It's a ridiculous mistake that would be cleared up by simply showing the article to a firefighter.

-Joe

So on the one hand you give people credit for having the intelligence to recognize that to fight fires one needs to train to be a fire fighter, but in the same sentence assert that people will read this article and go -out-a-rock-climbing?

I saved a ton of money buying a couple of thingies you use on a stopped up toilet instead of buying those official suction cups those climbing companies are selling. But are they just as safe? I don't know. I guess I'll just use them for boldering/hiking till I can find specs on them.

OTOH, many people will consider rock climbing a sport - especially with misinformation flying aroun - not realizing how dangerous it is when taken lightly.

Dingus, have you heard some of the nOObs, these days? It's scary, at my local crag.

T

Dingus: Small inaccuracies would be acceptable, but errors like the ones in this article are just inexcusable.

You could throw out any random topic that I currently know nothing about, and I guarantee you that even I (a non-journalist) could write a more credible article on the subject given a few hours of Googling.

It flat out frightens me that someone may actually look at this as sound advice.

Full-safety climbing: This is a lot like climbing a wall at the gym. You climb using existing grips while someone on the ground pulls on your rope to make it easier for you.

WHO??? Who are these 'many people and why aren't they dying oin droves?

I would expect to see the 'idiot dies climbing with Mom's clothesline' articles daily or some s---.

But guess what? That ain't happening. See, us sitting here at our computers its real easy to forget there are fundamental fears involved in rock climbing. Soon as you get about 10 feet up or some some fairly predictable processes begin.

Yes, there are idiot noobs out there. If you think exercising one shiity article from the human database will make an iota of difference, you are mistaken.

I submit that the influence you people ascribe to this article is WAY OVER ESTIMATED.

Cheers
DMT

I don't see the article causing much harm; after all, you can go out and buy as much gear as you want, but you can't use it until you at least know how to put it all together -- even poorly -- to set up for a climb. And that's when any idiot who actually followed the advice in this article would realize that they needed more information. And if they don't, well......too bad for them.

Dingus: Small inaccuracies would be acceptable, but errors like the ones in this article are just inexcusable. You could throw out any random topic that I currently know nothing about, and I guarantee you that even I (a non-journalist) could write a more credible article on the subject given a few hours of Googling. This guy clearly plagiarized his information from the other article and should be embarrassed.

WHO??? Who are these 'many people and why aren't they dying oin droves?
I would expect to see the 'idiot dies climbing with Mom's clothesline' articles daily or some s---.
But guess what? That ain't happening. See, us sitting here at our computers its real easy to forget there are fundamental fears involved in rock climbing. Soon as you get about 10 feet up or some some fairly predictable processes begin.
Yes, there are idiot noobs out there. If you think exercising one shiity article from the human database will make an iota of difference, you are mistaken.
I submit that the influence you people ascribe to this article is WAY OVER ESTIMATED.

How is a non climber to know, when even the climbing sites advertise the s---???

I'm sure you could. That whole journalist thing is easy as pie anyway.

or a thousand references to bouldering that would make it very clear that bouldering is not like hiking with obstacles.