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PaperclipPerfector  6mo ago (text post)   1971 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for October 13, 2023

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Sometimes when I am really tired and want something entirely mindless I just switch on speed running videos and marvel at how much time and effort these seemingly intelligent determined capable men are spending on clipping a wall at a game released in 2003 to save off 750 milliseconds or something. Is there anything else that is such a massive waste of human talent than speed running communities??

The sport of Rock Climbing. As distinct from alpinism, where there's the idea that you go that far to get the view, There is nearly always an easier way to get to the top of whatever you're climbing. While equipment and technique has come a long way, people die doing it every year.

I'm not sure if you climb much, but it is absolutely not true that you can get to the same view with an easier way. We call these technical summits. Off the top of my head Cerro Torre is famous, near me is Slesse Mountain in British Columbia, in the Canadian Rockies there's Mt Louis, Mt Birdwood, Mt Alberta. etc.

That was phrased poorly. I was thinking more in terms of rock climbing as guys going out to climb a 5.12 route that's sorta on a random cliff, which they mostly drive to or take an easy hike to, which they are seeking out more or less purely because of the technical difficulty of the climbing. In my mind most technical summits are by definition Alpinism, because you had to first journey to the rock face before reaching the climb, with the climb forming just part of a larger journey to the top of the mountain.

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