cynicalwoodsman
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Posts posted by cynicalwoodsman
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Most climbing gym workers are arrogant s.o.bs. in my experience
I agree. Gyms far from the actual rock seem to be the worst. Their employees seem to eat up the attention they get from newbies who, for whatever reason, have the impression the gym climber is actually a rock climber, or that being a rock climber is deserving of reverance. These climbers seem to give the impression they are entitled to admiration because they are a rock climber. Or that gym climbing is rock climbing, or that any of it means anything. Thank the x-games, NOLS, and gear ads for this.
Little does the newbie know that, in many cases, the strong gym climber pullin sick hard moves on a 25' indoor plywood wall would likely whine like a baby if he was runout from a J-tree bolt or fumbling with gear on any of many classic 'gunks "moderates"; let alone put up some VI 5.15B C4 A3 AI5 WI7 FA on some obscure unclimbed peak on mars (and that he hiked there on his naked knees and elbows in full conditions) which is how it ends up sounding to the newbie. In many cases, dude's never even climbed rock.
I don't think the attitude and arrogance is as bad in a gym, close to actual rock, and full of strong rock climbers who actually climb rock and only view the gym as training or bad weather ground. A gym full of hard rock cimbers usually goes a long way toward tempering the potential attitude of those, if any, who only climb in the gym... not that there's anything wrong with that, depending on individual goals. It's a great place to just stay fit. One isn't required to ever climb real rock. Conversely, one isn't required to pose in order to gain respect. It's ironic that the best way for the teacher to earn the admiration of his students is to show humility, check his ego, and focus on the stuents' goals; not his own.
In too many cases, the hard gym climber never intended on climbin' outside of the gym. They're quite satisfied merely being perceived as a rock climber, and they can talk all the shit they want to the newbies cuz the newbies there will most likely never regularly climb rock or ever meet any climbers that do.
To each his own I suppose, but there's a lot of responsibility ANY teacher takes on by being a teacher; especially if they're teaching something as potentially dangerous as climbing. And it's common for most anyone in a teaching or leaderhsip position to abuse it as a means to meet their own self-serving egocentric goals.
Climbing is awesome because it can be serve many goals, but I don't believe being perceived as a badass should be one of them.
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I have a 10.2 mm rope. I'm quite certain I've surpassed the number of falls the rope is s'pose to take.
But really, is my cord actually gonna fail strictly from a lead fall?
Or is it maufacturer liability 'n all that?
I take pretty good care of it and wash it at least once every 3-4 trips out. The sheath still handles pretty good and it's not slipping over the core or too stiff yet.
I'm going to continue leading (and most likely... falling) on it. But it'd be reassuring to know the odds.
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Thanks folks!
I posed the same question to the gym. They gave me the same answer: cleaner falls; safer whips. I was concerned this policy was egocentric and contrived like in the more local-to-me gym. That place doesn't make me wanna climb at all.
I started in the gym, have worked in a few gyms, and also spent several years installing and helping in the production of climbing walls and structures for a major US climbing wall company. I never noticed this practice to be any kind of norm. It makes sense though. And I know liability is a much bigger concern than ever with the climbing walls as well as with everyone else.
Dude was cool. I'm hyper sensative to climber attitude and elitists in general, and I've found a lot of that sorta stuff in gyms; especially, for some reason, in the gyms that are farthest from the crags. But this one seems worth the trip.
I don't enjoy pumping out on plastic, and I'm not currently able to afford a membership, but it's nice to at least have a place to do a little climbing. I really just wanna clip some easy bolts 'n get loose for the few ice leads I still get each season.
There was a time I could onsight 10c sport & 5.9 gear, but since moving here I don't climb. Leading 5.10 would surely whoop my ass, but hey man... I can still climb something!
That's pretty cool.
Keep up the stoke, people!
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2 years ago I moved to Ohio and there's no rock to climb here.
I hate pulling plastic, but every once in a while even I get the urge to do some pull-down and maybe clip some bolts.
There are 2 rock gyms nearby and they both require a climber to show proficiency at whatever they call a 5.10 on TR before they'll allow said climber to lead. For some reason, they only offer leadable climbs in the 5.10-5.12 range.
Can someone explain this to me?
What does climbing hard have to do with leading?
There's plenty of bolted moderate routes all over the country.
Who benefits from this?
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This is a win-win-win for all parties involved.
The guy "stealing" the draws is now a celebrity.
The smith rock hardmen who's gear got ripped were able to sieze the opportunity to display, document, and flaunt that they climb (or at least own a stick clip) smith rock 5.14 (big wow), and we all get to posture, rant, judge, one-up eachother, and spray about it.
So what's the issue?
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Sorry this is so long.
