Whistle as means of communication?

This weekend at the Gunks the party next to us used a whistle to communicate on and off belay (it sounded like one of those plastic whistles referees use). There were 5 people in their party on a 3 pitch so you can imagine the amount of whistling going on. It's not something I've encountered before and seemed quite obnoxious. Maybe I'm overreacting but it drove us crazy so we finished our climb and moved on. Before you get on me for not speaking up at the time and then venting on the internet they didn't speak English.

Is this common and accepted practice or am I overreacting?

Sounds annoying to me. Limited in function as well. Rope tugs would probably work better anyway. 

This definitely not normal, or good. I say you one-up them though. Start toting a bugle up there and sound reveille whenever someone starts climbing. You'll be the talk of the town!

All the best climbers use whistles right after they check their safety.

https://youtu.be/GvVoO5cKiSk?t=25s

John Wilder wrote:

I've encountered it before with a few Europeans. Can be annoying, but what are you going to do? 

Make sure you keep a whistle on your harness and start randomly blowing it if a group is doing it. That way there is so many whistles going off that they have no clue who is who and they will have to stop. I grew up refing soccer so there are alot of different types of whistles that make different types of sounds but still it is limited if everyone at a crag started using it than it would become worthless and really annoying.

1. Determine what language they are speaking. 
2. Use the translator on your phone to learn the phrase; "Whistles are illegal here and the police are coming to arrest you."

;)

I don't know how whistles are any more or less bothersome than people shouting, but I haven't experienced it personally. Personally, if it's safer and not disruptive to others, go for it. Even if it is more disruptive... my safety comes before your convenience, within the scope of the location's ethics. 

since were transitioning into safe "sport": climbs for everyone, maybe we should consider intercom systems at the belays ....

BigB wrote:

since were transitioning into safe "sport": climbs for everyone, maybe we should consider intercom systems at the belays ....

Good luck with that one within the local ethics. 

We did have one person in the thread suggest actively undermining another group's communication system. That's really in the climbing spirit. 

Again, I haven't seen this personally, but I don't see how it's any more disruptive than yelling.

Yelling is somewhat expected. The first whistle startled my leader which could be risky. After the first one it wasn't dangerous just annoying. 

John Wilder wrote:

It never occurred to me to try and confuse people by messing with their means of communication while on a route. That seems like a dick move.

I would consider it no more of a dick move than blowing a whistle at a crag. Sure you could say yelling is a disturbance but in today's world it is common place and voices will not carry as far as a whistle which is designed to be a disturbance and get your attention. If anything a whistle could cause someone fear with being unexpected making them fall and get hurt. A voice of someone yelling isn't unexpected and less likely to cause this. 

That being said I would almost consider a whistle a danger at a crag, heck I have almost fallen off a cliff from unexpected birds flying right under me. I almost grabed a jug at the end of a V4 boulder problem's crux that had a frog in it and it jump off which caused me to almost fall and I was still shaking from it when I finally topped out the easy top part of the problem.

The problem isn't that it's annoying, but that it's very misleading...whistles are generally recognized as a distress call (especially in the backcountry). 

Alexey Dynkin wrote:

The problem isn't that it's annoying, but that it's very misleading...whistles are generally recognized as a distress call (especially in the backcountry). 

I have always carried at least one whistle in my pack. Now some of the newer fastex buckles have one built in, so then, I often have as many as 4 with me. 

Think of all the lost hikers that won't be found.... #hikerlivesmatter

I always take my shotgun up when climbing and I shoot anything that whistles when I get to the top, I shoot anything that spins after that, and lastly I shoot the stuff that flaps.

ViperScale wrote:

I always take my shotgun up when climbing and I shoot anything that whistles when I get to the top, I shoot anything that spins after that, and lastly I shoot the stuff that flaps.

Whistle, Spin and Flap, Attorneys at Law

Whistles are problematic for the reasons mentioned above.  Bicycle horns would allow a full range of climbing commands and are potentially hands free. Garden gnomes and band are optional.

Konis Hupen

Scott Phil wrote:

Whistles are problematic for the reasons mentioned above.  Bicycle horns would allow a full range of climbing commands and are potentially hands free. Garden gnomes and band are optional.

Konis Hupen

Yeah, but....i mean....

BigB wrote:

maybe we should consider intercom systems at the belays ....

I did see a party in eldo today using walkie talkies for their commands.

For what it's worth...

I was climbing a multipitch recently and the party ahead of us was whistling at each other to communicate and I thought it was genius and effective. I especially noticed it when, on one pitch, there was a long traverse and a lot of wind and this pair had no trouble communicating through the wind while my partner and I (our third day climbing together at that point) had to resort to rope signals.

A few differences from what was brought up in the first post. 1, they werent using emergency whistles, just their mouths. 2, there were only two of them not a clusterfuck of five. 3, it was simple: whistle means on belay, whistle back means climbing. 4, this party was quick and clearly experienced, not a shit show.

The take away: it ain't necessarily the tool that's the problem, just the folks using it. As long as your communication is understood by your partner and not impairing communication between me and mine, I don't give a shit.