Show Us You Gym Racks (revised)

Are you one of those rare gym climbers who is always prepared to self-rescue, bivy, or place natural pro in plastic? If so, you've brought untold joy to your community. You've also made us very curious. Alas, most of us have been too intimidated by the #7 tricam dangling from your hip to drop the question: "Why are you doing that?"

This is your chance to tell your story and to display your gym rack before a larger audience. 

My initial post raised some concerns that I believe are valid. I agree that it's not cool to post amusing shots of strangers if there's any chance of them being identified. So I would ask that we limit ourselves to posting shots of ourselves or of consenting friends. Thank you.

I won’t name names, but a friend of mine wears a massive rack in the gym. Lots of draws and nuts. He calls it training weight. He climbs harder than I can, both indoors and out. The system works I guess. He’s also incredibly friendly and is always fun to climb with.

This thread feels very “lol gumbies” without the consideration that folks who do this might actually be more experienced than you. Maybe instead of trying to shit post online you could talk to the folks you see doing this instead?

Brennan Jwrote:

I won’t name names, but a friend of mine wears a massive rack in the gym. Lots of draws and nuts. He calls it training weight. He climbs harder than I can, both indoors and out. The system works I guess. He’s also incredibly friendly and is always fun to climb with.

This thread feels very “lol gumbies” without the consideration that folks who do this might actually be more experienced than you. Maybe instead of trying to shit post online you could talk to the folks you see doing this instead?

Your friend sounds awesome, Brennan. Please send us a photo of him in action!

Logan Petersonwrote:

Your friend sounds awesome, Brennan. Please send us a photo of him in action!

I would also love to see a pic of Brennan’s gym rack.

Wear a weight vest or a backpack.

I have training weight. It is called a Gri-gri. When I leave it behind, I feel so much lighter and climb so much better.

Halloween party at the gym. Winner of "Most Expensive Costume."

My gym doesn't let anyone climb with unnecessary gear on the harness.

(sorry Logan, I don't have a photo of me climbing before they told me to leave the aid rack in the locker...)

Not a rack, but similar-  

I once watched a person unload a UPS box from their car, bring it into the climbing gym, and proceed to unbox their new ice tools on a bench in the middle of the gym.  

Brennan Jwrote:

I won’t name names, but a friend of mine wears a massive rack in the gym. Lots of draws and nuts. He calls it training weight. He climbs harder than I can, both indoors and out. The system works I guess. He’s also incredibly friendly and is always fun to climb with.

This thread feels very “lol gumbies” without the consideration that folks who do this might actually be more experienced than you. Maybe instead of trying to shit post online you could talk to the folks you see doing this instead?

I feel very strongly that I know exactly who this person is referring to...

F r i t zwrote:

Halloween party at the gym. Winner of "Most Expensive Costume."

Not enough #5s for the wide. 

Taking photos of strangers and posting them without permission is insanely lame. Using those pictures to then make fun of them is an enormous red flag on your character. Do better.

So, I agree with Tal that posting photos of strangers is not cool. Consenting friends and people at public costume parties, different story.  Mean-spiritied mocking is not cool. Friendly banter among consenting adults, fine with me.

To the topic at hand, my gym rack is often most impressive. I typically use two belay devices in a gym session: a newer-to-me one that I'm getting used to, and my favorite one for a smooth belay when my partner is leading at their limit. I also carry and use two styles of crack gloves just about every session: one for the hand/fist crack, and one for the thin hands/finger crack. I don't bother to take off the extra jangle between climbs. What good does it do me to climb super hard in the gym with a naked harness? For alpine multi-pitch where I can't leave a pack at the base, I'm typically schlepping 20ish lbs of stuff between harness, helmet, shoes, chalk bag, rope and/or rack, food, water, emergency kit, rain gear, etc. Also, I like that the gloves flap and cool me and maybe even applaud. 

I always keep my dog on my rack at the gym.

Chris Cwrote:

Not a rack, but similar-  

I once watched a person unload a UPS box from their car, bring it into the climbing gym, and proceed to unbox their new ice tools on a bench in the middle of the gym.  

oh man, that had to be in seattle. i saw so many of those folks there.

The Locnarwrote:

Wear a weight vest or a backpack.

please don't. i was at the BRC one night when a dude fell upside down from a cave jughaul and absolutely showered the floor with weights. miracle somebody didn't get their noggin cracked open.

I see you're being glib here w/ this post, but in case you actually do want to know legitimate reasons why some people climb with a rack indoors: 

When I was starting out, I always knew trad was the goal. But, due to location and work, I knew I'd get outside only a handful of times a season. So I climbed at the gym w/ a bunch of draws, prussiks, cordolettes, extra biners, etc. and when I got the chance I'd ask some old timers to show me knots, self rescue, etc. I was a billion times more prepared and safe by the time I started going outdoors than the other gumbies. 

I got pretty used to it so even today I climb with some old broken shoes and other jangle on my harness (mostly soft goods so nobody gets hurt if I drop something). I still don't get outside that much due to circumstances, but when I do I gotta tell you I'm so much less tired than other weekend warriors in my party because I'm already used to lugging an extra 10-15 pounds of harness faff up a route. 

If you consider the gym as a place to practice for outdoors, rather than sending the pink one in the corner as an end unto itself, I think it makes total sense. I get it, it looks goofy, but at the same time nobody's making fun of the dude on the treadmill with a 60L pack full of rocks trying to train for the hike in!

This is a clickbait topic 

Tal Mwrote:

Taking photos of strangers and posting them without permission is insanely lame. 

Do realize that there is no expectation of privacy when in public. That said, while inside a business open to the public there may or may not be restrictions on customers taking pictures or others.

slimwrote:

oh man, that had to be in seattle. i saw so many of those folks there.

Vertical World Ballard.  The most Seattle of Seattle climbing gyms.  

Jim Ottersteinwrote:

I see you're being glib here w/ this post, but in case you actually do want to know legitimate reasons why some people climb with a rack indoors: 

When I was starting out, I always knew trad was the goal. But, due to location and work, I knew I'd get outside only a handful of times a season. So I climbed at the gym w/ a bunch of draws, prussiks, cordolettes, extra biners, etc. and when I got the chance I'd ask some old timers to show me knots, self rescue, etc. I was a billion times more prepared and safe by the time I started going outdoors than the other gumbies. 

This is pretty much where I'm at. I have a two bolt anchor at home next to my hangboard, and I live five minutes from the gym, where I've been using the anchors in the practice room to work on various skills. So you might see me walk in with a bunch of lockers and faff hanging off the only harness I currently own, and I might even leave it all on when I go do a few laps on a 5.10 autobelay. Or I might yank a huge loop of gear out of my pack and rack some of it onto my harness so I can go to the practice anchor when I'm done bouldering. If it bothers someone or makes em snicker, we might not vibe anyway!

Fritz, I love Gaylord the Spraylord. I definitely pronounced it "Gaylerd the Spraylerd" in my head.