Some background: I've been climbing rock and ice for 7 years. I started in the gym, learned really good footwork, have onsighted 10c sport at Smith and 5.9 gear at L'worth. I'm still too scared to lead cck at the gunks (5.6) and a 5.8 kicks my ass there on a toprope. I've led 2 ice routes in the 4ish range but both times were super sticky hero ice. I still topped out thinking that, each time, it was the dumbest thing I ever did cuz I was too scared to stop and sink a screw and ended up way above groundfall territory on the topouts. I hate topouts.
I get out on the ice no more than 2-5 days a year. I don't know how you guys do it. But I can't seem to get much more than that no matter how hard I try. Maybe one day I'll improve and can justify new gear and huge wknd no-rest roadtrips, but until that delusion wears off, I continue to try.
I'm weak. I can't pull hard. I never have, and I never will. My feet get me up the rock. I have superior footwork for my grade. But as soon as stuff starts kickin' back and it takes my feet away from me I'm worthless. I thought tools would be easier to hold on to than pinches or crimps. But I've learned, for me, that's not the case. I always feel overhung on vertical ice, and it's never comfortable. I can't figure out how to use my feet on ice.
So much beta is available from so many places about swingin' tools, but not enough about using your feet on ice.
How can I practice crampon technique on vertical skinny (no stems) boilerplate icicles and pillars?
If its a matter of accepting more weight on my long-no leverage 6+" ape index-arms, then I'll start doing some pullups. Right now, I could maybe crank out 2 pullups on my tools. I could push a truck, but I can't pull my own weight with such long arms. Even when I was a young gym rat it took me months of solid training to even think about throwin' my bodyweight around. I have 6+" ape index, but I've learned that reachin' don't mean I can pull down on it. Leverage has never been on my side (my favorite of many excuses).
I don't wanna train to climb. Any climbing I do is off the couch, but I like gettin' on the ice, and there's no rock around me anymore (I moved. Not the rock.) and the attitude-laiden rock gym makes me wanna puke, sell my gear, and burn the place down.
What can I do to practice better crampon technique? I actually have some steep short drips to boulder on, and It's been a good winter so stuff is touchin' down. It's steep, and I don't dare go any highter than a move or two off the ground, which negates any concern brought on by their lack of height (12'-15') unless I bring (find) a belayer, bring a rope, hang an anchor, and feel totally poser cuz I'm too sketched to top out on really short stuff that is all basically a start, 1 or 2 moves, then a topout. I'm a panzie. I know it. But I dig this stuff! I just ain't no good at it.
My gear is old: switchblades (hate 'em), alphas, (never tried anything else but my feet feel like rocks) and old cobras (love 'em) with web loops and seriously old picks. But I believe gear is tantamount to technique. Besides, times is tuff. New gear ain't an option. I think of Jeff Lowe baggin' some of those classic FA's with straight shafts and footfangs, and I get inspired. Granted he (probably still is) much more gifted, motivated, and stronger than I'll ever be, but I know there's a way to use my feet.
I can't figure out how to stay balanced and efficient with my tool placements either. I look up, get a stick, look down and don't see anywhere available that I want to put my feet. It always feels awkward and uncomfortable. I know the nature of ice I'm bouldering on is hard, no joke. But it's what I have to work with. There's a short (maybe 25' total length) waterfall (2+) there that I can warm up on, and I have no problem soloing it. So I got that goin' for me, but I can't even imagine gettin' up more than 20-30 feet of the hard steep ice... and even that would require several hangs.
There's some drips up to 30' there that look way hard and i'm sure have never been climbed, not to mention all the hangers that'll never touch down offer some super sick short mixed potential, but it's all just porn to me. Anyway... I digress.
I try to think of all the things I'm supposed to: keeping tool placements inline with my body (not chicken-wingin'), turning into swings, don't overgrip, be deliberate, etc. But the feet are feeling heavy, blocky, and worthless. I don't have confidence in my front point placements so I end up overgripping and havin' to pull really hard. Just a couple lock-offs, fight to get the other tool clean, hold on, aim, hope it sticks, repeat, repeat, and my day's just about over.
There's gotta be a better way.
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I got my switchblades that way!
I used to work at EMS and, back then anyways (I assume it hasn't changed, but they may not let employees go willy nilly with it anymore), any climbing-related item was treated as used and suspect regardless of its condition. That old liability thing.
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I'm a repeat east coast transplant from upstate NY/philly and i've lived in boulder, leavenworth, and bend.
Some thoughts:
I would imagine finding work anywhere to be quite a challenge these days, but don't let it keep you on the East Coast if you wanna climb and live in good weather.
B'ham would probably be best for access to the N. Cascades.
The bigger towns like Seattle and Portland offer all the things a city does such as more work opportunities but you still have to drive an hour at least, often in traffic, to get to the trail.
Winter weather anywhere out west is better than in NE; even on the wet side of the cascades in seattle and portland. The humidity is what kills in the winter too! But it's also the reason east coast ice is better and more dependable.
Leavenworth is best for the Eastern "dry" granite and as many cracks to stick gear in and slabs to sketch on as anywhere! Access to both roadside multi-pitch as well as endless alpine granite is plentiful. There's ice 'round L'worth but it's not terribly dependable.
