This is the fifth installment of our
interview with the Alan Watts, the
driving force behind the growth of
popularity for both Sport Climbing
and Smith Rock. Join us as Alan
talks about the state of climbing at
Smith Rock today.

Or, you can click here to begin
reading this interview at the
beginning.

SmithRock.com: What can you tell
us about the resurgence of new
routes going up in the last couple
years at Smith Rock? And, is there

one person driving this, or are there
a number of people?

There HAS been a fairly huge amount
of new route activity at Smith Rock
recently. Ryan Lawson has done a
tremendous number of routes. He's
bolted a huge number of routes -- he's
actually kind of burned himself out, I
think. He was the main one doing new
stuff, and then other people started
doing them, as well. I don't know if
Ryan got them started, or the fact
that they heard there was going to be
a guidebook and that got people going,
or what -- I don't really know.

SmithRock.com: What do you think
of the quality of these new routes?

Alan: I've done most of these new
routes now, and I actually think it's
pretty good. A lot of people just
absolutely don't think that.

SmithRock.com: Why don't people
think they're good routes? Is it too
many routes, or overcrowding?

Alan: Well...there are -- and there
always has been as long as I can
ever remember -- a group of people
who are critical of anything new or
any change. The faces have

Page: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17
18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25
26 | 27