Rock Gym for First Date??

mustardtiger wrote:Just give her a gri gri. Any idiot can use one of those.

accident waiting to happen

Ask her. It will be great or awful depending on her attitude and desire to be there.

Alexander Parrish wrote: accident waiting to happen

MMMMMMM no, they can't. I needed practice after 2.5 years or so belaying with an ATC. I'm spot on, now. For top roping? It doesn't get much easier! Load the GriGri for 'em, tell em to pull on "this" end constantly. I taught my dad, cuz my gut wanted it. He lost his balance when I was kippin up on the rope to gain altitude. He was leaning and got a bunch of slack that he wasn't expecting. Fell back off the ledge to the declining slope behind him, took his hands off the device to catch HIS fall, I hung in the air and watched the whole thing, shocked! The GriGri saved my arse that day!

In other news. I took a whipper on lead while my girlfriend was belaying me with an ATC (she's an experienced, but very novice climber), she caught me with no problem! I got on a very tall sport route after dark with a headlamp and a tiny bit of illumination from a spotlight at the climbing campground. She seemed uncomfortable during this situation, me climbing after dark n' all. I fell halfway up the route. She panicked, grabbed the rope above the ATC, and caught my fall with her bare hands and no mechanical advantage. Poor girl sustained 2nd degree rope burns.

You just can't be too sure! That's why the climbing pioneers and first ascensionists on trad are beasts!

Paul Hutton wrote: MMMMMMM no, they can't. I needed practice after 2.5 years or so belaying with an ATC. I'm spot on, now. For top roping? It doesn't get much easier! Load the GriGri for 'em, tell em to pull on "this" end constantly. I taught my dad, cuz my gut wanted it. He lost his balance when I was kippin up on the rope to gain altitude. He was leaning and got a bunch of slack that he wasn't expecting. Fell back off the ledge to the declining slip behind him, took his hands off the device to catch HIS fall, I hung in the air and watched the whole thing, shocked! The GriGri saved my arse that day! In other news. I took a whipper on lead while my girlfriend was belaying me with an ATC (she's an experienced, but very novice climber), she caught me with no problem! I got on a very tall sport route after dark with a headlamp and a tiny bit of illumination from a spotlight at the climbing campground. She seemed uncomfortable during this situation, me climbing after dark n' all. I fell halfway up the route. She panicked, grabbed the rope above the ATC, and caught my fall with her bare hands and no mechanical advantage. Poor girl sustained 2nd degree rope burns. You just can't be too sure! That's why the climbing pioneers and first ascensionists on trad are beasts!

As long as we are going this route I've also watched quite a few new belayers fumbling with their gri-gri like it was a rubix cube.

And how many stories of a gri-gri drop are there out there? Quite a few.

Not saying they aren't safe, but I wouldn't give a beginner one.

Scott McMahon wrote: And how many stories of a gri-gri drop are there out there?

and now we turn another perfectly mind numbing thread into bashing gri-gris.

Miike wrote: and now we turn another perfectly mind numbing thread into bashing gri-gris.

Both are pretty mind numbing no?

Just enjoy the ride...

Scott McMahon wrote: Just enjoy the ride...

That's what a gri-gri belayer says when you fall...har har.

So the important thing is:

OP, did or did you not take her to the gym for your first date and if so, how did it go?

Everybody else shut up about gri-gri's, gym gumbis and whatever else you're mumbling about.

Paul Hutton wrote: (she's an experienced, but very novice climber)

Huh?

Paul Hutton wrote: She panicked, grabbed the rope above the ATC, and caught my fall with her bare hands and no mechanical advantage.

Her bad for being an incompetent belayer. Your bad for taking a partner outside without making sure they are a competent belayer.

I have a close friend who was dropped by a newbie in the gym using a grigri- the girl panicked and pulled back all the way on the lever. This is hardly a unique occurrence. Fortunately for him, our gym double-wraps the rope on the anchor, so he only suffered a mild concussion. (Yes it was has fault for trusting her to belay, even though she was certified. He was experienced enough to know that gym belay certifications don't mean shit..)

Dan Africk said: Huh?

