Climbing "Ethics": Practicing Big Wall Concepts & Techniques At Your Local Crag

First, Happy Father's Day out there to all the dads! My son (8) is in stitches at the concept of the poop tube which I recently acquired...we'll make a climber out of him yet!

I'm finishing my study of Chris McNamara;s book on climbing big walls. In many sections he espouses the necessity of practicing the presented concepts, techniques, and systems, e.g., jugging fixed lines over <vertical, overhanging terrain, leading, jugging/cleaning, hauling, etc. This book, coupled with discourse provided by many experienced big wall climbers who encourage the practice...practice...practice of systems here on this site et al., and especially the need to develop good habits through said practice, has got me thinking this AM.

Living in Centra New Jersey, I don't have many crag options. Birdsboro Quarry (sport routes) are two hours + to the west. High Rocks (unstable oil shale) is 100 minutes into PA. The Gunks is just over 90 minutes to the north. A few local gyms that I will try to practice at as well.

My general thoughts are to head to these locations, the quarry, high rocks, and the Gunks using a few annoyance minimizing tactics:

1. Go on a weekday (effort one at minimizing the annoyance),
2. Choosing routes that are not popular trade routes like avoiding High E, Shockleys, etc., (effort two at minimizing the annoyance),
3. Staying far from bolted rap stations (effort three at minimizing the annoyance)

to set up things like roped solo leading, anchor setup, rapping, jugging, cleaning, hauling bags of rocks, hanging portal edge setup, even clean aid to work on my aiding and top stepping, etc.

I have a lurking fear (pun intended), that not everyone will be tolerant of my efforts. Beyond, or perhaps with revision to, the three "annoyance minimizing" efforts listed above, any other ideas from the community on ways to build my skills without interfering with generally acceptable climbing ethics?

Also, I wonder if these things are really "annoyances?" I think if I saw someone practicing hauling a bag of rocks at a less-than-popular route in the near traps on a Tuesday afternoon, I would not perceive it annoying but perhaps my lens is different than others.

Happy Father's Day Jeff,

Don't forget about Allamuchy. That can't be too far from you, and you can work on anything that can be done in a single pitch. Every single time I've climbed there (< 15), I've been the only one, so I doubt you would upset anyone if you hogged the tallest part of the wall.

Jeff0 wrote:First, Happy Father's Day out there to all the dads! ... I have a lurking fear (pun intended), that not everyone will be tolerant of my efforts. Beyond, or perhaps with revision to, the three "annoyance minimizing" efforts listed above, any other ideas from the community on ways to build my skills without interfering with generally acceptable climbing ethics? Also, I wonder if these things are really "annoyances?" I think if I saw someone practicing hauling a bag of rocks at a less-than-popular route in the near traps on a Tuesday afternoon, I would not perceive it annoying but perhaps my lens is different than others.

Thanks for the HFD.

About the questions, of course, you can't please everyone.
But your attempts at minimizing the getting in the way of others should be appreciated by most climbers. Myself, I like seeing people practice big wall stuff at the crag -- its a nice change of pace from the usual sights.

Another idea is to use a big tree. Might work fine for some of the things you aim to practice.

We practiced for our wall attempt at both High Rocks and Birdsboro as well.

We practiced systems for slabby jugging, slabby hauls, lower outs, tension traverses, and pendulums on the lower slabs (reservoir level) at the bird, and then we would just go sport climbing, but fix the rope at the top and have the second jug and clean every route to get that practice in.

For overhanging jugging and hauling, I just practiced in a stout tree.

At stover (high rocks) we practiced putting it all together on routes like Hawks Nest and Cramped Thumb, and Hummingbird. You can also do alot of practice on the practice face. High rocks is an oven in the summer though, it's sheltered and gets lots of sun.

At either place, show up really early on a weekend, or go on a weekday.

How about at DE Water Gap. No one goes there

Nice part of practicing at stover is with the top access you can do it on your own, rig a fixed line and self belay,l. No need to bore your partner with belay duty for hours while your practice aid and jugging.

The del water gap is a good resource too, as mentioned above.