Favorite kind of climbing

[Dru]

Sphinx said:

Dru said:

is non technical peak bagging "hiking" or "climbing" discuss

Def. hiking. It's not climbing unless it's technical. Hence, many routes on Rainier are hikes, unless there's climbing involved. So nobody has climbed St. Helens.

 

Def. climbing "to ascend" includes hikes with vertical gain but not lift or yo yo skiing

[ctuller]

For me it's anything trad and more than a couple of pitches.

i.e. Index, Blodgett canyon in MT, Tetons, Castleton Tower, etc.

Although I find I get scared easier now than I did 15 years ago.

[Ursa_Eagle]

dryad said:

Ursa_Eagle said:

non-technical alpine climbs (Snowking, Sahale, Logan, etc.) That's not to say I don't enjoy a good technical climb, but in terms of fun, I'll have to go with non-technical alpine climbs.

Forgive my naivete, but what exactly do you mean by "non-technical"? You have to rope up to cross glaciers on Sahale and Logan, right? Doesn't that count as technical? Or does technical mean that you're placing pro?

 

I would consider technical climbing to be using a rope placing pro. That's just what I consider it to be, others prolly have very different opinions. We roped up on the Fremont Glacier (Logan) only for the ascent. We found it to be straightforward enough we didn't bother with it on the descent. On Sahale, there were a few cracks, but we had enough experience that we didn't feel the need to rope up (we didn't have one with us anyway, so the decision was made easier.)

That said, saying there's only 1 or 2 cracks is not only sandbagging, but you're also trying to make yourself look a lot bigger than you really are. Also, the "I'm better than you, Mt. Rainier is not climbing" attitude is rather childish. (Dryad, this is obviously not directed at you.)

[Sphinx]

Eagle, when I did Sahale, there WERE only two cracks, and one was really small. But that was a few years ago, so bite me.

 

Volcanoes tend not to be technical climbing. Kinda hard to debate.

[Bug]

ctuller said:

For me it's anything trad and more than a couple of pitches.

i.e. Index, Blodgett canyon in MT, Tetons, Castleton Tower, etc.

Although I find I get scared easier now than I did 15 years ago.

What did you do in Blodgett?

[Attitude]

Sphinx said:

Sahale doesn't have a real glacier, one small crack, two at most. No need for a rope.

The Quien Sabe looks like a glacier to me.

[ctuller]

Bug said:

ctuller said:

For me it's anything trad and more than a couple of pitches.

i.e. Index, Blodgett canyon in MT, Tetons, Castleton Tower, etc.

Although I find I get scared easier now than I did 15 years ago.

What did you do in Blodgett?

 

I was at UM for undergrad and climbed lots of stuff down there. In Blodgett it was the parking lot wall, Shoshone at least a couple times a month and Nez Perce & Flathead spire. Ice in the winter was fun too.

[Dave_Schuldt]

SLABS- TOTALY MENTAL.

[E-rock]

Skinning

[Bug]

ctuller said:

Bug said:

ctuller said:

For me it's anything trad and more than a couple of pitches.

i.e. Index, Blodgett canyon in MT, Tetons, Castleton Tower, etc.

Although I find I get scared easier now than I did 15 years ago.

What did you do in Blodgett?

 

I was at UM for undergrad and climbed lots of stuff down there. In Blodgett it was the parking lot wall, Shoshone at least a couple times a month and Nez Perce & Flathead spire. Ice in the winter was fun too.

Cool. Did you do Modern Home Environment on Nez Peirce? I was in on the first ascent. Got to be first through the 5.9 roof near the top.

I was just over there to go up Blodgett but it is closed for construction like the Enchantments. I smell a conspiracy.

[mattp]

Greg_W said:

Climb it; it definitely has an alpine feel to it - nice exposure, no easy way off, some route finding, no easy rescue, etc.

 

I'm with you there, Greg. That is why I like Darrington -- there is some "alpine feel" to it. But in my book, strictly speaking, it is not truly "alpine;" there are no glaciers; an essential ingredient for "alpine climbing" is a glacier or at least year 'round snow. The factors, "Nice exposure, no easy way off, route finding, and no easy rescue" simply make it what I would call "interesting."

