Saturday, June 19, 2010

Oh, and another thing about John Gill

He was one of the first American climbers to do specific training for bouldering so that he could master hard rock moves. He was also the first to understand that gymnastic moves might require a gymnasts training regimen. Of course, he also popularized the use of gymnastic chalk. Despite all his concentration on physical preparation for his sport, maybe his mental prep and his spirituality of bouldering was an even more important legacy. Again, all this is very common today, but was viewed as wildly eccentric in his day.