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gohuskies posted:Brad Gobright rapped off the end of his ropes and died in El Potrero Chico today. Knots at the end of your ropes, please. Not that the advice about knots changes but latest news is that he was simul rapping and the partner rapped off the end of his side which then caused them both to fall. Article with some details. Sounds like the partner got quite lucky and landed on a ledge.
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Nov 28, 2019 16:22
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Mokelumne Trekka posted:With that said, my goal for next year is to take a rappel class. I dislike rappeling and can't shake the fear of it. My partner, who taught me, double checks my set up before proceeding. It has been a real drag outdoors and I hope to get more comfortable. It is healthy to have some fear around it and taking a class probably will help towards shaking that fear. Also, a lot of practice. But, if someone is around that can double check it isn't a bad idea to have them check. I don't find it terribly frightening when I'm setting up to rappel to clean a route and that has come through doing it a ton of times and really focusing on a single idea. That idea is that I'll be switching to and from different things (rope, slings, quickdraws, whatever else) being the active component of what is saving my life when at the anchors and always confirming that whatever item I'm switching to is the item saving my life (preventing me from falling) prior to disconnecting from the previous thing that was preventing me from falling. It isn't an unusual or unique thought but keeping it in mind helps me. In Spring 2018, my climbing partner made a mistake and fell about 50 feet to the ground. He broke his back but he lived and has done a little bit of climbing since then. It was all a blur but it looked like he missed clipping one of the two strands of rope going through his ATC. Because of that accident, I'm actually more comfortable being the person doing the cleaning than I am when someone else is doing it since I'm control. Repeated exposure has helped get over the feelings that pop-up in various climbing situations but I definitely still have some head problems after the accident.
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Dec 4, 2019 05:55
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spwrozek posted:^ just say no to raps on any single pitch climb ever. I completely agreed, but different areas have had different local ethics towards it over the years. It can be difficult to keep up with changing thoughts towards what is acceptable in an area. Most of my rappel experience comes from single pitch sport climbing. If I didn't have that, then the much smaller amount of multi-pitch I've done would have been much more intimidating. Regardless of however you are coming down from a route, take your time and double or triple check. Have steps you do every time but make sure you understand why you do them so you can vary them when necessary.
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Dec 4, 2019 22:52
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Sab669 posted:Similar to my "what the hell is the difference" question about shoes... what the hell is the difference between a $60 harness and a $200 harness? I'm finally going to do some top rope next week, and while I'm content to simply rent a harness for now I'll probably buy one by spring time the latest next year. Others have already hit on differences but I'd just want to reiterate that you should try them on and try hanging in them. I know the REI around me has a rope looped around a beam so you can try hanging in harnesses. Also, talk to others about their harness and see what they say. I was about to purchase a harness at the gym a few years ago and was persuaded not to by an employee who had it. Everyone will have different opinions though. For example, earlier a poster praised adjustable leg loops. My current harness has them and I find them annoying (and I don't actually need them).
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Dec 6, 2019 15:06
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Sab669 posted:That makes way more sense I won't comment on ropes as that has already been covered but a few years ago I had this question about quickdraws and it was hard to find guidance on it. The best I could find was the suggestion to replace the dogbones (the thing connecting the carabiners) around 10 years even if you haven't used them much. Replace more frequently if they have been well loved it stored poorly. They cost significantly less than the cost if the whole quickdraw. I was able to find some decent ones for under 5 dollars a piece. If something looks well worn, then replace it. You don't want to be second guessing your gear when your climbing. The gear seems expensive but you get a lot of life from it.
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Dec 6, 2019 23:11
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And yikes, those start to get expensive fast. How often do you need to replace stuff?
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Zephro posted:So should I, thread? Should I pull the trigger?? Absolutely. If you think you'd have the discipline to use it then I'd say go for it. Sounds like you are in an ideal situation for having your own woody at home. I don't remember the content of the podcast but earlier this year the Power Company Podcast had an episode where they talked about spray walls vs Tension/Moonboard type walls. It might help you decide what you'd enjoy more.
