Quote:
Overheard at an LCD debate: "Telling people how bad they are and how good you are just makes you a pompous hypocrite. If you really want to reduce your environmental impact, go live in a cave, eat mud, or even better: just expire. Write PLEASE COMPOST on your chest in permanent marker"
Pierre I have been called many things including a Pontificating Old Goat or POG. And today pontificated on the reckless and unnecessary surgery that is done on people's spines to about 100 doctors and other health care workers: a talk that does not endear my to my colleagues who make their living out of doing this work and compared to this forum it can have serious consequences on my future.
Someone has to do the dirty work of putting a break on degradation and deprivation and yes it is easier for an old has-been like me to do so who after years of experience and endeavour has got less to lose than some young gun that wants to make his or her mark on the world by bolting the next test piece or "awesome" line.
It is sounding very tired I know, but our natural areas are diminishing; there is less and less accessible mountains and coast line and eventually only the rich will have access to anything that is worthwhile and to stay rich they will screw you (unless you are one of them) by buying up all the Mountains and the coast line and anything else that is worthwhile while they ply your children with PC games and make you obese and take away any desire to do anything adventurous.
If you don't believe me then download the You Tube link or read the words of George Carlin that I have copied and pasted off the Internet.
As an aside, if you point out that someone is an arsehole or a pompous hypocrite you make the mistake of elevating yourself to higher level of arsehole or pompous hypocrite as you assume that other readers cannot work this out for themselves. But that's OK I don't really think that you are a pompous hypocrite at all. I prefer to be the keeper of that title.
More and more, life is based on instant gratification and in climbing there is no better way than to achieve this than through bolting which is the soft option, anyway you look at it. Almost anyone can after 6 months of experience and half a brain climb grade 20 and harder on bolted climbing. and within 2 to 3 years many people can climb upper 20's and 30's It takes, desire, commitment and years of experience, dedication and hard work to become competent on grade 20 or harder on un-bolted climbing and a hand full of climbers in the whole world get to climb upper grade 20's and even less grade 30's on trad. The gratification is delayed and sometimes never achieved. But trust me, it is worth it! You end up resilient enough to take a stand on all sorts of things even if you also boast about your kids doing really outrageous things on engineered routes in Yosemite. It is no mean feat to witness your own small children hike and climb a more than 20km round trip with an elevation and descent of almost 5000 ft and at altitude in a day. Go try it sometime as an adult!.
On this forum Andrew Pedley makes a decent case for sport climbing but in brackets he should always include a disclaimer that he earned his stripes "trad climbing": he has fractured his tibia on a pitch on Blouberg at a mere grade of 22 when he either lacked the fitness, the experience or whatever to protect it properly or hang on when it mattered. He has done the full apprenticeship of trad climbing - even more than me (I have only dislocated my thumb!).
Back to George Carlin: I have extracted one quote from his tirade and pasted it here:
Quote:
because your making 'em too soft.
Today's kids are way too soft. : : : For one thing, there's too much
emphasis on safety and safety equipment: childproof medicine bottles,
fireproof pajamas, child restraints, car seats. And helmets! Bicycle,
baseball, skateboard, scooter helmets. Kids have to wear helmets now for
everything but jerking off. Grown-ups have taken all the fun out of being a
kid. : : : What's happened is, these baby boomers, these soft, fruity baby
boomers, have raised an entire generation of soft, fruity kids who aren't
even allowed hazardous toys, for Chrissakes! What ever happened to natural
selection? Survival of the fittest? The kid who swallows too many marbles
doesn't grow up to have kids of his own. Simple stuff. Nature knows best!
Or read the full version:
http://harmful.cat-v.org/society/childr ... e_children"Help the children, save the children, protect the children." You know what I say? Fuck the children!
By George Carlin.
And this is the link to the YOU Tube clip.
http://pigassus.com/george-carlin-children.php
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
If I can find a partner without a shoulder injury, I'll be in Tonquani this weekend, climbing hopefully more than one of your routes.
This is by far the best read I have found in these forums 
! 
