Take!

[mike1]

Can someone tell me where "Take" came from? My "take" on it is that it must have come from "take up slack". Bummer if your belay only heard "tamrrumr slack!"

 

NOLS-WM has a pretty good section on safe communications separating the meanings of words by syllables and obvious sound differences like on-belay and belay-off in order to reduce confusion. Double syllables like tension, up rope, falling, got me, all mean the same to the belayer as well as single syllable words like slack... good stuff - except for "take".

Something to talk about at the crag...

[obwan]

I'm going to stick my neck out on this one - being fairly old school ( tech rock 20years ); I think it came from the gym jocks around year 2000. I do not use it, as the people I have taught and mentored through these past years find terms like "tension" or even "tight rope" much easier to understand, unless they have been at the gym a lot. It definitely is not in John Long's book (our only bible along with 'Freedom of the Hills'). Basically you just need to communicate with your belayer as to what signals you are used to at the start of the climb, so there is no confusion. It may even have been started to eliminate confusion - this will probably end up in the 'Spray" columns, as there will be as many opinions as there are in 'bolting'. You have no doubt opened up a can of worms.

[Drederek]

I've been using 'take' and 'slack' since the late eighties when I started doing bolted stuff. I learned to clip bolts from outcast mounties. The Brit used 'tension' and '@#$%^&* the &^%$#$ rope' being all formal like.

[pindude]

Same for me as for dreder: started using "take" when first clipping bolt lines in 80s, then started using it for getting held on trad as well. "Take" is actually short for "Take me."

 

Keep your commands basic and simple. The command "slack" has always been used to communicate to the belayer to give rope, not take it in. If you want rope taken in, then better to be saying "tension."

 

But what do I know. I'm just an old guy who's lucky to get out of bed nowadays. And I don't know what secret language some of the younger climbers like to use with each other, especially those coming out of the gym.

[el jefe]

obwan sticks his neck out and gets his ass handed to him...

[spotly]

I'm just an old guy.

It's true - I've seen him. He's the guy with glasses that used to climb.

[pindude]

I'm just an old guy.

It's true - I've seen him. He's the guy with glasses that used to climb.

Used to?! Bet I can still out-climb you!

[spotly]

You're obviously not keeping up with who's out on the edge these days. Perhaps I should direct you to my latest TR in the Alpine Lakes section!?

[StreetBoss]

That term was looked down upon by the "Old skool" cruddy types years ago. I tend to use whatever term is clear and concise between me and the belayer.

 

If I'm super scared, screaming like a school girl "take" gets the job done then it works just fine.

 

 

[kevbone]

Take means "take me on the rope".

[obwan]

That term was looked down upon by the "Old skool" cruddy types years ago. I tend to use whatever term is clear and concise between me and the belayer.

 

If I'm super scared, screaming like a school girl "take" gets the job done then it works just fine.

 

Yoda is cool! So, It appears it came about while clipping bolts - I thought it might be a sporto term.

[marc_leclerc]

This is why the word 'take' (take me) started in the eighties... no coincidence I swear...

 

[video:youtube]v=vFlSpM1cnvQ

[JosephH]

Yep, big change from old school days. Back then at any of the crags all you heard was "falling"; quite a change from today when all you hear is "take". "Take", it's the plaintive of our times.

[Dane]

Good one Marc, except you aren't old enough to remember A-Ha let alone the lingo!

 

I think what is missed is "take" was coined from climbing a route that you really couldn't do. You made the clip and as you were falling off ya scream "TAKE" so the belayer would "take" as much slack out of the system as possible and catch you as high as possible at that particular bolt/ piece of pro and keep you from loosing ground. Then multiple times you call out "TAKE", as you wrench your sorry ass back up to the bolt, to then hang and prepare to repeat

 

In the old days not one lead really hard shit you might fall off of. So we top roped everything you might pop off...and just yelled "TENSION". If you and your buddy had your stuff together no sound was ever heard. You just gave tension any time you were on a rope, needed or not. Made it look like you could climb! Having to yell "tension" was really just short hand for "UP ROPE dumb shit! And start paying attention so I don't die following or just as common "HELP ME", I'm going to fall off!"

