Knee Bars are Cheating

Ok, so here's my first post. In direct contrast to previous posts on this blog...this should be taken with the upmost seriousness.

In recent times, it has come to the attention of COC (thats us, just in crazy computer lingo shorthand shit) that some of our classic grampians sport routes are becoming nothing more than rest-a-thons. A few recent ascents of Eye of the Tiger at Muline have utilised a kneebar that requires a pad, a pad for christ sake, only 3 moves from the obvious jugs that you hang on after the lip. One victorian who shall remain nameless only because he also writes on this site, only the other week tried to get a double knee bar just after the first bolt on Menstral as Anything, as the name suggests a pad would have come in handy, as this attempt proved futile.

Yesterday at the Gallery i witnessed two different paths Victorian climbing could head down. One one hand the next big thing in Australian climbing, The Pleb aka. Andrea Hah, dispatched Monkey Puzzle, 28, with more ease than ever before witnessed. Fucking A. On the other I heard sequences being discussed, not of moves, but rather of rests mainly kneebars, and boy there were a lot of kneebars. This of course meant knee pads yet again.

Is this what climbing is coming to? Do we no longer aspire to link together hard sequences of moves that push us to our limits, both physical and mental? Has climbing just become a series of rests where we get to feel safe and comfortable? I have done one such route, Lourdes in El Chorro. Hands down the softest 29 or 8a on the bloody planet - more like 26. This route is long maybe 30 meters, I can't remember I was almost asleep the whole route, due to the whole thing being a rest-fest. I would climb three moves, and then have to focus all my attention on reminding myself I was still on a route. how memorable.

I do regress, back to the knee bars. Scums are in, but pads should be out. Other wise we'll be over run with man-bladers. Thats right. Men or women (but man-bladers are generally male) clad in bike shorts and matching tops, covered head to to in hard plasic pads and probably a stack hat. Really, if you are putting that much weight into you knee then is really that necessary to use it? Here is an arstasitc depiction of what it will be like at the crags when these muppets get out.

Peace to your Mother. - Grosey