Gumbiest thing you've done?

mike h wrote:

I'm genuinely curious because I hear this a lot - why are so many people opposed to, or judgemental about, chalk bags clipped to the harness? 

My gut instinct is to not care what people think about where I store my chalk, but I almost wonder if I'm missing something? I've used waistbelts, they work fine, but I tend to attach to the harness and think that works too.

Two broken backs in my experience (not my backs). Look at how the spine of the biner hangs on an overhang. Hitting the ground will make you a Christopher Reeve because of your biner.   Also ever try a heinous dihedral or slot?

Long Ranger wrote:

I bought a chalk bag before I even bought a harness - maybe before I bought shoes.

I still don't own a dynamic rope. 

You will always own a dynamic rope in my heart. 

mike h wrote:

I'm genuinely curious because I hear this a lot - why are so many people opposed to, or judgemental about, chalk bags clipped to the harness? 

My gut instinct is to not care what people think about where I store my chalk, but I almost wonder if I'm missing something? I've used waistbelts, they work fine, but I tend to attach to the harness and think that works too.

A couple things at play here. Biggest one to me is gear loop space. Even when sport climbing I find my gear loops cluttered and certainly don’t need any extra items clipped.

Then there’s the “biner might break your spine” argument, which is pretty valid if you’re bouldering in a gym (wearing a harness...), but isn’t a real common scenario outdoors. Of course, same could happen if you took a grounder while roped in, but it might be the least of your worries.

Jens 1 wrote:

Two broken backs in my experience (not my backs). Look at how the spine of the biner hangs on an overhang. Hitting the ground will make you a Christopher Reeve because of your biner.   Also ever try a heinous dihedral or slot?

I'm not even sure how to respond here, except to believe you're just trolling. You say in one post that steep climbing does not warrant wearing helmets. But also that chalkbag carabiners are risky in overhangs because you've known two people to deck flat on their back and break their spine? Sounds inconsistent and unbelievable. 

And yes, I've climbed tight squeezes. All sorts of stuff changes in those situations - if I know what's coming I'll tie my knot differently, rack differently,  often remove my helmet, and usually set my chalk up differently. But on a normal day of climbing I don't see someone wearing a helmet and think, "ha, they're a gumby because they're not prepared for a tight squeeze with that setup."

Mark's amusing story confirms an unfortunate pattern to judge climbers more if we don't see them sending impressive grades, but doesn't address the underlying reasons why a chalk bag clipped to harness is a bad (or "beginner") thing. 

And the argument that it takes gear loop space, well I don't know what to say. If someone wants to clip a chalk bag to a gear loop and not the central rear haul/clip point, I guess I won't judge, but it's certainly not what I'm talking about (and something I've rarely, if ever, seen).

In conclusion, I'm increasingly convinced that there's no cogent argument against regularly (but maybe not always) attaching your chalk bag to your harness. A point of preference one way or the other, sure, but not something that delineates the experienced or advanced from others.

Putting it on a biner means it's like 6-12 inches lower and it's harder to get your hand into, especially on an overhang. Plus you can't move it around for any reason (chimney). Plus you can't use the cord as an emergency prussik. Plus it dangles and spins. I mean sure it's a preference but imo it's a clear choice

mike h wrote:

 You say in one post that steep climbing does not warrant wearing helmets. But also that chalkbag carabiners are risky in overhangs because you've known two people to deck flat on their back and break their spine? Sounds inconsistent and unbelievable. 

Re-read the post. He mentions overhang to illustrate how the biner hangs (e.g. from gravity). His point that if you fall (not necessarily an overhang), that's how the biner will hang during the fall and when you back/bum hits whatever. Even if you're climbing an overhang, I think it's pretty obvious he's not talking about hitting thin air (but some slab/ledge below perhaps).

Another reason I use a belt or cord is that I have five different harness, I forget to unclip the bag and put on the next harness, but for some reason if my chalk bag is hanging on a hook, I never forget it...DMM large chalk bucket for me, in Red.

How did this awesome  thread degrade to chalk bag talk?  Bag. Chalk goes in it.  It hangs.   The most interesting thing you can say about a chalk bag is, ‘put a hand warmer in it.’

Thinking back, helping derail a thread on MP by talking about chalkbags may be the gumbiest thing I have done.

Oh wait... This isn't the meme thread...

My Gumby uses for chalk bag last year...

1. Chalk
2. Snack bag
3. Scrubbing tool and Bolt bag
4. collecting legos / kids toys
5. Phone holder - record climb with Strava
6. Sunglasses case
7. Backup biner taken off bag and used on multi pitch route. 

To the people who use your chalk bag for storage, doesn't your crap get chalky all to hell? Am I missing something here or do y'all just not care if your cheezits get covered in chalk?

T Lego wrote:

To the people who use your chalk bag for storage, doesn't your crap chalky all to hell? Am I missing something here or do y'all just not care if your cheezits get covered in chalk?

Multiple chalk bags. On a cord or belt obviously!

Garry Reiss wrote:

Multiple chalk bags. On a cord or belt obviously!

I think you're on to something. One for each hand and then another for snacks. Real question is do they all get their own cord/belt or all on the same one?

I tried out the PAS thong once. The shame is almost too much to bear.

@T Lego, multiple bags, no chalk.   Let’s say you are on a 6 pitch 5.10.  Bag projects phone/camera well and is easy to get to.  Better than the typical parking lot pic and sunset.  Bags are cheap and built tough.  

FYI the chalk bag discussion could be moved to the existing thread https://www.mountainproject.com/forum/topic/106983782/chalk-bag - as far as I can tell, not much has changed since 2010 on that topic.

Note: when you Google "hang chalk bag mountain project" it finds the 2010 thread, not this one.

(let's see if trying to fix this ends up being the gumbiest thing I've ever done)

Pete S wrote:

@T Lego, multiple bags, no chalk.   Let’s say you are on a 6 pitch 5.10.  Bag projects phone/camera well and is easy to get to.  Better than the typical parking lot pic and sunset.  Bags are cheap and built tough.  

Ah, I've got that covered with a padded fanny pack like an absolute gumby. 

There, thread is back on track!

Failed our first gym lead exam after teaching ourselves to climb outdoors on a local bridge (bolted with some sport climbs).  Made a variety of minor to moderate mistakes starting from struggling to tie a figure 8 and with way too much tail to climber bouncing into belayer on the practice fall.  I found this photo sometime later after we had gained much more climbing experience and the gravity of how clueless we were at the time really hit me.  You can see the stunned look on our examiner's face.  And I didn't even think anything was out of the ordinary when taking this photo at the time.  We were oblivious.  xD

Gumbiest thing I have done was wear a pack climbing Rewritten in Eldo. But then again, it did take me three hours waiting at each belay even though we did the 5.8 start. 

Another gumby thing was we went hiking instead of climbing after seeing a kid deck from the transition into Bastille crack from the flake. Very disturbing sounds and imagery.