Trends that have fallen out of style

Ackley The Improvedwrote:

Yup, just getting started you would save money using webbing cause a new pair of EB’s ran $50 when minimum wage was $2.35 or so and made such a difference over chuck Taylor’s or Redwings.

In my case, the EB's replaced the Royal Robbins blues. 

For the youngsters who don't know what I'm talking about...

Photo: https://lamountaineers.org/History/Topic_21_files/Equipment-Fig-1.jpg

One trend you never see anymore is starting up a route, whether at the crag or in the mountains, with no beta and figuring it out for yourself. 

Shaniacwrote:

Bon jour. All the chatter about feelings is great, but is there any chance we could please get back to the topic of... Trends that have fallen out of style? Merci.

Staying on topic has fallen out of style, so technically this little digression IS on topic.

Norm Larsonwrote:

One trend you never see anymore is starting up a route, whether at the crag or in the mountains, with no beta and figuring it out for yourself. 

That’s funny, because this just happened to me a few weeks ago. I was gearing up for a mystery route when the party next to me, scouring their guidebook asked what route I was about to climb because they couldn’t find it in the book. My reply of “I have no idea” left a very distinctive look of bewilderment and concern on their faces. 

Eric Craig wrote:

Is this what you are referring to?

I believe he was referring to the carabiner block...not brake.  Blocking 1 side of the rappel rope for use as a single strand (ex, using a grigri to rappel)

Norm Larsonwrote:

One trend you never see anymore is starting up a route, whether at the crag or in the mountains, with no beta and figuring it out for yourself. 

Maybe it's just because I'm not around a popular travel destination, but I run into people sport climbing all the time who've climbed something and have no idea what grade/name etc it is. Just show up with a bunch of draws and yolo it. I talked with a couple guys a bit ago who asked to see my book because they climbed the first bit of a trad route with a bolted face start and couldn't figure out why the crack section was so runout.

“Rope!!”

Used to mean, I have checked below, all is clear and as a last measure I am alerting people I may not be able to see.

Now it is used more like “Rock” but with aggression: ‘hey leader below, I see you are in the path of my rope, I am throwing it now and as soon as you raise your gaze 1-10lbs of rope will hit you in the face.’  This is typically followed by ‘oh sorry, why are you upset, instead of taking any steps at to avoid incident, I said “rope.”

Ackley The Improvedwrote:

Or 45’s before that. My new 9 mil single rope weighs more than my first 11 mil.

Yea, my 45 is heavier than my 9mm.

Wait, we're not talking about GUNS?

I may have missed it, but I don't think anyone has mentioned this yet. For the first ten -15 years I was climbing, other climbers (almost always male) made assumptions about woman climbers. The assumptions were things like:

*assuming my male partner was my husband/boyfriend (usually not true, my husband mostly stopped climbing very soon after I started).

*assuming I wouldn't be leading anything, overt surprise and sometimes comments as I racked up

*assuming I was the weaker climber

*assuming my female partner and I were gay

*assuming my female partner and I were going to be slower than any male duo that walked up to the crag

It would be too many long and probably boring stories to explain how I could tell these assumptions had been made.  Typically it was something that was said out loud to me or my partner.

But, happy to say, I never experience that kind of stuff anymore and have not for quite a long time.  So I would say that trend has fallen out of style. Yay!

phylp phylpwrote:

But, happy to say, I never experience that kind of stuff anymore and have not for quite a long time.  So I would say that trend has fallen out of style. Yay!

Pretty cool! No sarcasm?

Live Perchedwrote:

Pretty cool! No sarcasm?

No sarcasm at all!  It’s real change that’s good to see!  And for a long time already. 

Ackley The Improvedwrote:

Or 45’s before that. My new 9 mil single rope weighs more than my first 11 mil.

I think twin 40s may have been popular in the Alps, though I'd have to thumb through some old guidebooks.  Seems I recall a lot of 40m rap stations.

