Pranking Your Partner

I'll say this at the start; sandbaggers are evil. This thread is NOT about great jobs at sandbagging since it seems that after your name has appeared in one of the climbing rags then nearly everybody sees you as fair game. Fortunately for me that for more than a quarter century I have only climbed my own routes, and it is harder for a partner to sandbag you on a route you've already climbed.

But pranking your partner can be less mean spirited than sandbagging. If your partner laughs too then you have pranked well.

For example (told this on the taco) one time back in '75 I was climbing in the Flatirons with my friend Bob who was much larger than me. I climbed around a corner leaving Bob unable to see me. Up about 40' I found a pillar that I could almost squeeze behind. I had a double length sling and could have threaded it for pro. Then a little light bulb turned on over my head.

I pulled up about 3m of rope, tied a loop and clipped it to my harness. Then I untied the end and passed it behind the pillar and tied back in. I let the extra rope out as I passed the feature so Bob was none the wiser. Up a ways further I found a belay spot back around the corner that would allow me to lean out and get a peek at the pillar. I yelled off belay, pulled up rope and put Bob on belay. After pulling in about 40' the rope stopped. I waited about 10 second and leaned out to peek.

I could not hold in the laughter as I saw Bob attempting to stick his head through the widest part of the gap.

He was a good sport, and after getting him squared away and up to the belay we had a long laugh. I should have waited longer to peek. He might have gotten his legs through.

Tell us of some good pranks.

Accidental prank: 

A while ago we were struggling a bit to put up a 5.7 sport route... my buddy offered to hang the draws, and since it was only 5.7, launched off in his Chacos.

A couple bolts off the ground I hear a fair bit of grunting and "this is pretty stiff for a 5.7!" He did send, and upon reaching the ground we did some investigation. 

Turned out to be 5.10+  (in Chacos), we had a pretty good laugh

I believe the rock in the pack is the original, & still best. They don’t find it till next climbing time or more sometimes! 

Powdered donuts in the chalkbag

atomup wrote:

I believe the rock in the pack is the original, & still best. They don’t find it till next climbing time or more sometimes! 

Two beers or sparkling waters is a nice variation. 

Adam Fleming wrote:

A beer or sparkling water is a nice variation. 

That IS a great variation!

I imagine this has happened a fair amount …

Climbing as a threesome on an all-day multi-pitch. The last pitch, the angle eased off a lot before my friend anchored and brought us up.  He couldn’t keep up on the belay with our rate of climbing, but doggedly kept at it, only to eventually see the end of both strands come into view with no climbers attached.

Later, he said he thought he could hear us giggling, but for what? … no idea at first.

If you see a good sized piece of lumpy ridge granite near the start of Honeymoon Chimney on the Priest, it was because I carried it up there.  The partner who hid the rock was the same I climbed the Priest with, and i'm not sure i've ever seen a more gleeful look on someone's face when I pulled that rock out of my pack.

Climb something that required big gear but had an easy pitch after the wide that didn’t need anything big. Take all the rack with you on lead but when just out of sight, hopefully early in the pitch, place a nest of all the big gear you brought along so your second has to clean and carry the 4, 5, and 6 etc...

A couple of my favorite partners and I had a game for a while to see who could sneak the largest rock into the chalk bag of the next climber without them noticing. You "won" anytime the climber didn't notice until they went to chalk up mid route. 

We would also play a similar game by sneakily adding bigger cams (best done with a BD 4, 5 and 6) to the leaders harness without them noticing, that would be too large for the upcoming pitch. None of us were ever successful in adding an unnoticed #6. 

Someone put pink glitter in my chalk. I thought that was pretty good.

who could sneak the largest rock into the chalk bag of the next climber without them noticing. You "won" anytime the climber didn't notice until they went to chalk up mid route

sounds like a potentially self-inflicted bad idea.  

I have felt pranked in the past by partners that climb off route and place my gear in awkward nests, forcing me to follow their shenanigans and clean up.

Beers in the pack is classic. Mystery unexpected summit beers are pretty amazing. 

I generally just yell "OK, IF YOU SAY SO, OFF BELAY!!!"  mid pitch while I'm belaying.  Best prank ever.

I usually just tell them I’m reallyyyy close on the project and the wall is perfect in January and that they will have a good time belaying me.

But then they prank me after by blocking my phone number. Ha ha ho ho! classic!

Years ago I thought my friend carrying a toothbrush up an easy trad route was ridiculous. I found a way to sneak it off her bag and placed it as passive pro mid pitch, complete with girth hitch and clipped to the rope. She looked baffled when she got to it while cleaning.

I left this for my partner while climbing the Triple Direct on El Cap. I found it in the bargain bin at Raleys in Oakhurst after Halloween. I added the tape, I know Jim Herson doesn’t approve but damn it, some of us just need tape. We left it as a surprise for the next party. 

When I was pretty much brand new to outdoor climbing, was climbing in Josh with experienced climbing buddies. One led Sail Away, the second buddy followed from the middle of the rope, reclipping gear and I went last to clean the gear. More than halfway up the route one of them yells down the classic surprise solo trick, 'Hey you're surprise soloing. We don't have you on belay. How does it feel to be soloing?'. I was silent for a few seconds because it was a possibility that it was actually true (I didn't know it was the most basic of climbing jokes yet.) I yelled up, 'What the hell are you talking about?' and they both laughed and explained that it was joke. I responded, 'Well that doesn't unshit my pants.' 

It's a cruel cruel trick, and only used on partners with a  shared deranged sense of humor....but I have had evil pleasure when my partner yells "lower" and I start to lower and reply, "ok, you're off belay."

At the belay, sing any song with “rock” in the lyrics and really emphasize it. ROCK!!! the casbah...

I'd strongly advise not to pull the "off belay" prank. Someone did this to my friend and the word got around. As a result, some peeps refuse to climb with the "pranker" guy who thought it'd funny.

I always try to find outrageous gear placements when on low angle wide trough terrain where I'd have to really try to fall. The silliest nut placements, threads, etc...