Find high-performance outdoor clothing, gear, and accessories that make wise and responsible use of resources. See more Mountain Gear Sustainable Pick items.

Friday, May 09, 2008

It Takes All Kinds

When I first saw the everything-offwidth website Wide Fetish, I figured this was the sort of labor of love Internet venture that wouldn't draw much of a following and would only rarely be updated—much like the Mountain World. But apparently there are masochistic wide-crack aficionados everywhere, slithering through the back alleys of America's crags. Wide Fetish, whose tag line is "Where the Glory Starts at 4 Inches," publishes trip reports, how-to articles, a photo and video gallery, and a reasonably active forum, though further investigation reveals that most of the posts are from the same few members of the wide-crack cabal. The head fetishist is none other than Russ Walling, the Californian behind Fish Products. What do you say to someone who likes offwidths and spends too much time on the Internet? Clearly, "get a life" is not sufficient. But maybe I'm just jealous. I may say I've never found an offwidth I liked, but really I've just never found many offwidths I could do.

No comments: