overheard at the crag: post it

Tim DiGiuliowrote:

That is why I wear a double rack when gym climbing… always remembering to bring some hexes. 

A double rack and hexes are just too heavy, I prefer a bunch of 000 C3s and RPs, it's gets the point across without actually making you stronger through weight training 

At the Red (where else?), a couple bros: “Ya we just did our first 12a yesterday and heard 14a is just pumpy 12a between each bolt.”

Guy waiting to get on his proj: “Ummmm ok ya sure, I’ll watch”

Bro pulls on the wall, instantly starfished, “TaaAAaÄake!”

Then his ill-fated stick-clip top-rope ass-first pendulum through the sandy base under the climb: The tension was juuuust enough to his center of mass off the ground but he was still able to flail every limb through the silt until he came to a rest, a real sight.

“Dirt me!” He commanded, and was lowered 5 inches. Now erect, smacking dust off himself like a chimney sweep caricature “Oh well, maybe someday”

Guy waiting totally deadpan “you sure you’re done? Looks like you got it next try!”

Bro “really, ya think? Ya why not”

A minute later: “TaæãAaake”. Another epic bum dragger sand plume. “Ugh so clooooose, cool if i try again?”

Guy now eating an apple with a grin “honestly, I got aaaall day, you got this man”

Adam blocwrote:

At the Red (where else?), a couple bros: “Ya we just did our first 12a yesterday and heard 14a is just pumpy 12a between each bolt.”

Guy waiting to get on his proj: “Ummmm ok ya sure, I’ll watch”

Bro pulls on the wall, instantly starfished, “TaaAAaÄake!”

Then proceeds to take his ill-fated stick-clip top-rope ass-first pendulum through the sandy base under the climb. While smacking dust off himself like a chimney sweep caricature “Oh well, maybe someday”

Guy waiting totally deadpan “you sure you’re done? Looks like you got it next try!”

Bro “really, ya think? Ya why not”

A minute later: “TaæãAaake”. Another epic ass dragger sand plume. “Ugh so clooooose, cool if i try again?”

Guy now eating an apple with a grin “honestly, I got aaaall day, you got this man”

That last story is a GREAT partner! I hafta admit, the start is hard, sometimes. But, the "boulder problem in the sky" things are out there, too. Sometimes, too close to the ground. Yeah, we got some pretty stupid bolting, too. 

Matt Robinsonwrote:

A double rack and hexes are just too heavy, I prefer a bunch of 000 C3s and RPs, it's gets the point across without actually making you stronger through weight training 

We get it dude, you're rich, no need to rub it in

I climb with this on my harness to let other people know I’m a professional  

It always surprises me to see people with gym tags outside.  Don't people realize you can own two harnesses?

phylp phylpwrote:

I climb with this on my harness to let other people know I’m a professional  

Edited to say, these are on my gym harness.   Kind of my version of a charm bracelet.

It always surprises me to see people with gym tags outside.  Don't people realize you can own two harnesses?

I don't mean to blow your mind, but you could just unclip all of your gym tags, since you have them all on a carabiner...

Petsfed 00wrote:

I don't mean to blow your mind, but you could just unclip all of your gym tags, since you have them all on a carabiner...

Don’t worry about blowing my mind. I was taking psychedelics 20 years before you were born. 

phylp phylpwrote:

I climb with this on my harness to let other people know I’m a professional  

Edited to say, these are on my gym harness.   Kind of my version of a charm bracelet.

It always surprises me to see people with gym tags outside.  Don't people realize you can own two harnesses?

It's way more fun if there's only one at a time on your harness. For the gym that's at least 1,000 miles away.

I have no idea where any of the ones for the local gyms have got off to. They're usually gone pretty promptly.

Best, Helen

phylp phylpwrote:

Don’t worry about blowing my mind. I was taking psychedelics 20 years before you were born. 

Profile says ""69 years old"... so when you were 11?

Man, the 60s really were a different time.

Petsfed 00wrote:

Profile says ""69 years old"... so when you were 11?

Man, the 60s really were a different time.

Haha!  I knew you were going to get me on that!  I was waiting for it.  It was definitely poetic License on my part.  But "20 years before" just sounded so much more lyrical than "17 years before".

