From: Steven J. Lindell
Newsgroups: rec.climbing

No, any statistical physicist should be able to explain the problem - mountaineers and sport climbers follow different rules. Mountaineers follow Fermi-Dirac statistics. Only one is allowed in a given energy state (or range in this case). This accounts for the "individuality" found in mountaineers and their desire to get as far away from other groups as possible. Particles of this type are known as Fermions. Sport climbers on the other hand follow Bose-Einstein statistics. Any number can be in an energy state and the more there, the more likely that a new particle will also enter that state. This accounts for the sport climbers slavishly following the fashion trends and to crowd into only a few area/routes around the country ignoring nice areas just down the road. Particles of this type are known as Bosons.

From: Struan Gray
Newsgroups: rec.climbing

I don't think anyone was surprised that the first experimental realisation of a Bose-Einstein condensate was at CU Boulder. Sport climbers have more of a tendency to collapse into a ground state. Notice too that phenomena such as superconductivity and superfluidity (i.e. the tendency to go on and on and on and on) are the exclusive preserve of bosons. - Struan (Collapsing of donut wavefunctions a specialty)