Then again, we never should have come down from the trees, and maybe even crawling out of the oceans was a big mistake?

Big Redwrote:

Rapping with an ATC is sooooo 2000-late. Biner blocks are the new hotness.

I know this a joke but I'm surprised rapping with an extended manual belay device (ATC, Reversos, etc) and third hand/autoblock isn't dying a faster death currently with all smart or auto devices like the Jul family, Smart, etc. out now. So much faster, so much simpler, and as safe if not safer.

When I looked up "faffing around" in the dictionary recently, it showed a climber extending a rapping device and using a prussik as a back up.

Eric, Doug,

Mammut no longer makes the Smart Alpine, so it's biner block and rapping down a single line with a regular smart if you insist.

Too bad, would've purchased a Smart Alpine 2.0...

megga jull does act as a 3rd hand but its not smooth enough for me. I do love it for belaying with skinny doubbles.

The Mega is jerky, I don't like it either, the Giga is much better but still needs to be refined.  Stainless steel in all the wear areas means my GigaJul  still looks new six years later. Reversos wear so fast IMO.

I'm surprised that Petzl, BD, DMM haven't come out with their version of similar devices that lock on rappel and when belaying a leader like Juls do. 

 I think the Alpine Up is in this category too, but I've never used one.

I just saw an old photo in a guidebook that showed another 'trend' that has long been out of fashion, but which I don't believe has yet been mentioned---'brake bar' rappel. This was a 'derivation' of the biner-brake rappel illustrated upthread. The 'bar' was round solid piece of metal ( aluminum, I think) about 2 inches long--with a hole drilled through one end--wide enough for a carabiner to fit through and a notch at the other end. You would slide the bar so that the end with the hole was in the solid part of an oval biner and have the notch on the gate side with the rap rope passing over the bar. While this system did provide adequate friction for rappelling, it was totally reliant on only one carabiner, with one of the 'connection' points being the gate---a recipe for disaster, though I don't recall reading of any accidents that resulted from the failure of this system.

I think brake bars were mostly used in the caver and maybe rope access sub-disciplines for some reason.  Maybe due to easier to adjust friction for hauling equipment, etc.   not sure if still used there still or also fallen by the wayside.   I personally never saw a brake bar in the wild in a climbing context.   Too heavy and bulky for climbers.  

Mark Pilatewrote:

I think brake bars were mostly used in the caver and maybe rope access sub-disciplines for some reason.  Maybe due to easier to adjust friction for hauling equipment, etc.   not sure if still used there still or also fallen by the wayside.   I personally never saw a brake bar in the wild in a climbing context.   Too heavy and bulky for climbers.  

I recall them being quite popular with climbers for a while in the 60s---I definitely had and used one. The bars themselves weren't very heavy, but obviously not at all versatile, so I ended up reverting to the biner-brake system--a bit more complex but safer and didn't utilize any specialized gear. But either system was definitely a big improvement--both in control and, especially, comfort from the biner/shoulder or full body rappels that I previously used.

Eric Craig wrote:

Actually, in California, brake bars were for sale at all the climbing equipment shops, and seen in use in the field, in the early seventies. They seemed to be favored by the  Sierra (and possibly other) Club(s), and were commonly used with "diaper" seats,  or the webbing harness illustrated earlier in this thread. Genuine, or not so genuine,  devotees of the Yosemite method preferred the six carabiner brake, also shown earlier in this thread, used with a swami belt, and maybe leg loops. 

Brake bar racks I think fit Mark's comments above, and I have never seen a person climbing in possession of a brake bar rack.

Yeah, I bought an Eiger Rappel Brake Bar in the early 70's, but after using it a few times reverted back to the 6 biner brake method.

The single biner and bar didn't inspire much confidence, what if the gate or gate pins pins failed under load? 

Here's a pic'

Early 70's Eiger Biner and Brake Bar