I have been knocking about to day round the house and at the publishers not to mention wandering round the village, trying to achieve life’s small but important tasks. During that time I had a brew in Pete’s and scanned through one of there old mags, well it beat the newspapers telling me more about the election!
I saw this image of an old magazine advert for DMM, looks seriously scarey, given the cable has now fallen to the depths of the quarry. I also read a letter by good ole Ken Wilson, who was ranting about bolts and how they will be the end of trad climbing, and how they will appear everywhere from grit to granite. An interesting read, when you consider that 20 years on his apocolyptic vision of climbings futures simply hasn’t paid out.
Although with easy sport venues he probably see’s his prediction as true. However the modern outlook seems to accept these area for what they are and allow the ‘trad’ climbers to do there thing and ‘sports’ climbers another. I beat he didn’t envisage the fall of the cold war between the two camps, the advent of bouldering as a climbing activity in its own right or any of the other sub sports of climbing that make up the broad church of worshipers to the rock gods.
What is funny to me anyway is that I beat he still holds those old views, a bit like my grandads at time blatant, out dated and out moded belief of ethic minorities in the UK.
I find it interesting that in the not too distant future we shall be in an era when the ‘traditional’ Stalwarts will no long be with use, like the death recently of the last surviving veteran of the first world war. We are all now much more liberal and open to the views of others, however reading UKC on bolting debates, they can still polarise an audience. I guess that whilst it is best that ‘least we forget’, I do wonder what the next generation of climbers bred on steep plastic, training and competitions, and then unleashed on unsuspecting rock will have use do next?
My guess is they will still enjoy the greatest trad climbing in the world, some will become Alpinist, and others the greatest redpointers of there times.
I wonder what DMM will make as there latest and greatest technological advancement in climbing technology?
Anyway I am off out climbing now, to enjoy and evening cragging in the strong winds on the rock of my age. When I can forget all my thining, it gets me no where!