Interesting article by The New Yorker as climbing (and corporate advertising) take over the fitness world.
“Kevin Jorgeson spent the better part of a month swaddled in Gore-Tex in a tent suspended twelve hundred feet above the Yosemite Valley floor, eating dry salami sandwiches and bathing with baby wipes. It’s no wonder, then, that he didn’t own a suit until recently. But on a cold night in late January, two weeks after completing his historic nineteen-day ascent up the sheer rock face of Yosemite’s Dawn Wall, Jorgeson was ensconced in the cluttered back room of the Brooklyn Boulders climbing gym, discussing the finer points of men’s tailoring. “I’m thirty and I didn’t own a suit until last night,” he said, grinning. “I’m gonna rock that shit.” The suit in question—a blue Ralph Lauren number from Barneys—was a sign of how much Jorgeson’s life had changed since he and his partner, Tommy Caldwell, completed perhaps the most difficult climb in the world. It was a coming-of-age moment for the sport of climbing as well, and many in the outdoor industry are hoping that the pair’s feat proves to be the moment the sport breaks out of its crunchy bubble and into the broader consciousness.”
Read the rest of the article by Clare Malone here at The New Yorker website.
