Things climbing-related that annoy you

Boulder climbing gyms, Tuesday at 5:30pm.

When people tie the "backup knot" on a figure 8 or climb on really poorly dressed knots.

almostrad wrote:

When people tie the "backup knot" on a figure 8 or climb on really poorly dressed knots.

When gangbanging a route (which is universally loved by all) people who tie the original figure 8 half knot so far up the rope that you need to re-do it or have a 2 foot long tail.   Then after you re-do it for a proper 5 inch tail or so, when it comes back around to your turn, you find some schmo has re-set the knot again for a 2 foot tail….

Mark Pilate wrote:

When gangbanging a route (which is universally loved by all) people who tie the original figure 8 half knot so far up the rope that you need to re-do it or have a 2 foot long tail.   Then after you re-do it for a proper 5 inch tail or so, when it comes back around to your turn, you find some schmo has re-set the knot again for a 2 foot tail….

people that don't completely untie the knot every single time are NOOBs, gumbies, flailers

Mark Pilate wrote:

When gangbanging a route (which is universally loved by all) people who tie the original figure 8 half knot so far up the rope that you need to re-do it or have a 2 foot long tail.   Then after you re-do it for a proper 5 inch tail or so, when it comes back around to your turn, you find some schmo has re-set the knot again for a 2 foot tail….

Karma.

Jay Crew wrote:

people that don't completely untie the knot every single time are NOOBs, gumbies, flailers

lol.  But don’t  forget, Context is everything.  Not everything is a gym/sport context.  Only NOOBs, gumbies, flailers apply rules “every single time”   Even if out of context

At least we can all agree that everyone that can’t seem to tie a good figure 8 should be publicly shamed and ridiculed 

almostrad wrote:

At least we can all agree that everyone that can’t seem to tie a good figure 8 should be publicly shamed and ridiculed 

Which, im guessing, is half of the people replying to this thread…

Mark Pilate wrote:

lol.  But don’t  forget, Context is everything.  Not everything is a gym/sport context.  Only NOOBs, gumbies, flailers apply rules “every single time”   Even if out of context

there is zero benefit in leaving half a knot in the rope, ever

Jay Crew wrote:

there is zero benefit in leaving half a knot in the rope, ever

Again, context. I’d say there is zero benefit making absolute pronouncements, ever.  
Walking away from a rope with a knot in it, we’d agree. If you’re amongst friends, and we want to be efficient on a cold day ice climbing, I’m gonna snatch the rope from your hands before you can obstreperously insist on untying it fully for no “benefit”.

I’m curious what benefit would I describe to my girlfriend who is standing there when I hand her the knotless rope and she has to redo what was just there because I insisted on undoing it in front of her just to hand it to her.   

Jay Crew wrote:

there is zero benefit in leaving half a knot in the rope, ever

What if you’re higher than your rope is long?

Weird thing about fig-8: I tie it backwards than most climbers I know. I thread the 8 from the bottom up;, through my tie-in point. The way I twist the rope to tie the initial 8, before the rethread, is so that when I pull the rope up through the tie in point, the knot is perfectly presented for the rethread.

If instead, I try to reuse someone's half eaten knot, when I try the rethread the knot is "upside down" and I have to rethread "backwards" from my usual method. I attribute this to the notion that most of my friends and partners tie in by passing the rope top-down through the tie in point.

I got into the bottom-up-though-tie-in-point because I started off with bowlines, which need to be tied bottom-up.

Net-net: I always remove the knots my friends leave for me, and start over. If I am coming off TR, I always completely remove my knot. I do get some looks from time to time, like wtf? I gave up trying to explain long ago. I just shrug and tell them to quit being so fucking lazy.

Lol.  Who knew tying in for a top rope session with friends was so fraught with issues?  (Do I untie it fully or will they think I’m a poseur or a jerk….if I don’t, will they think I’m a noob?…..is my figure 8 upside down? - am I gonna die?….did I leave too much tail or not enough?….I’m gonna go bowline today….hehehe, that fucker tied a back up -what a gumbie….)

 I’ve been blissfully ignorant having largely climbed with the same crew for the last 25 years.   

The world is fraught, my friend. I climb with a small number of partners as well. I'm just backwards is all. Its me, not them! I just retie my own knots and bliss is achieved!

Sometimes, when feeling really sassy while top roping, we just pass around the bite with a couple lockers. YGD

People who think “backup knots” are anything more than just keeping slack out of your way.

People who don’t tie backup knots when they are mandatory 

Mark Pilate wrote:

Again, context. I’d say there is zero benefit making absolute pronouncements, ever.  
Walking away from a rope with a knot in it, we’d agree. If you’re amongst friends, and we want to be efficient on a cold day ice climbing, I’m gonna snatch the rope from your hands before you can obstreperously insist on untying it fully for no “benefit”.

I’m curious what benefit would I describe to my girlfriend who is standing there when I hand her the knotless rope and she has to redo what was just there because I insisted on undoing it in front of her just to hand it to her.   

gumby, flailer..... and your girl, she 'keeps trying to slide into my DM's

Tone Loc wrote:

What if you’re higher than your rope is long?

I often times am

Tone Loc wrote:

What if you’re higher than your rope is long?

That's not what is under discussion.