Climbing Excuses

Let's hear the wildest / lamest / most outlandish excuses you've heard from someone bailing on a day/trip of climbing. 

I couldn't get my pants on over my harness

“Lost the stoke”

Kids babysitter bailed

Kids are home sick

SO needed a break from Kids

Really, just Kids. The struggle is real. 

Wanted to leave the crag early to fax paperwork to their landlord. On a Saturday. In 2019.

Climbed with someone last year who beforehand told me he was in shape and been climbing 4 years.  We get to the crag I lead 2 40 ft high sport routes he top rope//cleans them then tells me he’s exhausted  and can’t do anymore and done for the day…it was 7:30 am

This one time I had to bail on someone because they wanted to do an alpine start to tick 40 ft sport routes

Matt Robinsonwrote:

This one time I had to bail on someone because they wanted to do an alpine start to tick 40 ft sport routes

Much prefer an alpine start vs paying money to a defense contractor for a reservation to enter red rock canyon after 8 am especially when the afternoon temperature forecast is over 100 deg

Andrew Cwrote:

Wanted to leave the crag early to fax paperwork to their landlord. On a Saturday. In 2019.

Leave early? This guy's a few decades late.

If the excuse used to get out of climbing with you is really bad, does that mean you're just THAT bad of a partner?

I had the opposite. “Dude, you’re gonna have to drive. I just went blind in one eye.”

Not Not MP Adminwrote:

I couldn't get my pants on over my harness

False. I don’t even recall if I have ever bailed on a day of climbing. At least not a day with dry rock.

Adam Wwrote:

Much prefer an alpine start vs paying money to a defense contractor for a reservation to enter red rock canyon after 8 am especially when the afternoon temperature forecast is over 100 deg

The thought of ticking gym height sport routes in one of the nation's premier multipitch destinations isn't making that alpine start any more attractive ;)

My girlfriend… (insert anything)

They "Just had a bad feeling"...

CritConradwrote:

They "Just had a bad feeling"...

"My wife is having her gallbladder removed," which is literally some bullsh*t excuse this week from my Eldo-crushing friend, Rob. Rob, without you, how are we gonna get the ropes up? Sheesh. What even is a gallbladder, anyway? 

Matt Robinsonwrote:

The thought of ticking gym height sport routes in one of the nation's premier multipitch destinations isn't making that alpine start any more attractive ;)

RR in the summer is too hot for nearly any multipitch climbing unless you climb at night, but the Pullouts are in the shade from when the park opens at 6 until 11 am.  You get entire crags to yourself so you can go to areas that are normally mobbed during peak season and tick off classics.  Cimbing conditions are often quite nice if there's a breeze in the morning as well.  I know a lot of people here who do this because they like to avoid the crowds up at Charleston or because the level they lead at gives them much more limited options there.  There's not a lot of crags at Charleston with an abundant number of routes below 5.11 but there are much more of those in Red Rock.  

The ultimate guide to climbing excuses stara.emontana.cz/climbing-…