We maintain our alleged literacy by reviewing another book!

John Sherman, if you didn’t know, is an important figure in the history of climbing.  While he’s dabbled in most every form of climbing, he’s best known for his contributions to bouldering. Beyond writing the book “Better Bouldering”, he was also, you know, pivotal in the development of Hueco Tanks, and contributed heavily to the first guidebook there. Oh, and in doing so, invented the V-grading scale that all of us US-based boulderers use today.  No big deal, but he even admits to hating his own system (‘To V or Not to V’).

The Master at his Art

“Sherman Exposed!” is a collection of articles and vignettes John wrote for various climbing magazines throughout his career (you gotta pay the bills somehow). Some are presented in their unedited form, allowing the reader to see what Sherman really wanted to say if it wasn’t for those “Hellcat-Bitch” editors. If that phrase, or the fact that I’ve never seen footage of John Sherman without at least one beer in hand, wasn’t enough to let you know – this book is not for the younger reader.  A few memorable quotes:

“Hey, do you know where virgin wool comes from?”  Answer, “Ugly sheep.”

“She was a woman who, after draining her drink, knew what to do with the ice cubes.”

“I’d already thrown a couple of Parkinson’s dynos, weak, twitchy tosses to holds I should have been able to reach statically “

The book is broken into an introduction and three sections, and since TWO of us are literate here at Crank, we’ll each give you our take on the content:

Verm’s World:
Tylor – The section hosts the largest number of articles as well as the shortest ones.  It’s kind of just Verm prattling on about how great climbing used to be like an old man sitting on his porch telling the kids to get off his lawn and how he could get a loaf of bread for a nickel.  We all have our own opinions about climbing and its culture and values and we all think that our view is correct.  For Verm, he believes in a pure form of climbing that leaves no trace on the environment during the day (‘Boulevard of the Behemoths’ and ‘Unsung Hero’) followed by drinking to excess with beautiful, large-chested girls at night (something I can really get behind as a way of life).  He gives us tips for both pushing boundaries and making excuses (‘The Dog Ate my Belay Plate’).  He gives tests on your climbing history knowledge (The Verm’s World History Aptitude Test), helps you to pick a discipline (‘Should You Go Nuts? Or Bolts? Or Just Screw It All?’), and even one ups Stephen Hawking by presenting his own Grand Unified Theory (‘No GUTs, No Glory).  It’s tongue-in-cheek while simultaneously being absolutely serious so you end up laughing along with the story when you read it and then end up reflecting upon them around the campfire.

Justin – I appreciate a history lesson in subjects that interest me, and Verm delivers with insights into the golden age of climbing, when everything was new and exciting. I agree that John’s personal persuasions shine through his writing, but why shouldn’t they?  Its his book! I can get behind his shades; routes should be done ground up, littering is wrong, ice climbers are weird.

Places:
Tylor – In this section we get to look at the places that Sherman has been.  Most of the stories are about bouldering, but there are some stories about ice climbing in Alaska (‘Ice Capades’) and the heinous dirt nailing of the Fisher Towers (‘Tales From the Gripped’).  Sometimes it is not just about a physical place, but it may also be a place in your consciousness by finding your Flow (‘A Tale of Two Thimbles’), or how instead of repeating large feats like the Seven Summits, create your own, possibly unrepeatable feat (‘The Fab 50’).  The impression he left on my mind was that there can be adventure everywhere, on the side of the road, in the deep Louisiana swamp, or a seedy bar, you just have to be willing to go looking.

Justin – Not gonna lie, this section was hit or miss with me, but a lot of that is my predisposition for one climbing style over another. As I said before, ice climbers are weird. I did appreciate hearing about the origins of bouldering at Hueco, and to this day, despite the footage in Reel Rock 10, I want to climb Gill’s Thimble in Needles. Its comforting to know that decade after decade the same benchmarks exist for us to be inspired by.

Characters:
Tylor – The largest take away I had from this section was simply that some of the most important climbers of every generation are not the ones that you see on the cover of the magazines.  They are more likely the ones that work in the background to clean and develop areas for use.  They are the old mentors that first took the Chris Sharma’s and Emily Harrington’s on their first trip and introduced any of us to the sport.  If I asked you who Tony Barnes is, most of you would wonder just who the heck I am talking about.  The answer is that he is one of the chief developers of Seneca Rocks as well as the author of the guidebook.  He, along with Tom Cecil, help to move my skills and philosophy on climbing forward faster than I ever could on my own.  Sherman touches on similar people that touched his life, but are not even close to household names, Mark Wilford, Tom Cosgriff, and Rob Slater, as well as the loss of the latter (‘The Hard Song’).  The point of the section?  People are more important than the send, one, but that we should also strive to be our own person regardless of what others may think, two, as evidenced in the interview with Bobbi Bensman (‘Bobbi Busts Out’)

Justin – Of all the sections, this one touched me the most. While all of my hardest sends have been alone (its a fact, look it up), those days aren’t the most memorable. If you’re going to cry while reading this book, this will be the section.  If you are going to be truly inspired while reading this book, this will be the section.  The characters exploits are mythical, and unlike many other arenas, here the truth is often even crazier. If nothing else, it reaffirms that even the best climbers are real people, with issues.  Makes me feel less alone.

Overall, its a great book. Each of the sections is short enough to get through quickly, and even though the articles are grouped by similar subject-matter, I think bouncing around front to back kept me from getting burned out on any given line of thought. While we read it on a road trip, it’d probably make for good bathroom reading too.

-Justin Meserve and Tylor Streett, enjoy reading about climbing just as much as they enjoy watching climbing videos, and maybe even going climbing for real.