Hot Takes 2024

Almost Alpine is the best rationalization for the existence of the internet since the invention of baby gotez in pajamas.

Hot Take: The price of dedication, is pooping in your pants.

Toe strength is an underappreciated part of climbing strength. Excessively stiff shoes are a crutch that lead to climbers not developing useful toe strength. Climbing barefoot is a good way to train your feet and toes.

Once you get strong toes and feet, you'll find you can climb much harder in soft, sensitive shoes. No more need for stiff shoes that interfere with feeling the rock and holds.

Hot Take: Patience... yeah yeah yeah... How long will that take?

Shaniac wrote:

Hot Take: Patience... yeah yeah yeah... How long will that take?

far too long my friend, better to get super frustrated and quit after 3 months because you couldn't freesolo 5.13 lol

Matthew Hoff wrote:

far too long my friend, better to get super frustrated and quit after 3 months because you couldn't freesolo 5.13 lol

If you find out you can’t free solo 5.13 by trying and failing to free solo 5.13 I don’t think anything else is going to be a problem for you after that…

Hot Take: You climb better after you dropped a nice hot take in the outhouse. Coffee > Poop > Climb. The trifecta 

- Nobody should pay for beta in the information age. I'm never ever paying for the gunks app. All of that beta should be posted in MP.

- it's Mount McKinley.

- "On me" is not a real climbing command.

- A prusik on a static line is psychological edge protection.

Eric Moss wrote:

- it's Mount McKinley.

it's not PA, it's Pennsyltucky

Alex Fischer wrote:

Toe strength is an underappreciated part of climbing strength. Excessively stiff shoes are a crutch that lead to climbers not developing useful toe strength. Climbing barefoot is a good way to train your feet and toes.

Once you get strong toes and feet, you'll find you can climb much harder in soft, sensitive shoes. No more need for stiff shoes that interfere with feeling the rock and holds.

Hot take nobody who liked this post has ever climbed barefoot

Hot take @ Eric moss choss take on guides. You’re welcome to do all the free labor you want, guidebook creation is many many hours and certainly not worth the time invested

Eric Moss wrote:

- Nobody should pay for beta in the information age. I'm never ever paying for the gunks app. All of that beta should be posted in MP.

- it's Mount McKinley.

- "On me" is not a real climbing command.

- A prusik on a static line is psychological edge protection.

It's Sylvania 

Eric Marx wrote:

Hot take nobody who liked this post has ever climbed barefoot

Hot take @ Eric moss choss take on guides. You’re welcome to do all the free labor you want, guidebook creation is many many hours and certainly not worth the time invested

Yeah right.  Snap a few pics, write up a dating profile.  People should definitely get paid for that.  Besides, the real beneficiaries are the proprietors of the app.

Next thing you know, people will be paying to climb outside (I'm looking at you, $50 outdoor climbing competitions).  There is some psychological effect where people prefer to pay for things.  Don't forget to donate to the access fund   

I'll be putting that money towards some Afro Outdoor Collective clothes on clearance at REI.

Eric Moss wrote:

Yeah right.  Snap a few pics, write up a dating profile.  People should definitely get paid for that.  

Big talk for someone who doesn't even contribute to _this site_. Leech on all fronts.

B Y wrote:

Hot Take: You climb better after you dropped a nice hot take in the outhouse. Coffee > Poop > Climb. The trifecta 

Café

Caca

8a

Hot take Eric choss is def voting Kamala

I wrote the li bouldering guide and if I made 25 cents an hour for all the hours invested that would probably be a good return. -cost of gas and still probably haven’t broke even in 4 years.

Like all good men, I undertake this woeful burden for the benefit of the community

Eric Moss wrote:

- it's Mount McKinley.

Hot take indeed. Why?

Eric Moss wrote:

Yeah right.  Snap a few pics, write up a dating profile.  People should definitely get paid for that.  Besides, the real beneficiaries are the proprietors of the app.

Next thing you know, people will be paying to climb outside (I'm looking at you, $50 outdoor climbing competitions).  There is some psychological effect where people prefer to pay for things.  Don't forget to donate to the access fund   

I'll be putting that money towards some Afro Outdoor Collective clothes on clearance at REI.

No one (not even the FA) owes you a trip report after climbing a route. You are totally free to not buy a guidebook if you think the information in the Internet is enough. Being cheap and parasitic is one thing. But proceeding to shit talk folks who put in the labor is top trashiness. 

cubist A wrote:

The hottest of takes: 

People need to chill about dogs. I grew up in (eastern) Europe where dogs run around uninhibited in lots of outdoor areas and no one bats an eyelid. I was pretty shocked when I came to the US and saw how uptight people are about dogs, like every pup is one breath away from mauling a child. Of course aggressive dogs are a different story but I've been around plenty of dogs at crags and I've never seen anything terrible happen. I get that some dogs can be an annoyance but I find people at the crag annoying too and I don't demand their absence. I know there is a different standard here and I adhere to it but it continues to surprise me. 

Flame away...

Nonsense. Wild dogs in eastern Europe are a pain in the ass. In western Europe there are far fewer dogs and it's quite enjoyable. Dogs in the US are way more often taken to the crag and ill-behaved. 

Obviously n=1, but the rate of dogs at the crag is way higher at all of the US crags I've been to than in western Europe. With the exception of the hippies in Spain, I have rarely encountered dogs at the crag in Europe. If they own one, people tend to leave them at home. And so far they have always been very well behaved with attentive owners (even those by the crusties in Spain, much to my surprise). In a much shorter timespan in the US, I've been bitten and snapped at twice and encountered a fair amount of agressive dogs.

Where I currently live, they make you take a short class before you can get a dog to obtain a license for ownership. Now if only they could provide people with similar education before procreating. 

/rant

Eric Marx wrote:

Hot take, your dog isn’t a person.

Thank you. A lot of people's obsession and behavior with dogs borders on cringey. They are just animals.

grug g wrote:

1. Anything attached to the outside of your pack that swings around as you walk screams gumby. Example: shoes, helmet, etc.

Counter-take: Crag packs are too small.  And for anyone that says "bring less stuff" I say fuck that.  Bringing everything and the kitchen sink with you to the crag is awesome, try it some time.