Hot Takes 2024

Using the word „mission“ to describe your weekend-trip or „quiver“ to describe your heap of ropes or shoes is a little cringe. Relax, you‘re – probably – neither an archer nor a navy seal.

Tony Swrote:

That’s not a hot take at all. You guys are all constantly complaining about the pebble wrestling videos.

The real hot take: I *like* the bouldering videos. I watch them all. I find them interesting. Even hotter: I want *more* beta videos. I watch them for problems I’ve already done. Throwing kneees down topping out a V3, sick, I want to see it. I also like them individually separated - I  don’t want six problems to a video. One star V1 moss fests didn’t even know it was a climb and probably never should have been, hell yeah. Keep ‘em coming everyone, I am one of your six subscribers  

Everyone else:

Michael Bwrote:

Using the word „mission“ to describe your weekend-trip or „quiver“ to describe your heap of ropes or shoes is a little cringe. Relax, you‘re – probably – neither an archer nor a navy seal.

What if you are an archer?  

Eric Marxwrote:

Ohm is for gumbies only IDC your weight difference.

I have 70lbs on one of my main climbing partners and it is terrifying for both of us when I whip without one.

We are both gumbies, though.

Yelling "rope" is completely unnecessary at the crag and especially at the gym. 

It's an over-application of a tool used for multipitch climbing. If you can see everyone, just inform those near the route that a rope is coming down or wait until everyone is clear before you pull it. Definitely no need if you're pulling the rope so it falls through the quickdraws. 

Gym bolting outdoors is a disservice to all. If you can clip two bolts from one stance, they're too close.

Adam Flemingwrote:

Yelling "rope" is completely unnecessary at the crag and especially at the gym.

What if you're throwing down the rope after setting up a top rope anchor?

I am just being facetious, since you clearly meant calling "rope" when pulling. Sometimes groups can be busy chatting and not realize a rope is coming, so I warn, but I certainly don't yell it so loud everybody in a 50m radius can hear it.

• The easy section of every hard route is overrated. That 'easy bit of 5.11a' on that 5.13's is more like 5.9. Strong climbers forget that, unlike the gym, climbing below 5.10 isn't just climbing up ladder rungs.
• The boulder crux grades on most hard routes are overrated. It's so much harder to project a single move on a sport climb so the difficulty of bouldery sections gets inflated. 
• Asking for a project hangdog belay that won't be reciprocated (eg: repeatedly asking your 5.10 climbing GF to belay you on your hopeless 5.13 project at a crag with nothing but 5.12 and up) is selfish behavior that's only tolerated out of social obligation between friends/partners
• 4th class is often harder physically than low/mid 5th class face climbing, even if it's less technical (and the same is true across 5th class grades). Awkward chimneying can be done in hiking boots and a strenuous mantle requires no finger strength. 

1. Sport climbing is the most contrived form of climbing and arguably the lamest. Trad and bouldering follow logical features up a rock formation. Sport follows a dotted line of bolts drawn by some random guy with an inflated ego.

2. Any shoes designed in the past decade don't need to be downsized.

3. Gym climbing is fun. Its more than just a substitute for outdoor climbing.

4. 99% of the time the FA does not matter.

Did you do your troll checks? On Troll? Troll On. Trolling. Troll away.

John Clarkwrote:

Did you do your troll checks? On Troll? Troll On. Trolling. Troll away.

Only with noobs.  I do always wear my internet helmet though.  

Chad Millerwrote:

What if you are an archer?  

Because we're talking about a climbing context?

Bryan Kwrote:

Too many climbers (mainly pebble wrestlers) have YouTube channels for their climbing.  No one cares about your 5'6" +2 ape index beta for a V4 in Kraft and you don't have to be the tenth person posting a beta video in the comments for said boulder just to shill your YouTube channel with 10 subscribers.  Also no one wants to watch fifty 20-second videos of you climbing moss covered, 1 star boulder problems.  At least learn some basic video editing techniques and combine them in to a single video.

While we're at it, your 50 second video title sequence for a 2 minute video is useless and annoying.

I may have more of an old school ethic but..

If you are stick clipping mid route, it’s too hard for you. Tone it down and stop chasing grades. Pull a draw if you must or just take the fall. (I say this after on two separate occasions seeing people drop stick clips from 20+ ft at crowded crags)

Stop calling everything a rig.. if you want a rig, get into tree work or go drive semis. Don’t let the blue collar scare ya.

Why the fuck does no one sleep in a tent anymore? 

Also would be pretty psyched if remote work became obsolete again and the whole digital nomad wave of entitlement came to an end. I would once again like to be able to afford rent in the mountain town I’ve lived/contributed to community in for years without competing with someone who “works” 4hrs a day from their 100k van while using every public resource and giving back nothing but gentrification.

B Maxwrote:

I may have more of an old school ethic but..

If you are stick clipping mid route, it’s too hard for you. Tone it down and stop chasing grades. Pull a draw if you must or just take the fall. (I say this after on two separate occasions seeing people drop stick clips from 20+ ft at crowded crags)

That is style not ethics. 

Also this is just good tactics for some routes.

Hot take: most people that shit on projecting and tactics have never actually had good tactics. 

Why the fuck does no one sleep in a tent anymore? 

Because cars are much more comfortable, take up less space and are much more stealthy?

You are 29 dude, the clouds can't hear ya

Connor Dobsonwrote:

Also this is just good tactics for some routes.

Hot take: most people that shit on projecting and tactics have never actually had good tactics. 

I'd say I have good tactics but I'm still not sold.  It's pretty rare that stick clipping for the crux (which isn't necessarily a deal breaker for me) is a useful tactic, rather than a convenience or more likely a way to avoid whipping cause they're scared.  If you cant pull the moves between bolts off the dog, it's unlikely the route is in reach anyway.  Sure, sometimes it's hard to sort out a sequence, whatever.  But 90% of the time I see people doing this it's not for that purpose and you know exactly what crag I'm thinking of.

Taking your shirt off in the gym is dumb. It doesn’t make you climb better, it just makes you look like a douche.

Ticking cracks is lame. Please stop.

the end

How about wearing beanies when it’s a warm summer day, or in the gym? (Related to taking your shirt off, perhaps.)

Connor Dobsonwrote: Hot take: most people that shit on projecting and tactics have never actually had good tactics. 

Because cars are much more comfortable, take up less space and are much more stealthy?

You sound like someone who calls themselves a 13a climber if you’ve sent one 13a before in this “tactic”.

New hot take: it’s not stealthy. Everyone knows you are in there, it’s not fooling anybody, and if you think it is, you’re just naive.