Racking like a pro

Something i have always been baffled by is the inconsistency of racking by professional climber, i have seen Caldwell with numerous ascenders(never once a BD ascender) and even other other cams(aliens), you have climbers like Andy kirkpatrick who despite being sponsored by Petzl has raved about other companies kit one thing that just comes to mind of the top of my head is DMM, Edelrid and Wild Country caribiners, then you have climbers like Honnold who i have never ever seen rock anything but his sponsors kit, bar one time when he used a Arc'teryx bag in Patagonia and a single Edelrid 19g quickdraw on his harness. so what gives with the complete lack of consistency in athletes racking?
Surly A super experienced climber like Honnold must see benefits of cams like totems and aliens,(it's almost like he's out climbing and not looking at this forum every time a new thread about cams pops up) anybody have any idea's as to this massive inconsistency in how the pro's appear to rack?

that guy named seb wrote:Something i have always been baffled by is the inconsistency of racking by professional climber, i have seen Caldwell with numerous ascenders(never once a BD ascender) and even other other cams(aliens), you have climbers like Andy kirkpatrick who despite being sponsored by Petzl has raved about other companies kit one thing that just comes to mind of the top of my head is DMM, Edelrid and Wild Country caribiners, then you have climbers like Honnold who i have never ever seen rock anything but his sponsors kit, bar one time when he used a Arc'teryx bag in Patagonia and a single Edelrid 19g quickdraw on his harness. so what gives with the complete lack of consistency in athletes racking? Surly A super experienced climber like Honnold must see benefits of cams like totems and aliens,(it's almost like he's out climbing and not looking at this forum every time a new thread about cams pops up) anybody have any idea's as to this massive inconsistency in how the pro's appear to rack?

Seb, could you provide an English translation for that gibberish? :)

Rob T wrote: "Why don't pros see the inherent awesomeness of pink tricams and totem cams" ?

Thank you. That helps.

I believe some are under obligation/contract and adhere to the sponser's request of using/promoting/marketing their equipment.

I'm sure there are also those that have preference for certain gear over others.

Could be possible that whatever gear the person they are climbing with brought is used.

Maybe I'm not deciphering the question correctly and I'm completely off?

Hahaha. Last two posts funny!

Maybe Tommy was using his partners "kit"

Honnold should carry an entire rack consisting of only pink tricams

First off, during photo and video shoots I'm sure someone is making certain their branding is on point. Secondly, you find me a picture of Dale Jr. drinking any other beer than Bud. Companies get a little psycho about contracts and product placement.

Mark O'Neal wrote:Honnold should carry an entire rack consisting of only pink tricams

And proceed to not place any of them!

I do recall nerding out over gear with Kevin Jorgeson on Facebook once. He posted a pic of his rack and there were like triples of C3s so I asked him why he didn't have any X4s...apparently never got around to trying them, lol. This was last year.

BigFeet wrote:I believe some are under obligation/contract and adhere to the sponser's request of using/promoting/marketing their equipment. I'm sure there are also those that have preference for certain gear over others. Could be possible that whatever gear the person they are climbing with brought is used. Maybe I'm not deciphering the question correctly and I'm completely off?

You pretty much got it.

Andrew A. wrote:First off, during photo and video shoots I'm sure someone is making certain their branding is on point. Secondly, you find me a picture of Dale Jr. drinking any other beer than Bud. Companies get a little psycho about contracts and product placement.

Someone clearly doesn't look at the gear in climbers hands,
:O A competitors product!!
and here ukclimbing.com/news/item/70… Collin is using a Patagonia pack, alex is using a arc'teryx pack. In the movie about the fitz traverse Honnold was actually using a prototype Patagonia pack so literally testing another companies bag for them, on camera. I think when climbing in patagonia Honnold he either has no idea what to bring and his partner chooses half of his equipment for him OR he just leaves everything thing last minute so has to use another brands kit other wise i see no reason he wouldn't be using either a BD or TNF bag.

I was laughing about a Dean Potter vid cranking some splitter testpiece back a while back. He was a Black Diamond sponsored athlete and was using Metolius cams. I knew the guy belaying him and was surprised at the logical answer about that: the Metolius cams fit that size crack better.

