A_Little_Off_Route

It's because you posted in the "Newbies" section about a cam up your ass. C'mon man, how could you NOT think that would get sarcastic responses? Are you kidding? Sarcasm is what I was hoping for (and a little good advice). I was expecting jokes about lube, camming range based on the "experience" of the climber, jokes about kilonewtons of sphincter tightness etc. It was the "that's the dumbest question I've ever had anyone in world ask, and by the way all your other posts suck too" comments that I took offense to. I think you can see the difference. I'm all about the sarcasm and humor. Which leads me to my next quesion, is Metolius the smoothest cam lube???? :-) Off_Route

Amen brother. The more you know, the less you need to bring. Off_Route

Bullshit. I spend hundreds of hours every year instructing beginners. Nobody has ever asked me anything as stupid as "how do I not sit on my cams?" If you lack common sense to this degree, I would advise you that climbing is not a sport you should be involved in. In retrospect, it's a stupid question. I'm not going to apologize for wasting your time though because you are the one who keeps coming back and keeps replying. Your last sentence is once I've seen hundreds of times on rock climbing forums during my research and lurking. Ask a question: and either get called a n00b or told "yr gunna die" or "if you ask questions that stupid you're not smart enough to climb." As for trolling, I was starting to let your posts get to me and seriously considered just departing CC.com entirely. I am pleased however that others have taken the time to answer my less than stellar question with good advice, or have the good manners to ignore my question if it's really that bad. So I'll stay here, since I think the good outweighs the bad and I found the ignore button! Troll problem solved! If you think my posts are wasting your time, I suggest you try it. You can find it under my profile by clicking on my name. Thanks again for everyone else's responses. I'll try and ask better questions in the future. Regards, Off_Route

Why do you reply to this thread if you think it's worthless? Didn't your mother tell you that if you don't have anything nice to say..... geez... this is supposed to be the only spray-free place on CC.com Why so many stupid questions? Partially to generate traffic. I'm currently days away from expecting my first baby and so I can't really be out on the rock 5 pitches up, away from cell reception, learning it all in person right now. Instead I come to learn some stuff from these forums and I find active topics much more interesting than just searching old threads and mining them for info (which I also do). One of my issues is that I've learned most all of what I know following guides for 4 years on rock and have only now started reading books and asking theory questions in the net. Where are the small ledges you ask? Arapiles, where I did almost all of my climbing for the first 4 years I climbed. It seemed that half the belay ledges were tiny. Maybe the sandstone and granite you have up here never have that problem. Off_Route

Thanks buck. I hadn't thought of it from the angle of intentionally using up the big gear. Makes sense, and is exactly why I asked this kind of question. The title was used to add some levity and humor, and I'm not sure why it would be seen as a troll post. In my experience posting on forums (anyone remember bulletin boards and 14.4 modems?) troll posts are usually when people are trying to piss other people off. If my post looked like a troll post then I offer my apologies for that! I'll ask a better n00b question next time. Promise. Thanks for the answer though.... Off_Route

I've noticed that rock climbing is really not friendly to their less experienced participants. It's so different on the rock climbing forums compared to say, the sailing forums I frequent. I find it rather disturbing that the biggest insult in rock climbing is to refer to someone as new. Everybody was a n00b once right? So on a small ledge what do you do? I'm not talking about one where there is room to move the cams aside. Do you not rack the big ones in the back, or what? Off_Route Am I the only one that's ever belayed off of a 12" ledge before?

I've noticed that rock climbing is really not friendly to their less experienced participants. It's so different on the rock climbing forums compared to say, the sailing forums I frequent. I find it rather disturbing that the biggest insult in rock climbing is to refer to someone as new. Everybody was a n00b once right? So on a small ledge what do you do? I'm not talking about one where there is room to move the cams aside. Do you not rack the big ones in the back, or what? Off_Route

I was practicing making a belay the other day and when I sat down on the ledge, I noticed that it was darn difficult to sit on a bunch of big cams. It seems that most people rack small gear at the front of the harness and large gear at the back. What do you do about sitting on a small ledge with big cams on your rear loops? It was mighty uncomfortable. Off_Route

I just acquired a couple of BD's smaller cams. Unfortunately, compared to my DMM cams, the slings are a joke. Why even bother if they're so short? Would anyone clip these directly without adding a quickdraw or shoulder-length runner? I may end up adding my own slings to these puppies and I was wondering what the "perfect" length for cam slings would be. I know many use a quickdraw, but they very in length. Many use a "trad draw" or fully extended shoulder sling, but is 24" really the best length or is that just what's used because it's available? Imagine you can send your whole cam rack to Yates, what length sling would you ask for? Off_Route

Gold. All signal, no noise. Thanks! Off_Route

Yeah, that's what I know of as a trad draw. Cool trick, but I'd like to carry some extra 24" slings without needing 2 biners for each. Maybe I could tie an overhand knot in the middle and clip that.... Off_Route

I'm familiar with the "trad draw" that uses 2 biners. How does one rack a sling with one biner? Just let it hang down 24"? Off_Route

...with a gear sling. The hardmen that taught me to climb all used an over-the-shoulder gear sling on one side, and sewn or knotted slings on the other shoulder. I've just bought a Yates big wall harness and I have to say I like it. I've run into one problem though. Where to put the shoulder length runners? Double length runners fit nicely, Rambo-style around the chest with a biner. They can go under or over the Yates sling itself but under the gear itself. Unclip the biner and they come off. The shoulder length ones get stuck in all the hardware when you're trying to get them off and over your shoulder. Where do you put your 24" runners when you rack a Yates or similar gear rack? Off_Route

I am reading through the falcon guide on self rescue. Having learned to climb (rock not gym) nearly 20 years ago, and spending the last 11 years as a live-aboard sailor, I'm loving the serious complexity of some of the self rescue stuff. I guess I'm a bit of a rope/knot nerd at heart. It's been suggested many times that if you can't get through a tough part of a pitch, you can A0 your way through the hard bit and climb on instead of bailing. I like that idea a lot and the book shows the "classic aid sequence". I have to admit, it was more complex than I imagined, and involved aiders and daisy chains, which I don't plan on taking with me on a trad lead. What is your "sequence" for aiding through part of a trad lead? I know you can put a piece in, put a runner on the piece, and step on the runner, but does anyone have ideas that are better than that, but simpler perhaps than what's in the book? Off_Route