Does Anyone Actually Enjoy Limestone Climbing?

I learnt to climb on limestone and 45 years on can assure you it gives the most varied, tchnically challenging and enjoyable climbing. 95% of the worlds best sport routes are on limestone.

limestone trad in the canadian rockies is a test of your mental and gear placement skills

and your rock dodging reaction time as well ..

;)

Does anyone actually enjoy having sex?

...because I have yet to. Granted, it's better than my hand, but that's about it. I've seen pictures of people doing it in gorgeous destinations like Potrero, Spain, Greece, Cuba, etc, and it always looks awesome...until I realize that it's sex. My experience with sex is that it's often slick, horrible with protection, awkward, with poor feet. I feel like I don't perform well and have to slow things way down and often get skeeved out by all the... fluids. I also find it overwhelming, because the opposite sex is so different - meaning there's lots of stuff to grab...but most of it is crap, lol. I can see how these qualities could be pluses if you're looking for a challenge, but for me it is just demoralizing.

So, does anybody enjoy sex and actually seek it out (if given the choice for alternatives?)? Am I just forming an opinion based upon poor examples, or is there always a massochistic quality to sex?

***

Ted, just like climbing on limestone, new things can sometimes take some adjustment. Give it more time and I'm sure you'll realize how good it is, and if not, that's OK, maybe it's not for you.

sweet jesus thank you

I've been reserving my claim of "best mountain project comment ever" for this. So good.

Josh Janes wrote:Does anyone actually enjoy having sex? ...because I have yet to. Granted, it's better than my hand, but that's about it. I've seen pictures of people doing it in gorgeous destinations like Potrero, Spain, Greece, Cuba, etc, and it always looks awesome...until I realize that it's sex. My experience with sex is that it's often slick, horrible with protection, awkward, with poor feet. I feel like I don't perform well and have to slow things way down and often get skeeved out by all the... fluids. I also find it overwhelming, because the opposite sex is so different - meaning there's lots of stuff to grab...but most of it is crap, lol. I can see how these qualities could be pluses if you're looking for a challenge, but for me it is just demoralizing. So, does anybody enjoy sex and actually seek it out (if given the choice for alternatives?)? Am I just forming an opinion based upon poor examples, or is there always a massochistic quality to sex? *** Ted, just like climbing on limestone, new things can sometimes take some adjustment. Give it more time and I'm sure you'll realize how good it is, and if not, that's OK, maybe it's not for you.

kennoyce wrote:One more thing, this is not to call you out for being a crappy climber or something like that, but I just looked at your profile and see that you don't have any routes ticked that are harder than 5.10c (I may have missed some and you may not keep your tick list up to date or whatever). In general, limestone doesn't start to get good until you hit the 5.11 range, but it really doesn't start to shine until you are in at least the 5.12 range or higher. Maybe you just need to table limestone for a while until you are climbing a bit harder, then give it another try. You might find it much more enjoyable at the harder grades.

Hmm, I suspected as much, as a lot of the cave/roof routes do look pretty cool. No offense taken...I'm definitely not a hardman climber yet. TR'd a few 12s and generally lead high 10s/low 11s in the gym, so most of what I look for outdoors is in the 10 range which I have generally not found enjoyable. Also makes sense that I just haven't hit good limestone (what I was hoping for), as most of my experience has been chossy western IL limestone and stuff around the Austin area.

Ryan Palo wrote:There's a continuum of limestone. My preference: grey, ruffle < porcelain < yellow, blockly < blue, tuffa. There are some outliers like the techy brown kind you find at the VRG, but it's rare. It's my experience that the grey kind sucks balls compared to the others. Im guessing you've ventured up a couple grey, ruffle slabs which are unfortunately more common here.

Yep! Grey and white.

Josh Janes wrote:Does anyone actually enjoy having sex? ...because I have yet to. Granted, it's better than my hand, but that's about it. I've seen pictures of people doing it in gorgeous destinations like Potrero, Spain, Greece, Cuba, etc, and it always looks awesome...until I realize that it's sex. My experience with sex is that it's often slick, horrible with protection, awkward, with poor feet. I feel like I don't perform well and have to slow things way down and often get skeeved out by all the... fluids. I also find it overwhelming, because the opposite sex is so different - meaning there's lots of stuff to grab...but most of it is crap, lol. I can see how these qualities could be pluses if you're looking for a challenge, but for me it is just demoralizing. So, does anybody enjoy sex and actually seek it out (if given the choice for alternatives?)? Am I just forming an opinion based upon poor examples, or is there always a massochistic quality to sex? *** Ted, just like climbing on limestone, new things can sometimes take some adjustment. Give it more time and I'm sure you'll realize how good it is, and if not, that's OK, maybe it's not for you.

Hahahha, nice.

Tim Lutz wrote: Well done Matt some horrible, nasty limestone bouldering:

Well, yes, that one is fucking horrible. 10 months later and I am still healing the tendon, lol. Sick fuck that I am, I want that horrible shit and can't stop thinking about it :0.

