on my
first day of outside climbing.
So the moral of this story is that not all guides are bad. Except for BOB GAINES OF VERTICAL
ADVENTURES. Before he got to Tahquitz, there were 90 bolts on the ENTIRE rock. He raped it, adding
135 bolts on like 2/3 of the rock. While I'm sure some were done on lead, some of those were done on
rappel, and some done while top stepping. Either way, both of those last methods are TOTALLY
contradictory of the ethics at Tahquitz and are unacceptable. Besides, who the hell wants to climb
80' sport routes when there are 7 pitches looming over your head. What a douche-bag. And yes, I do
know him, and have talked to him before when he was TRing all of Suicide for his class. No, I don't
own the place, and am only a transplanted local, but I do have some ethics (even if I did pull, and
step on a bolt while TRing a 10c - I hate face climbing).
TRADitionally yours,
Addiroids
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jds100
Nov 1, 2001, 4:15 AM
Post #2 of 2
(1765 views)
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Registered: Aug 5, 2001
Posts: 1008
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I won't profess to know Bob Gaines, and I am not a local, by any means, of Tahquitz. However, I do know the difference between someone such as Bob Gaines, who has been climbing and contributing to the community of climbing for a few decades, now, and a 23 year old who rips on someone on a public forum without the other party being there to debate the issues.
Do you have the "right" to express your opinion on this forum? The internet is nearly free from risk for liable, so, yeah, basically you can say what you want. And I can say what I want.
Your attack of Bob Gaines is personal, one-sided, and issued under the guise of a 'friendly' topic. You claim to have "ethics", but at the same time acknowledge violating them; your claim to "know" him is not well supported by saying that you talked to him when he was TRing his classes. You call him a "douche bag", and by implied association, anyone else who'd be interested in climbing an 80' sport route at Tahquitz would be one, too.
You're a 23 year old transplant, ripping an established 'credentialed' climber who's lived and worked in the area for years and years, and you zealously claim to know and represent what is and is not acceptable within the ethical guidelines of your adopted crag. It's your own credibility that suffers here.
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