She led four sport routes during that trip (two of em with burned hands), and had top rope belaying experience in the gym and outside without any outstanding errors to speak of. She caught a practice fall on lead just fine, earlier that day. The incident where I was climbing after dark made her a lil uncomfortable (who wasn't uncomfortable locking down for the first time with a leader and watching them leave the wall?? She's a smart person, just a lil sheltered when it comes to something new. Can't be too restrictive and expect someone to progress.

Dan Africk said: Her bad for being an incompetent belayer. Your bad for taking a partner outside without making sure they are a competent belayer.

I've taught countless people that have performed just fine. We all have our moments. Mistakes will happen somewhere along a vast timeline, no matter how good the training and practice is.

How long had she been belaying before that trip? This sounds like the type of accident that could only happen with someone who is inexperienced, and/or has developed bad belay habits.

I don't see how anyone could grab the rope above the belay device, if they are already holding on to the brake end of the rope. It sounds like either she was not holding on to the brake end of the rope at all times, or for some reason she let go of the brake end when you fell. Either way, that is the result of very bad belay habits.

To me the most critical aspect of belaying, that I try hard to instill in new climbers when teaching them how to belay, is to develop proper belay habits so that it becomes instinct. The brake hand never lets go of the rope, unless your other hand is securely grasping it first. Never. I don't care if a freakin meteor lands right next to you, the building catches fire, or someone points a gun at you and tells you to let go- As long as your partner is on belay, you do not fucking let go, as long as you are physically capable of holding on. If there's a fall, your brake hand moves down into brake position. This becomes muscle memory, so that a fall can occur at any time, even while you're taking up slack, or if you're not paying perfect attention, and you will immediately brake no matter what.

I'm sorry if I come across as harsh, but the situation you describe indicates that she was not a competent belayer. Being nervous or in the dark does not explain or justify letting go of the rope. In my opinion, there is no excuse for not knowing how to belay properly. When someone is brand new, then the teacher bears a lot of responsibility for not teaching them well, but ultimately the belayer has made a decision to take someone elses life in their hands, and they need to make sure they know what they are doing, and not take on that responsibility until they are ready.

I keep checking this thread wanting to know how the dude's date went but every time it's nothing but whining. booooooring.

Several things:

1. This thread rules, reminds me how little game climbers have

2. Paul Hutton - he'sah fromah Italy (but he's not I-talian)

3. Why do 75% of threads morph into boulder/colorado bashing? I like it.

Kansas City, MO.

She had over half a year of climbing and belaying top rope. She's quite sheltered (strict family), I was on a tall sport route that put a pretty good distance between the two of us. And it was dark, except for the headlamp I was climbing with and I had the faint edge of light from the spotlight that was lighting up the wall, but wasn't focused on MY section of the wall. She caught many of my whippers during the whole vacation. Several on a bouldery roof I was trying to crawl past, during the day. I've been caught many times by people I didn't know. If I refused to climbed with people that I wasn't sure about, I wouldn't have had all of the enjoyable experiences I can tell about, today.

So, did this date happen?

No, the climbing gym date never happened. They were both just AIs on some computer anyway.

Sorry everyone.

Let's turn it off now.

[Whirring sound as a large machine winds down]

This post violated Rule #1. It has been removed by Mountain Project.

Now can we offshoot into a "I almost killed my ex ice-climbing" thread??? Ready... go!

Tim Lutz wrote: good to see MP and REI supporting some ol mysogyny interesting how some posts get banzed and not others....

I'm 14 so I'm immune.

To the OP: depending on what the gym that you are going to, maybe just go bouldering at first? That might be a little less stressful (especially if you're taking someone who has never climbed before) so you won't have to deal with ropes and belays right out the gate. Probably facilitates for a little more conversation too.

^^^
You do realize the OP was like 5 months ago? By now, that date already happened, hottie realized "hey these climbers are fit and sexy", dumped the OP and is now bouldering V3 and on her third climber boyfriend, the V5 shirtless beanie guy who screams on every move of the only hard problem he has wired, to get people to look at his peacocking display.

Soon, she'll hit double-digits...snagging a BF who climbs V10 and up, but only if she's REALLY hot and rocks the booty shorts and sports bra look.