supertopo record smashed!
Online News Article
Sara Watson scoping a 5.11c pitch on S. Half Dome
Photo by: Shawn Reeder
A Rock and Ice article [see ‘The Better Half,’ No. 165. Buy the issue here or click here to read the article] has recently generated a record breaking response on SuperTopo.com. Currently the forum topic “Doug Robinson, Sean Jones, rap bolt South face of Half Dome!” has generated 1181 responses since it was posted on March 29, 2008.
The previous record, 814 messages, belonged to a June 8, 2007 thread concerning Bobby Model, a Wyoming-based photographer who was injured in South Africa. For comparison “Mr. Obama and the Rev Jeramiah Wright Controversy” racked up 346 posts, John Long’s voyeuristic thread “First Time Getting Some” inspired 102 perverts to respond and “Snorting Wasabi Powder (and other crazy decisions)” elicited a single reply, bringing the total count to a walloping 2 posts.
But forget these freakish side-show forum events. The historic thread discusses a first ascent authored by Sean Jones et al. in the spring/summer of 2007. The unrepeated, 21-pitch route Growing Up (V 5.13a A0) is found on Yosemite’s largely ignored south face of Half Dome, home to a few horrifyingly runout routes like Southern Belle (V 5.12d R). Because the final 1,000 feet of Growing Up were bolted on rappel, the route was open for an ethical debate at its conception, but it wasn’t until eight months later that Scott “Coz” Cosgrove burst the internet floodgates open.
At 2:52 p.m. PT on March 29, Cosgrove wrote: “I've been in Mexico working for four months and away from all this, can anyone tell me if [the rap bolted first ascent] is true? I can not believe it myself. I just read in Rock and Ice a story call[ed], The Better Half. Please tell me, I read it all wrong.”
What ensues is part ethical debate, part soap-box oration, part mudslinging fest and part race for the 1,000th post. Doug Robinson, who contributed heavily to the FA and wrote ‘The Better Half,’ explained the situation to the editors of Rock and Ice. “Really, occasional flare-ups aside,” wrote Robinson, “the whole debate has been remarkably respectful and productive."
On April 8, Russ Walling – whose claim to SuperTopian fame is snagging the 600th post on the “Half Dome” thread – summed up the cyberspace controversy:
“SFHD rap bolted by a naked talus runner [Robinson] and a pro climber [Jones] who also does construction to feed his kids. Route is probably great, but since style is still important to many, FA guys are getting an earful. Other guys are loving the new way to do giant walls safely, and are coming to the defense of the FA guys. Many old crustys in the fray. Lots of bad spelling. Young guys poking old guys with sharpened stick clips.... old guys peeing on ball-less young guys..... Since opinions are like bungholes, even 5.4 leaders from the Gunks are lipping up along with the hardest of the hard from every era. No end in sight.”
News flash! By the time I finished writing this, the thread is up to 1187 posts. If enough people continue to contribute, you might just be able to claim the 2,000th post.
The previous record, 814 messages, belonged to a June 8, 2007 thread concerning Bobby Model, a Wyoming-based photographer who was injured in South Africa. For comparison “Mr. Obama and the Rev Jeramiah Wright Controversy” racked up 346 posts, John Long’s voyeuristic thread “First Time Getting Some” inspired 102 perverts to respond and “Snorting Wasabi Powder (and other crazy decisions)” elicited a single reply, bringing the total count to a walloping 2 posts.
But forget these freakish side-show forum events. The historic thread discusses a first ascent authored by Sean Jones et al. in the spring/summer of 2007. The unrepeated, 21-pitch route Growing Up (V 5.13a A0) is found on Yosemite’s largely ignored south face of Half Dome, home to a few horrifyingly runout routes like Southern Belle (V 5.12d R). Because the final 1,000 feet of Growing Up were bolted on rappel, the route was open for an ethical debate at its conception, but it wasn’t until eight months later that Scott “Coz” Cosgrove burst the internet floodgates open.
At 2:52 p.m. PT on March 29, Cosgrove wrote: “I've been in Mexico working for four months and away from all this, can anyone tell me if [the rap bolted first ascent] is true? I can not believe it myself. I just read in Rock and Ice a story call[ed], The Better Half. Please tell me, I read it all wrong.”
What ensues is part ethical debate, part soap-box oration, part mudslinging fest and part race for the 1,000th post. Doug Robinson, who contributed heavily to the FA and wrote ‘The Better Half,’ explained the situation to the editors of Rock and Ice. “Really, occasional flare-ups aside,” wrote Robinson, “the whole debate has been remarkably respectful and productive."
On April 8, Russ Walling – whose claim to SuperTopian fame is snagging the 600th post on the “Half Dome” thread – summed up the cyberspace controversy:
“SFHD rap bolted by a naked talus runner [Robinson] and a pro climber [Jones] who also does construction to feed his kids. Route is probably great, but since style is still important to many, FA guys are getting an earful. Other guys are loving the new way to do giant walls safely, and are coming to the defense of the FA guys. Many old crustys in the fray. Lots of bad spelling. Young guys poking old guys with sharpened stick clips.... old guys peeing on ball-less young guys..... Since opinions are like bungholes, even 5.4 leaders from the Gunks are lipping up along with the hardest of the hard from every era. No end in sight.”
News flash! By the time I finished writing this, the thread is up to 1187 posts. If enough people continue to contribute, you might just be able to claim the 2,000th post.
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