Dumb things other climbers have said

chris berg wrote:"Just climb higher, I'm sure there's better gear further up".

This is like the essence of trad climbing. When in doubt, run it out.

Leader tells the follower after leading an apparently scary and chossy 3rd pitch in Taylor Canyon "DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING"

But you never Fall.

This said by my belayer after I fell 20’,
I should have fallen 3-5’ at most with a solid nut swami high.
I hit a small ledge with my left foot five feet off the deck, flipped upside down and stopped.
The next day my doctor said you are going to wish you broke your ankle. It would have healed faster if you had broken it.
Thirty three years later it only hurts the day before a storm sometimes……
We never talked again and I never saw him at the crags again.
Turns out he was looking at two sun bathers.

awesome:
youtube.com/watch?v=V5Sb8ZM…;feature=related

That video never gets old. ever.

I have too many stories to recall, but this one stands out in my mind as blatantly retarded. Went bouldering and camping at Mt. Evans. On the first afternoon, we see a NASTY storm developing quickly over the horizon. There were thick black clouds with lightning jumping between them, and we were starting to get hit by huge gusts of wind.

My friend and I go into autopilot and start sprinting the fuck out of there. We pass two guys on the Bierstadt block in shorts and t-shirts, they have nothing but their shoes, chalk, pads, and one nalgene each. We run past and I say something like, "maybe time to get out of here fellas?" One of the guys gives me a dumbfounded look and says, "nah man, perfect sending temps!" We hid out under a roof for a while and see them hauling ass down the trail, already soaked within minutes, getting pelted in the face with ping-pong sized hail.

Seems like every time I leave a crag hastily in bad weather, someone on the trail asks me if they think the weather will hold out for another climb. I always assure them that the weather will be perfect. In fact it will be sending temps, brah!

Captain Fastrousers wrote: (For the record Fat Dad, you don't sound like an old man screaming at the teenagers to turn down their radio. You just sound dogmatic and unoriginal).

OK, fair enough, but was my query totally misplaced?

You've blamed me for raising the issue but you don't provide an opinion. No big. However, I am curious what other people think.

Fat Dad wrote: OK, fair enough, but was my query totally misplaced? You've blamed me for raising the issue but you don't provide an opinion.

I don't think the query was missplaced 5-10 years ago when it was first asked, but it strikes me that it's now the default opinion. Every time some poor bugger gets hurt the whole 'gym-n00bs' argument gets trotted out and given the gravest weight, regardless of the facts of the case.

I've seen some pretty stupid things for sure (I've also done some pretty stupid things; haven't we all?), and while a fair portion of those are from people who are pretty new and obviously haven't really done their research, an equal number are experienced climbers who do or should know better.

I just feel that the automatic attribution of bad practice to the advent of gyms has become a sort of lazy, Pavlovian response, and I think we've stopped questioning its merit.

I also feel that while this thread was meant in good humour (and for the most part has been participated in the same good humour) there's a risk of looking incredibly self-satisfied when we start talking about other people's stupidity and naivity. Much funnier (and probably much more constructive) to talk about the stupid things we ourselves have said. (BTW this wasn't a comment directly aimed at you, Fat Dad; more a general idle musing).

I'm sure I've said a lot of dumb things while climbing. "Eh, that doesn't look that hard" has to rank toward the top of the list.

JLP wrote: My favorite pre-gym memory is seeing a guy lead a climb w/o biners. He'd untie at every piece and thread the rope directly through the webbing and cables. You'll never see shit like that from someone who came out of a gym.

Guy sounds like a beast, don't drop the... rope?

Scared leader: "dude you got me?!"

A-Hole Belayer: "yup" (he is belaying w/ a gri gri, not touching the rope, has a huge loop of slack out, and is on his f***ing iphone!!)

"i don't use stoppers" (they just use cams)

"when i go super alpine, i only take every other size cam"

both of these came from the same group of climbers...

Willa wrote:Gyms have exposed many people to climbing who would never have had the opportunity otherwise. Sure that means there are more idiots out there who get themselves hurt, but that is what happens when an activity grows in popularity so quickly.

So are you agreeing with me? The paragraph above very clearly does, but then you take the liberty of some cheap personal shots, so overall I'm not sure.

I totally acknowledge that there are tons of gym bred climbers who are climbing absolutely awesome stuff. The stuff that Chris Sharma, Alex Honnold, Tommy Caldwell, etc., etc., are doing is totally mind blowing, totally inspiring. I don't think that's ever been in dispute.

My 6 yr. old daughter has started hitting the gym with me. She's already doing gymnastics and so will likely be running circles around her old man. I think that's awesome. The next generation improving on its predecessor, as it should.

However, it seems that whenever someone who started climbing more than 5 yrs. ago asks a question along the lines I did, the pat response is always an ad hominem attack or a claim of "elitism." That's become the go to response from every incompetent climber defending his or her incompetency.

I just asked a pretty matter of fact question. When did everyone get so touchy?

Fat Dad wrote: When did everyone get so touchy?

When did you join this site? ha ha ha

Price wrote: When did you join this site? ha ha ha

Seriously!

Overheard at Muir Valley in RRG as one gumby explained ratings to another:

"Yeah, like 5.8d is harder than 5.8a"

Fat Dad wrote: So are you agreeing with me? The paragraph above very clearly does, but then you take the liberty of some cheap personal shots, so overall I'm not sure. I totally acknowledge that there are tons of gym bred climbers who are climbing absolutely awesome stuff. The stuff that Chris Sharma, Alex Honnold, Tommy Caldwell, etc., etc., are doing is totally mind blowing, totally inspiring. I don't think that's ever been in dispute. My 6 yr. old daughter has started hitting the gym with me. She's already doing gymnastics and so will likely be running circles around her old man. I think that's awesome. The next generation improving on its predecessor, as it should. However, it seems that whenever someone who started climbing more than 5 yrs. ago asks a question along the lines I did, the pat response is always an ad hominem attack or a claim of "elitism." That's become the go to response from every incompetent climber defending his or her incompetency. I just asked a pretty matter of fact question. When did everyone get so touchy?

I get what you're saying. Although reading this thread is rather entertaining, being a new climber myself, rather than laugh/walk away, helping said parties is a much better idea, unless it endangers you of course. How can you expect them to be "as intelligent as you" if no one will help them? I've learned a couple good things from people willing to take a moment at the crag rather than watch a disaster waiting to happen.

Abram Herman wrote: "Yeah, like 5.8d is harder than 5.8a"

I have to say this is the winner.

While top rope belaying my girlfriend at the gym there was an employee a couple routes over teaching a few kids how to belay with an atc. He told me I'm not allowed to sit down and belay because it isn't safe and that I needed to stand up. I kinda laughed it off and stood up for him. 5 minutes later the kid he was belaying finished the route and he let the kid free fall through the atc until he was about 3' off the ground. I then asked him if he thinks that's safer than belaying while sitting down but I didn't get a response.

"Im a climber not a faller...Im a climber not a faller...IM A CLIMBER NOT A FALLER!" You can guess what happened next.