Hot Takes 2025

Vertical and Overhanging routes pale in comparison to Slab routes, which are overwhelmingly better and more fun.

 Crack climbing is tedious and overly painful compared to face climbing

Let's turn up the heat...

Botty McBotFace wrote:

If you are aggressive about land acknowledgements, but still climb in the area, you're just a virtue signaling hypocrite 

"land acknowledgements" are a bizarre form of self-loathing

Chris Outingswrote:

If your climber says take or is at the anchor and as the belayer it takes you more than one arms worth of pulling out slack + a squat down/sit in the rope for you to get the climber on a taught take - then you don’t know how to belay/have very poor rope management skills as a belayer 

They weren't taut the correct way to do it. 

Jay Crewwrote:

Let's turn up the heat...

"land acknowledgements" are a bizarre form of self-loathing

Recognizing that immoral and illegal actions have happened in the past is not a form of self loathing. There are something like 700 treaties on the books that the US violated and continues to violate. Much of the motivation for things like land acknowledgements are due to factors like this. Are we a country of laws or aren't we? Because if we want to take the law seriously then there's a lot of treaties we need to revisit and a lot of land we need to give back to tribes. Again, land that we promised them in signed treaties and then took from them anyway. 

I don't see what self loathing has to do with any of that. I don't want to live in a joke of a country where you get to treat certain people like shit just because of their ethnicity and ignore the laws on the books that say we must give them X but we don't because hey it's just the natives and it's been like 100 years. Yes, life is easier for many if we ignore the mistreatment of the few, but either we live in a liberal democracy or we don't. 

Most pro climbers are some of the dumbest and least interesting people imaginable. I guess it goes with being hyper focused on one thing from a very young age.

Aaron Kolbwrote:

Most pro climbers are some of the dumbest and least interesting people imaginable. I guess it goes with being hyper focused on one thing from a very young age.

Also I would be more interested in pro climbers if there were more stoner weirdos like Dave Graham or just unusual people in general, and less normie jocks

Aaron Kolbwrote:

Also I would be more interested in pro climbers if there were more stoner weirdos like Dave Graham or just unusual people in general, and less normie jocks

Did you just quote and reply to yourself? 

Maybe this is why I've been having a terrible time on the proj, I should just talk to myself. 

We did it folks

Ricky Harlinewrote:

Did you just quote and reply to yourself? 

Maybe this is why I've been having a terrible time on the proj, I should just talk to myself. 

I've been aid soloing all day, so go figure 

almostradwrote:

I don’t have a hot take about this, you’re just wrong 

No, i have both a spray and a symmetric wall in my house and spray is more spiritual. Both are better than nothing though.

Not climbing related specifically but I think roof top tents are stupid

Aaron Kolbwrote:

Also I would be more interested in pro climbers if there were more stoner weirdos like Dave Graham or just unusual people in general, and less normie jocks

If you don't know about him, you'd LOVE Barefoot Charles.  I don't know what you consider pro, but he's very good and has a Redbull Reel Rock episode.  I recommend the watch or just looking into him.

The only pro climbers are state sponsored comp athletes, the rest of the so called "pro climbers" are actually influencers.

Climbing stopped being sexy when Adam Ondra overtook Sharma as the world's best climber.

Witnessing a good dog fight at the crag only adds to the day's excitement

Seal rock is more striking than the bird flatiron 

Dan Mydanswrote:

Not climbing related specifically but I think roof top tents are stupid

Think of them as "truck camper lite". It's generally better than life on the ground.

Dirtbag Betawrote:

The only pro climbers are state sponsored comp athletes, the rest of the so called "pro climbers" are actually influencers.

Climbing stopped being sexy when Adam Ondra overtook Sharma as the world's best climber.

Witnessing a good dog fight at the crag only adds to the day's excitement

Hey dude, you don't think pencil-neck geeks are sexy?

He gets all he wants is my take.

My Hot Take: Pull testing your cams when free climbing is the height of noob-wankery.

1. If you think your little tug is simulating leader fall forces you might be a noob.

2. A good pop in the face and leader fall is your just reward.

If you can't tell by looking at it that it's lead pro worthy, it isn't.

B Ywrote:

We did it folks

Hot Take: Most crag dogs are great, and it's a small fraction of bad dogs/owners that give the rest a bad rap. I've never brought a dog to the crag, but I have loved almost every one that I have encountered (with a couple MAJOR exceptions).

Hot Take - 

Dudes in their 20's are way more annoying than even the average crag dog