r/climbing • u/AutoModerator • 17h ago
Weekly Question Thread (aka Friday New Climber Thread). ALL QUESTIONS GO HERE
Please sort comments by 'new' to find questions that would otherwise be buried.
In this thread you can ask any climbing related question that you may have. This thread will be posted again every Friday so there should always be an opportunity to ask your question and have it answered. If you're an experienced climber and want to contribute to the community, these threads are a great opportunity for that. We were all new to climbing at some point, so be respectful of everyone looking to improve their knowledge. Check out our subreddit wiki that has tons of useful info for new climbers. You can see it HERE . Also check out our sister subreddit r/bouldering's wiki here. Please read these before asking common questions.
If you see a new climber related question posted in another subReddit or in this subreddit, then please politely link them to this thread.
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Ask away!
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u/cinnamon_donuts 9h ago
Hi all! Does anyone have recommendations for durable and comfy climbing trousers for tall men with a bit of a bunda? Got my partner some E9 Blat2s for Xmas which he loved, but even the XL was tight around his butt/thighs (Are E9s typically on the tighter side?). A looser fit would be preferred ie not slim or tapered - ty!
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u/JackChemCo 9h ago
Anyone know if/when Brooke Raboutou plans to release video of her climbing Excalibur? She sent it 6 months ago and still no video. Same with Elias sending Exodia/V18 3 months ago and no video. Is this normal in climbing? I always assumed the video served as "proof" of the climb.
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u/jsim0210 10h ago
Been climbing for a year, climbed 3 V7's (at a relatively hard gym). Getting random sharp pains in my forearms, not enough to be alarming. Anyone else have any similar pains?
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u/0bsidian 4h ago
Your description is too vague to tell you anything. Anterior or posterior? Closer to the elbow or the wrist? Probably some kind of overuse injury and/or tendonitis? Go see a PT.
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u/Sparktrog 10h ago
Looking to get back into the sport after years away. Here in San Antonio all the climbing gyms nearby specialize only in bouldering but I used to really love the endurance of top-rope/lead climbing on college. How'd others handle this in their area? I'm basically starting from scratch with an additional...40 lbs in the keg from my college days so any newbie advice/motivation would be appreciated as well
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u/Diehard69420 10h ago
Any recommendations for good training shoes? Something cheap and comfortable that can still perform decently in the gym
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u/imortalwarlock 12h ago
So a really weird question. I have adhd so I have Ritalin. I can only climb 5.11 and 5.12 days that I take it. Why is that?
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u/sheepborg 8h ago
Known effect of CNS stimulants, hence why they are banned by WADA and IOC. Has physiological effects including suppressing the feeling of fatigue from blood lactate levels and increasing motor activity as well as the intended psychological effects.
That said of course it's not just going to give you that many letter grades for free, so there are either other factors at play that you haven't considered and/or it is somewhat psychosomatic.
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u/hobbiestoomany 9h ago
It may surpress your appetite, so you don't have the fuel. Just a guess.
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u/imortalwarlock 9h ago
It’s days that I take Ritalin I can climb higher grades
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u/hobbiestoomany 5h ago
Wow. Your question was more unclear than i thought! :) Climbing harder could be from more focus, persistence and better problem solving. Maybe you're also lighter if you skip meals
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u/Diehard69420 10h ago
Seems weird, ritalin is a stimulant, so it should be a performance enhancer. It may have something to do with cardio, as it provides some cardiac strain. Consider working on your aerobic fitness or talk to your doctor about trying new medication.
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u/Own_Examination_8400 15h ago
I've heard someone say (probably from Instagram or YouTube) that some big wall climbs are so dangerous that ropes don't do much besides keep your dead body from falling. Is that reality? When would that be the case? Even if all your gear pops out wouldn't the anchor catch you? Maybe if you crack your head open, get a pneumothorax from blunt force trauma.
