Thank you for covering the recent controversy over the potential devastation of Oak Flats, a popular bouldering and camping area just outside of Phoenix (HCN, 4/4/05: Rock jocks fight a mining company).

But I am increasingly frustrated with High Country News and its staff for portraying climbers in a condescending manner. This is the third news story to involve climbers in so many years, each referring to climbers or boulderers as “rock jocks.” The term “rock jock” implies an insensitive, even stupid person who is in it for the rush. Many climbers I know dedicate themselves to protecting and preserving our public lands. Please stop stereotyping a large group of people that you clearly do not understand just to print a clever title.

Chrissy Sloan
Carbondale, Colorado

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Climbers not just ‘rock jocks’

by Chrissy Sloan, High Country News
May 2, 2005

<h1>Climbers not just ‘rock jocks’</h1> <p class="byline">by Chrissy Sloan, High Country News <br />May 2, 2005</p> <p>Thank you for covering the recent controversy over<br /> the potential devastation of Oak Flats, a popular bouldering and<br /> camping area just outside of Phoenix (HCN, 4/4/05: Rock jocks fight<br /> a mining company). </p> <p> But I am increasingly frustrated with<br /> <i>High Country News</i> and its staff for portraying<br /> climbers in a condescending manner. This is the third news story to<br /> involve climbers in so many years, each referring to climbers or<br /> boulderers as “rock jocks.” The term “rock jock” implies an<br /> insensitive, even stupid person who is in it for the rush. Many<br /> climbers I know dedicate themselves to protecting and preserving<br /> our public lands. Please stop stereotyping a large group of people<br /> that you clearly do not understand just to print a clever title.</p> <p><b>Chrissy Sloan</b><br /> Carbondale,<br /> Colorado </p> <div class="wp-block-group hcn-print-edition-box"> <p>This article appeared in the <a href="/?p=188962">print edition of the magazine</a> with the headline <span class="hcn-magtitle">Climbers not just 'rock jocks'</span>.</p> </p></div> <p>This &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://country-survey-collabs.info/issues/issue-297/climbers-not-just-rock-jocks/&quot;&gt;article&lt;/a&gt; first appeared on &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://country-survey-collabs.info Country News&lt;/a&gt; and is republished here under a &lt;a target=&quot;_blank&quot; href=&quot;https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/&quot;&gt;Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;img src=&quot;https://i0.wp.com/www.hcn.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/cropped-HCN_Logo-Monogram_White_Sq-2.png?resize=150%2C150&amp;amp;quality=100&amp;amp;ssl=1&quot; style=&quot;width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;&quot;&gt;&lt;img id=&quot;republication-tracker-tool-source&quot; src=&quot;https://country-survey-collabs.info/?republication-pixel=true&amp;post=111031&amp;amp;ga4=G-0NS3WVPPTN&quot; style=&quot;width:1px;height:1px;&quot;&gt;&lt;script&gt; PARSELY = { autotrack: false, onload: function() { PARSELY.beacon.trackPageView({ url: &quot;https://country-survey-collabs.info/issues/issue-297/climbers-not-just-rock-jocks/&quot;, urlref: window.location.href }); } } &lt;/script&gt; &lt;script id=&quot;parsely-cfg&quot; src=&quot;//cdn.parsely.com/keys/hcn.org/p.js&quot;&gt;&lt;/script&gt;</p> Copy to Clipboard

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