Why Spotting Is for People Who Haven't Sent Yet

A spotter is a witness you hire for a fall you have already scheduled. The hands go up, the advice starts, and the boulder becomes a group project with one employee and several supervisors. The coalition does not recognize the position.

The ground is not a surprise. It was there when you started. It will be there when you finish. Standing a person between you and it does not change the hold. It changes the conversation, which is the part we were trying to remove.

Watch a modern boulder session and count the people who are not climbing. They are arranged in a semicircle, discussing the landing as if the landing were the route. Someone is in charge of the pad. Someone is in charge of the just in case. Someone is narrating a sequence they are not on. The person whose turn it is waits, because it would be rude to pull while the committee is still forming. By the time the committee is ready, the try has become a ceremony. Ceremonies do not send.

The coalition's number of spotters is zero. This is not a dare. It is a preference for an honest count. If the move is too high for you, it is too high for you today. Come back stronger, or go and do a different move. Do not assemble a staff so you can attempt something you have already decided you might leave in midair. A fall you need help to survive is a fall you should not be taking for an audience.

Pads are luggage. Bring one if you like luggage. Do not bring four and a friend to aim them. The friend has a life, or should. Let him climb.

You will hear that this is how people get hurt. People get hurt when they ask a formation of well-meaning voices to replace a decision. The decision is simple. Can you do the move, and can you live with the result if you cannot. If the answer requires a meeting, you have your answer.

There is a special modern sentence: "I had it, I just need a spot." You did not have it. You had a plan to leave the hold and be caught. Those are different accomplishments. One of them goes in the book. The other one goes in the parking lot, where stories belong.

Nobody at this coalition will mock you for walking away from a boulder that is too tall. Walking away is a decision made by an adult. What we will not do is stand under you and pretend that our hands are part of your send. Our hands are busy. They are on our own rock.

If you insist on a spotter, post them far enough away that their advice arrives after you have topped out. At that distance they can clap, which is also unnecessary, or they can be quiet, which is the coalition's preferred form of support.

The rock did not ask who was watching. Neither should you.