Several months ago I made one of many trips to Escalade Climbing Gym. The gym has a bulletin board above the water fountain on which I noticed this article tacked up and it immediately drew my attention. I made a note to myself to write a blog post on the contents. Yesterday, I was at Escalade again and while using the restroom -- a promising source of inspiration of course -- and noticed the same article tacked to the bulletin board above / behind the toilet. This reminded me to look up / research the article and do a little write up on it.
The article is short and worth the read, but the meat of it is Tom Hanson's wise words -- " There is no cheating in climbing, only lying." To further get the point across: Most of us [climbers] are climbing for an audience of one: yourself. If you want to pull on draws and fall your way up a sport route, and then tell yourself you redpointed it, the world is going to keep on spinning. You're only kidding yourself, unless you record it on [insert your favorite forum, message board, or social media] ticklist, which is not illegal - just kind of lame. Its not cheating; in other words, its lying.
If further explanation is needed, insert Carolyn Parker's shorter and sweeter coverage of the same topic. "Is it cheating?"... "It depends on what you claim you did." In the world of climbing... there is not a stop watch or referee, our world is all we have, honesty and integrity are paramount. If ever an ascent was misrepresented it is always found out. Then your ascent and your integrity will always be in question. "Is it cheating?"... "If you have to ask, then it is."
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