From the ringing of pitons in Yosemite to the cutting edge of mixed routes, climbing is our existence. We introduced clean climbing in the seventies and clipped our share of bolts in the eighties. We've landed countless times among the gym pads, sharpened our tools with the new attitudes of Alaskan alpinism and celebrated the increasing numbers of women in the sport. To us, it's all climbing. The dates change, but the fire inside remains.
Fire is what links today's climber to yesterday's.
The need to latch an edge, the will to make a stick in quarter-inch ice, the burn to link two walls together in a day. As a kid, I knew two things to be self-evident. Climbing is my flying and coffee is my spinach. That's why in climbing today, there's no old school or new school. No past versus future.