Liar liar... and mythomaniacs!

Liar liar... and mythomaniacs!

How many of the reported ascents of routes/problems are really fake? In other sports we have heard about famous liars or cheaters like the Russian fencer who had a secret button to register hits or the Italian long jumper who gained a few extra centimeters in the world championships. Kind of fun to think about how many olympic gold medals have been won by liars, and then we are not talking about anabolic steroids. In climbing we don't have referees or controls...

The list of suspected bullshitters in our sport is long and growing, but the problem is it’s nearly impossible to prove someone hasn’t done this or that route/problem, especially in a global perspective. Say, for example, I’d claim I sent ‘Underground’, 8c+/9a, at Massone, last week. Who’s to say I didn’t? Sure everyone who knows me would believe it, err... sorry, that should read ‘laugh in my face’, but most people in the world don’t know me (I’m being humble here, OK) and, hence, would have no reason to suspect I’m lying...

The same is true for virtually every ascent we at 8a.nu, or any other website or mag for that matter, reports. There’s no time for checking facts if you want to be fast, we’ll leave that to the magazines since they’re always a month or so late anyway. But even if you try to get people to confirm ascents, it’s still impossible to know for sure if they’re being truthful. The problem/great thing about the web is that everything we, or anyone else, writes is translated and distributed around the world in a matter of hours, sometimes even minutes.

The www is, no doubt, the most powerful media in the world. Doing what we do, we pretty often hear about this or that person being a bullshitter or big fat fake and that we shouldn’t report his or her ascents, but until we’ve got proof , we’ll keep reporting, otherwise we’d have to demand analog (digital is easy to fake) video footage of everything...

Without mentioning any names, we admit there are several guys in the 8a.nu's rankings system, even in the top ten, who are suspected of...not being entirely honest, to put it mildly. What’s maybe more interesting is that many of the rumors we hear originate from other top class climbers. If it’s just a case of bad mouthing your ‘rivals’ (we don’t think so), it’s really bad, but if everything we hear is true, it’s even worse...

So, why lie? There are, of course, several reasons behind this, but the most important one is, as always, the money, or more precisely, fame, glory and SPONSORS. Sending hard stuff, and letting people know about it, enables you to travel the globe and to do what you like best - climb. If lying can give you this, why not? Well, apart from going to HELL when you die, it’ll only work for a while, until people get suspicious. Pretty soon they’ll be on to you and you’ll find it extremely hard to hold on to your ‘hard earned’ sponsors. Once a liar - always a liar. Probably most of these guys don't know that they are lying as they are mythomaniacs.

We don’t want to be the bad guys here or to be some kind of ethic police but as our scorecard is starting to be the official ranking we have some responsibilities to all you guys who don't fake. If you have reason to believe someone’s being a naughty boy - let us know. Then, we'll contact this guy and pass over the rumour...

Liar liar... and mythomaniacs is a delicate and touchy subject and we really don't know what to to do about it. Anyhow we thought it should be mentioned. But don't forget that climbing is for fun. Enjoy!