overheard at the crag: post it

Heard today. Climber was struggling (as I often do myself). I think he abbreviated “I’m coming off” not to “take” or “falling” but to “I’m coming”. Geez, there were kids present.

"I will only stop saying racial slurs if you give me that cam you bootyed in Red Rocks"

"The mullet increases my power. Without it, im a 5.10 climber, but with it, im almost a 5.13 climber"

"What do you mean I cant free solo in the gym, its my life, put in my hands!"

i’m recovering from a major surgery so i just went and hung out with some friends at the crag yesterday, sunbathed on some boulders, gave beta ideas, etc while they were climbing. the fact that i spent most of the day in a trail-side hammock over a ravine chatting or reading meant i was privy to some excellent “overheard at the crag” moments

wholesome: “terragon you know you can’t belay” (a climber’s kid to their crag dog. really cute)

less wholesome: a class instructor from a nearby university realizes one of his students hiked up to the gulley to set an anchor and rappel down, i think this was a 101 course in climbing. “no no no, i’m responsible for his safety”—you can’t run on these trails so he does the ‘speed shuffle’ with a decently sized rack up the scramble

wholesome: bolted route in a slab that gets very wet from a small spring above. climbing family’s 7-yo son to his sister: “LICK IT” (the dad quickly explained that no, you shouldn’t do that)

phylp phylpwrote:

Drug Dome should have been a good clue  but everybody I know has always pronounced it Oz (wizard)  

Do they also think it links into graham cracker traverse?

Re Oz pronounciation:   See Dave Sessions' post of 7/10/21 in the comment section of the route description here on MP. He says (convincingly) it is pronounced as "ahz" as in The Wizard of Oz. 

Erroll Mwrote:

you can’t run on these trails so he does the ‘speed shuffle’ 

It's not physically possible to run, or there's a lifeguard with a whistle that's going to put you in time out?

Ccard257wrote:

It's not physically possible to run, or there's a lifeguard with a whistle that's going to put you in time out?

it is physically impossible to run. the ‘trails’ are more like very unreliable & narrow stairs made from uneven & overlapping patches of slate and shale in the cragging sections around the mountain, at least for the most part. the normal hiking trails are dirt and brush. it’s sort of horrifying. getting from section to section is functionally a scramble

i had THREE people nearly trip on a step & stumble outwards towards my hammock (and the ravine), which would have gone very poorly. i’m really shocked that particular crag doesn’t have more injuries just from how the paths are done

I thought we all collectively banned hammocks.....

caesar.saladwrote:

I thought we all collectively banned hammocks.....

I think that was part of the blanket ban that included drones and go-pros

Top Roper cruxing out and then hanging before the first bolt-

Non belayer friend- You should come down and try to get the Red Point, then you can come back tomorrow and get the Flash.

caesar.saladwrote:

I thought we all collectively banned hammocks.....

Perhaps you were referring to banana hammocks

Dave Dalywrote:

Perhaps you were referring to banana hammocks

yeah, ban these too please :P

Dan Dwrote:

How about a happy overheard at the crag:

Someone belaying their partner who is standing on a slab figuring out the crux: "Do you know what route this is?"
Me: "Sure, it looks like it's this 10a called Mungajerry"
Them: "Cool, don't tell them"

Later the climber sends the climb

Them: "Congrats, you just onsighted a 10a!"

I thought it was cool that they just hopped on a random climb and onsighted a grade they'd never onsighted before.

This was exactly how my first 10a went down. So funny. It was "She got the Bosch, I Got Drilled," at the NRG and I had never rope climbed outside before. Just gym. I was certain I wouldn't be able to do anything past 5.9 on my first day, and I made that clear to my experienced buddy. I get down off the wall and my buddy says "congrats. You just onsighted 10a." I was fucking ecstatic and I'm CERTAIN that if he told me the grade I wouldn't have finished it. 

From a group of high school/college age kids. One of them seems to be the leader, "Remember to shout clipping when you clip!." 

Later, one of them asks about what they think about people using the gri gri cam blocking technique to feed slack, "We don't say anything to them, just judge them silently"

My buddy looking for my guidebook he set down on the ground at our local sport crag last weekend.

Buddy: “Hey did you see a guidebook over here that’s not yours?”

Dudebro: stares him down for 3 seconds, points to the book sitting underneath his backpack.

Buddy: “ok thanks…”

Dudebro: annoyed “yeah I was about to take it”

Buddy: “ok…”

Cronwrote:

My buddy looking for my guidebook he set down on the ground at our local sport crag last weekend.

Buddy: “Hey did you see a guidebook over here that’s not yours?”

Dudebro: stares him down for 3 seconds, points to the book sitting underneath his backpack.

Buddy: “ok thanks…”

Dudebro: annoyed “yeah I was about to take it”

Buddy: “ok…”

Gosh what a jerk. I hate that part of climbing culture. If you find something that seems lost how about asking around or just leaving it alone.

Hah.  My wife found a guide book at one of our crags, and no one in the area could claim it, but she found the guy on MP.  Nice.

caesar.saladwrote:

Gosh what a jerk. I hate that part of climbing culture. If you find something that seems lost how about asking around or just leaving it alone.

Is that part of climbing culture specifically?

I think it's human culture to take things you find on the ground. 

Dudebro is a douche bag!

Mark Starrwrote:

Is that part of climbing culture specifically?

I think it's human culture to take things you find on the ground. 

First thing I thought when I saw that. There are many things that have nothing to do with climbing culture in and of itself; just humans being humans.