Just from my perspective, the late 60s was actually the time it was the easiest to get many "recreational" drugs.  Very easy to get hallucinogens, quaaludes, speed, opiates, yellow jackets.  You may not know this but in the 60s, Robitussin cough syrup, available over the counter, contained codeine.  In the 70s, authorities cracked down and many things became harder to get.  Some things like cocaine became easier to get.  But once I started college in 1970, I stopped taking all (almost all) drugs, so it didn't matter to me.

Anyway, I did enjoy your comment about unclipping the tags, it made me laugh, so I tried to make you laugh back.  Hope I succeeded.

Spinsser Hwrote:

What was your response? (Just in case I get asked that same question.....)

i just explained that in-ground anchors are a trip hazard. which, i'm sure isn't the actual reason, but i can totally see myself eating the mat after stumbling on one if they existed in my particular gym. i added a cute aside about how we love giving our customers a workout....somehow rolled a nat 20 and she took it in stride & chuckled.

Erroll Mwrote:

i just explained that in-ground anchors are a trip hazard. which, i'm sure isn't the actual reason, but i can totally see myself eating the mat after stumbling on one if they existed in my particular gym. i added a cute aside about how we love giving our customers a workout....somehow rolled a nat 20 and she took it in stride & chuckled.

Thank you for answering.

That is definitely something that I would ask about if I saw.

Spinsser Hwrote:

Thank you for answering.

That is definitely something that I would ask about if I saw.

of course. now that i think on it, my climbing gym's sister locations in the cities over don't have in-ground anchors either, and those places are much, much larger.

if i'm being honest, i didn't realize kettlebells-as-anchors wasn't the norm these days. and aren't chunky 40-lb kettlebells more of a trip hazard for a belayer & gym patron than a floor bolted U-anchor??? what is even the logic?? i think i just inadvertently turned myself into an "overheard at the crag moments: climbing gym employee edition".

Guy at the crag on a classic 5.9 warmup places a low first piece of gear and then proceeds to run it out a few feet, he then whips and decks pretty hard from about 10-15 feet up. After his deck he switches to full expedition mode and aids, takes, and screams his way up to about the halfway point of the climb where he decides to hang and take a long break. During this break he calls down to his party of equally inexperienced climbing partners "you guys should totally get on this climb after me, its really chill". 

At Index? What's the climb?

Erroll Mwrote:

of course. now that i think on it, my climbing gym's sister locations in the cities over don't have in-ground anchors either, and those places are much, much larger.

if i'm being honest, i didn't realize kettlebells-as-anchors wasn't the norm these days. and aren't chunky 40-lb kettlebells more of a trip hazard for a belayer & gym patron than a floor bolted U-anchor??? what is even the logic?? i think i just inadvertently turned myself into an "overheard at the crag moments: climbing gym employee edition".

I have an "overheard at the crag moments: climbing gym employee edition" story, from one of the sister gyms you're talking about no less!  A friend was using an ATC Guide in "low friction mode" and an employee told them their belay device was backwards and needed to be turned around. 

not necessarily at the crag, but at a couple gyms i have been to i have heard employees say something odd during the belay test - "don't say on belay until they clip the first bolt because they aren't on belay yet."  WTF??? this isn't a good habit to be teaching...

slimwrote:

not necessarily at the crag, but at a couple gyms i have been to i have heard employees say something odd during the belay test - "don't say on belay until they clip the first bolt because they aren't on belay yet."  WTF??? this isn't a good habit to be teaching...

What's your objection to this? There's nothing a belayer can do, other than spot, before the first bolt is clipped.  

slimwrote:

not necessarily at the crag, but at a couple gyms i have been to i have heard employees say something odd during the belay test - "don't say on belay until they clip the first bolt because they aren't on belay yet."  WTF??? this isn't a good habit to be teaching...

Usually when someone asks about the belay prior to the first bolt/piece I’ll tell them that the rope is just there to help find their body. It’s funny because it’s true.

slimwrote:

not necessarily at the crag, but at a couple gyms i have been to i have heard employees say something odd during the belay test - "don't say on belay until they clip the first bolt because they aren't on belay yet."  WTF??? this isn't a good habit to be teaching...

I agree with you Slim, because in two words it tells the climber that you have checked your belay system and it is set up properly.  As a climber, whether you then go 10 feet or forty feet to your first placement is irrelevant.