Climbing officially an Olympic sport

Someone has to be the "asshole" and say what most of us are thinking anyway but aren't saying because they don't want to be "that guy".

highaltitudeflatulentexpulsion wrote: Some stuff shouldn't grow. If fully half the climbers in the world quit tomorrow and turned their shoes into compost, it wouldn't hurt this sport. Efforts to "grow" climbing are self serving.

Bingo. Couldn't agree more. Let's see... who benefits most from "growing the sport"? Is it the general climbing population of passionate, unsponsored people that have dedicated years of their life to it? Nope. People like that get:

More crowds of clueless gumbies attempting to obliviously kill themselves

More erosion

More litter

More hammocks and boomboxes

More turds right next to approach trails

More waiting while someone that can't get ten feet off the ground ties up routes for hours on top ropes.

All this equals more negative visibility and a greater threat to access.

You can say whatever you want, but if you get out a lot, especially to popular spots, then it is certainly the case. The typical response is "climb harder and you won't have that problem" or "be a steward, teach them". Well, fuck that. First of all, it doesn't matter if you climb .13s if the warmup wall right next to you is chock full of dipshit nooblets with no respect for anyone and treat the crag like a goddamned tailgate party. And be a steward. Yeah. So some dickhead kid that just got his belay tag yesterday can tell me "it's no big deal, bro."

Follow the money. Who benefits from "growing the sport"? Hmmm... well let's see. Gyms. Gear manufacturers. Technical clothing manufacturers. Pro climbers who now are starting to see the financial fruition of all their years of hard work.

MarcYY wrote: There are some pros for exposure and growth in climbing. The more exposure climbing gets, the more people who may experience the outside and appreciate it. There may be more advocates for keeping our cliffs clean, and more money filtered into supporting areas by putting toilets/other accommodations. There will be more money into the outdoor industry to support R&D for technology in climbing. There will be more money into the outdoor industry that can be fed back into the community.

No. There are no pros for the overwhelming majority of the climbing community in the U.S. Just for the entities mentioned above. Advocates for keeping our cliffs clean. Right. That's utter bullshit. The last two years I've seen more litter than ever. More people makes the problem worse. More money filtered into areas- that's iffy. The only positive I can see is maybe more money raised for rebolting efforts. But you know what else gym gumbies don't do? They don't embrace the culture. They're not humble. And they sure as fuck don't give to their local climbing coalitions. Don't believe me? Go ask any first year or even in some cases second or third year climber that lives primarily in the gym and does half a dozen trips outside a year; ask them who their local climbing coalition is. Ask them if they're Access Fund members. Ask them if they give back in any way. The answer you'll get most of the time is "no". Toilets- yes. I'm sure that's the answer. Know what we wouldn't need if there weren't umpteen million dickbag meatsacks out there that don't really belong? More fucking toilets. I mean for fuck's sake, we had to start the "Rock Project" to educate these morons to not do the basic shit that every climber knows not to do. Litter. Hog routes with endless top rope rides. Litter. Shit where people walk and can smell it. What ever did people do before shitters at the crag? They walked a few hundred feet away and dug a goddamned hole. That's what. More money for R&D? For what? Are your shoes not sticky enough? Do your $110 Ultralights weigh too much? Your 30gram biners too heavy? The technology is fine. It does very little for climbing, and it only increases the cost of gear over time. Idk about you but between education and health care, I'm not super psyched about the price of anything else skyrocketing. More money in the outdoor industry to be fed back into the community. WHAT. IN. THE. FUCK. ARE. YOU. TALKING. ABOUT? Yay. BD made it available to get the MP app for free. Is this the money that's being fed back in? Don't fool yourself. These companies are making money hand over fist now. Prices are constantly increasing. You know what's not? American's wages across the board. Oh, and climbing time isn't either. Good luck finding camping at quality destinations and getting on a warmup route.

Devil's Advocate post:

Busier crags and gyms could mean more motivation to push climbing grades to higher, less traveled routes? I ski at a very busy mountain and while the crowds get annoying it does not prevent a good day from happening.

