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Bread Set Jettison posted:I climb exclusively indoor still, but my 1 1/2 year old shoes are slipping on highly textured volumes to a point where I’m considering new shoes or resole. No holes or major damage, just not sticky in surprising ways. Is it worth it for beginnerish shoes? I have Scarpa Helix by the way If your resoler is good then they'll be as good as new if you send them early enough (no rand damage) or may be even better if you ask for some better rubber than what was originally on the shoe. A bad resoler can certainly ruin a shoe though. Ask around in your area to see if they are happy with the service. Then there is also the issue of cost. A cheap pair of shoe (let's say 80$) can be resoled, but if it's 65$ to resole then is it really worth it considering the wait times, etc. That's for you to decide
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Sep 3, 2023 21:40
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alnilam posted:What kind of grade do you climb? Fair. Should have included some more details. We're going to be there this week and was planning on climbing Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. With Thursday and Saturday probably being shorter days due to travel or wedding related activities. At the Red River Gorge in Kentucky, I've climbed up to 12b. My partner has climbed about a number lower than that. I'm not really planning on pushing myself grade wise. I've mostly been bouldering for the last year and just feel like getting on some rock and enjoying the outdoors. Probably mostly looking for recommendations in the low 5.10 and under range that doesn't require any trad gear. Multi-pitch would be fine but originally I was just thinking about single pitch.
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Sep 3, 2023 21:42
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https://smithrock.com/bridge-closure-summerfall-2023 The bridge to access Smith is out until the 22nd. Practically speaking what that means for climbing in Smith is that you can only access the Lower Gorge area (which is almost 100% trad) and The Zoo, which has a decent amount of sport but kind of a complicated approach. That approach is described in the latest edition of the guide book, but might be hard to find if you've never been out there before. It involves driving on a few forest roads, opening gates, and a lengthy approach hike. You can technically rock hop across the river if you do the lower gorge approach, and then hike back into the main part of the park from there, but I'm not sure if the rangers would be happy about people doing that, and it would also make for a long approach to get to any of the areas you'd likely want to climb sport.
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Sep 3, 2023 23:29
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Thanks for all the info. Definitely useful. A (another?) smith local also recommended The Zoo. Looks like the guidebook we borrowed (not the latest edition) doesn't have much information about it so hopefully we'll be able to pick a new edition. Long approaches aren't much of a discouragement when the closest decent climbing is usually a 5+ hour drive and hike away.
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Sep 5, 2023 19:12
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Worth mentioning that if you hike to the zoo, you also can hike an additional mile or two and get to the Marsupials, an area that should be well covered in the less-new edition of the Alan Watts guidebook. A lot of fun climbs in the marsupials and the views up there alone are arguably worth the additional hiking. The zoo is great too, I ran into Watts there once and heard he was including it in his newer edition, didn't realize it was out yet though. e: and once you've hiked to the marsupials it's only an additional couple of miles to the main part of smith rock, which you'll have practically to yourself  (and then you just have to hike 5 miles and like a thousand feet elevation back to your car when you're done climbing and beat as hell)
alnilam fucked around with this message at 19:21 on Sep 5, 2023 |
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Sep 5, 2023 19:17
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You should probably be able to find a copy of the latest edition at https://www.redpointclimbing.com/ in Terrebonne, just a few minutes from the park. If you can't, let me know and I'll get you the relevant info. It's been out for a month or two now, and includes approach directions for The Zoo. The forest roads you'll need to navigate to get in that way can be pretty badly rutted, so you'll want a car with high clearance. I've seen some econobox fwd cars back there, but I've also seen full on bumpers and plastic undercarriage panels torn off along the way so... be warned. If you're hellbent on getting into the main part of the park, rock hopping across the river from the lower gorge is the shortest method I'm aware of without outright wading through the river. There have been written pleas to not wade on basically all the official pages I've seen because of damage to the riverbeds. I have no idea if the rangers are opposed to climbers rock hopping in though. I could give you some general directions for that approach if needed, but you're on your own regarding whether or not anyone would yell at you. There's also a small, mostly bolted area downslope from the bivy called Rope-de-Dope that has a few easy sport climbs (maxing out around 5.10?) That would be accessible and an extremely short approach, but there's not much there and it's not really that great of a spot. If you end up in the main part of the park somehow, there's a decent concentration of good bolted routes on Phoenix Buttress and (right next to it) Llama Wall.
