Dr. David Daily climbing on a 12- arete, Henry Mountains, Utah
Some cynics might argue that the spread of the verb to send is doing to the rock-climbing culture what the word cool did to the Beat Generation: dulling the vernacular, getting lazy with the language—like when someone describes a book as cool or a mountain as beautiful. Of course it’s beautiful. Get specific.
That’s why when we have one all-encompassing word like send to describe a successful ascent, we risk killing some of climbing’s more vivid locutions. These are robust terms like lead, meaning to place protection to safeguard a fall as you go. Or second, meaning to remove the protection while belayed from above. Or redpoint, meaning to complete a climb after rehearsal but without resting on the rope. Or onsight, meaning to scamper up first try without any prior knowledge. Or flash, meaning to do a route on the first attempt with blow-by-blow information (beta) from another climber.
On the other hand, it could also be argued that climbers should
500 words to go
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