overheard at the crag: post it

highaltitudeflatulentexpulsion wrote:

Not heard, seen. I recently noticed a guy with a wooden egg slung onto a quickdraw. My old school self imagined using this as passive pro but it didn’t make a lot of sense. The group didn’t have the type of attitude to sling rubber chickens or dildo’s. Or the odd duck who had brass cast walnuts. (I have also seen that).

I asked. Apparently it was for grabbing the QuickDraw, somehow that’s better than my method of looping three fingers through the top biner.

He also mentioned using it to boink, which without a prussik doesn’t make sense, and a handled ascender would be far better. 

No judgement. I’ve grabbed a lot of draws in my life too.

To my knowledge, a dude around sonora makes those, they're called beaster eggs. People use em on real steep route to boink back up when you're hanging in space.  They're not my jam, but a lot of people at sport crags run em

june m wrote:

As a small climber, people often tell me that I cheat because the holds are bigger for me. ( we won’t talk about the fact that they are further away and I have to use smaller holds/different sequences)

That's funny. I'm gonna have to remember that for some of my partners.

Dan D wrote:

Yeah, I have a friend who says things like "I just did my first 10a! I had to hang two times but I did it".

I don't know what to say to her

"Good job! I bet you'll get it clean next time"

Dan D wrote:

Yeah, I have a friend who says things like "I just did my first 10a! I had to hang two times but I did it".

I don't know what to say to her

Try:

Good job

Way to push yourself 

I’m happy for the progress you’ve made 

You could also gently encourage her to find a different partner than you. It seems like you two have different levels of sincerity .  

almostrad wrote:

To my knowledge, a dude around sonora makes those, they're called beaster eggs. People use em on real steep route to boink back up when you're hanging in space.  They're not my jam, but a lot of people at sport crags run em

Before my body rebelled and I got weak, I did zillions of steep routes. It was my jam for sure. I found that when I was fit enough to climb steep routes with a certain level of success, that boinking just wasn’t an issue.

Coming off and being so weak that I couldn’t boink back to the holds, was usually an indication that this wasn’t my day (or week or month).

The goal is to eventually free the steepness isn’t it?

highaltitudeflatulentexpulsion wrote:

Before my body rebelled and I got weak, I did zillions of steep routes. It was my jam for sure. I found that when I was fit enough to climb steep routes with a certain level of success, that boinking just wasn’t an issue.

Coming off and being so weak that I couldn’t boink back to the holds, was usually an indication that this wasn’t my day (or week or month).

The goal is to eventually free the steepness isn’t it?

As ropes have gotten skinnier boinking has gotten harder and more painful to do bare handed.  In the gym with my 9.7/9.8 it's not a big deal, but it's a different story on my 9.1 sport rope especially when the rope hasnt fuzzed up at all yet.

highaltitudeflatulentexpulsion wrote:

Before my body rebelled and I got weak, I did zillions of steep routes. It was my jam for sure. I found that when I was fit enough to climb steep routes with a certain level of success, that boinking just wasn’t an issue.

Coming off and being so weak that I couldn’t boink back to the holds, was usually an indication that this wasn’t my day (or week or month).

The goal is to eventually free the steepness isn’t it?

When you are hanging 30ft from the bolt after 35m of climbing, you might not be so keen to grab your skinny rope and boink that many times. 

Although I usually walk the rope.

Using my buddy’s beaster egg today. Yes, it is a wooden handle on a prussik cord that is far more comfortable and easy to grab than a skinny rope. I like it for all the reasons listed above, but also because it is far kinder to your skin and doesn’t take as much off.

The guy on the wall in the photo, Vince, makes them.

I think every party here today has one. 

If you want to turn this thread into this, we can.

I’m no stranger to falling 30ft or more from my bolts, on near horizontal lines. I preferred a 9.4 but occasionally used skinnier. I know this game.

You can plan ahead and bring a Jumar up the route. It is superior in every way to an egg or a bare hand.

You can also just take at each bolt so you’ve got the juice to run the route bolt to bolt, or close to it, and get an idea of the moves.

I’d go as far as to say that if you’re working a route, and taking 30 ft falls, and insisting on boinking back up that you aren’t learning much for your send and your belayer probably hates you.

But I climbed 13 trad before I did that on bolts, so my mind and fundamentals of the vertical construction of climbing was quite different than a lot of folks.

highaltitudeflatulentexpulsion wrote:

If you want to turn this thread into this, we can.

I’m no stranger to falling 30ft or more from my bolts, on near horizontal lines. I preferred a 9.4 but occasionally used skinnier. I know this game.

You can plan ahead and bring a Jumar up the route. It is superior in every way to an egg or a bare hand.

You can also just take at each bolt so you’ve got the juice to run the route bolt to bolt, or close to it, and get an idea of the moves.

I’d go as far as to say that if you’re working a route, and taking 30 ft falls, and insisting on boinking back up that you aren’t learning much for your send and your belayer probably hates you.

But I climbed 13 trad before I did that on bolts, so my mind and fundamentals of the vertical construction of climbing was quite different than a lot of folks.

Dude I was boinking up 13s when you were still hangdogging 5.6s. Just sayin

You two should just have a boink off to see who's the better boinker.

Doctor Drake wrote:

Using my buddy’s beaster egg today. Yes, it is a wooden handle on a prussik cord that is far more comfortable and easy to grab than a skinny rope. I like it for all the reasons listed above, but also because it is far kinder to your skin and doesn’t take as much off.

The guy on the wall in the photo, Vince, makes them.

I think every party here today has one. 

That's definitely aid.

Doctor Drake wrote:

Using my buddy’s beaster egg today.

It even has a string so you don’t lose it. 

How’s that different than a #8 hex?

Doctor Drake wrote:

Using my buddy’s beaster egg today. Yes, it is a wooden handle on a prussik cord that is far more comfortable and easy to grab than a skinny rope. I like it for all the reasons listed above, but also because it is far kinder to your skin and doesn’t take as much off.

The guy on the wall in the photo, Vince, makes them.

I think every party here today has one.

Doesn’t Gwyneth Paltrow sell a product that looks just like that?  Called Yoni Egg. Her’s are made out of Jade or Quartz. Not sure if they have that retrieval string though. That’s smart. 

Ackley The Improved wrote:

How’s that different than a #8 hex?

I don't think that hexes - #8 or otherwise - are made of wood. Also that appears to fit only one crack size - much like Acorns from the early/mid-1960s, or thereabouts - whereas a modern hex fits three. But if you're using it to fend off aggressive faunas there's probably no difference.

june m wrote:

Client  to  guide" can I use that girl's foot as a hand hold?" 

You think its funny but I once had to offer a newbie a foot as a handhold on a multipitch 

phylp phylp wrote:

 Her’s are made out of Jade or Quartz. Not sure if they have that retrieval string though. That’s smart. 

To be honest I'd have thought that they'd definitely smart - whether made out of Jade, Quartz or Balsa Wood/whatever. But what with my sheltered upbringing I probably shouldn't offer an opinion.

Ignatius Pi wrote:

To be honest I'd have thought that they'd definitely smart - whether made out of Jade, Quartz or Balsa Wood/whatever. But what with my sheltered upbringing I probably shouldn't offer an opinion.

Hahaha, glad there are people here who share my sense of humor - and make me laugh in return. 

I love how everyone ignores my other posts saying that it doesn't matter to me and that I congratulated her for her climb. 

Anyway, this weekend I saw someone with brand new tc pros having trouble climbing an easy crack

(it was me, I'm the one who sucks at climbing)