Leavenworth would be my first choice if I were you. There just isn't a lot of work there. And its small and also has its share of attitude and elitism.
Bend has killer weather. Smith has year-round cragging. Alpine snow climbs abound in the 3 Sisters. But all the rock sucks except for the basalt in the gorge at Smith where the grades get hard and there's no multi-pitch climbs. Not really any ice near Bend.
However, from Bend, one is a day away from virtually any climbing area west of the mississippi.
There isn't much work in L'worth unless you work in some form of tourism, forestry, or recreation. Even then, it's competitive and clique-eee. Climbing around L'worth is de-centralized so showing up at a crag hoping to score a belay is not as easy as at Smith, which, in my opionion is an outdoor climbing gym.
Stay out of Boulder unless you're gonna show up with a trust fund and an attitude in which case you'll fit right in.
Oregon is cheaper than Washington.
If you like exploring mountains in winter, stay out of the Cascadian backcountry unless you have a week at a time, a snow machine, an avy beacon and avy knowlege.
For just ice, I'd suggest moving to North Conway and staying in New England. Aside from the rockies, nowhere in the lower 48 offers better ice than new england and the 'daks.
Either way, when you move, take friends with you. It can be quite a challenge bustin' a cross-country move solo. It gets lonely after a while, and mom's home-cookin' is suddenly really far away. Join the airlines' miles programs. Save money from every paycheck for airfare.
Kiss your Sawx goodbye cuz nobody cares about baseball and they're never gonna be on TV.
Even fewer have heard of the Bruins.
Good pizza will be a thing of the past.
Everything's a trade-off.
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can one still acquire one of these?
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This issue is forever old. The bummer is that user fees and parking pass cash goes to the wilderness program within that district to maintain the lot and all else. Ticket fees goes to the agency, and the local wilderness dept, let alone that district, gets none of it.
We hate payin'. But we forget to consider what those trailheads, along with the trail, would look like: trash, blowdowns forever un cleared, SAR, etc, had it not been for the forest circus doin' all the work to keep wilderness lookin' like wilderness for the last 40-sum years.
Just sayin'.
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I got mine for 160 clams. Light nylon "track jacket"s from walmart may suffice in good weather at the crag , but I'm not even gonna consider taking one into the backcountry as it would not keep me dry, it will not offer me any insulation, and as I have considerable ape index, it will not fit.
I like my gamma mx hoodie. It fits well. The drop tail is handy as I bike a ton. It's durable, well made, really plush, and worth every penny. However, If I hadn't found it so cheap I would not own it. I no longer have access to a pro deal. I'll never pay more than 2 c-notes for any single piece of gear 'cept a tent or a warm bag. So I concur with the concencus regarding the MSR of dead bird stuff. Nonetheless, while fleece may be fleece, there's no reason to believe just any fleece is made or cut well or will endure years of wear. I'll bet what I paid for it that it's gonna outlast anything from walmart or addidas by at least a decade.
But yeah. 350 clams for a jacket? I wouldn't pay that much for a car!
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Would rappin' the route and walkin' back to the car be a bit quicker/easier, or was crossin' the little wenatchee that sketchy?
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WOW I JUST saw this thread. I guess I should look at more than TR's!
Dude, I want one!
What's the latest skinny on these posters, 'eh?
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Pa's highest point is Mt Davis.
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I can't believe it had never seen an ascent!!! I looked at that line every day for weeks when I lived up there and worked at the Headwaters back in '05.
It's easy to see up lake from about the white river road jct, and it always looked like a decent shot from the pull off at the gate by the quarry. There's still beer and drool on my binos from lookin' at that line. Way to go!!!
U guys are KILLIN' it this season already, and we here back in the NE are still awaiting first sticks. We're usually in the Daks or Smugs gettin' swings before thanksgiving!
N-I-C-E work, boys. Dude, guy... wicked good!!
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gettin' all the beer up there will kinda suck, but I gotta get my ass up there.
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Where is Saddle?
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I'll be headed up there in the next couple days to see what's goin' on.
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Anyone been up there lately?
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I'm tie-dying my shower cap!
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ummmmm... I don't ski. How close can ya get to pole cr. t.h.?
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Is it a "... long haul..." because of snow-covered and gated roads, or is it still a long haul in from a trailhead?
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I've been wanting to get a closer look at the N. side of that hill. I keep drivin' but I just can't seem to get a good view. I guess I'm gonna have to get out of my truck 'n hike a tad. When 'r they gonna pave the trails 'n put in a gondala?
Rope life
in Newbies
Posted
I don't even climb every 3-4 months.
Do moths like rope?
THink of all the life left in all those rope rugs.
Such a waste!
By the way, is a product like nikwax (tx-direct I think its called if they still make it) wash-in DWR a good way to make my rope "dry" again?