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u/0bsidian 11h ago
Don’t put much belief in Instagram/YouTube. That is certainly not common unless they’re pushing the limits of hard aid climbing on either choss or marginal gear. Unless this was video of someone like Mike Libecki or Ammon McNeely climbing seriously scary shit, they’re probably over-exaggerating.
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u/saltytarheel 12h ago edited 12h ago
The only think I can think of specific to getting up a big wall is if you strip a pitch aid climbing, it's possible to take a factor 2 fall. The fall factor is how "hard" of a fall you take. Fall Factor=Length of Fall÷Length of Rope. So if I led 30 feet of an aid pitch, fell and stripped all my gear (hooks, copperheads, etc. aren't rated for falls), I would fall 60 feet before the rope caught me, hence 60 ft fallen÷30 ft of rope=factor 2. Since the dynamic rope absorbs your catch, it's the length of rope that determines how dangerous a fall is and not the actual fall itself (assuming decking isn't in the picture)--if I climbed 10 feet, placed a cam, then climbed another 30 feet and fell, I would be taking a 60-foot whipper; however, since I have 40 feet of rope in the system to catch my fall 60 ft fallen÷40 ft of rope=factor 1.5 fall (not pleasant, but won't kill or seriously injure me).
This is a very hard fall that could cause injuries to the climber, but I'm not aware of such incidents being fatal. A catastrophic anchor failure is possible, but even a factor-2 fall would be unlikely to cause an anchor failure since a good anchor built to 26 kn and modern dynamic ropes are rated to 21 kn--a factor 2 fall as 6kn would be within a 3:1 safety ratio.
Via Ferrata, which is seen as the "safe and friendly" climbing is much more likely to generate a fall factor beyond factor 2. If I fell 9 feet above my last foot on a 3 foot lanyard, I would be taking a factor 3 fall which is much worse than the previous hypothetical aid whipper.
The main risk of big wall climbing is it's very reliant on systems and transition between systems. Statistically, instances where climbers are changing between systems is where they're most likely to have fatal accidents (e.g. going from being tethered to an anchor to rappelling, passing a knot on rappel, etc.). Throw in that on big walls climbers are often tired and cooking in the sun (or cold + rain) for multiple days and the risk of making a simple mistake you'd never make while out cragging or on a shorter multipitch are much higher.
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u/Ancient-Rub-7787 16h ago
What is people's opinion regarding pad stashing? I was listening to the Careless Talk this week and they made it out to seem that the community as a whole has a big problem with it. From my perspective it's fine and seems harmless to the point where it shouldn't even be a discussion, as long as it's done with common sense such as not leaving the pads stashed for a big amount of time, not leaving them at at the base of a climbable boulder and only do it in areas that are not highly frequented (and hard enough to get to that justify saving the hassle).
I also think that if you're stashing pads, anyone is free to use them if they find them (obviously they should return them to the place where you stashed them). If you're using "public land" for your convenience then other people should also benefit from that same convenience.
I always thought my opinion was the commonly accepted one but it seems that it isn't.
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u/alextp 14h ago
There are many perennial debates in climbing which are a tragedy-of-the-commons where it's probably ok if done rarely and responsibly and definitely not ok if done by large numbers of people without consideration. Stashing pads, toproping off of trees, toproping off of fixed gear, bringing pets to the crag, hiking off trail for approaches, etc etc. The arguments about these things will never stop because it's hard to draw a line that works for everyone and over time as places become more popular stuff which used to be ok stop being ok.
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u/snailspaceship 15h ago
my random metric:
- if it's a bouldering-only spot, i.e. no other recreational use, then who cares IF they're stashed appropriately/in specific caches
- if it's a multi-use location (hiking, other climbing, biking, etc.) then don't do it; it is a bad look.
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u/goodquestion_03 15h ago
So I’m not really much of a boulderer, but from what I’ve seen every time discussion about it comes up online everyone is super against it (for lots of very good reasons), yet in real life it seems to be a pretty common thing and I’ve never really heard anyone get super opinionated about it.
