Great article for the uninitiated. You captured the essence and grit of rocking climbing. However, I disagree with labeling rock climbing as "art". The extent to which climbing is inherently artless and the degree to which it's been steered from away from art is a topic I find endlessly interesting and could write a book on as someone who has been climbing over 15 years and gone from being a climbing bum living out of a car to a jaded weekend warrior.

At it's core, it's finest, rock climbing is about discovering a thing that already exists -- a climbable line -- and secondarily discovering how to climb it, but most often it's not even that. Most commonly, rock climbing is people trying to climb pre-existing climbs that are at their limit.

Art is about creating something totally new, something undiscovered by anyone else, that expresses the way you see the world. In art you bend the world to your will. Science is discovering things that already exist. In science you bend your will to the world. So it seems to me climbing is more science than art.

Of course, climbing could could be artistic. If we approached it from a new perspective, one which is largely ignored and scoffed at by the modern climbing world. We could value style in climbing instead of just difficulty. I've seen people climb incredibly difficult climbs with such lack of grace that I physically cringed, and I've seen people climb V2s with so much style that I gave them a high five. I can't speak for the climbing mags but I respect the smooth climber more. Skateboard does a great job of appreciating difficulty as much as style. It's not enough to pull a trick, you've also got to look good doing it, you've got to have style. Even skateboard desks are themselves canvases for great art. Imagine what we could do with boulder pads or rope bags if we actually cared about art?

Climbing would do well to stray away from the time-honored tradition of fixing-into-stone-for-all-eternity the sequence of holds/connection of lines used by the first ascentionist in making formal routes which are simply "ticked off" in climbers guide book. Why can't climbers start where they want, go where they want, and end where they want. You know add a little creativity and little contrivance in. The idea that people actually yell at me that a hold or line is "off" or "on" is fucking absurd. Get a life.

Climb something new. Climb it how you want to you climb it, not exactly how Sherman did 30 years ago. Make it look good. Really good. Until we climb like that, climbing isn't art.