Climbing with an iPod?

I went bouldering by myself last night and I brought my iPod along. I had never before climbed with an iPod, and I was amazed at how enjoyable the climbing was.

Do others climb with iPods? If so, what is your set-up?

More importantly, does climbing with an iPod make me look super cool?

When I boulder alone, I take a 1g ipod. It can be a pain, but keeps you pumped. I just run the cord under my shirt, nothing special. No rope climbing though, although that would be enjoyable.

And no it doesn't make me look cool...it probably makes me look like a douche. Kinda like the people that can't go anywhere without having their headphones on.

Jay Knower wrote:I went bouldering by myself last night and I brought my iPod along. I had never before climbed with an iPod, and I was amazed at how enjoyable the climbing was. Do others climb with iPods? If so, what is your set-up? More importantly, does climbing with an iPod make me look super cool?

Mike, how many barbell complexes did you do this morning?
I think I just put 2+2 together.

I remember seeing a video of Michael Reardon soloing with his iPod, and I thought it was kinda lame. Now, after trying it myself, I think I get it. It's not that you don't concentrate on the rock, it's that the music allows you to focus better. I guess it's counter intuitive that way.

I was jut going to say that we alway saw Mike Reardon crawling all over rock in J-tree with his ipod on.

I find that ipods screw up my senses. i can't walk down the street wearing one without falling.

If it works for you, it works for you. I'd just not do it in places were rock fall and such might make hearing a safety issue.

i've soloed both with and without an iPod, and i still can't decide which i like better. i like having the music, especially since i don't have a partner to talk to, and it sort of added to the flow of climbing, like you listen to music when you work out. however, on occasion, i sort of felt like it intruded on the alone/outside experience that i was looking for in the first place. so i dunno. if it's gonna be a longer soloing day, i'll probably bring it just to have something else to occupy me.

on that note, i read Kor's Beyond the Vertical lately, along with Godfrey & Chelton's Climb! A History of Rock Climbing in Colorado, and both mentioned his taking a little transistor radio along with him on climbs to listen to "rock & roll music." i also saw a dude climbing (roped, with a partner) with an iPod and a small pair of speakers in a mesh harness bag clipped to his harness. i thought that was sort of lame, personally. i guess if you aren't Layton Kor you just aren't cool enough for me.

Most sport routes I do I always have my ipod shuffle. I run the cord down the inside of my shirt I've found that is the best way to keep from getting tangled up with it. I have the headphones that are small but still wrap around the ear so I've gone through a few different setups and this one avoids a cluster. I love it, nothing better than a good song coming on right when you enter the crux.

I like to bring my Ipod to the crag, but I hook it up to my battery-powered boom box, cranking Dre's Chronic while I sip from a 40 in a brown paper bag and repeatedly toprope up to the second bolt of 7pm Show. Then when I fall I scream F-bombs and spray about how I totally would have sent if the duct tape on my kneepad was just a little bit tighter.

Just to clarify my earlier post, I don't think there's anything wrong with using an ipod WITH HEADPHONES at the crag. A few years ago I started using an Ipod in the gym after I got sick of hearing Toxicity ten times/hour.

Monomaniac wrote:I like to bring my Ipod to the crag, but I hook it up to my battery-powered boom box, cranking Dre's Chronic while I sip from a 40 in a brown paper bag

I'm surprised to hear that. I figured you'd be thumpin some East Coast $hit like Wu Tang or Biggy.

[If you're over the age of 40, you can find out more here]

I find music right before a climb relaxing and allows me to focus. Also it can be highly motivating. However, I can't stand to climb with it on. Completely blows me out of the moment.

I can see if you are climbing alone it might be nice. I never climb outside alone so it has never come up. The gym always has music pumping...sometimes good, sometimes bad.

I know some climbers swear by it on important sends. I find it takes away from the belayer partner relationship.

i climb a lot with the music on, i find it zones me out and just let me climb without thinking about climbing. kind of odd but that's the only way i can put it.

I've never climbed while listening to music, mainly because my iPod is broken (lame) but also I don't think I'd enjoy climbing with headphones or earbuds in. I'd rather have the music playing though speakers so I can hear it, but also hear what else is going on.

Question: How does everyone feel about people playing music at the crags? Assuming it's not super loud gangster rap (unless you like it like that)... Was wondering if there's some "unwritten rule" about this.

Jay-

...i love it! i am even finding myself trying to justify climbing (vs. bouldering) with it on. i actually hug my earphones (floppy i-pod style) over my ears and turned on the music pretty low recently and LOVED it. my brother was belaying and agreed that he would shout extra loud if communication was necessary (rock fall, problems at the belay, etc.) i am fully aware of the d-bag appearance and the safety issues but i absolutely love it. i started listening to Glenn Gould performing Bachs' WTC book 2 or Murray Perahia doing Bachs' English suites (some research has indicated that classical music slows heart rates...beyond that, if you can listen to Bach and not see God, i assume you giulty of a most meager imagination) on my long runs and i swear my heart rate is almost impossible to get up! this got me thinking it would settle me on scary or especially aerobic problems / routes but i find that really rythmic rock and roll (Kings of Leon, The Hold Steady, Foo Fighters, etc.) works best for climbing...??? try it. let me know what you think.

in terms of super cool...well i just mentioned 4 of the whitest artists in history... clearly i am not going to look cool even if i ride up to the crag with two nuns on a pack mule...besides an i-pod. maybe i need a 40 and a boom box