Sinful Sponsorship? Seriously Silly, Semple...

Canadian climber Scott Semple recently posted a screed to his blog, railing against the perceived faults of climbing-industry sponsorship. If his point was merely that "liars are bad", then he takes a circuitous course to arrive at this self-evident truth. But he seemed to go far beyond that.

I disagree with Mr. Semple's view for many reasons, and the first one is that he's attempting to create a case of objective absolutes, built on a foundation of subjective judgments.

• "If sponsorship isn’t backed up by a legitimate accomplishment that is significant to the sport, then being rewarded for something insignificant is sad and undeserved. And it’s immoral, because it creates a facade, and facades are lies."

Except he never defines significant or legitimate, which leads one to conclude that folks need to climb routes which Semple appreciates in order to justify a sponsorship. In reality, companies give cheap gear, free gear, or gear and a little money (AKA sponsorships) for a variety of reasons. People get sponsored who are climbing new routes, writing articles, taking publishable photos, working as guides, teaching clinics, working for other outdoor-companies, or climbing the most technically difficult routes around. Often it's a combination of these reasons. If Black Diamond gives some free, or discounted gear to a guide who is teaching dozens of new climbers each year, what is immoral and who is lying?

• Sponsorship is only defensible when the degree of self-promotion is equal to or less than the significance of the achievement. When Good Climber does something Rad and says, “This is Rad”, that’s fine. Kudos. Too often though, Wanna Be Famous does something mediocre and says, “This is Rad! Really! I swear!”

Nobody would condone lying about what you've done, so I assumed Semple isn't merely stating 'don't lie.' The problem is that one person's version of Semple's "This is Rad" is to tell their wife and dog Rex, then go to bed. Another person might write an online trip report on a public forum, post photos on their blog, submit their account of the climb to Alpinist or Climbing magazine, and send a report to the American Alpine Journal. In any of these cases, nobody has to read or be exposed to the information/pictures/evidence of the "rad" accomplishment without specifically choosing to do so. To say that posting on one's blog, is "fine" but deride posting the same report to a wider audience via Hot Flashes draws an arbitrary line of dubious significance. Either you tell nobody, or you tell people who choose to hear about it. And if you are complaining about published climbing stories (online or in print), then stop reading them. I hate Cat Fancy Magazine. Absolutely can't stand it. Guess what I reach for on the magazine rack? Not Cat Fancy. Problem Solved.

• The sad fact about our sport is that genuine devotees are the exception, not the rule. True athletes, masters and visionaries do exist, but only some of them are sponsored. Most are not.

Climbers who are genuinely devoted to climbing form the exception, but not the rule? This one can't be objectively argued either way, but I passionately disagree. Maybe I'm just not a 'true visionary'.

There are only a small handful of folks who get money from companies, in addition to gear. Of these folks, even fewer make enough to afford a car, health insurance, rent, etc. Sponsored climbers work as guides, writers, carpenters, fishermen, photographers, or window-washers, often grabbing any odd-job they can while they get excited about their next climb. But maybe all that excitement is a facade, they can't genuinely be devoted, can they?

I am fortunate enough to have received some free/cheap gear from Outdoor Research, Cilogear Backpacks, and Trango Climbing, sometimes in exchange for photos, writing, or manual labor. Everyone I have met at these companies is genuinely devoted to the sport. My crew coach in high school told me that finding what you love is easy, but doing it, that is the hard part. If getting sponsored allows people the financial freedom to do what they love, more power to them. I'm curious to hear your thoughts or comments on the topic, you can post them below.

I also don't know Scott Semple, he's probably a great guy, I just couldn't resist a cheesy, yet alliterative title.

On an unrelated note, here are some pretty pictures (courtesy of Bryan Smith)

5.8...Yikes