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Dec 12, 2019 23:22
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M. Night Skymall posted:The other thing that may be happening is a lot of commercial gyms kind of bullshit their grades from v0-v3/v4(sometimes up to v6 I hear) and then things start to suddenly ramp back up to outdoor levels, which means there's a steeper step from v5-v8 or so. This is definitely true. A friend of mine used to be the head route setter at a gym and he confirmed they tried to start having grades line back up with outside at v6 so that new people would have a quicker progression and not get discouraged.
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Dec 17, 2019 20:50
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If you can get it, get a tension hangboard. I have an earlier iteration and it is great. I vastly prefer it to all the boards I've used at various gyms. Simpler options could also be good. Bare minimum is something with a single ~18-20mm edge. Features to have on top of that would be smaller edges. A larger edge can be nice for warming up but is unnecessary. You can also just warm up by pulling less hard on edges you normally train on. Definitely get wood. It is much easier on the skin. You can get strong off a single campus rung, just keep at it.
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Feb 2, 2020 01:31
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I haven't looked at the Gomi yet but if it is similar to the acro the acro does stretch a bit despite having a ton of rubber over the front.
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Feb 28, 2020 23:49
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I've been hangboarding and doing some random body weight stuff along with occasional walks and bike rides outside. I've been mostly working on one-arm half crimp on a 30mm edge. I've managed to go from being unable to pull off the ground to being able to get off the ground. I've also been doing some density hangs and have noticed improments there as well.
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May 4, 2020 23:40
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I don't think it is weird for a climbing gym company to have multiple locations in the same metropolitan area. You have experience with building out, staffing, and operations. You have relationships with investors. You've shown there is demand. If your gyms are packed, opening another across town seems reasonable. Talking to staff, I've been lead to believe that opening new locations in distinct areas of the city grew the number of members instead of shifting people around. I think that high-profile documentaries and climbing in the Olympics have and will continue to grow the sport. Do people have the same feelings about traditional gyms? I don't see a huge difference between owning multiple of them and multiple climbing facilities. All of this was written ignoring COVID. Yeah, that is going to gently caress both climbing and normal gyms. I think they'll bounce back if they can survive though.
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Jun 9, 2020 01:43
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I usually climb in prana brions. I agree the material is great.
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Oct 7, 2020 02:43
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Xyven posted:I've never been to a gym where I needed my own rope. I'm surprised that the insurance companies are ok with that. Mine used to provide ropes for free but stopped due to cost of continuously needing to replace them. They would also occasionally be out of ropes and then you'd be stuck needing to bring your own anyway. As someone that used to use a 70m rope in the gym I can strongly recommend not doing that. Once I picked up a 40m for the gym life got better.
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Oct 16, 2020 16:29
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KingColliwog posted:What did you find particularly annoying about using a longer rope? I think you actually guessed most of what I appreciate about using a rope fit for the length of routes available at the gym but just replying to confirm. It basically just is less work. There is less rope to manage. Less rope to flake. Less to carry around the gym. I'm not sure I would have considered purchasing a 40m rope before I had won one in an endurance climbing competition but when it was time to replace it we replaced it with another 40m rope. It also saves wear on the thinner, more expensive 70m I use for trips.
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Oct 17, 2020 22:07
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I find that my partner and I can move faster if we are top roping and get more climbing in the time slots we have to reserve due to covid restrictions at the gym. Though, in practice I mostly only boulder now as it seems like a more effective use of my time.
