You think you have it bad?
I was on a climbing trip in Colorado when I picked up the July issue and read Nick Gooding’s Vantage Point article. I live in Florida, where the shortest drive to real rock is seven to eight hours and the local gym is run primarily to make money on the birthday party crowd. I can count on one thumb the number of staff members who climb on real rock. Routes get changed once every four months if we are lucky, but that doesn’t matter because they are only open until 8 p.m. weekdays so there isn’t time to work anything new anyways.
Nevertheless, I climb there anyway and make my monthly pilgrimage North. I sympathize with everything Nick says and could go on endlessly about my climbing woes, but instead I just appreciate all the more my time on real stone. There are lots of people who have it much worse!

Historia
I’m writing to offer you and your readership my sincere (i.e., humble, groveling) apologies for providing you with the never-before-published “K2” photo that you used in your recent K2 issue [July]. I was convinced it was Compagnoni on the summit of K2. The original photograph was in Fritz Wiessner’s photo archive that also includes a half dozen 1954 Italian K2 photographs that the Italian team sent to Fritz after their successful first ascent. The 1950s look of the clothing and gear in the picture that I provided to you, the raised ice axe with the flags, the wind-carved snow and curved shape of the summit … everything fit so well, and I was so convinced it was Compagnoni on top of K2 that I never scrutinized the shapes and outlines of the various mountains in the background. Many apologies, and kudos to Robb Briggs! Well, at least it was a never-before-published photo — of Pasang Dawa Lama Sherpa on the first ascent of another 8000er, Cho Oyu, Pasang being the superbly talented Sherpa who, in 1939, also climbed to within 800 feet of the summit of K2 with Fritz Wiessner.

The new dirtbags
It was not so long ago that the cafeteria in Yosemite was a great place to find climbing partners. Every day there would be a collection of dirtbags — penniless, scruffy, ragged folks — drinking “free” coffee, scarfing left-behind food, and eager to go climb anything you could think to suggest. There was among them a great shortage of resources; many collected cans and ate Ramen every day, but there was no shortage of willingness to go out and climb.
I left for a few years to pursue a different kind of dirtbagging, and upon my return have been shocked at the changes to the scene. Oh sure, there are more dirtbags in the cafeteria than ever, but they are all glued to their cell phones, whenever they are not busy clacking on their laptops and complaining about the wireless reception. They are networking, every one of them, and they’re all out to get free stuff. Nothing wrong with that — free stuff is cool — but here’s the nub of the issue: you can’t get a single one to go climbing anymore.
“Wanna climb?” I ask each person in turn. “Can’t,” says one, “I have to go get filmed doing some pitches. Where’s a good 5.7?”
“Can’t,” says another, “I’m going to Killer Pillar this afternoon.”
“This afternoon?” I reply. “That’s when it will be in the full sun!”
“Sure. That’s when the light’s good for photos.”
Where have all the climbers gone? Is there anyone left who climbs for the sake of climbing? Or is our once obscure and proud pastime to become the realm of the laptop-toting, cell-phone-slinging, SUV-driving yuppies who can’t go out without their photographer and press agent? There was a time when not a single climber in the caf even owned a laptop or a cellphone, and every one of them would climb — and it was not so long ago.

War Games
Since I joined the Navy in 2002 I haven’t been able to climb as much as I would like. When we are in home port in Yokohama, Japan, I frequent a small bouldering gym but we are at sea most of the time. I am Forward Deployed on a Spruance-class destroyer, and we are currently returning from a five-month deployment in the Arabian Gulf where we took part in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Now that we have some down time, I find myself jonesing more than ever to climb something — anything, since it’s been over five months. After reading the most recent issue of Climbing I finally decided I had to climb, so I climbed the only thing I could: the ceiling of our shop.
I wanted to say thanks for all the hard work everyone puts into the magazine. I look forward to every issue. Without it I just might go loco!

Net benefit
I just wanted to address some of the issues raised in the Climbing July 2004 Editorial. First off, I wanted to congratulate you
on adding more content. I also wanted to address forums, and the Internet in general.
I believe that websites and email lists are fantastic resources for finding Beta, discussing local issues, and distributing breaking news. Perhaps climbing magazines fulfilled that need years ago, but the cost efficiencies of the Internet, especially when amateurs provide free content, can be hard to beat.
But, guess what? I don’t read Climbing for Beta, local issues, or breaking news. I read Climbing for the deliberate, beautiful articles, and images. This level of reporting, in-depth and up-close, is difficult to find on the web. Climbing should continue to play to the strengths of a printed magazine — quality, thoughtful, deliberate articles, and images.

Blast from the past
You will not imagine my surprise when last night at 10:30 p.m. in a grocery store in Santa Fe, I happened to pick up the latest issue of Climbing (which I never do) and thumbed through to see the article on the Denali Traverse [“Band of Brothers,” September]. I bought it and gave Woody [Morton Wood, survivor of the ordeal and husband of Ginny Wood, the bush pilot supporting the expedition] a call. We read it over this evening, and my wife Romany (Woody and Ginny's daughter) commented on learning a few things she had never known. We would like to commend you on doing a truly fine job on the story. You did not sensationalize it at all — very well done! I was very moved reading it to Romany, and most of the time I could barely keep back tears. It is refreshing in this day and age of hype and sensationalism to see such a nice job.

Corrections
The Access Fund ad in the September issue, page 19, failed to mention that there is no purchase or membership necessary to join the Member Drive Contest to win a free tent. Go to www.accessfund.org/join_contest.html for full contest rules.
We made an error in the Tech Tip drawing on page 76 of our July issue. The climber is shown “tied in” to the anchor with what appears to be a Munter hitch, rather than a clove hitch as was intended. The Munter is not an appropriate knot for tying in! Thanks to Greg Shergold of Chicago for pointing out the mistake.