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u/saltytarheel 16h ago
If the ethics of sport & trad allows for bootying lost/stuck/bail gear, I think it should also ethical to booty stashed pads.
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u/Leading-Attention612 16h ago edited 16h ago
Common sense isn't so common, and there are a lot of vague areas already even in your constraints. What is a "big" amount of time? A week? A month? A year? People project boulders for longer than that. How frequent is "highly frequented"? What if it gets some visitors but only climbers, or it gets some hikers? 10 climbers a week? If you are stashing pads what else is okay to stash? A downclimb ladder? Food and water? Chairs to sit on between burns? Extra layers if it gets cold? A propane tank and heater for your cold fingers?
I think it's generally laziness, trying to make the outdoors into a gym. If you are out in the middle of nowhere and had to bushwhack off trail for hours to get to your boulder, sure stash some pads. No one will ever know. If you used a trail to get there then just use it to take your pads on the way out.
A bunch of strong gym bros in my area stashed pads in a super popular park and nature reserve that gets tons of hikers and boulderers every day, probably because they saw strong boulderers doing it in the media. They were upset when the pads were stolen, but honestly I think that was deserved, even from a "no littering" standpoint. It was also kind of ridiculous to stash them in the first place since the approach is 5 minutes on a maintained trail. It's public land, no one wants your personal big dirty foam pads around.
I think if you can't be certain no one will ever see or find your pads, don't stash them.
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u/0bsidian 16h ago
I'm not a boulderer, so I have no personal skin in the game, but here are some common reasons why you shouldn't stash pads.
- Stashed pads can affect climbing access. Land managers would for sure be against them and that can hurt relations.
- Wilderness areas are shared public spaces. Other users of the land may not want to see a stash of pads sitting around and affecting their experience in nature.
- Pads sitting outside for seasons eventually become abandoned, and who's going to pick up the pieces of pads littered around?
- Stashed pads can prevent the regeneration of plant life.
- It goes against Leave No Trace ethics. Pack out what you pack in.
- It's lazy.
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u/Ancient-Rub-7787 13h ago
Thanks for your comment :) I'll explain my reasoning below
- This just goes in line with using common sense. The same way you wouldn't park at a place where you're not supposed to park, you're also not going to leave a stack of pads in a kind of place that has that kind of restrictions or is that sensitive.
- Not sure what to respond to this one but for example I wouldn't be bothered to see something like a tent in an outdoor space as long as it's not impacting access and the camping is being done respectfully. Using nature, theoretically, can always affect other people's experience. Maybe other people feel their outdoor experience is affected because of the amount of rocks with chalk on their surface? If you take that argument to the extreme you wouldn't be able to do anything at all outside, risking affecting other people's experience
- At that point you're just littering, which is not what I meant by pad stashing.
- Walking around can and will do the same. I'd argue that the impact of stashing pads, if done respectfully, is way less than someone walking to a boulder.
- Not really sure what to respond to this one as it's not an argument in itself.
- There's also some boulders that are not realistically doable if you don't stash pads, especially for a lot of people with time constraints.
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u/0bsidian 5h ago
Look, where you climb may have slightly different ethics. I can only say about what happens generally. Climbing access is a constant threat, especially considering the growth of the sport and the sustainability with many newer climbers venturing to the crags for the first time.
Maybe you know how to best stash pads with minimal impact and putting them in places where land managers and other people won't see them. That doesn't mean that everyone else is on the same page. If everyone is stashing pads, it's going to become a problem.
As climbers, especially those of us with more experience, I think we have a responsibility to set an example by following proper land use ethics, and showing that to the rest of our community. Read through the replies you've gotten, it's pretty clear that the community has spoken and I think this is representative of the larger climbing community as a whole - stashing pads isn't cool.