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Sep 5, 2023 19:54
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Was at a climb today with permadraws, and the kids said the fourth draw had duct tape wrapped around it. They were kinda sketched out about it, didn't want to take hard falls on it. But seems like it might have been there to serve the same kinda purpose as the keeper on a quick draw, to keep the carabiner from rotating? Edit, I know a lot of Colorado climbers here, so it was sonic youth in clear creek. https://www.mountainproject.com/route/105749158/sonic-youth Baddog fucked around with this message at 02:10 on Sep 11, 2023 |
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Sep 11, 2023 02:08
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Baddog posted:Was at a climb today with permadraws, and the kids said the fourth draw had duct tape wrapped around it. They were kinda sketched out about it, didn't want to take hard falls on it. But seems like it might have been there to serve the same kinda purpose as the keeper on a quick draw, to keep the carabiner from rotating?
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Sep 11, 2023 14:23
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KingColliwog posted:If your resoler is good then they'll be as good as new if you send them early enough (no rand damage) or may be even better if you ask for some better rubber than what was originally on the shoe. I got new shoes instead because I would have been out of shoes for 2 weeks+ and gently caress renting. I might resole them later, so I can have a few shoes to rotate. I tried Scarpa vapors, unparallel flagship and LS Kubos. I almost went with the flagship but instead went with the kubos mostly for the sizes they had at the gym. They are my first shoe with any amount of downturn and it’s not nearly as rough I expected. It’s not fun, but it only kind of hurts OFF the wall. Also new shoes feels so good even though they hurt. They really really really make a difference, my old shoes were no better than rentals. I can definitely feel more power and stability from my legs in general.
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Sep 11, 2023 15:15
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Bread Set Jettison posted:I got new shoes instead because I would have been out of shoes for 2 weeks+ and gently caress renting. I might resole them later, so I can have a few shoes to rotate. This is the way IMO, then you can also send multiple pairs off to be resoled at the same time and save on shipping.
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Sep 11, 2023 15:58
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Sab669 posted:This is the way IMO, then you can also send multiple pairs off to be resoled at the same time and save on shipping. Yeah that is my approach as well. I have about 5 pairs and I'll send a batch to resole when 3 are worn out. 2 pairs is the minimum if you intend on resoling
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Sep 11, 2023 16:24
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That's what I was gonna do until busting that hole in my Kronos as previously posted 
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Sep 11, 2023 16:29
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Any advice on general climbing shoe maintenance beyond resoling?
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Sep 12, 2023 04:39
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Natty Ninefingers posted:Any advice on general climbing shoe maintenance beyond resoling? What kind of maintenance do you mean? Smell? Don't store them in your bag; you can use things like boot bananas to dry them out and keep bacteria at bay.(and probably desiccant packs, though I've never tried.) Uneven wear? Pay attention to your footwork and stop dragging your toe.
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Sep 12, 2023 05:10
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Slimy Hog posted:What kind of maintenance do you mean? Only other thing I can come up with is don't use the same shoes indoor and outdoor since outdoor tends to make a lot of small indents in the sole while indoor just sand paper stuff away evenly and I feel like doing both with the same shoe causes premature wear.
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Sep 12, 2023 13:21
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Taking care of the leather upper, mainly
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Sep 12, 2023 18:04
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Natty Ninefingers posted:Taking care of the leather upper, mainly I've done precisely zero for my shoes other than resoling them, in my 14 years of climbing so far. Never had an issue other than with a pair of La Sportiva Solutions where the the pull strap webbing eventually snapped. I stitched it back together with waxed thread, and it snapped again, and I stitched it back together again. That's the pair of shoes that's been resoled so many times that it eventually came back to me with "RIP Last Resole" written on the sole.
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Sep 12, 2023 19:22
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I found a nice quarry rock formation nearby; it is shined on during winter and it has a route. The route is an 80 meter traverse that can be soloed without protection, as it's less than a foot off the ground. Graded 7a, but it has been very worn since. It's a classic in the mountaineering community and has been the way people stayed in shape before gyms, and is still used for that. Anyway since I can literally pop there on my way home from work or indeed during a work break, here are my questions 1) the grade is far above my ability, maybe by whole 3-4 grade. However, that's the whole climb. Is it a decent idea to keep coming there and just doing a few tries (15-20 mins of climbing) when weather permits and figure it out little by little, starting from a point where I am capable of doing some starting moves and trying to get farther each time? Or too little time spent climbing and too far out my 'zone'? 2) the rock is very worn by literal generations of climbers, very slick footholds. Which is a problem with my poor footwork. Makes the climb very challenging. Still worth it? Any tips? I think it's way cooler than crushing plastic, so if I can incorporate it as a tool that would be sick. dex_sda fucked around with this message at 12:12 on Sep 19, 2023 |
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Sep 19, 2023 12:07
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I don't see any harm in at least trying it. As you said, it's a foot off the ground. If you can't do a single move it won't be worth much, but doing small sections and linking them sounds like excellent training. Rock offers infinitely more variation than plastic. Is the rock similar to the routes you want to get on? That would be the only real drawback for me, if I'm training for granite, sandstone wouldn't be as helpful.
