Women's 14er FKT Claim

[supranihilest]

Woahhh just logged onto this toxic site.

Oof. I’m sorry you feel that way, Erin.

I understand why you would feel that way, Bill. 14ers.com has been your life for what, like 20 years? That's more than twice as long as I've even lived in Colorado. Justifiable that someone disparaging your work and the incredible community you've built would be upsetting. The 14ers.com community is a great place and full of wonderful people. Don't let the few bad apples spoil the bunch.

Erin, nobody here is saying your athletic achievement isn't worthy of praise. It is, and everyone has been very consistent in saying so. It's the entitled attitude, the personal attacks, and the lying about what you did that are worthy of scorn, and what people are rightfully calling you on. Had you simply claimed the self-supported ABC FKT there would be far less drama and far more praise. But claiming the self-supported 14er FKT is a lie when you didn't do Culebra. And I think you know it's a lie, too. To then go on to attack the community (both before and after) is uncalled for. Good friends (a good community) will call out their friends (or fellow community) on bad behavior. That's not toxicity. That's how healthy relationships work.

[XterraRob]

I’m so curious about what I see as misogyny embedded in the character assassination of Erin. I get feeling there’s dishonesty around the Culebra issue (although why we’re directing our animosity at a fellow hiker and not the lack of a right to roam in America is beyond me). I don’t know the whole history there, but I’m seeing so much tone policing here, it’s uncomfortable. When she made that comment about “dudes” not getting out of the way, the gender wasn’t irrelevant. I’ve had similar interactions, and I’m not even an athlete! Men who’ve felt the need to make condescending comments to me when I navigate around them because they haven’t let me pass, like “good girl” or “wow” or some other expression of surprise, to mitigate any encroaching feelings of emasculation. It’s possible that in a short hand way she was responding to that kind of dynamic. I know as a “public” figure, you might argue that you’re holding her to a different standard, but I’d encourage you to cut the young woman some slack. Feel free to criticize me/my comments as too gender-specific, but I haven’t seen anyone acknowledge the gender dynamics embedded in the documented screenshot.

I think you're projecting your own personal struggles onto this topic and trying to manifest something that's not there. It's pretty clear what everyone is at odds with, with regards to her claim, and her character. Trying to paint her as a victim of misogyny is not it, lol.

[mtnhigh358]

I’m so curious about what I see as misogyny embedded in the character assassination of Erin. I get feeling there’s dishonesty around the Culebra issue (although why we’re directing our animosity at a fellow hiker and not the lack of a right to roam in America is beyond me). I don’t know the whole history there, but I’m seeing so much tone policing here, it’s uncomfortable. When she made that comment about “dudes” not getting out of the way, the gender wasn’t irrelevant. I’ve had similar interactions, and I’m not even an athlete! Men who’ve felt the need to make condescending comments to me when I navigate around them because they haven’t let me pass, like “good girl” or “wow” or some other expression of surprise, to mitigate any encroaching feelings of emasculation. It’s possible that in a short hand way she was responding to that kind of dynamic. I know as a “public” figure, you might argue that you’re holding her to a different standard, but I’d encourage you to cut the young woman some slack. Feel free to criticize me/my comments as too gender-specific, but I haven’t seen anyone acknowledge the gender dynamics embedded in the documented screenshot.

That is a whole lotta speculation on your part. These guys probably didn’t even see her coming.

[JQDivide]

ONCE AGAIN...
An amazing athlete accomplished some pretty remarkable achievement and is now lying or misrepresenting that achievement.

What is up with these people?
I just don't understand that thought process.

Hey she said she'll address it later... after all the glory she can falsely claim.

Joel

[heartbraden]

Erin - a gifted athlete you are. An ambassador - you are not.

I sent this to La Sportiva just now:

Over the past decade I have frequently purchased your products but am now switching to another brand. One of your ambassadors, Erin Ton, is deceiving the public about her accomplishments and is denigrating the mountain climbing community in her communications. Please consider seeking more empathizing, humble, and ethical ambassador representation.

Karen of the community award.

[GaryBroome6]

Erin - a gifted athlete you are. An ambassador - you are not.

I sent this to La Sportiva just now:

Over the past decade I have frequently purchased your products but am now switching to another brand. One of your ambassadors, Erin Ton, is deceiving the public about her accomplishments and is denigrating the mountain climbing community in her communications. Please consider seeking more empathizing, humble, and ethical ambassador representation.

This is honestly more embarrassing than anything this chick did lol

[HikesInGeologicTime]

I’m so curious about what I see as misogyny embedded in the character assassination of Erin. […] Feel free to criticize me/my comments as too gender-specific, but I haven’t seen anyone acknowledge the gender dynamics embedded in the documented screenshot.

Someone earlier in this thread brought up longtime forum fan favorite “Dr. Jon” Kedrowski, and I also see a LOT of parallels between Erin and him: both setting out to achieve ambitious goals/records, both falling short of what they initially stated they set out to achieve, both ignoring/blocking followers who questioned whether they actually had achieved their initially stated goals because they never explicitly stated whether they had or not…at least, not until the truth leaked out and they were forced to admit that they came up short.