 

"Take" is sport climber's code for "falling", "help me" or "up rope, dumb shit, I'm about to fall off" . Happened when we switched from 150' top ropes to bolts every 6' feet.

[Jens]

The term "take" has seemed to have changed.

I first started hearing British climbers at Smith in the in early 90's casually say "take" as they would lob off for routine 15 foot sport falls. We thought it was a funny word to use. In some situtations, the belayer would pay out some rope or jump up to give a soft catch. The Brits used the phrase as a film director would like "take 3 scene 3 cut" to indicate that a section was rehearsed and a medium to longish fall was coming. Several year later, gym employees and managers bastardized the term and began to apply the word in belay checks to mean tension while toproping , or I'm going to hangdog on this bolt if leading(don't go with my fall or give me any slack). As a result of rock gym culture, the term has permiated all climbing.

To avoid confusion, I sometimes say "off" when I whip on a sport route and "take" if I want the belayer to yard me tight to the bolt as hangdogging. Sadly, I've had far too many belayers yard in rope while arresting my falls above overhangs (after I've shouted "take") and my ankles have paid the price.

[JosephH]

In the old days not one lead really hard shit you might fall off of.

Maybe where you guys where climbing...

 

pindude got the roots of it right - it went from 'take me' to just 'take'.

[obwan]

I used to say "keep me tight" - but the rock chicks thought I was a DOM.

[AlpineK]

In terms of communicating signals with the rope team

 

1 word > 2 words > 3 words ...

 

Why say, "Off Belay," when you can just say Off

[mattp]

Except I've never used that signal, Feck, and if I couldn't see you and you yelled off and were not already loading the belay rope I might assume you meant "off belay" and I might let go of the rope.

 

The first time I heard "take" we were in a situation kind of like this. My leader was on a slab at Darrington, near the end of the rope, and I couldn't see him and couldn't hear him very well. He yelled "take" and I thought he said "slack" so I paid out some rope. He yelled "TAKE" and I paid out some more. He yelled "TAKE DAMMIT!" and I gave him still more, wondering what was going on.

 

I always scoffed at the one syllable two syllable three syllable theory until this incident but, really, even more basic to all of this is the consideration of what you do when you can't hear each other well.

 

90% of the time, if we can hear well, my partner and I can communicate just fine no matter whether we've discussed our signals beforehand or not. When wind or terrain prevent calling back and forth, the only signal I regularly use is 5 tugs from the leader in quick succession means: break down the belay and start climbing. They may have established a belay or they may not have done so but need the second to simulclimb to get to an appropriate station.

 

 

[MarkMcJizzy]

 

Why say, "Off Belay," when you can just say Fuck off

[MarkMcJizzy]

Except I've never used that signal, Feck, and if I couldn't see you and you yelled off and were not already loading the belay rope I might assume you meant "off belay" and I might let go of the rope.

 

That is what Feck was saying. Off belay=off.

 

I laugh at the morons that think "off" means "Ok, I'm at the station, let me screw with stuff, then you can lower me", then the next words you hear are "take!".

 

"Off" means "I am done, you no longer have to safe-guard my life. Go eat, pee, and what ever else you do"

[Gary_Yngve]

I've heard Brits use "secure" for "off belay"

[JosephH]

Back home we used 'yowsa' for all signalling of any kind.

[G-spotter]

"WAAAAAAAATCH MEEEEEEEEEEE!"

 

"watching's not gonna help much cowboy!"

[hemp22]

So far, Leclerc has the most logical explanation - and he wasn't even alive in the 80s.

It makes sense that all 80s sport climbers were huge A-ha fans - but on the off chance that the sport climbing usage came along before the hit song, then "take up slack" seems to be the next best thing.

 

But, I definitely agree that the term has been bastardized over the years to mean just about anything - but the most common meaning in today's climbing lexicon is: "take all the slack out of the rope so I can sit hear and rest on this top rope, or on this bolt that I just clipped, before trying the next move, because I'd hate to fall a couple feet and have to spend all the energy to do that last move again."

 

when actually falling, I try to be clear about what's going on, so I try to remember to not just say "take", but to say "falling" or something - it usually comes out as "tah-fah-ohh-shiiiiii!!!1"