The Ethics of Claiming First Ascents

Nathan Self wrote:

Chopping bolts with that looks pretty awful..

climbing friend,

you may claim the first ascent even though you have proven it is climbed before by viewing the chalk, as long as you can beat up anyone who is questioning you and/or intimidate them with your sculpted guns and highly defined and/or massive neck meat.

A good strategy, is to make bold FA claims in obscure places, where no one may be knowing the truth that probably you chuffed and grunted your own way up it 40 years after the real FA, yessss, myahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, yes myah.

Aleks Zebastian wrote:climbing friend, you may claim the first ascent even though you have proven it is climbed before by viewing the chalk, as long as you can beat up anyone who is questioning you and/or intimidate them with your sculpted guns and highly defined and/or massive neck meat. A good strategy, is to make bold FA claims in obscure places, where no one may be knowing the truth that probably you chuffed and grunted your own way up it 40 years after the real FA, yessss, myahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, yes myah.

Climbing Friend,
Do you talk like this in real life? If so, thats pretty awesome.

I plan on asking around about the information whenever I'm there and there are other climbers in the area to talk to. It mostly is a bunch of bros with climbing shoes there, so I'm not sure how much info I can get. But we'll see. I'm confident and excited to make this area organized so more people can enjoy it.

I still stand by if it is public land any you want to climb go for it. Unless someone is physically there climbing it I could care less about your stupid red tag.

If it is private land than you can reserve your wall because hey you can call the cops when they show up.

Eplumer400 wrote:I have no intention of bringing ego into it. I'm simply hoping to get more data uploaded into the database and have it be a helpful guide with better descriptions than "pulling the grunt" or "the wetness". I'll go through each route and type up a report to send to an admin where they can change each of these things for the routes so they can be found easier and enjoyed more. And I plan on adding a couple extra more routes and eventually want to draw up a topo map that gives an overview of the crag and has marks for each route.

Why would you want to do any of that if not to stroke your own ego?
Leave the adventure of discovery for the next people to enjoy. You were not the first
Who was ? Why does it matter?

Be glad and value the relative solitude that skant to no reference in any data base,/guide book, yields .

That is the value to protect. No one needed topo's and pictures and written directions or fixe anchors to climb it before.
While I considered that this was where the saying " if you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all." Would have been good advice, I chose to ask where is the value if by bringing
Attention to a place you get it shut down?

Michael Schneider wrote: Why would you want to do any of that if not to stroke your own ego? Leave the adventure of discovery for the next people to enjoy. You were not the first Who was ? Why does it matter? Be glad and value the relative solitude that skant to no reference in any data base,/guide book, yields . That is the value to protect. No one needed topo's and pictures and written directions or fixe anchors to climb it before. While I considered that this was where the saying " if you have nothing nice to say, don't say anything at all." Would have been good advice, I chose to ask where is the value if by bringing Attention to a place you get it shut down?

No one is talking about a place getting shut down... Not the issue here

Upload the routes. If someone wants to not know then they don't have to look it up on MP. I don't believe in any world when less knowledge is better than more knowledge. One thing I know is that if you call a route "Unknown left" or whatever, there is a very small chance that someone will write in with the real name. Call it "Daves Fantastic Adventure" or something and watch how quickly someone will correct you. Call it incentive.

It's never been about wanting to claim the FA on this particular route. In the route description I even said, "If you claim FA on this route I'll give credit where credit is due." I'm allowing other peoples' egos to inflate with this. I know I'm not the first person to climb it. But I'm the first to record it, and I would like to record other routes in the area. Whipp's Ledges will not get shut down for climbing anytime soon. There is a decent number of climbers here around Cleveland, but not everyone knows about what Whipp's has to offer, because it's not recorded properly. I can't be the only person who started in climbing gyms and wanted to get out into the real rocks and started searching here to find routes to do that are near my home.

As for bringing attention to the place, it's the only decent place to climb around northeast Ohio and plenty of people already know about it. It's part of the Cleveland Metroparks, so it's not going anywhere anytime soon.

go ahead and post up what you found.... if you know you didn't do the FA don't claim it.

I have climbed climbs way out in the middle of no-where... cleaned brush and moss from the cracks. But way up hi, I found an unmistakable piton scar.... I and my friends were not the first. But we were having a grand time thinking we were.

Tell the truth, in all things you do climbing wise and people will think better of you and your word.

simple