Who is/was the purest climber?

Just for fun, consider this idea:

The purest climber is the person who does not need the physical gratification of the actual climb. They can visit summits instantaneously by extending their spirit rather than add their impact to the landscape by tromping through it, leaving footprints and feces, displacing rubble, flora and fauna, filling the valleys with their hollers. The pure climber is content with the awareness that these high places exist outside as well as within, and they sacrifice self-gratification for the sake of preserving these spaces. They know that ultimately the desired goal actually lies within, and that there are other ways to access the same place. Maintaining untrammeled mystery for the imagination may yield the desired results better than displacing the blanks on the map with knowledge.

That sure as hell ain't me. Being the lowly creature that I am, I need to climb and move and touch. Weak sauce, I know. Now pass me the stick clip...

Rocrateswrote:

Can people who headpoint be considered "pure climbers"?

Good question, I would put head pointing in the same category as chalk bag, shoes, etc in regards to purity, lame but necessary.

Rob Cotterwrote:

Skip Guerin

Chalk and tape are aid 

Tradibanwrote:

Good question, I would put head pointing in the same category as chalk bag, shoes, etc in regards to purity, lame but necessary.

I like this classification.  Plus now I can sleep well at night.

Kristian Solemwrote:

It's one thing to insist on going back for something that fell off your rig, quite another to refuse help if you wipe out and break tib/fib. 

Or get trapped in freezing slush- 10 miles from nowhere.

Pierre de St Croixwrote:

Apparently Google struggles with purity! 

I don't know, looks spot on to me

Lone Pinewrote:

I don't know, looks spot on to me

Solutions are aid 

I know a person who just simply climbs all the time. Works to support the lifestyle without handouts. His photo was in “Climbing Rag” doing some 5.13 way back when that was news. Wrote a letter letting the editors know he wasn’t down with that and if it happened again he’d sue them. Still cranks hard, rocks, walls, ice, both big and small mountains. Never seeks the public fame. I’m happy he stops by a few times per year- we go have fun doing the low level climbing I now do.

Now that is pure- pure fun!

Some really great responses on this one. 

John Gillwrote:

Siegfried Herford (1891-1916), a superb British climber of German descent, was a staunch advocate of downclimbing; he wrote a treatise on "The Doctrine of Descent" in 1913. He graduated with one of the first degrees in aeronautical engineering.

I knew Jan and Herb Conn, and they were downclimbing enthusiasts who, at least early on, used a sixty foot rope.

Everyone who wants to know about the history of climbing visionaries and pioneers of hard free climbing need look no further than John Gill and his fascinating website, johngill.net

Lots of interesting tidbits about climbers who were "pure" beyond the ethics and style of their contemporaries. 

Jonathan Marekwrote:

Everyone who wants to know about the history of climbing visionaries and pioneers of hard free climbing need look no further than John Gill and his fascinating website, johngill.net

Lots of interesting tidbits about climbers who were "pure" beyond the ethics and style of their contemporaries. 

So true!  Gill:  A giant in the history of the sport (and I mean sport in the very sporting way).  And such a nice and accommodating man.

And Skip Guerin was so cool to watch meticulous climbing sans shoes.

Not sure what I think of Adam Ondra, for sure he is an amazing man and athlete, but he was highly groomed from a very early age - by others - to produce a product, that being the best climber in the world.  He has continued this, being very highly paid.  Just wonder if he is still (or ever was) having the time of his life simple moving over stone.

RKMwrote:

So true!  Gill:  A giant in the history of the sport (and I mean sport in the very sporting way).  And such a nice and accommodating man.

And Skip Guerin was so cool to watch meticulous climbing sans shoes.

Not sure what I think of Adam Ondra, for sure he is an amazing man and athlete, but he was highly groomed from a very early age - by others - to produce a product, that being the best climber in the world.  He has continued this, being very highly paid.  Just wonder if he is still (or ever was) having the time of his life simple moving over stone.

Ondra is the antithesis of pure. He may be the strongest climber but never the best. 

Pure isnt about being the best anyway, it's about taking climbing "as-is" and never cheating or cutting corners.

Maybe purity went away when the routes got harder?

Tradibanwrote:

Ondra is the antithesis of pure. He may be the strongest climber but never the best. 

Pure isnt about being the best anyway, it's about taking climbing "as-is" and never cheating or cutting corners.

Maybe purity went away when the routes got harder?

Purity is not rap bolting IMHO!

lyrcra spandex?! Anytime, anywhere!

Ondra getting the second FA of the Dawn Wall with all the beta and not really a trad climber at all in two weeks is super impressive, but purity and ethics are totally subjective.

Jim Reynolds’ up and down free solo of Fitz Roy must deserve consideration. Unless his subsequent appearance on the Enormocast (sorry Hobo) is disqualifying. 

Andy Wiesnerwrote:

Jim Reynolds’ up and down free solo of Fitz Roy must deserve consideration. Unless his subsequent appearance on the Enormocast (sorry Hobo) is disqualifying. 

BUMP for the…

https://enormocast.com/

A V wrote:

“Purity” keeps climbers from climbing hard. That’s why the euros came over on vacation and easily sent all of our hardest shit and put up harder shit while we were too busy participating in a mass Yosemote based circle jerk.

which was just another egocentric circle jerk... just a sportyeuro based one... What ever it takes to get the grade!

I think we can all agree, Climbers are not pure.

For me it would be about movement over stone and who did that best.  If you ever saw Bachar climb he was unmistakable with his movement and precision.  I've never seen anyone else that is even close.  Second would maybe be Edlinger.  Both are dead though...

Wyatt Nwrote:

Chalk and tape are aid 

Trolling is hard

A V wrote:

Right, but at least in their circle jerk they actually climbed hard instead of pretending to climb hard ;) 

touché

A V wrote:

“Purity” keeps climbers from climbing hard. That’s why the euros came over on vacation and easily sent all of our hardest shit and put up harder shit while we were too busy participating in a mass Yosemite based circle jerk over “who’s the most legit”

I disagree, the sport climbing sensation was just a short cut to climbing "hard", plenty of people would be climbing hard without it, albeit might have taken longer to get to 5.whatever. And then there's bouldering, hard climbing AND pure! 

Why must the numbers get higher to progress the sport anyway?