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Sep 19, 2023 12:42
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vonnegutt posted:I don't see any harm in at least trying it.
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Sep 19, 2023 13:05
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vonnegutt posted:I don't see any harm in at least trying it. As you said, it's a foot off the ground. If you can't do a single move it won't be worth much, but doing small sections and linking them sounds like excellent training. Rock offers infinitely more variation than plastic. I don't really plan to do much outdoors but if I do, it'd be this exact rock type (limestone) as it's common in the area. For me it's appealing also because it seems to force much better footwork. I'm very strong from non-climbing pursuits so when I crush plastic I can just pull on it hard and it works - except that's not good for tendons as I tend to deathcrimp to use my strength and I don't learn good technique. This forces me to grab good as there's no real places to crimp, forces me to use poor footholds, and theres route reading too. Only disadvantage is that I feel quite out of my depth as everyone else that comes there crushes the route lol. dex_sda fucked around with this message at 14:14 on Sep 19, 2023 |
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Sep 19, 2023 14:05
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Mostly I'm just curious if climbers think this 'gonna pop there for 25 mins of climbing and try to extend lines' approach makes sense. I think it would be beneficial to grease the groove but my area of expertise is regimented strength training, not a deeply creative and technical sport like climbing.
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Sep 19, 2023 14:16
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I don't see a reason NOT to do it...
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Sep 19, 2023 16:08
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dex_sda posted:Mostly I'm just curious if climbers think this 'gonna pop there for 25 mins of climbing and try to extend lines' approach makes sense. I think it would be beneficial to grease the groove but my area of expertise is regimented strength training, not a deeply creative and technical sport like climbing. This is the redpoint ethic and it's a perfectly valid way of going at something that's basically a sport route, especially graded 7a. Learn the moves, work sections, then go for it end to end. Limestone does get polished quite badly with wear, so maybe bring a small towel to wipe your boots on before you start so you don't worsen it. Use a bar-towel for extra oldschool cool points.
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Sep 19, 2023 19:53
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Slimy Hog posted:I don't see a reason NOT to do it... Yeah as long as it's safe why not? It's cool to have a kind of benchmark project that you can progress on year over year
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Sep 19, 2023 20:59
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Endjinneer posted:This is the redpoint ethic and it's a perfectly valid way of going at something that's basically a sport route, especially graded 7a. Learn the moves, work sections, then go for it end to end. It is way beyond worn, the butter like quality is considered a feature. Nobody cares at this point. I am not kidding that probably hundreds of climbers used this one climb as their winter gym. (Sun facing, right next to the city, a ridiculously long real rock safe solo line)
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Sep 20, 2023 09:26
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Went there today, I strung together a much longer line and my footwork has much improved. Feels like a good place to train for sure. 
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Sep 21, 2023 15:41
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None of my climbing partners have kids and most of them are 5-10 years younger than I am so they're all going to the gym at times I set aside to be with my kid so now I'm not just old and fat, I'm weak old and fat.
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Sep 21, 2023 15:59
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Slimy Hog posted:None of my climbing partners have kids and most of them are 5-10 years younger than I am so they're all going to the gym at times I set aside to be with my kid so now I'm not just old and fat, I'm weak old and fat. Get your kid to do some after school climbing program or join the team, mine goes to practice twice a week now and I'm climbing more than I have since she was born.