 

My favorite type of climbing, for the purpose of answering Dryad's initial question, is "interesting" climbing. That may be found in Death Valley or the Alaska Range. Perhaps what I mean is what is commonly referred to, often rather derisively, as "adventure climbing."

[Bronco]

It's all about being in the mountains for me. Everything else is just training.

[EWolfe]

Multi-pitch rocks

I used to think just trad, but after Potrero Chico, (yankee clipper [11-pitch 5.8], and Snot Girlz, I have amended to trad and sport.

[sobo]

For me, it's multi-pitch 5.9-10-ish slabs, multi-pitch 5.8-5.9-ish trad, and multi-pitch WI-3+/4 water ice. Shite, anything multi-pitch gives me a hard-on...

 

I like the time spent on a single route during the day, morning to dusk (the occasional bivy); finding and constructing belay stations; and the fact that at these grades, I'm really having a lot more fun really climbing, instead of thrutching up something a grade harder and being scared shitless. The Fright Factor is distinctly lower, and the Fun Factor is inversely proportional to the Fright Factor. QED.

 

But what the hell, it's all good at one time or another. My $0.02

[Sphinx]

But if you never get scared, it boring. Really boring. If you don't climb the Gendarme I'd say the N ridge of Stuart is boring.

[sobo]

Sphinx said:

But if you never get scared, it boring. Really boring. If you don't climb the Gendarme I'd say the N ridge of Stuart is boring.

 

I understood the question to be "what is your favorite kind of climbing", not "what kind of climbing excites you the most". There is a subtle difference. To be sure, being scared while climbing is certainly exciting. And to always climb within your comfort zone would, indeed, over time, get to be quite boring. Why even go, for that matter, one would ask?

 

OTOH, why would one want to continually climb above their level of competence or threshold of serious fear? That, to me at least, doesn't seem like it would be much fun over time, either. Why place yourself into a "do or die" situation every time out? Seems to me like that would become oppressive over time as well.

 

So, to answer the question, as I understood it, is to climb at a level that is just below the threshold of serious fear (remember the previous comment about thrutching up something and being scared shitless? >> not fun to be doing every time you go out climbing, I dare say), yet something that is within one's grasp that will allow one to have continuous and significant fun all along the route. After all, isn't that what climbing's all about, having fun? QED.

[skykilo]

sobo said:

QED

 

Didn't Richard Feynman like crack climbing at the strip bar?

[ClimbingGirl33]

Multi-pitch is where it's at, although I haven't gotten much elevation since moving here.

 

Potrero Chico in December though - yee ha!

[carolyn]

Ice! Hands down! ( started getting antsy a few weeks ago )

 

Rock - easy, multi-pitch...especially in an alpine environment.

 

I dont mind a slog, if I know its going to end in some great vertical climbing.

 

Any climb that is extremely challenging, but not unreasonable for me to do.

 

[sobo]

skykilo said:

sobo said:

QED

 

Didn't Richard Feynman like crack climbing at the strip bar?

 

Like I said, It's all about having fun!

[Necronomicon]

Into bed with my wife. MEOW!!!

[bunglehead]

skykilo said:

sobo said:

QED

 

Didn't Richard Feynman like crack climbing at the strip bar?

 

No I believe that was Isaac Newton. He was such a whore monger.

[Dr_Flash_Amazing]

 

'nough said.

[Dru]

Dr_Flash_Amazing said:

 

'nough said.

 

your fave style of climbing is HANGDOGGING AT THE LIP OF A ROOF??? cause if you look at how tight the rope is its pretty obviuous thats what homey is doing, dogging it

[Dr_Flash_Amazing]

Hey, cuck you, fanadian! There aren't many good pics of The Chain Reaction on the interweb; that's the best the Doctor could do. Anyway, as someone whose idea of good climbing is standing in aiders for 12 hours with a machete, a shovel, and a fistful of bird beaks, you're one to talk about dogging!