Blog from September, 2016

This is a copy of a thread I put on Chockstone, which I thought may be of interest to locals. Some interstate visitors were taking the piss out of me, saying I over-rate the quality of alot of my new routes. This is fair comment, as any new router knows; you put so much effort in to a new climb that when the project is done; `its the best route I ever put up' ..its just frothing enthusiasm, redpoint glory..forgive me for exaggeration at times, but I still think I've managed to put up a few good ones over the years. Anyway, here is the chockstone thread, and I'd be interested in your comments.

This thread is partly in response to rowans comment about my first ascents. He said "Well it's just taste I guess. But I found that your self appraisals of your first ascents was a state wide running joke when I was in Tassie. You have climbed some awesome routes first but not as many as your guide books claim. I was told on several occasions whilst at the crag to take two stars off any Gerry route in the guide. That was locals beta."

It made me wonder who these locals were, and then I got to thinking whether their opinion, or the opinion of interstate visitors like rowan and One Day Donkey Boy has any credibility, and is their assessment of a climb worth listening to. I went through my Climb Tasmania guidebook, which has the best 850 routes at the 25 best crags and took note of the first ascensionists. I did this because it is mainly these people whose opinion I respect when it comes to judging a route's quality. The first ascensionists have runs on the board, they have done some hard yards, scrubbed some climbs, done some exploring, invested in bolts, worked the routes and made an effort to develop the sport. Knowing most of these people, I have found them less likely to be critical of a climb, because they know what effort goes into a first ascent. And if they are scathing of a route, I take notice because they usually have good reason to be, and they also know people are sitting in judgement of their climbs. I also respect others opinion to some degree because any climber can assess the quality of a climb, but the opinion of first ascensionists with runs on the board holds far greater credibility.

Before people claim that I am biased towards my own climbs (which I am a bit), this guidebook was a big collaborative effort by the Tasmanian climbing community, and the key players were asked to submit lists of the best routes and assign star ratings to the climbs. A big plus for the guidebook is that there has been very little criticism of the guide because everybody down here wanted the guide to succeed and many people were consulted on all aspects of the guide especially on which climbs made the selected best list. The Climb Tasmania guidebook is now generally accepted as the `go to' book documenting the best climbs in the state. So who have been the main pioneers of the best routes in Tassie?

Of the 850 climbs selected by a panel of local climbers, 364 of them were put up by 4 people; myself, Nick Hancock, Bob McMahon and Garry Phillips. 42% of the classic routes in Tassie were pioneered by these 4 guys. Now my old mate Bob has passed away, so that means Nick and Garry are the two guys whose opinion on Tassie climbing I respect the most. If they think my climb is donkey dick quality, then it probably is. Expand the list to people who contributed over 20 classics, and you end up with only 6 more people and 539 climbs. 63% of the classic routes in Tassie were put up by 10 people, guys like Neale Smith, Sam Edwards, Simon Parsons, Dr John Fisher (not CJ), Norm Selby and Roger Parkyn. I listen to these men because they have done a huge amount of quality development.

Expand the list to people who did the first ascent of ten classics or more, and you end up with another 20 people: Bryan Kennedy, Ingvar Lidman, Andrew Martin, Doug Fife, Michael Fox, Lyle Closs, Ben Maddison, John Fantini, Mick Ling, Kim Carrigan, Danny Ng, Nic Deka, Doug McConnell, Pete Steane, Garn Cooper, Simon Young, Phil Bigg, Ian Lewis, Al Williams and the Jackson brothers. I have climbed or socialized with most of these people, and if they talk about route quality or climbing ethics, I will take note..their opinion has weighty credibility.

A few people deserve special mention because of a few singular amazing efforts: Jake Bresnehan and Kim Robinson for some very hard climbs, Adam Donoghue for his efforts in the Tyndalls, Steve Monks and Simon Mentz and John Ewbank for the Totem Pole, and Chris Dewhirst and Dave Neilson for pioneering climbs at Frenchmans. Other noteworthy pioneering efforts have been done by Phil Robinson, Tony Mckenny, Reg Williams, Mike Douglas, and John Moore.

So the locals that Rowan spoke to who said to take two stars off my climbs..if they are not some of the people I have listed above, then their opinion has little credibility in my opinion. Which probably leads into another potential thread..I hate the star rating system..it is too subjective and results in many excellent climbs of 1 or 2 star rating being neglected, because everybody only wants to climb 3 star routes (hint: want to climb 3 stars? Just look for G.Narkowicz FA in the guidebook)