Drinking & Climbing

Lena chita wrote:

In pretty much every state, it is illegal to drive with blood alcohol level of 0.08%. Even if you are 100 pounds, 1 drink would not get you there. Even though everybody metabolizes alcohol somewhat differently, and it could depend on other stuff, such as how dehydrated you are, a guy who is about 150 lb can easily drink 3 cans of beer, especially if it is something light like PBR, and especially if it is spread out over the entire day, and never get to that 0.08%.

Actually, .05% bac is the legal limit for ability impaired.  And just 2 IPA's could easily get you there.  

So in all likelihood the guy was not impaired.

And you can prove this how?

Fritz N. wrote:

Good question, and surprisingly good answers so far. I only drink after the climb. My tolerance for partners who drink during the day depends on the situation. Toprope siege party at the Creek? Sure, drink responsibly and be ok with somebody telling you you're done for the day. Redpoint burn on the project? No. Easy multipitch? Maybe. The Black? No.

I have far less tolerance for climbing with people who are hazed.

I appreciate your perspective and previous posts, Spencer. I always wondered if there were any climbers from the LDS faith. If you're ever on the Western Slope, I'd be glad to tie in with you and talk religion. My wife makes a pretty killer straight-edge margarita, too.

  

I thoroughly enjoy a good single-malt, or a well-crafted cocktail, wine, or microbrew. I drink most days, limiting myself to 2 per day during the week, and allowing myself more on the weekend. But I don't drink before or during climbing. As mentioned upthread, studies have shown that even below .08 BAC, reactions and judgement are impaired; it's a gradual effect, not "on/off", and people are pretty bad at judging for themselves when they've had "enough". I prefer to avoid impairment when engaging in inherently dangerous activities. After we're done for the day, you bet I'll have a post-climb libation.

Fritz, I assume by "straight-edge", you mean non-alcoholic... how does one accomplish this for a margarita? I love a good tequila, and IMO, the flavor of tequila is necessary for a true margarita. I've made some pretty tasty "mocktails" for pregnant friends, but I've never come up with anything I'd consider a good approximation of a classic lime margarita.

Andrew Krajnik wrote:

but I've never come up with anything I'd consider a good approximation of a classic lime margarita.

Heartily agreed. We call the drink the "Broken Pencil" (because it's pointless). It's basically fresh-squeezed lemonade with salt and lime on the rim.

https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/topic/113323087/drinking-is-for-old-people  interesting that this hasnt surfaced in this forum yet.....

I have no problems with knocking back a few drinks during the day, or climbing with someone who has.  I generally want to get to know someones baseline before Id say lets have a few beers then climb....  I usually also want to have a few drinks with someone before I climb with them on those drinks.  I Want to know how they react, what they tolerate.  Are they going to get reckless after 2 beers?  maybe id belay them (on a sport route), but not vice versa....

Generally speaking I dont often drink and climb because Im a better athlete when sober.  A day of cragging, with some beers at the end of the day is standard.  summit beers are terrific.  victory beers are amazing.  I also like a day of climbing sober,  with a few beers during the last few routs of a day cragging.  Thats just a good time.

I also have a friend I will not climb with unless he is smoking weed.  He is too anxiety prone otherwise.  He honestly climbs better and is more present when smoking.

I prefer dropping acid over boozing while at the crag. I find it a bit easier to read the route IMO. 

I have never mixed my activity of choice while drinking.  I have no problem with chosen activity THEN drinking.  My activities are too risk laden to compromise my alertness.  That being said I have top-roped with people who were sipping on a beer, it was a super fun day.  Ive climbed multi-pitch with a guy who smoked weed multiple times on the climb, it was a super terrible time, 20 min between belays and way too much slack in the system. Had I know he was going to smoke weed I would not have climbed with him on that day, actually I haven't climbed with him since. 

As Bon Jovi said, Its My Life!!! Honestly, if the guy has an issue with you calling him out about it you dont need to climb with them.

My activities of choice are:  climbing, mountain biking, road biking, scuba diving, surfing. should something go wrong I would like to be able to respond appropriately. 

Anything over 1/2 a shot and you are impeding performance. Anything below that and you can improve. 

I usually save the beer for the end of the day, and prefer if my belayer does the same. If they have  beer with lunch or a beer before our last climb that fine with me, but any more than 2 or 3 beers I wouldn't want that person belaying me. 3 beers after a long day of climbing before eating dinner can feel like 6 or 7.  

Not saying this is what happened, maybe OP knew the guy personally outside of climbing, but:

If I made plans to meet up with someone from Mountain Project (or anywhere on the interwebs) to go climbing, and when we met I could tell that he/she had been drinking, I would absolutely call it off right then and there.