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Oct 19, 2020 16:31
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Baronash posted:How have you all felt about your gym experiences since covid? I haven't been going because my wife and I agreed we weren't comfortable doing indoor poo poo way back when this started, so I haven't climbed at all since March. That has been hell on my mental health, and I'm giving the gym a shot tomorrow. I think my gyms opened in July and I didn't go at all until mid August. Then I probably went 1 or 2 times a week for a few weeks before getting into a funk and basically stopping exercise. I've been out of that and have been the the gyms twice in the previous two weeks of October. The gym restricts the number of people, you must wear a mask, and there is a lot of sanitizer around. Until recently, you had to use liquid chalk. You are supposed to stay apart from others. You have to sign up for a two time slot. I'm not able to go during the non-busier hours so the gym often is at capacity (at least on paper, I don't think everyone that signs up for a time slot actually shows up). I'm able to mostly keep my distance from others. I've moved to mostly bouldering as I can get a better work out in the limited time. Sometimes people get closer than I'd like. Sometimes folks are closer to others than I think they should be. I have mixed feelings about it. Historically, I'd go to the gym and even if my day was sort bad, I'd feel better and happy I got some climbing in. Now, I'm not always enjoying the trip. I think I'm feeling some anxiety about being there and also slightly bad for going. The social aspect of the gym is quite different now and that also makes it less enjoyable for me. I'm definitely a person that would be slightly annoyed at too much chit-chat in the past but it turns out I miss those stop and chats. Between the reduced population attending and the limited time those stop and chats aren't happening or are much abbreviated. When I enjoy it though, it feels great. Working a problem and finally getting the send still feels good. I've managed to still keep up my strength during the lockdown and have only noticed a slight dip in how hard I can boulder. Endurance on longer routes is bad though. My skin is also a limiting factor. I haven't really been going enough to not have my finger tips be quite sensitive. I think if I went more frequently, I'd be enjoying my trips more due to me slowly adjusting to the experience. I'd recommend going and have recommended going to friends. Just know it might not feel the same.
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Oct 20, 2020 07:03
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Suicide Watch posted:I moved to SoCal so I can climb outdoors year-round. I need this in my life
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Oct 20, 2020 21:49
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Video of Alex Megos sending Bibliographie, a proposed 5.15d, is up. It is very impressive how dialed in every move looks.
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Nov 17, 2020 21:20
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spwrozek posted:The pizza is fine if there is little wait. Not worth the hour+ it usually is though. The correct move is to call in your order when you're leaving the crag (or have left and have found a spot on road where you have cell service) and then walk by everyone waiting in line and just go to the counter.
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Nov 19, 2020 18:44
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KingColliwog posted:Do you guys have a cool ab routine I could slap at the end of my climbing a couple times a week? When I was doing a program with the Power Company I had a relatively short set of body weight exercises they had me doing throughout the week. I don't have my notes with me but core exercise wise I remember doing hollow body holds and push up position bird dogs. Hollow body holds, especially after a couple hours of climbing, really crushed me. Both exercises really have you focus on generating tension and they seemed pretty helpful. I definitely felt myself being able to generate more tension throughout my body over the course of the training. I'm sure the on-the-wall training was helping more but those felt helpful. I managed to be in the best climbing shape of my life just in time for the pandemic.
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Dec 20, 2020 15:13
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Hot Diggity! posted:Speaking of resoling is rockandresole still the go-to? I've mostly used Yosemite Bum because the turn around has been much faster for me.
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May 11, 2021 18:00
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I haven't done an event like that before but have done a couple events that were scored by feet of climbing done in 4 hours. Each roped climb counted for 50 feet and a boulder was 15 (or something like that). I won the last one my gym had and was nearly a zombie at the end of it. It was a lot of fun.
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Jul 18, 2021 22:20
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Previous posters warning about grades being subjective and what not withstanding, recording what you've been doing over time can be useful for seeing long term trends and serve as a useful reference point for when you pick back up some aspect of training that you had previously stopped (example: added weight in hang boarding) There are a few phone apps that let you record what you've been climbing and let you track overtime. Unfortunately for this post, I'm blanking on them as I don't use any of them. I've tried a mix of ways of tracking what I do and haven't really locked down something that I'm consistent with. I track my hang boarding mostly using Google Keep on my phone and just jot down the date and what I did that day. I find it super useful to write down how much weight I'm adding, what grips I've done, and a subjective rating of how hard I'm trying. For boulders and route climbing, I either record in another Keep note on my phone what I've done or track it in a paper notebook. I tend to like the paper notebook better. I think it is motivating to be able to flip back a year or two and see what has changed since then. Progress can be slow and hard to feel but seeing old records and realizing "oh yeah, v7 (at this particular gym) used to feel impossible but now I'm able to project and complete them" is a good feeling. Part of the benefit of recording what you've done is simply taking the time to reflect on your session. What felt hard, what was easy, what did you learn, what should you try next time? I've found thinking about questions like that to be useful.
