Parental Guidance Suggested

Not everyone sees things like Rockman. He understands this.  Rockman is no angel. He has said his fair share of inappropriate things and dropped his fair share of less than gentlemanly language.  That being said, Rockman thinks climbing should be a family  sport.  Folks should be able to take their family to the gym or to the crag without a bunch of earmuffs and oxygen masks.  For the most part, Rockman has been pretty psyched on how well the climbing community has toned it down when his family rolls up to the crag.  It may be a slight buzz kill, but 70% of the climbers get it. The others, well, they may never get it and that's really sad.

Recently, Rockman has been viewing trailers of new climbing videos that are about to be released.  It has been amazing to see not only how climbers have improved but how the production value of climbing films has improved. Climbers are making videos that are pretty interesting to watch.  Lots of camera angles, great graphics, and editing make for easy viewing.  It seems like a great way to make some money in the sport. Unfortunately, it seem as though many of the guys making the videos are part of the 30% that may never get.  This video is a great example of how clueless some folks are(Warning:This video has a lot of pointless swearing and other dumb behavior.  Rockman has posted it to illustrate a point.  You don't need to watch it to understand the point): 

Classy.

This particular video is not super high quality, but illustrates the point.  The language, the music and the behavior are all inappropriate.  Was this movie made for a family audience?  One would hope not. Rockman is not suggesting that we sanitize the climbing world to make it family friendly, but the editing process makes it wee bit easier.  "Artistic" decisions were made to make these videos what they are and  these videos are on the cutting edge of rock climbing.  All of the professional climbers in the industry are in them.  All of the sport's leading gear manufacturers sponsor and advertise in these movies.  Is this what the sport is?  Is this what you want the sport to be?  Rockman doesn't.  Adventure Rock doesn't.  This is one of the reasons Adrock doesn't do many climbing movie premieres, because we feel strongly about the family nature of sport.  Now watch this video:

If you actually got to the section of the first video with Daniel Woods, you realize how different these two videos are.  Why?  $$$$$$$. Daniel Woods likes his sponsorship with The North Face.  Even though Rockman isn't a huge fan of The North Face, they get it.  They want to be associated with the best things this sport offers.  They want what Adventure Rock wants.  The difficulty of the moves, the conquering of something that was thought to be to hard, "the triumph of victory and the agony of defeat", all of the things that attracted many of us to the sport initially.  And, Rockman would add, stuff he would like his kids to be a part of.  Climbing: Parental Guidance Suggested-But does it need to be?

In the Spirit Of Adventure,

Rockman