tokin' at the crag

Jeremy Riesberg wrote:I've heard that pot can help you enter a flow state. Any thoughts on this?

i send much harder after smoking. the truth of the matter is that when smoking at the crag it is only appropriate if it doesn't disturb others. i never smoke around other people unless they either partake or won't be offended.

I'll might imbibe at the end of the day when I'm done climbing but getting stoned and climbing doesn't usualy work well for me. Well except that time in Indian Creek but that was a unique day.... reminisces spaces out for 10 - 15 mintues .....Oh and I get very forgetful like leaving my wallet or headlamp on the roof of the car and driving off.

Some guys I climbed at the Red smoked a ton and climbed well. And one guy went to TR a route at the end of the day and barely was off the ground and slipped off, his belay was fine, good and tight but with the rope out there was too much stretch and he fell back kind of hard jamming his wrist. The climber and his belayer looked at one another kind of dumbfounded. And I got to wondering how they would have handled a more serious injury.

So a question for those of you that smoke a lot, how do you think you'd react in an emergency? Say a situation that required CPR, maybe a head injury? And I don't mean this to sound judgmental I'm just curious. My main partner in the '80's was a complete stoner but that was bitd when weed was not like the shit today.

A hard-drinking slab climber with two bum knees from Southern Colorado told me that when Jimmy Dunn climbed Cosmos (it was an FA and the first new route ever soloed on El Cap), he was tripping for much of the climb. Supposedly, one of the guys who did the second ascent of Cosmos said that it was "like following the path of a madman."

Nick Grant wrote:A hard-drinking slab climber with two bum knees from Southern Colorado told me that when Jimmy Dunn climbed Cosmos (it was an FA and the first new route ever soloed on El Cap), he was tripping for much of the climb. Supposedly, one of the guys who did the second ascent of Cosmos said that it was "like following the path of a madman."

JS - like pot and kettle. How else do you climb hard slabs?

Peter D. wrote:I'll might imbibe at the end of the day when I'm done climbing but getting stoned and climbing doesn't usualy work well for me. Well except that time in Indian Creek but that was a unique day.... reminisces spaces out for 10 - 15 mintues .....Oh and I get very forgetful like leaving my wallet or headlamp on the roof of the car and driving off. Some guys I climbed at the Red smoked a ton and climbed well. And one guy went to TR a route at the end of the day and barely was off the ground and slipped off, his belay was fine, good and tight but with the rope out there was too much stretch and he fell back kind of hard jamming his wrist. The climber and his belayer looked at one another kind of dumbfounded. And I got to wondering how they would have handled a more serious injury. So a question for those of you that smoke a lot, how do you think you'd react in an emergency? Say a situation that required CPR, maybe a head injury? And I don't mean this to sound judgmental I'm just curious. My main partner in the '80's was a complete stoner but that was bitd when weed was not like the shit today.

At a certain level of tolerance, a mild sativa is more akin to a strong cup of coffee than a "drug". At a time in my life when I had such a tolerance, I was faced with a fairly difficult rope rescue scenario after taking a couple tokes of an aforementioned strain. A friend of a friend was pushing himself too hard after a six month hiatus from climbing. Long story short, he ripped out cams, decked rolled off of the ledge we were starting from and was knocked unconscious, hanging off of his first piece over a another 50' drop. I didn't hesitate, I escaped the belay, and stabilized the climber, about the same time he regained consciousness and we established that he was not suffering from a spinal injury, so I then applied a splint to his broken wrist and 5:1'd him back to the ledge, used the rope to make a hand-line for him back to the tyroleanm assisted him across that and then got him to the hospital.

Today, with a lower tolerance, I wouldn't be that on the ball. So I don't put myself into such a potential scenario. Your experiences were with folks possessing a low tolerance and/or smoking a very potent strain. But to make a blanket statement about one's reaction to a difficult situation while "high" is about as impossible as grading a #3 splitter at the creek. It's incredibly relative in regards to personal variables.

Pot makes me a better, safer climber.
Alcohol makes me more interesting, better looking and wildly attractive to young women....

I generally wait to toke until after a nice day of climbing, and usually not around other climbers.
Bouldering I get really stoned and usually send, as it puts me in pure concentration mode.

Nick Votto wrote:I generally wait to toke until after a nice day of climbing, and usually not around other climbers. Bouldering I get really stoned and usually send, as it puts me in pure concentration mode.

I know plenty of super hard climbers who burn before or after climbing. To each their own...

I'm surprised know one has made the comparison of alcohol at the crag, which I think is much more prevalent and in general more of a problem in that setting(climbing) than a little grass.

Oh my God. When you're high can you not clip a quickdraw?

Ryan N wrote: I know plenty of super hard climbers who burn before or after climbing. To each their own... I'm surprised know one has made the comparison of alcohol at the crag, which I think is much more prevalent and in general more of a problem in that setting(climbing) than a little grass.

Jon Frisby wrote:Oh my God. When you're high can you not clip a quickdraw?

Only once in many years have I seen booze being consumed while cragging compared to about 1000 times when it comes to weed.

LOL on the draw thing, truthfully its not that hard to place great gear and then clip the draw while high but to each their own I guess. Some may claim it was the weed that made them drop someone but I doubt it.

I am shocked that as a climber in Colorado this was the first time you encountered toking at the crag. Very strange. Seems like a usual occurrence anywhere I climb out west.

No one has mentioned Sharma...

Z.St.Jules wrote:No one has mentioned Sharma...

Maybe that's because he is fairly irrelevant to the conversation?

Something those who indulge should remember is it's still not legal nationally. You can't smoke in the Nat. Forest, Nat. Parks, BLM, Nat. Monuments. This includes ski areas, trailheads, restrooms, visitor centers.

Can't just smoke pot wherever you want...

Sometimes I get tokens from the bill changer at the car wash. I'd prefer quarters.

Jack Sparrow wrote: Personally I smoke a lot climbing or not, I find that being high makes me extra cautious when climbing because I except to mess up so I triple check everything then check again.

I couldn't resist pointing out this funny typographical error in the sentence that was about "triple checking".

The Blueprint Part Dank wrote: Maybe that's because he is fairly irrelevant to the conversation?

Are you asking a question?

You're gonna DIE!!!

climbing codger wrote:Pot makes me a better, safer climber. Alcohol makes me more interesting, better looking and wildly attractive to young women....

Now I'm convinced. Hi Elenor!

I"m always more concerned with the climbers drinking while climbing. Normally it's young folks and we all know how that ends. I personally do not drink but most of the guys I climb with have a post climb beer but I would never climb with someone if they have been drinking. Pot on the other hand I think effects people differently