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Aug 8, 2021 17:34
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Ravenfood posted:Anyone climb in the Columbus Ohio area? Looking for gym reviews and eventually nearby outdoor areas once I feel back in shape enough to do that. In case you aren't aware, you are only about four hours or so from the Red River Gorge in Kentucky. This is a fantastic climbing area.
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Aug 25, 2021 15:20
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spwrozek posted:Never have used liquid chalk but I feel like I could get behind this. My gym also went all liquid chalk last year, though sometime this year they also started allowing the chalk sock/balls in your chalk bag. The air was noticably better with the all liquid chalk. Turns out, when I'm not breathing in chalk all the time my occasional asthma symptoms don't happen! I still think it is better with the chalk balls and liquid chalk now but seems worse than all liquid. But I am happy to have some chalk available mid-climb now. Unfortunately, kind of hard to enforce the chalk ball requirement so they basically don't enforce it.
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Sep 16, 2021 05:30
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Sab669 posted:I want to like it, but my clipping technique is so bad that I need to just practice on like, 5.9's but those are so colossaly boring to actually climb that I don't want to do it. This might sound ridiculous but I'd suggest hanging a quickdraw at home, tying the rope around your waist (or otherwise simulating having the rope attached to a harness or wearing a harness) and spend some time dedicated to practicing clipping at home from the comfort of the ground. Try every variety you can. Watch a couple YouTube videos and try different techniques out. You can at least get the hand motions down and it will make the on-the-wall effort that much easier. Then you can focus on finding good stances on the wall and not think about what your hand and arm need to do.
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Oct 3, 2021 16:59
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I'm thinking about squeezing in a short trip around New Years somewhere, kind of assuming in the US but I suppose that doesn't have to be since it would need to be a flight anyways. Most likely it would need to be sport climbing as I'm unsure if my partner would be excited about boudering, though maybe I could convince her. I've been to Red Rocks before, though not in early January, and was thinking that might work Anyone have some recommendations?
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Nov 16, 2021 02:23
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Sab669 posted:How was the crowd for that^? Seems like that'd be a blast to watch. I've attended both a USA climbing nationals bouldering and sport comp. I thought it was a ton of fun and would do it again. Speed climbing in person is so fast. Crowd during both was pretty good. Lots of cheering. It was a good time. For both, I could see there being some benefit in bringing some binoculars so you could get a close up view if some of the holds. The sport comp was also neat because the finals routes and some of the semi-final routes stayed up so I was able to give them a shot the next day. I couldn't even start the men's final problem. The first move was way harder than I could climb at the time and there wasn't a good way if skipping it. The women's I was able to get to the first bolt but that is where it started to be hard. I hadn't bothered tying in as I didn't expect to get that far but I don't think I would have made it much further.
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Dec 1, 2021 22:15
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I have not had an issue on overhangs. Once on a vertical wall, I did have a leg loop crush a ball while doing some fancy footwork ant it screwed up my onsight attempt. This has happened once in about 12 years of primarily roped climbing.
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Dec 4, 2021 15:59
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I've been wondering when a lead autobelay might hit the market. I've been thinking about how you might do one for a long time. I'm glad to see some folks actually very to do it. Probably some flaws with this idea (and it wouldn't solve being lowered) but I can imagine a mechanism that is sort of like a seatbelt in a car working for arresting a fall. I'd use it. In other autobelay news, one that will hold you for some period of time before lowering is coming to market as well. I first learned about this during an ad during a climbing comp and it took me by surprise when the climber in the ad fell and was held. That is pretty neat. It would be nice to be able to fall and still be able to jump back midroute Once or twice I've brought a long sling and used that to let me work a move on an auto. I've never seen someone else do this though and am unsure if the gym allows this or just hasn't noticed me doing it.
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Dec 5, 2021 17:17
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I did a Power Company training plan back at the beginning of 2020 (Red River Gorge Pump Prep or something like that). Sounds like a lot of overlap with what KingColliwog talked about but tweaked a bit as the RRG season got closer. I thought it was great. I was feeling very strong at the end of it and, unintentionally, it really increased how much I like bouldering. Probably because before it I really never focused on bouldering for more than a few sessions in a row. Beginning of pandemic in the US caused me to not be able to test it out how I performed at the Red though, so definitely unclear if it would have translated to the level of pump you can achieve at the RRG. I'm pretty confident that something from Lattice or other programs would be beneficial as well, as long as you actually dedicate the time and effort to following them. It is going to come down to putting in the work while listening to your body.
