Brandon.Phillips wrote:I was in a gym in Alaska and this guy strolls in pretty casually wearing a pair of jeans with two ice tools strapped to his pack.

I think there is a market for "climbing bling." You put that shiny new C4 on your harness and think "this thing is so beautiful, I should just wear it on my belt loop when I am not climbing." Just think of the possibilities.

nothing wrong with climbing in jeans.

It happened on Potash Road, in the Moab Area:

My buddy and I were on Nervous in Suburbia or some other such easier face climb at Potash one afternoon (we were crack n00bs w/no trad gear). It was midweek and no one else at the crag, except for one dude.

He was ~60 years old, very pale skin (odd for the desert), skinny small frame guy with a pot belly hanging out of his open button-up shirt. He had no climbing gear, but when he approached and talked to me in a very creepy manner, he knew enough climbing lingo to keep the conversation going. Plus I was belaying my partner on TR so there was no way I was going anywhere.

He kept giving these strange complements, telling us how strong and good we both looked. He had this way of turning his face slightly down and away from you, without eye contact, and then rolling his pale blue eyeballs towards you without turning his head, peering at you while grinning.

After he did this a few times, and his attempts at creepy conversation were getting creepier I said something like 'hey man, I feel like I should focus on belaying my climbing partner right now, so sorry I can't talk.' He mumbled something about touching himself and went to go sit in his truck about 50 yards away.

Later I told some people about this guy and they said it sounded like I'd met a local character named 'The President' and that he was just a harmless fixture of the local scene... has anyone else run into this guy? Is he the prez? Definitely a strange denizen of the crag.

Maybe I got trolled in real life, but he creeped the fuck outta me.

johnnyrig wrote: I always wear jeans.

At least you got one thing right.

What a bunch if butthurtin' pansies in here. "Oh no don't post anonymous pics of people doing weird stuff cause its unethical!". Learn to laugh at the weird shit people do and crack up at the stupid shit you've done. I never knew the internet climbing community turned into a giant weeping vagina.

Yep, MP has more weeping ginas then Patpong! Some have even taken the moniker and have begun masquerading as Eva Mendez. But seriously, climbing is entertaining, expect the tardos drawn to this ridiculous sport to be strange denizens from the go.

You may rock climb in jeans, but do you ice climb in jeans? Texas Gore-Tex!

I had a buddy who was climbing in Zion, and this old timer offered up his guidebook for anyone who needed beta. My friend took the book, but every page just had 70's porn glued into it.

I also rapped into a sinkhole one time and the rappel station had a piton driven into a tree.

While we're at it how often do you see people with go-pro cameras who are doing things that are not rad?

The Blueprint Part Dank wrote: My favorite is kind of the inverse of that. At time I see someone climbing outside with a "Lead Belay Certified" card hanging off their harness, I laugh and laugh and laugh

I wish that weren't me. The best gym in our area has the worst belay "cards": they're plastic tags that are zip-ties, the kind you'd use for labelling a cable or something. You can't take it off your harness without cutting it, so you're stuck with the damned thing when climbing outside. It's a stiff flat paddle-shape, so it's in the way pretty much wherever you put it.

Eric Chabot wrote:It happened on Potash Road, in the Moab Area: My buddy and I were on Nervous in Suburbia or some other such easier face climb at Potash one afternoon (we were crack n00bs w/no trad gear). It was midweek and no one else at the crag, except for one dude. He was ~60 years old, very pale skin (odd for the desert), skinny small frame guy with a pot belly hanging out of his open button-up shirt. He had no climbing gear, but when he approached and talked to me in a very creepy manner, he knew enough climbing lingo to keep the conversation going. Plus I was belaying my partner on TR so there was no way I was going anywhere. He kept giving these strange complements, telling us how strong and good we both looked. He had this way of turning his face slightly down and away from you, without eye contact, and then rolling his pale blue eyeballs towards you without turning his head, peering at you while grinning. After he did this a few times, and his attempts at creepy conversation were getting creepier I said something like 'hey man, I feel like I should focus on belaying my climbing partner right now, so sorry I can't talk.' He mumbled something about touching himself and went to go sit in his truck about 50 yards away. Later I told some people about this guy and they said it sounded like I'd met a local character named 'The President' and that he was just a harmless fixture of the local scene... has anyone else run into this guy? Is he the prez? Definitely a strange denizen of the crag. Maybe I got trolled in real life, but he creeped the fuck outta me.

The Prez is a fixture at Potash road, nothing creepy about him. He just likes riding top ropes. He has some condition, I forget what, but I think it's the crook in his neck that makes him look sideways when he's talking to you.

doligo wrote: The Prez is a fixture at Potash road, nothing creepy about him. He just likes riding top ropes. He has some condition, I forget what, but I think it's the crook in his neck that makes him look sideways when he's talking to you.

Do you happen to know the Prez's real name? He sounds like an older version of someone I knew in the Valley and in Mammoth Lakes back in the mid '80s

good belay

Maybe you mean Tim Noonan? The medical condition you refer to was affecting him quite a bit by the early '90s. It got started a lot earlier than that, apparently. The Alzheimer's is awful to hear about, he's not that much older than I am.

Speaking of denizens with mental health issues, any one know whats up with "Birdman" at gunsmoke in J-tree?

doligo wrote: The Prez is a fixture at Potash road, nothing creepy about him. He just likes riding top ropes. He has some condition, I forget what, but I think it's the crook in his neck that makes him look sideways when he's talking to you.

Ah, I feel like a dick now. I wasn't rude to the guy but he was definitely acting strange, now I feel bad for not having more compassion. I hope he's doing OK wherever he is.

Does anyone know who the toolbag in the pink pajamas at Shelf is?

I see his stupid little outfit climbing some stupid little climb and spraying his heart out a couple times a year there.

Maybe the first time he did it it was unique. By now, it's just an idiot calling attention to his idiocy.

VaGenius wrote:^^^Now I want pink pajamas. Gotzebra onesie with footies for Xmas-maybe do Cat In The Hat in that thing sometime. Can scarcely imagine the community horror at that kind of offense to conformity.

Now wear them so much that they become the only recognizable feature about you.

I shouldn't say much, after all, I did climb Half Dome and also Bellyful in some bright baby blue with pink squiggles spandex.