Red Flag Phrases

"He's never done that before!" Talking about their dog. 

Visible red flags: 

Bunch of things clipped to the outside of their pack swinging around like a pendulum as they hike. 

Carrying the rope to the crag in their hands.

No rope mat or bag - just puts their stuff right in the dirt. 

Real climbers put their rope on the ground. 

Mark Frumkinwrote:

Real climbers put their rope on the ground. 

Ok boomer

Phrases in general. Why waste time say lot word when few word do trick.

John Nguyenwrote:

“I’ll belay you with my grigri+”

What's wrong with the plus? Did you get short roped?

Sounds more like belayer inefficiency. 

using the word "splitter" to describe the weather 

"Well, shit happens."

“How do I know which handgrips to use?” (Outdoors)

Edit: or indoors for that matter.

"My son/daughter climbs 5.12 in the gym" = They hangdog 5.10a outside.

I was once walking down to the rostrum with someone I had never climbed with before (I thought he was supposed to bring the rack, and carpooled with him. He thought I was bringing the rack. Anyway we only had a weird assortment of different types of cams adding up to a single rack .3-4 and 5-ish draws that he had scrounged out of various corners of his van.)

I looked at his harness and noticed he didn't have an ATC, so I asked him "how are you going to rappel?" He responded casually "oh we're just going to simul rap!" I expressed some concern about immediately simul rappelling with someone I had only just met and he turned to me and said very seriously, "Don't worry. I might spray about my climbing, but I NEVER spray about my simul rappelling! I know what I'm doing." 

He ended up being a much more experience partner than the last rando I had climbed the rostrum with.

Lone Pinewrote:

Using trad as a verb

or "multi"

Crusties who wear crack gloves telling new climbers not to wear crack gloves.

"What do you want to listen to?"

"There's a party already on the route."

Going back to “in direct,” in what instance can I not replace it simply with “slack.”

If I’m hangdogging a sport route and giving my partner a break I can say slack. When I’m ready to move again I’ll say climbing.

Same as with the anchor obviously. I don’t need to announce anything other than “Slack.”

“Slack,” “Tension/Take,” “Ready to Lower/Lowering,” “Climbing” and “Off/On Belay” is all you ever need for a day out whether single pitch or not.

I suppose “Up Rope” on a multipitch is a necessary evil. Fine for occasionally use, but some folks use it far too often because they think the rope should be hauling them up the wall while they “climb.”

"let's use rope tugs to communicate"

Alex Fletcherwrote:

Going back to “in direct,” in what instance can I not replace it simply with “slack.”

If I’m hangdogging a sport route and giving my partner a break I can say slack. When I’m ready to move again I’ll say climbing.

"In direct" tells your belayer to stop actively belaying you and just relax, and that you won't start climbing again without letting them know. So no, it can't be replaced with "slack."

Alex Fletcherwrote:

Going back to “in direct,” in what instance can I not replace it simply with “slack.”

If I’m hangdogging a sport route and giving my partner a break I can say slack. When I’m ready to move again I’ll say climbing.

This would work, but the belayer won't know if you are asking for slack to make a high clip or planning to settle into a hang on the closest bolt. 

"In direct" makes your intention clear.

For those who don't know, typically the subsequent command, when done hanging, is "on you" 

This differs from "climbing" as it usually means the climber's weight will immediately be taken by the belayer.

The climber then will move up, unweighting the rope.

If my partner insisted on saying slack and climbing as you suggest, I'd get used to it and nbd, but I'd figure they were either kind of weird or more of a tradster.

Alex Fletcherwrote:

Going back to “in direct,” in what instance can I not replace it simply with “slack.”

If I’m hangdogging a sport route and giving my partner a break I can say slack. When I’m ready to move again I’ll say climbing.

That's not how "in direct" in projecting works. When climber says "in direct" it means that he or she is directly connected to the bolt, usually with an extra "project draw". It also means that belayer can relax - there is no need to sit in the harness to provide constant tension in rope system as it would be expected in the typical "take".

Once the climber is ready to resume climbing, they will ask for the "take" - belayer takes in all slack, puts rope system under tension. Climber unclips from the bolt,  then says "on me/climbing", and resumes free climbing. 

If I, as belayer, were to hear my climber ask for slack, they would get exactly that - couple of arm lengths of slack. 

“I’ve never taken a fall in 25 years of climbing!”