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Dec 23, 2021 15:52
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I'd tweak the redpoint definition a bit and say that they lead the route cleanly after having tried the route at least once or practiced sections of it before.
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Jan 14, 2022 19:29
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I forget where I heard this but on some podcast, probably Power Company, someone commented that they thought about board climbing as a different universe and suggested not trying to compare board grades with other bouldering grades. I don't have enough variety of board climbing experience to comment on it but I think the general concept is useful. As an example, I own a moonboard mini and v3 is the easiest grade on that board. I still have two v3 benchmarks I have not been able to send. I'm currently working my way through the v4 benchmarks. Maybe I could find some v5s that I could send but I still need to put in a serious amount of work on many v4s so I haven't gone hunting for higher grades. At gyms, it isn't unusual for me to flash a v6 and v8 is the hardest I've sent.
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Apr 27, 2022 05:40
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My guess on the swing set climbing wall is that it would all work out and be fine. I'm not a pro, I'm basing this off having read and watched so many things when I built my mini-moonboard. Even with all my reading earlier last year, I don't remember coming across someone using those swing set brackets before though. I'd recommend 2x6s instead of 2x4s when building that size of wall though. I have a vague recollection of folks saying 2x4s for an 8 ft by 8 ft wall being doable but recommending 2x6s for larger walls. I know my 8 by 8 foot wall is overbuilt with me using 2x6s for everything though. Niyqor fucked around with this message at 01:50 on Jun 20, 2022 |
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Jun 20, 2022 01:48
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I climbed there last fall and climbed that route. Looking down at about where that climber is and having so much space below you, so fun. The two days I spent climbing there were a blast. Highly recommend it to others.
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Jul 4, 2022 16:58
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Sigmund Fraud posted:I coach a couple of climbing classes with weaker climbers (5a-6b rope grades). What are your guys' favorite (most but not too demanding) drills? They're office workers with that hunched computer posture. All can TR and a few can lead. Not a lot to this drill but have them keep their eyes on the foothold as they are placing their foot. Keep doing this and have them work on placing their feet precisely. That is a practice I picked up years ago from some YouTube video and I think it has been immensely helpful, especially when I suggest it to friends that are newer to climbing. The book "Rock Climbing Technique: The Practical Guide to Movement Mastery" is also full of skill exercises and is a book I'd recommend. It will give you a long list of drills to pick from.
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Sep 28, 2022 22:20
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At least if you faint it is going to be on the pads.
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Oct 29, 2022 19:41
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Baronash posted:For a while, I also practiced repeatedly clipping into my home anchor board just to refine the motion so that I spent less time fumbling, but that is probably excessive. I actually don't think this is excessive at all. Hanging a draw up at home and practicing different clips can be an excellent way to just get in a bunch of reps. I had been leading for years before I finally did this and still found benefits to it. Watch a bunch of videos online about clipping and watch various pro and comp climbers lead and pay attention to how they clip. Then try the different styles at home. Actually attach the rope to you (can just be a belt loop) and commit to the practice. It doesn't take long to quickly get at least some experience with different clipping methods and, at least for me, it really transferred to real climbing.
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Dec 15, 2022 23:09
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"Just climb" is fine advice at this point. But also, don't just climb and then jump on your phone or other distraction between climbing. Watch other people climb. Try to pick up movement techniques and ideas from them. Try experiments with movement and body positions on the wall. Small changes to movement can make a huge difference in how hard something feels. Watching others and climbing with other people will accelerate your learning.
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Jul 24, 2023 14:39
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Don't worry about it. Kids being kids. But also, it would be nice to encourage them to do one of the "Mind if I jump on?" questions that the only real answer to is "nope, go for it" (unless the person being asked is an rear end in a top hat). It gives someone working a chance to turn away and not spoil solving it and is just generally friendlier gym etiquette (that I also fail at doing but always try to do better).
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Jul 25, 2023 16:14
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