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Sep 21, 2023 16:22
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M. Night Skymall posted:Get your kid to do some after school climbing program or join the team, mine goes to practice twice a week now and I'm climbing more than I have since she was born. My kid is 5, afraid of climbing in the gym (but loves TRing easy stuff outside; I think it's because it's less steep), comes home exhausted after a full day of school the gym I usually go to isn't really kid-friendly. I know that he'll grow up eventually and I'll get some of my time back, so I'm really just venting. On the other hand.... weak old and fat describes a trad dad so maybe I'm on to something
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Sep 21, 2023 16:37
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My kid klimbing tip is put a stuffy up high and make it a rescue mission
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Sep 21, 2023 16:40
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^That's wicked cute 
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Sep 21, 2023 17:17
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alnilam posted:My kid klimbing tip is put a stuffy up high and make it a rescue mission We did this with brushes and all kinds of things. She also loved to run around cleaning holds she could reach when she was small, but that kind of thing doesn't actually help you, the parent, do any climbing. The best advice I have for getting your kid into climbing is that it's probably going to be a mostly social experience for a long time, so try to find another kid/parents who like climbing and then do playdates at the gym, get them into team/after school/whatever together, etc. There are kids who just get super into climbing and love it, but those are rare and most of the kids I know like that have parents who don't even climb. Probably going to have to find a gym with a serious kid's program with motivated coaches (motivated to get the kids to enjoy climbing, I don't care at all about her actual performance.) Finding a gym was easy for me because every gym in town has a loving army of children in it from when school lets out until 7, but I think Dallas is just taking the gymnastics model and applying it to climbing basically, that may not apply in places with accessible outdoor climbing and a vastly different gym culture.
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Sep 21, 2023 17:30
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M. Night Skymall posted:The best advice I have for getting your kid into climbing is that it's probably going to be a mostly social experience for a long time, so try to find another kid/parents who like climbing and then do playdates at the gym, get them into team/after school/whatever together, etc.
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Sep 21, 2023 19:28
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alnilam posted:My kid klimbing tip is put a stuffy up high and make it a rescue mission I like to throw halloween candy to some ledges/holds so they can try and catch it to win the prize. Letting them brush holds is something they always enjoyed too. I just try to bring them with me when I go outdoor and try to go indoor climbing every now and then to get them used to it in the hopes they like it enough to climb with me in a few years
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Sep 21, 2023 19:44
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Got back from my quick trip to the Adirondacks this past weekend with some buddies, what a goddamn awesome day. I need to figure out how I can relocate to somewhere with more than just bouldering nearby. We stayed in the Beer Walls area and I got my first taste of crack climbing. It was cool but I couldn't stop worrying about my hand/fingers getting stuck when a foot slips and then god-knows-what would happen to me  But all the not-so-cracky stuff we did loving ruled.  This was my favorite wall we got on; an awesome 4-star route called Frosted Mug around the arrete to the left there. I really struggled with the beginning, just under that roofy bit took me a while to figure out the footwork to get around the corner. Going up the rest of it was fairly straight forward, just some good fun laybacks. A route to the right, Flying & Drinking and Drinking & Driving was pretty cool too. For me the crux was relatively early on in the climb, so I wasted a ton of gas trying to figure that out before just going off route a little bit and using some much easier features off to the side as seen in that second photo^. But the rest of the route was great. I didn't quite manage to finish either climb, but honestly I really impressed myself with how much I did regardless. I had a really tough time with some of the 5.8's I touched in the Gunks earlier this year, so to almost complete a 5.9 and a 5.10 on even taller walls felt great. All the effort to drop 15 pounds and focus on endurance at the gym this year really paying off 
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Sep 25, 2023 00:33
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Eyeballing a wall for the garage again. Kilter gave me a pretty eyewatering quote for a 10x12. I guess they only partner with lemur, whose frames are indeed awesome, industrial heavy duty and will last forever, but goddamn. Think the 10x12 gets into gym territory and I got gym pricing, but still. 55K for everything, lol. Haven't talked out the 10x10 fully, but sounds like it would still be around 20k (+ pads). Anyone have plans for an adjustable 10x10, mayyyybe a 10x12 diy frame, that has worked for them? Pads are a whole nother thing, we have a ton of crash pads. But would be nice to get some real thick stuff, not a haphazard mess of crash pads. This site actually seems pretty decent https://www.thefoamfactory.com/blog/index.php/climb-higher-with-confidence-using-bouldering-crash-pads , but still seems like have to piece together 4 or 6 sheets.
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Oct 3, 2023 00:32
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I'm actually looking into a home wall too, trying to figure out what size I can comfortably fit in my garage and whether I should just build it myself. I wasn't a big fan of the kilter board so I was thinking of getting a tension board 2. We haven't gotten any quotes, but public pricing for adjustable walls is painful.
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Oct 3, 2023 15:41
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Why not just a Moon board? It's way cheaper but perhaps not as sexy. Add a chain winch to make it adjustable. You can use the OG 2016 holds if you feel strong otherwise another layout. You don't NEED the fancy lights or app integration. They've got a how-to guide online.
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Oct 3, 2023 18:55
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Slimy Hog posted:What kind of maintenance do you mean? I am a Neanderthal and I will never stop dragging my toes
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Oct 3, 2023 19:17
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