ABSTRACT
This chapter aims to determine the relationship between expertise and variables traditionally used to construct specialization indices. It explores the ideas that recreationists can be classified on a continuum of expertise, and that distinctly different participant characteristics, behaviors, and preferences attend each level. Quantifying the expertise demonstrated by climbers was straightforward given the difficulty rating systems used in the activity. As expertise increases, behaviors change and certain attribute preferences become more specific. The extremely high correlation between expertise and social context suggests that the more skilled climbers become, the more likely they are to join elite social worlds of other climbers and participate less often with friends and family. The negative association between expertise and the use density of the site suggests that as expertise of the climbers increases, the more they are sensitive to and likely to be displaced by crowding.