Oh...OK, I see.......of course, that doesn't speak to ascenders and a bunch of other gear...

planetmountain.com/img/1/29… anybody have any idea what the hell the green thing is?

that guy named seb wrote:http://www.planetmountain.com/img/1/29230.jpg anybody have any idea what the hell the green thing is?

crampon, bruh.

Mark Westfall 1 wrote:this is the shittiest post I have ever read on this forum.

idk seems par for the course from Seb

Supporting evidence:

that guy named seb wrote:http://www.planetmountain.com/img/1/29230.jpg anybody have any idea what the hell the green thing is?

...BUT to be on topic
Sports Marketing people inside the industry could care less about these little things. The level of gear nerd-ery it takes to spot or even care about most of this stuff is HIGH and the number of people at the level very small. Which I'll admit to I'm high on that list. But within any contracts there are tons of intricacies to gear usage/ testing/ other crap. Considering now that Honnold is sponsored by; 3 companies that make technical apparel, 2 that make technical bags, 2 that make shoes, 2 that make ropes* (yeah BD doesn't make theirs), and I'm sure there is another weird crossover as well.

Honnold was probably using a Patagonia pack because he was climbing with Tommy. Someone at BD telling Honnold he couldn't use a grigri would be a tremendously dumb move (especially because they don't make a assisted braking device). As a matter of fact JT uses a grigri all the fucking time when belaying sport and he's the mother f-ing athlete manager for BD.

Mark O'Neal wrote:Honnold should carry an entire rack consisting of only pink tricams

Is that not considered normal? I carry 8 pinks pre attached to quick draws for when clipping a bolt takes too long to make bomber. Just slap one of those puppies against the wall 11/10 would whip. Honestly just carrying them should be considered aid.

Check out "The crash reel". It's a documentary about Kevin Pearce. He gets TBI training, it's sad.
There's a part in the movie where Kevin's trying to figure what size stickers go where on his helmet. Which companies belong where. It's crazy.

NorCalNomad wrote: idk seems par for the course from Seb Supporting evidence: ...BUT to be on topic Sports Marketing people inside the industry could care less about these little things. The level of gear nerd-ery it takes to spot or even care about most of this stuff is HIGH and the number of people at the level very small. Which I'll admit to I'm high on that list. But within any contracts there are tons of intricacies to gear usage/ testing/ other crap. Considering now that Honnold is sponsored by; 3 companies that make technical apparel, 2 that make technical bags, 2 that make shoes, 2 that make ropes* (yeah BD doesn't make theirs), and I'm sure there is another weird crossover as well. Honnold was probably using a Patagonia pack because he was climbing with Tommy. Someone at BD telling Honnold he couldn't use a grigri would be a tremendously dumb move (especially because they don't make a assisted braking device). As a matter of fact JT uses a grigri all the fucking time when belaying sport and he's the mother f-ing athlete manager for BD.

Paid Rock Stars are sponsored, they get to do what they want.
The company gets to use the climbers endorsement. Image ,etc.

The fact that 'Q' companies' supplying gear does not always mean that pro climber 'A',
can not use gear that is made by company 'S', even if both companies supply / back similar products.

The very attractive nature of the climbers to the company is the Draw that attention brings so Pro climbers get photographed with whatever gear they want to use.
As well as One Brand focused , product targeted one company, supplied 'Only' , shoots.

As we see 1st hand, It helps draw a few random guys named seb and the like to create more scrutiny Of advertising. That is the goal of the of hiring the respected or inspirational. That's why they are the Rock Stars.

All so, companies use what ever is available that works best ,where, 'time', costs; "The Bottom Line" is all that matters.

( I was also held down and forced to reply when someone speculated on why so and so was in X I company shoes , Vs the other Brand.)

there is so much wrong with that picture of Alex H !

Michael Schneider wrote: Paid Rock Stars are sponsored.....there is so much wrong with that picture of Alex H !

....some of the boys faces say it all

A lot of the top climbers don't brood over gear much. Especially Honold who rarely uses nuts or offset cams. They're also climbing with other sponsored athletes that have different sponsors.

Michael Schneider wrote: there is so much wrong with that picture of Alex H !

I usually get way more sketched out being belayed by pro's, then your average climbing pleb (such as myself :P).