Hot Takes 2024

TJ Bindseilwrote:

Hot take: horse shit should be picked up in bags like dog shit

They make gunny sacks for parades that tie up under the hoss's tail to catch their shit.  Walk a ways off trail, dump the biscuits in the woods.  Keep shit off trails, eh!  

People who post regularly to mountain project forums are bad climbing partners. 

Tepid take: We need more callouts at the crag and less online rage-posting. Antisocial shenanigans need to be addressed directly. Behavior doesn't change without intervention. I used to be one of the gunks a-holes who thought yelling 'Rope!' was sufficient to start rapping a popular route until I got lambasted and changed my ways.

Some shame-worthy antics:

• Temper tantrum on your 5.12 proj
• Teaching two noob followers how to climb multipitch on a classic above their onsight limit on a weekend
• Knowingly rapping directly over a leader without checking in with them
• Rope soloing a popular route
• Fix+following a popular route and leaving your rope tail down the prior pitch 'to avoid snagged ropes'

In particular the last two are gaining in popularity, and I think they need to be pushed back upon. You're not the only one at the crag and your convenience doesn't trump others'.

So in your view, two climbers who wish to lead/follow/TR/whatever a route should have priority over a single person who wishes to TRS the same route? It would seem that either scenario could result in a cluster that makes the route unavailable to others for an unreasonable time.

MattHwrote:

Antisocial shenanigans need to be addressed directly. Behavior doesn't change without intervention. I used to be one of the gunks a-holes who thought yelling 'Rope!' was sufficient to start rapping a popular route until I got lambasted and changed my ways.

Some shame-worthy antics:

• Temper tantrum on your 5.12 proj
• Teaching two noob followers how to climb multipitch on a classic above their onsight limit on a weekend
• Knowingly rapping directly over a leader without checking in with them
• Rope soloing a popular route
• Fix+following a popular route and leaving your rope tail down the prior pitch 'to avoid snagged ropes'

In particular the last two are gaining in popularity, and I think they need to be pushed back upon. You're not the only one at the crag and your convenience doesn't trump others'.

Agree. Ethos should be go to crag and work there during the less bussy days. But Maybe people work during the week and cannot go. Pretty sure there is a lot of threads covering the "Local crags are like gym now".

apogeewrote:

So in your view, two climbers who wish to lead/follow/TR/whatever a route should have priority over a single person who wishes to TRS the same route? It would seem that either scenario could result in a cluster that makes the route unavailable to others for an unreasonable time.

Single pitch? That's fine, have fun. As long as you're not kicking down rocks from the top while trying to set up a TRS and aren't snaking other parties, what do I care? It's not really adding inconvenience vs a normal party of two.

LRS on a multipitch that most people will reasonably onsight/one-hang and move on? This is my objection. If you're doing LRS and there's other parties on the route, it better be something that most people are redpointing/aiding. It all comes back to: "Does how I've decided to recreate significantly impede the other climbing parties relative to the average climbing party?"

Ah, yes…the TRS vs LRS distinction makes more sense.

MattHwrote:

Single pitch? That's fine, have fun. As long as you're not kicking down rocks from the top while trying to set up a TRS and aren't snaking other parties, what do I care? It's not really adding inconvenience vs a normal party of two.

LRS on a multipitch that most people will reasonably onsight/one-hang and move on? This is my objection. If you're doing LRS and there's other parties on the route, it better be something that most people are redpointing/aiding. It all comes back to: "Does how I've decided to recreate significantly impede the other climbing parties relative to the average climbing party?"

What's the problem here?  Multipitch rope soloing takes about the same amount of time per pitch as climbing with a partner (arguably less if you jug the line instead of re-climbing when cleaning) so I don't see how this creates any issues.

Jabroni McChufferson wrote:

Unfamiliar with the john bacher quote about shoes? 

Nope. Quite familiar. He was just wrong. Even at the time there were loads of euros and American hang doggers climbing harder than him. 

grug gwrote:

1. Anything attached to the outside of your pack that swings around as you walk screams gumby. Example: shoes, helmet, etc.
2. Clipping a draw directly to a cam's racking carabiner is fine.
3. Gym parkour boulder problems are trash and NOT actual climbing.
4. Dogs do not enhance anyone's climbing experience at all.
5. Any amount of alcohol is bad for recovery.
6. Simul-rapping is fine.
7. Getting your quickdraw reversed won't cut your rope from micro nicks on the bolt side.
8. Speed climbing is trash for one main reason: the route never changes.
9. You can't "set" a cam by pulling on it.
10. PAS is very useful as long as you don't do the thong method. 

and 11. GATES OUT!!!

Look at these two gumbies with shit hanging on the outside of their packs. I'm embarrassed for them.

That cam is racked gates in,just like any real climber would do.

Unless your carrying a big wall/Creek rack, slings should be racked as alpine draws on the harness. They are easier to access and more versatile in that configuration. Slings over the shoulder are awkward to remove, unfomfortable, and in at least one instance, dangerous.

J Westgatewrote:

That cam is racked gates in,just like any real climber would do.

Bwahahahah! You guys are nuts. Seriously?? Racking gates in means your biners are in a position that is close to "nose hooked". Imagine a "nose hooked" position as shown in pics here, but with the gate still closed. A biner only achieves its full strength rating when the force is applied longitudenally along its spine. When racking gates in you put the biner in a weaker position. You don't want to weaken your biners, do you? This is a major red flag!

grug gwrote:8. Speed climbing is trash for one main reason: the route never changes.

The original setter put so many holds on that thing and there's a handful of them that aren't even touched by the elites of speed climbing shaving seconds off. I would assume the setter behind it all is getting royalties off that somehow. You could break it into different disciplines to make it more interesting:

• The original route
• A new route that cycles every four years or so that climbers get to know and start training for both in olympics and other competitions
• An onsight route that was different every time

José Flovinwrote:

The original setter put so many holds on that thing and there's a handful of them that aren't even touched by the elites of speed climbing shaving seconds off. I would assume the setter behind it all is getting royalties off that somehow. You could break it into different disciplines to make it more interesting:

• The original route
• A new route that cycles every four years or so that climbers get to know and start training for both in olympics and other competitions
• An onsight route that was different every time

They interviewed the route setter for the speed climbing real rock. He hates the route too, and wish they’d do something else. 

José Flovinwrote:

An onsight route that was different every time

The Rockmasters duel is exactly this but on lead. It's very fun to watch. I think it's actually happening this upcoming weekend. I have no idea where to watch it live online though.

My hot take: climbing photographs taken from above generally suck. I don't know why pro photographers love that angle. It rarely shows interesting things, such as what all 4 limbs of the climber are doing, the steepness of the wall, or the scenery/exposure surrounding the climb. Butt shots are better. And side-view photographs are the best.

Alex Fischerwrote:

My hot take: climbing photographs taken from above generally suck. I don't know why pro photographers love that angle. It rarely shows interesting things, such as what all 4 limbs of the climber are doing, the steepness of the wall, or the scenery/exposure surrounding the climb. Butt shots are better. And side-view photographs are the best.

Dean Fidelman got one thing right. 

cubist Awrote:

The hottest of takes: 

People need to chill about dogs.  in Europe... dogs run around uninhibited in lots of outdoor areas and no one bats an eyelid. 

Agreed.... but also, don't bat an eyelid when I have to discipline your dog while you were climbing, belaying, or otherwise distracted.

Hot take, your dog isn’t a person.