Alan Watts (Bend, Oregon 2024)
Jim Karn (Bend, Oregon 2024)
Long before the term "sport climbing" was coined, American climbers had a contentious relationship with bolting on rapel and "hang dogging," or the practice of rehearsing a climb from bolt to bolt in order to piece together a red point. However, certain climbers like Alan Watts saw the potential for the sport to move forward if it embraced a more sporting technique, letting the gymnastic challenge of a climb become the primary focus when boldness and style had previously been the more important metrics. In 1986, the American Alpine Club called a meeting of the country's luminaries to discuss the conflict between the "traditionalists" (those committed to the ground-up free climbing ethics) and the "tricksters" (whom we could now call sport climbers). They called it The Great Debate, featuring climbers like Alan Watts, Lynn Hill, Ron Kauk, John Bachar, Henry Barber, Rob Robinson, Todd Skinner and Christian Griffith. Though it didn't settle the issue once and for all, it brought the conversation into the open and thus American sport climbing was born, primarily on the welded tuff faces of Oregon's Smith Rock. Last week's interviews with the godfather of American sport climbing Alan Watts and competition legend Jim Karn shed new light on this fascinating time in climbing history—and how different things would be today if not for their innovation and persistence.
