Simon Mentz writes, "Ewbank was always looking at the bigger picture (than just physical difficulty). I always liked his quote, 'It's not about the difficulty of the move, it's about the consequences of not making that move'."
In 1981 when I visited Australia, the boundary line of "normal" free ascent (ground-up only) was sharp but also fudged every once in a while. Perhaps sharper in Australia than in US climbing centres at the time (Gunks, Eldo, Yosemite, Josh). "Flash" was always pretty clear, it meant no weighting of any gear whatsover and of course first time on the route ("on-sight" came later-- a mid-80s import from France.)
Hi John--Long time. Great to see you contributing your encyclopedic knowledge in this way. Have you been looking at the evolution of gear during WWII? If so, would love to connect. I've been doing research on it and would love to bounce some questions off you.
Simon Mentz writes, "Ewbank was always looking at the bigger picture (than just physical difficulty). I always liked his quote, 'It's not about the difficulty of the move, it's about the consequences of not making that move'."
In 1981 when I visited Australia, the boundary line of "normal" free ascent (ground-up only) was sharp but also fudged every once in a while. Perhaps sharper in Australia than in US climbing centres at the time (Gunks, Eldo, Yosemite, Josh). "Flash" was always pretty clear, it meant no weighting of any gear whatsover and of course first time on the route ("on-sight" came later-- a mid-80s import from France.)
Hi John--Long time. Great to see you contributing your encyclopedic knowledge in this way. Have you been looking at the evolution of gear during WWII? If so, would love to connect. I've been doing research on it and would love to bounce some questions off you.
Hi John. I'm enjoying your series. Have you seen the Nuts Museum? https://www.needlesports.com/Information/Features/Nuts-Museum
I've corresponded with Stephane in Corsica, sent him one of my LittleHammers for the collection. A very nice gentleman and pretty amazing collection.
Cheers Tim