Our April feature “Reaching for the Rings,” about climbing’s possible place in the Olympics, generated more letters than any other story. Here’s a sampling:

Family resemblance
I think Gail Rothschild missed the fundamental point while critiquing the lack of support and resources for competition climbing in America: the consciousness of the North American climber lies in their interaction with the outdoors. Although Rothschild does an admirable job at compiling the statistics to show that there is a lack of support and resources, she doesn’t confront the primary question: Why? Rothschild must understand that to most North American climbers, climbing is a pursuit that need not require a podium, only a connection with the environment and a friend.
Ultimately, an Olympic climbing event would garner no more attention from the climbing community than a World Cup event because competition climbing does not resemble the sport that we know.

Don’t forget the ABS
Thanks very much for your coverage and support of competitive climbing! It’s been great to read about the cool things going on in the U.S. comp-climbing scene. Gail Rothschild’s recent feature about the Olympic pursuit was terrific!
However, I was a little surprised by the very minor attention given to the American Bouldering Series. Granted, ABS isn’t focused on Olympic growth. Our goal is to help build fun community events that encourage climbers of all ages and abilities. Through this mission, I believe ABS has had a major impact on comp climbing in this country, and is at least partially responsible for the recent groundswell of grassroots bouldering comps. For any sport to take on the iconic status of being Olympic, it must first have a foundation of participants. Certainly my opinion is biased, but I was disappointed that Gail and the editors at Climbing Magazine did not acknowledge the part ABS has played and is playing in developing the sport in the U.S.

Rock is forever
Yes, it would be nice to see climbing in the Olympics. The amazing feats of the world’s top climbers seem to go unnoticed outside of the climbing community, in this country anyway. I would put Lynn Hill right up there with the top athletes of all time. But, how many non-climbers have ever heard of her or her accomplishments? The Olympics would be a great venue for climbers to get the recognition they deserve.
Competition climbing, however, will never be the venue for the for the world’s best climbers or climbs. Why is it that many of the very best climbers, people like Lynn Hill, Chris Sharma, Yuji Hirayama, Dean Potter, and Alexander Huber, have either given up competition climbing or were never that interested in the first place? I believe it is because they recognized that if they wanted to make meaningful advancements in our sport, it would have to be done on rock, not plastic. Competition climbing is almost completely relative: once the competition is over, the routes are erased. The free version of the Zodiac, on the other hand, is there for anyone who wishes to attempt it.
Finally, there are aspects of climbing that will never be measured by sanctioned competition. There is simply too much liability. To paraphrase Ernest Hemingway, the only true sports are mountain climbing, auto racing, and bull fighting — all the rest are just games. For climbers, competition will never be more than a diversion from the truly world-class venue of real rock.

Golden Pitons
Good job on issue #230, “Best Climbs of 2003.” I’ve been climbing for 14 years now, since I was 11, and my first mag was Climbing. It was always the highlight of this young boy’s month to see the incredible pictures of superhuman men and women traveling the globe in search of adventure bigger than themselves. This issue really made me remember why I climb, something a magazine hasn’t done in a long time.

Corrections:
Thanks to Bob Rittenhouse, professor of chemistry at Walla Walla College, Washington, for pointing out some errors in our tent-craft Tech Tip (April, page 78). We incorrectly stated that the density of carbon monoxide is greater than air so that the gas would sink to the bottom of the tent. Rittenhouse observes, “Any chemistry student would know that the molecular weight of carbon monoxide is 28 grams/mol, which is slightly lighter than the average molecular weight of air (about 29 grams/mol). The convection current created by the hot stove would tend to thoroughly mix the CO into the tent’s air supply. ... In fairness, Mark [Synnott] does stress the need for good ventilation when cooking in the tent. However, most mountaineering tents are completely covered by their flies, and opening the vents at both ends of the tent will not be adequate unless the fly can also be opened directly at the tent vent.” Storm-bound alpinists take note.
In the June issue, we correctly captioned the page 64 photo as Jason Kehl on Satan in a Half Shell, but incorrectly indicated that the problem is located at Pawtuckaway, New Hampshire. It’s at Rumney.
In our April Just Out review, we stated that the Wild Country Matrix harness didn’t have a full-strength rear haul point. In fact, it does.
In our profile of speed climber Chad Kellog in the February issue, we misstated that Kellog was the speed record holder on Khan Tengri. The record holder is Denis Urubko.