Some of the worst rock I've ever climbed on was sandstone -- and you like that crap? It was all so soft that you couldn't place gear, everything was rounded and slopy, with a covering of loose sand grains on all the holds, all the edges (if you could call them edges), all the everything. (Harrison's Rocks, southern sandstone, in England.)

I've also climbed on some absolutely solid, gorgeous sandstone.

Similarly I've climbed on some annoying, polished-slick limestone (Swabian Alb, Germany), and I've climbed on some lovely, solid fun limestone.

I've climbed on some horrible, over-climbed, all the holds and gear placements greatly polished granite (Yosemite), and also some wonderful granite.

Most rock types come in good and bad. (Ok, there's probably no actual good-for-climbing shale, nor for sane people, chalk.)

I really enjoy tufa climbing! I have not climbed the route in the video but have spent 3 weeks tufa tugging in Chulilla.

vimeo.com/111562987

Josh Janes wrote:Does anyone actually enjoy having sex? ...because I have yet to. Granted, it's better than my hand, but that's about it. I've seen pictures of people doing it in gorgeous destinations like Potrero, Spain, Greece, Cuba, etc, and it always looks awesome...until I realize that it's sex. My experience with sex is that it's often slick, horrible with protection, awkward, with poor feet. I feel like I don't perform well and have to slow things way down and often get skeeved out by all the... fluids. I also find it overwhelming, because the opposite sex is so different - meaning there's lots of stuff to grab...but most of it is crap, lol. I can see how these qualities could be pluses if you're looking for a challenge, but for me it is just demoralizing. So, does anybody enjoy sex and actually seek it out (if given the choice for alternatives?)? Am I just forming an opinion based upon poor examples, or is there always a massochistic quality to sex? *** Ted, just like climbing on limestone, new things can sometimes take some adjustment. Give it more time and I'm sure you'll realize how good it is, and if not, that's OK, maybe it's not for you.

That was amazing.

And yes, that's what she said.

snowdenroad wrote:I really enjoy tufa climbing! I have not climbed the route in the video but have spent 3 weeks tufa tugging in Chulilla. vimeo.com/111562987

Not sure I would go around saying you enjoy "Tufa tugging," lol.

Maybe you don't like limestone because you don't know how to place other gear but cams. Limestone trad can be much more creative than trad in granite or sandstone

apparently many places that are called limestone are not limestone???  I thought  wild iris was very sharp inside the pockets. like sticking you fingers into blender.   kamuraska was quite comfortable but its possible that is not real limestone???

Maybe you guys should check the date before reviving a two year old thread.

Also, limestone trad is suicide.

Josh Janes wrote: Does anyone actually enjoy having sex? ...because I have yet to. Granted, it's better than my hand, but that's about it. I've seen pictures of people doing it in gorgeous destinations like Potrero, Spain, Greece, Cuba, etc, and it always looks awesome...until I realize that it's sex. My experience with sex is that it's often slick, horrible with protection, awkward, with poor feet. I feel like I don't perform well and have to slow things way down and often get skeeved out by all the... fluids. I also find it overwhelming, because the opposite sex is so different - meaning there's lots of stuff to grab...but most of it is crap, lol. I can see how these qualities could be pluses if you're looking for a challenge, but for me it is just demoralizing. So, does anybody enjoy sex and actually seek it out (if given the choice for alternatives?)? Am I just forming an opinion based upon poor examples, or is there always a massochistic quality to sex? *** Ted, just like climbing on limestone, new things can sometimes take some adjustment. Give it more time and I'm sure you'll realize how good it is, and if not, that's OK, maybe it's not for you.

Josh Janes - you nailed it!

now I can't stop seeing sex for limestone in other posts

From Joe W " Yes! I love sex and seek it out over everything else. I used to live in Vegas and I would..."

I've noted somewhat of a bi-modal distribution for limestone: some of the best climbing and some of the worst.  The biggest factor I've noted is how much it has been climbed previously as it's quite susceptible to polish.  Fresh limestone has some of the coolest features to climb on.  Unfortunately, once it's seen too much traffic, the resulting polish can make it suck royally... and potentially render the original grade somewhat irrelevant.  I recognize that there is probably a continuum regarding the degree of polish, however it seems to be the extremes that stand out in memory.

Some of the best: Tensleep, WY; Ha Long Bay, Vietnam
Some of the worst: the easy routes in Railay, Thailand; easier stuff in American fork (I was out of shape when climbing at both places, so I can't speak for the harder stuff)

Only on MP lol.

Yes, limestone is terrible...especially in western states. You'll be maimed by falling choss, stymied by glassy polished slopers, your fingers will be severed in razor pockets, and your rope will cut on sharp edges. Don't bother.  The best rock is in the Midwest and the East Coast. Go there. 

WTF does Ondra and Sharma know anyways?

That punter Chris move to Spain for limestone.

Some of my favorite routes are on limestone.  Some of my least favorite routes are on limestone.  It's like any other rock as far as I'm concerned: some routes will be rad and some will severely disappoint.  That shouldn't come as a surprise.