Things climbing-related that annoy you

Gym staff who see climbers belaying with Grigris while not holding a hand on the brake hand side of the rope but just ignore the situation - Metalmark staff, this is directed to you.

Beck wrote:

It's mutual 

But I love Grigris!

Mark Fletcher wrote:

Gym staff who see climbers belaying with Grigris while not holding a hand on the brake hand side of the rope but just ignore the situation - Metalmark staff, this is directed to you.

And when it's not a grigri, This:

People who bag their dogs poop just to leave the bag with the poop on the side of the trail. Why go through the effort of bagging it just to leave it?

Mason Bowen wrote:

People who bag their dogs poop just to leave the bag with the poop on the side of the trail. Why go through the effort of bagging it just to leave it?

They're coming back for it.

If you're going out-and-back, you leave it on the way out and pick it up on the way back, that way you don't have to carry a steamer around with you all day.  It's like breadcrumbs.    

Maybe not the greatest form, but if they actually remember to pick it up, I understand.  The problem is that often people forget or can't find it on the way back, which is not cool.

Peter Czoschke wrote:

They're coming back for it.

If you're going out-and-back, you leave it on the way out and pick it up on the way back, that way you don't have to carry a steamer around with you all day.  It's like breadcrumbs.    

Maybe not the greatest form, but if they actually remember to pick it up, I understand.  The problem is that often people forget or can't find it on the way back, which is not cool.

Absolutely, coming back for it is fine. This mostly applies to people who leave the bag at a trailhead with no intent of picking it up on the return journey.  

Climberz that lack in the purity

all the fucking driving. 

Toproping off mussies or other fixed gear. There are a ton of climbers out there who don’t see any issue with this. Whenever I try to explain the issue it I get looked at like I’m a jerk.

this  thread. Bunch of whiners. 

People do not come back for the poop.  dozens of really old weathered looking poop bags are the evidence.  awesome idea, put biodegradable poop in plastic bags that last forever.... 

as far as top roping through the pigtails I was told last fall at a new sport area near us that they prefer you TR through the anchors and feel that is safer than having folks rigging their own anchors.... That's what we have come to.... 

Chris Wernette wrote:

Toproping off mussies or other fixed gear. There are a ton of climbers out there who don’t see any issue with this. Whenever I try to explain the issue it I get looked at like I’m a jerk.

Peter Croft has entered the chat......

Bb Cc wrote:

And when it's not a grigri, This: 

I see you've met my dad. I now force him to belay me with a Revo. He's "been belaying like this since the 70s" and has "never had a problem" and making him use a Revo is "silly." Some old timers are the absolute worst and refuse to learn because they think they know everything, and my dad is absolutely one of them. 

Ricky Harline wrote:

I see you've met my dad. I now force him to belay me with a Revo. He's "been belaying like this since the 70s" and has "never had a problem" and making him use a Revo is "silly." Some old timers are the absolute worst and refuse to learn because they think they know everything, and my dad is absolutely one of them. 

Has your Dad ever dropped anyone while using whatever you consider to be his old-fashioned belay technique?

Alan Rubin wrote:

Has your Dad ever dropped anyone while using whatever you consider to be his old-fashioned belay technique?

No, he hasn't. His belay technique relies on seeing the climber falling and moving to the brake position which he's always managed to do, but he's also not getting any younger. He learned to belay in the late 70s as a teenager in high school, and to my understanding he learned to belay on plate devices but the belay technique he was taught was based on using a munter. So at least half of the time he has his brake hand up high above the device which to my understanding is the correct lock off position for the munter but not a plate or tube device. So it seems to me he was taught at a weird transition time where people were being taught to belay with belay devices but still being taught the old munter belay technique before the PBUS method was in wide practice. 

I'd be curious to hear from you especially if my understanding is correct. He has his brake hand below the device and in an appropriate braking position definitely less than half the time and is therefore rarely prepared for an unexpected fall. It scares the absolute bejeezus out of me, especially when leading, and I'd love to know if it was common in the 70s to teach to belay with plate and tube devices where your hands are above the device much of the time. Basically when he's taking in rope his hands are above the device, when he's paying out rope his hands are above the device, when he's switching hands to take in more rope his hands are above the device. Only once he's taken in the rope does he move his brake hand down below the device. 

I used to absolutely hate it, but since getting into LRS and taking a bunch of falls on the Revo I just treat climbing with my dad like LRS where my dad is the anchor. 

I realiy can't say without observing him 'in action' . From your written description his technique does sound questionable, but nothing beats actual observation. For what it's worth ( not much), personally I am not a great fan of PBUS, especially top-roping---unnecessary step, too difficult to pull in sufficient slack when belaying fast climbers. No system is automatically ideal in all situations.

Alan Rubin wrote:

I realiy can't say without observing him 'in action' . From your written description his technique does sound questionable, but nothing beats actual observation. For what it's worth ( not much), personally I am not a great fan of PBUS, especially top-roping---unnecessary step, too difficult to pull in sufficient slack when belaying fast climbers. No system is automatically ideal in all situations.

Interesting. What is your preferred belay technique for top roping fast climbers? It's a question I've put a little thought into and have not arrived at a satisfactory answer other than yelling at the climber to slow down. 

I just belay as I have for many years, no idea what, if anything, the method is called--it is just simply belaying. 

I don't know why, but I get bothered when people call themselves climbers.

Probably “tunneling”: moving your hand along the brake strand without having the other hand on the brake.