Kedrowski got scalded for that (rightfully, imho), and while there are a few elements to Erin’s story that are unique to her gender (someone else on a different thread pointed out that a woman traveling solo through BFN Wilderness Areas in the Rockies would have really reasons not to make her tracker data public during her attempt that a man, especially an obviously cis one, likely wouldn’t have to consider), to me, this is just another case of an accomplished athlete behaving badly. Erin’s not being called out because she’s a woman, she’s being called out because she at least passively tried to take credit for something she didn’t do (instead of celebrating the impressive accomplishment she did make) and has been hostile to her followers on Instagram as well as here on the forum, which is behavior that, alas, apparently transcends gender, race, religion, politics, or just about any other applicable category.

[disentangled]

I’m so curious about what I see as misogyny embedded in the character assassination of Erin. I get feeling there’s dishonesty around the Culebra issue (although why we’re directing our animosity at a fellow hiker and not the lack of a right to roam in America is beyond me). I don’t know the whole history there, but I’m seeing so much tone policing here, it’s uncomfortable. When she made that comment about “dudes” not getting out of the way, the gender wasn’t irrelevant. I’ve had similar interactions, and I’m not even an athlete! Men who’ve felt the need to make condescending comments to me when I navigate around them because they haven’t let me pass, like “good girl” or “wow” or some other expression of surprise, to mitigate any encroaching feelings of emasculation. It’s possible that in a short hand way she was responding to that kind of dynamic. I know as a “public” figure, you might argue that you’re holding her to a different standard, but I’d encourage you to cut the young woman some slack. Feel free to criticize me/my comments as too gender-specific, but I haven’t seen anyone acknowledge the gender dynamics embedded in the documented screenshot.

Disparaging men is an irresponsible and foolish feminist response to misogyny.

[FireOnTheMountain]

All I know is I'm super looking forward to her elitism when she learns to pull hard on vertical stone.

[pmccumber]

Oh And stop belittling the community

Let me just say this, internet conversations seem to lack critical context. When people say something hyperbolic or sarcastic, the context of that person's normal conversational delivery is lost. Couple that with the notion that if you dole out a seemingly innocuous comment or mild criticism, the recipient might see 6, 10, ... comments and easily feel attacked and produce emotional responses. A few years ago, I made a dumb comment. That is not to imply my dumb comment frequency is 1 per several years. But, a guy I follow on IG posted a picture of himself without a shirt and I made a joke that went over really well when I made it to my shirtless son around his friends a couple days earlier, "Hey, where did you buy that sweater?" Well, it's all good now but holy crap I spent several days with an online rep a couple notches below Hitler and Pol Pot. Of course my sarcasm and sense of humor translates to my son and an in-person audience and I should not have expected that with a text post with people I don't really know at all. I think a huge amount of what Erin says can be hyperbolic, sarcastic, even caustic but I'm far more struck by the way the "community" has engaged.

I've been on this FORUM maybe 5 times in the last 5-7 years so these observations are anecdotal. I've used the unparalleled, outstanding resources of the site that Bill will never get enough credit for putting together a lot, but the forum, not so much. And it was a choice.

About 6 years ago a hiking friend, an almost comically earnest, capable, and polite man went on this forum to look for a hiking partner to do Capitol. Well, that thread gained a life of it's own and eventually there were comments like "If you don't know what you're doing you should just stay home." I don't think he even really replied but eventually he tapped out. It was all I could do to not jump in and defend but he had already left and the internet is the internet ... In 2019 we went backpacking in the park and he admitted that that engagement really "bummed him out". And just like today, some of the most out of place, bs comments were from prolific users.

The only other times I've been on this forum in the last few years was to see some content about Laura Clark and now Erin. Admittedly, I'm interested in hearing about what they're doing and it's virtually none of that. Maybe a lot of community members are really vested in records, protecting records, I don't know. I just found it startling.

All I know is, as an outsider, my experience with comments in this forum is getting beyond anecdotal at this point. So that's why that "community" comment really struck me.

[cloudkicker]

That is a whole lotta speculation on your part. These guys probably didn’t even see her coming.

I was passed by her once on Mount Morrison, and she didn’t say “passing” or “behind you”, it startled me and I literally jumped off the trail because by the time I was aware of her she was like 3ft behind me already.

The self supported 14er ABC FKT is a huge accomplishment, something I’ll never come close to doing. I’m a different style of hiker anyway, and I can only run the downhills. Certainly a lifetime achievement, but criticism (although laid on thickly in here) seems to also be valid. I won’t comment on anything else in this thread, this thread is crowded as it is.

[Jon Frohlich]

I invite people to recall the heat that FlyingFish got for trying to claim that he was going to be the youngest to finish the 13ers. Dr. Jon has also been mentioned.

Making false claims will earn you the ire of the forum and the community. Doesn't matter who you are.