More popular sport, more research and development for lighter, safer cooler (possibly less expensive) gear.

Look at all the energy drink companies. They sell poison to children but also pump tons of money into really cool alternative "sports". Not planning on drinking a red bull or speed climbing after a nice day bouldering but not going to hate on it either.

I dont know that this is a crisis in the making and Ill at least watch the recaps.

So does this mean Black Diamond stock will be worth a fu&k now?

If you don't want climbing to get more popular stop breeding.

If the comps are indoor.... this will be so cheesy. It's not rock climbing when you pull plastic.

Bill Kirby wrote: If you don't want climbing to get more popular stop breeding.

Sums it up perfectly.

It will be interesting to see if the Cuban climbing "ban" will be lifted and climbing promoted there now by the government. From my very limited understanding it was "banned" partially because it was not an officially recognized Olympic sport!

Kevin Kent wrote:It will be interesting to see if the Cuban climbing "ban" will be lifted and climbing promoted there now by the government.

Cuban climbing ban? What?
Cuba Climbing

grog m wrote:It just means more rapelling accidents

Dont forget about GriGri accidents... those gonna skyrocket!

So if they drug test then I guess we will never know who the best climber in the world is.

I really fail to see how climbing being an Olympic sport is going to cause this massive increase in new climbers that everyone is afraid of.

Surfing is becoming an Olympic sport, but I doubt surfers are worried about a bunch of kooks crowding up their local spots.

Yeah, maybe there'll be a slight uptick in the number of people who go to try out a climbing gym, but that really isn't a bad thing in any meaningful way.

And even if this did cause some massive uptick in climbing popularity, I would argue that the only type of climbing it would promote would be gym/competition climbing and if that got as popular as any other Olympic sport (lets use swimming as an example?) would that really be bad? I think it would be cool to see more high-school and college level climbing teams and competitions.

R. Moran wrote:So if they drug test then I guess we will never know who the best climber in the world is.

Great point...

The dead horse I was beating about it becoming an Olympic sport, is it going to solidify the grading system, and or what could be lost?
Currently climbing grades are subjective, and different climbers(size/strength/experience) are going to grade differently, which raises the question are there going to be classes (age/weight/size)?
We all climb for different reasons, but as a sport the only goal is to beat a clock.
I'm indifferent to the situation, just curious what if anything will change.

If it causes a younger generation to get into climbing, more climbing gyms will pop up to ske their money. Climbing has taken off already in Salt Lake City. There are 5 amazing climbing gyms within an hour of the city and everyone who learns to climb there goes to only four of the four hundred local crags. I never wait in line for a climb unless I go to the salt lake slips, challenge buttress, east hellgate, or grey stone wall in American fork. . . So I do t usually go to those places after work or on weekends.

Go climb something new, obscure, or slightly chossy and you'll never have a problem with crowds. In the nineties if the gate buttress parking lot was full, you'd wait for the good climbs. Then the black diamond spot came out and bouldering as its own sport blew up. Now, the parking lot fills up with boulderers and you can get on most any route you want. More new climbers led to fewer people on the routes I want to do. It might be a problem if you live in a spot with 3 climbing gyms and only one real crag though.

Russ Keane wrote:If the comps are indoor.... this will be so cheesy. It's not rock climbing when you pull plastic.

You're about 30 years too late with this objection. Recall how many top end climbers of the 80's & 90's were also regular competition climbers.

Maybe the intention is for Climbing to be like gymnastics....where the award medals for individual events as well as Team and Overall.

Em Cos wrote:How is surfing supposed to work? Only a select few coastal cities can host the summer olympics?

Wavepool heroes

Thanks Obama!

Climbing competitions already are here!

For people who do not surf the tubes of interwebs -
IFSC Climbing World Cup, Lead

youtube.com/watch?v=9iUJSG9…

IFSC Climbing World Cup, Bouldering

youtube.com/watch?v=XxZpoF0…

Who paid for the whores one needs to bribe the Olympic Committe?

I don't like the further glorification of indoor climbing. It's not a representation of true rock climbing.