VOCALIZATION: Shouting and Screaming in Contemporary Climbing

Old man rant....  (sorry) 

When you scream through your crux, I think something terrible has happened, and that you are in trouble    

Perhaps, vocalization is technically effective, but what about the wilderness and other climbers' nerves??? 

I hear it everywhere now. Can we put this genie back in the bottle? 

Cheers from Osaka,

John 

Can we? No! Would be nice though.

It doesn’t bother me much in the gym, or when I’m actively watching a climber try hard, but I do have the same reaction as you do, if I unexpectedly hear a blood-curdling scream coming from nowhere. 

Its adolescent narcissism of course. A good slap in the face will quiet things down.

Last year I fell awkwardly in the bouldering gym and dislocated my shoulder. It was quite painful so I yelled loudly. No one came over to see if I was OK but I got a bunch of dirty looks for yelling. Kind of funny in retrospect. (It popped back in on its own.)

Does the tucked in lips elephant noise when your cranking hard but kind of scared too count as yelling?

Yelling annoys me, too. Do I need to go see if you’re dying, cause it sounds like you’re dying.

But I’ve also come down from a climb thinking I’d been politely quiet, only to learn from my belayer that I had been yelling/grunting/trumpeting. I agree it’s not cool, but I’m not sure it can be easily fixed.

Sorry, but old man perspective here. If do or pitch off, and maximum effort is required, I kind of don’t care about your “quietude.”

apparently its scientifically proven to make you perform better. Study

if you are not yelling, you are not trying

I usually yell profanities when I fall off, especially if it's a big whip

I think try-hard sounds are fine, it's the death screeching that sounds like someone's compound-fractured their femur that I can't stand. 

Nothing warms my heart more than the sound of try hard at the crag.

I know the prototypical yeller is the jacked bro w his shirt off hoping to attract a partner with his mating call but there are some of us that yell because we're actually trying hard. I've learned to do a less obnoxious version of this by doing the "angry librarian", shushing my way up a route but when a big move comes up, a yell inevitably escapes. I'll ask my belayer if they heard me yell because I don't even know if I did or not. If we're ever at the same crag & you hear me yell, come over & I'll buy you a beer to compensate you for having to hear me try hard.

Cherokee Nuneswrote:

Its adolescent narcissism of course. A good slap in the face will quiet things down.

This- 100%

Jeremy Lwrote:

 I'll ask my belayer if they heard me yell because I don't even know if I did or not.

You're really that unaware of your body when climbing?

Marc801 Cwrote:

You're really that unaware of your body when climbing?

Some people say they “black out” when they’re going full on, so I suppose some people are that unaware in those moments.

I really hate it when women trying hard on the routes scream like they’re in the throes of passion. It’s so gross and reaffirms my status as a proud incel.

Marc801 Cwrote:

You're really that unaware of your body when climbing?

Like I said. I make a conscious effort to not yell but I'm still engaging my core & exhaling quickly. I don't black out but I'm focused on hitting my target so I don't really know if I'm yelling or not. I climb as hard as I can because I enjoy challenging myself.

If it seems unbelievable to you, maybe try getting on a route that's past your limit. If you see a big move coming, a move that you're 99% sure you're not gonna make, make a REAL effort to stick it instead of yelling take or down climbing. That's usually when I end up vocalizing.

Marc801 Cwrote:

You're really that unaware of your body when climbing?

Apparently I am. What I thought was heavy breathing and some soto voce grunts turned out to be not just audible on the ground, but loud.

I’m not going to make assumptions about how hard you try. I’m not even going to make assumptions about how quiet you are. I thought I was quiet, too. Next time you try the thing you think you cannot do, ask someone you trust on the ground how quiet you actually were.

Jeremy Lwrote:

If it seems unbelievable to you, maybe try getting on a route that's past your limit. If you see a big move coming, a move that you're 99% sure you're not gonna make, make a REAL effort to stick it instead of yelling take or down climbing.

Thank you for your presumption.   

There's a threshold where the screaming becomes excessive for sure, and in my view it's a fairly low threshold. 

Try hard grunts and a short exertion yell through a really hard move or two? No problem. 

Screaming through multiple sequences when other people are around? That's too much. 

People who scream super loud know they're being super loud and don't care because they're inconsiderate. If I'm pushing my limit and let a brief yell out, I'm mindfully keeping it as restrained as possible. Trying really hard doesn't give anybody a free pass to howl like a banshee. 

Marc801 Cwrote:

Thank you for your presumption.   

You sounded like you honestly doubted how I couldn't know that I was yelling. I was merely trying to explain the situation where I can't/won't/don't know that I'm yelling. Sorry for the slight, twas not my intention✌️