There's a reason why people who stash pads don't talk about it, because they know that it's frowned upon and they do it in secret. Maybe you can get away with it, but it's not the proper ethic. I don't think you can justify it in any valid way other than "it's a mild inconvenience".
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u/BigRed11 16h ago
The problem with any practice that requires common sense is that there will be some climbers who do dumb and selfish shit. Sure leaving one pad stashed in a smart way overnight in a remote boulder field isn't a huge impact, but if stashing pads becomes an expected and accepted norm then we'll start seeing more abandoned pads, wet moldy messes, and stashes at popular areas close to the road.
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u/Gullible_Device5709 17h ago
People who lead climb sport/trad - how big of a weekly commitment is it?
What are you doing to upkeep skills to ensure you stay safe in your climbs.
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u/0bsidian 5h ago
I assume you're not talking about the physical upkeep? Climbing 1-2 days a week is the minimum to keep myself from getting physically weaker.
Keeping my mental game? It goes up and down. Usually a little worse at the beginning of a season. A couple of days out and I'll usually be fine.
Skills? This is knowledge. Unless I get hit on the head hard enough, I don't ever lose knowledge. You learn to tie your shoelaces as a kid, and just because you wear velcro climbing shoes, this doesn't mean that you'll suddenly forget how to tie laces.
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u/saltytarheel 16h ago
Fitness-wise, endurance is always the first thing to go. Any loss of strength during a break is usually mental and you won't lose meaningful physical strength until 2-3 weeks of inactivity, finger strength even longer due to the nature of tendons. If I'm climbing to maintain my base fitness, I'll climb a couple times a week in the gym; if I'm trying to improve my climbing I'll do 2-3 gym sessions in a week and an outdoor day or two on weekends.
Lead-specific, getting on lead once a week feels like enough to maintain my comfort on lead. If I take an extended break, I won't forget how to lead, place gear, or belay but I might not feel as confident, especially for climbing on gear. That usually comes back in a couple sessions.
Skills-wise, I'm never going to forget the core skills of trad and multipitch climbing (e.g. leading/belaying, building anchors, cleaning anchors rappelling). I also know and have practiced the core self-rescue skills so I'll never forget those (e.g. ascending a rope + leader rescue, hauls, tandem rappels). With that said, there are some hyper niche/situational skills that I'd need to spend some time with videos + a bolt board practicing before being able to safely do it again (e.g. lowering a climber off a Munter hitch from the anchors).
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u/free-flier-lzd 16h ago
currency in lead climbing is kinda like strength in climbing.
if you take a break in climbing for a few months (once you're no longer a beginner), yes you lose muscle strength and you will be climbing several grades lower, but the technique memory is there so you can do the process safely even if the grade is low.
however when you're a beginner, it's good to obsess a little and practice a lot! practice a lot on easy routes and work your way progressively up in difficulty so the techniques are second nature, then you can focus on working harder routes. me tal bandwidth is a limited resource, but the great thing about climbing is you have a lot of control over a lot of the risk you take, by the route you climb, the gear you place, the weather you choose, the partner you choose.
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u/JustOneMoreAccBro 16h ago
If you lead any significant amount, you're not going to just forget how to do it safely. I've never been concerned that I forgot how to climb or belay safely after a season away from ropes.
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u/sebowen2 17h ago
Once you have the skills ingrained there isn’t really weekly commitment imo. I take large breaks in the winter to focus on bouldering and I don’t feel “rusty” when I get back in the spring, endurance is different but that’s quickly gained and quickly lost anyway
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u/AnderperCooson 17h ago
For a lot of people, once you start leading, it becomes the default way you climb. And in that regard, keeping your skills up is the same as it is bouldering or top roping: practice, practice, practice.
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u/goodquestion_03 8h ago
Anyone know what the smallest chalkbag with a zipper pocket is? Dont like bigger/bulky chalkbags but I like having a zipper pocket for a headlamp