Climbing Culture: the Liminal Routes

Climbing is a contrived, often conceptually abstract sport. On one end of the spectrum, climbers pack an assortment of gear into the mountains with a singular mission – ascend. The manner and style of ascent is limited only by their creativity and the tools on their back. There are no limits. 

On the opposite side of the spectrum there is bouldering. The mission is less about getting to the top (some boulders barely leave the ground) and more about exploring the movement required of the route. As human ability and skill has grown to meet more and more difficult climbs, the conceptual challenge of “seeing” the route has grown ever more abstract. 

Possessing an eye for reading rock, a mind creative enough to explore its possibilities, and an internal drive to test their visions are a combination of skills embodied by the best of climbers. The most generous of these climbers are kind enough to assemble their collection of routes into a guidebook – without which the rest of us would be blind to the rich prospects in our own backyard. 

There’s a transitional time after a rock has been discovered – the route seen – but before it has been “sent” and long before it has found itself on a page in a book. It’s where the local climbing patriarch (or matriarch) taps their friends on the shoulder and brings them to the discovery. The story spreads, the stoke rises, and the climbing tribe gradually gets their chance to test themselves against the new block. The project is open. The movement explored. Climbing is as detached from metrics of success as it ever will be – who knows if the route is possible. It’s all about the movement, the act of climbing, and the joy of doing it with friends. This is the process of route development. Climbing the liminal routes before they find themselves in a book or on the internet. 

The photos below follow a tribe of climbers exploring the yet-unpublished routes surrounding Helena, Montana.