If it was someone I knew well and was comfortable with, I'd carefully evaluate case-by-case, but some rando? Absolutely not. As it's been discussed up thread, it can be very hard to tell just how impaired someone is. Especially when you don't know them, and in OP's case, have zero experience with alcohol.

Wasn't that Robbins guy a total alcoholic? He climbs pretty hard from what I've heard.

Greg D wrote:

Actually, .05% bac is the legal limit for ability impaired. 

Other than Utah next year, have any other states implemented this? The 0.08% is the general limit for DUI.

Lena chita wrote:

In pretty much every state, it is illegal to drive with blood alcohol level of 0.08%. Even if you are 100 pounds, 1 drink would not get you there. Even though everybody metabolizes alcohol somewhat differently, and it could depend on other stuff, such as how dehydrated you are, a guy who is about 150 lb can easily drink 3 cans of beer, especially if it is something light like PBR, and especially if it is spread out over the entire day, and never get to that 0.08%.

In some states, if you get into an accident, you're transporting kids or you're driving commercial vehicles and you have ANY blood alcohol level, it's a DUI. If someone gets injured in the accident, it can be a felony. On some federal property/ military bases, DUI is 0.04-0.05% depending on the base commander. In some other countries, DUI is as low as 0.02%, and a few have zero tolerance--even 0.01% is a DUI. Even if you're not at 0.08% BAC, you can still be impaired. The law puts a hard number on what's a DUI because we need to have some type of standard, but it's pretty common knowledge that your body functions can be impaired well under the legal limit which is why there are numerous exceptions making it illegal to drive even if under 0.08%.

Daniel T wrote:

My activities of choice are:  climbing, mountain biking, road biking, scuba diving, surfing. should something go wrong I would like to be able to respond appropriately. 

I have done all of these things either buzzed, drunk or stoned.  It comes down to continuing good decision making. It can be done.

These threads are boring!  Just like dogs threads...

Climber heroes  put hard shit up on drugs&alcohol back in the day before downturned shoes, and ultra-light everything! (and lived)

Here is some visual entertainment for ya'll.

Climb on (however you want)     :D

Cor wrote:

These threads are boring!  Just like dogs threads..

Yet you felt compelled to post in the boring thread. Stellar!

I would have got back in my car and gone home.

It isn't so much that a little drinking is a big deal but if you are climbing with someone you don't know... I am not about to drink during the day while climbing with someone I don't know anything about that is just stupid. All this tells me is the guy you were climbing with is extremely unsafe and you really should not be climbing with him.

If it was bouldering where he didn't have to belay me I probably would be less worried but If someone who I don't know meets me to climb and has been drinking alot I am not going to climb with them. How do you know how intoxicated he was and if he was in the right mind to be safe or not? Everyone can drink different amounts and to one of my friends 1 beer is the limit and another could down 4-5 and still be fine to climb but you don't know him just walk away.

Marc801 C wrote:

Yet you felt compelled to post in the boring thread. Stellar!

I tried to liven it up a bit here with that trailer.   

Or we could talk about:

Drinking while climbing naked under the eclipse on The Grand with the new BD .08 cam!

I was at LCC near industrial wall when that accident you mentioned occurred. I was starting up pentapitch when the party was getting off it and then they moved to industrial wall. I didn't notice anything unusual other than they seemed in good spirits. When we got off the climb we saw some S&R folks making their way up the trail and found out someone had gotten injured, we volunteered to help, they said thanks but it was under control. Then my partner mentioned to me that the same party had been clearly intoxicated when they talked to them (I was 1/2 way up on lead at the time) and we wondered if it was them. Turns out it was; the pair had drank about 1/2 handle of vodka when we saw them in the morning...before they made their way to to other crag. I'm guessing the climber who walked out while his buddy was getting air lifted out felt pretty bad about their choices that day. We didn't have a clue what happened other than alcohol and the lack of a helmet played a factor, so I couldn't tell you if booze was the root cause or just part of the equation. There is a time and a place for everything (ie. we had our beers stashed in the stream for after we finished up the day). I'd say drugs/alcohol effect everyone differently (ie. weight, gender, genetics, tolerance, etc.) and if you have any question about your personal safety, perhaps find a different partner or just ask them to save the booze for post climbing? If they can't respect that, its probably a sign.

Skarvinko Skarvinko wrote:

...the pair had drank about 1/2 handle of vodka when we saw them in the morning...before they made their way to to other crag. 

That's a far cry from a few beers. 

This thread made me laugh........ thank you Mountain Project!

Spencer, your judgement was right the whole time. He was fine. Listen to those gut feelings when they tell you someone isn't fine. And don't let it be your nagging wife's voice be the one who says otherwise!