route names

Provided that I haven't climb in many areas, I do find the names of some routes pretty cool, interesting, and sometimes funny. Makes me wonder how people come up with naming climbing routes. I figure the climb's features, location, and moves might come into play. Sometimes, I look at the names before it's rating. A couple of favorites are 'Better Red Than Dead' & 'Gila Monster' at Tres Piadres, NM. Then, there are those that quite doesn't make sense like, 'Breakfast at Denny's' at Mentmore, NM and 'Liberace's Anus' at the Socorro Crags, NM. I like the themes at The Enchanted Tower and at Sweet Rock at the Isle of Ewe. Curious to see if anyone have favs or dislikes.

Fat City @ Lumpy Ridge. Pretty funny history involving Hunter S. Thompson's desire to "unpave" Aspen and rename it. He ran for sheriff, shaving his head and referring to his opponent, the incumbent, as a "long hair". The guy apparently had a buzz cut and was very conservative. Given when all this was going on in Colorado and the timing of the FA - I presume there is a link. A great route.

Naming is the best part of doing firsts. The payoff comes when there is a good story that actually becomes common knowledge; "Amputee Love", for example. And then, there are those names that obviously needed more commitment, ie. "Doub-Griffith"-a brilliant line with a big mountain name that's out of character with the rest of Eldorado.

Some names have double and triple meanings

A climb in the Turret Rock area. The name is Turrets Syndrome. The word play is fun and the leader was a little sketched and swearing a lot.

Mandatory Doug Testing. Doug showed up and did the second ascent.

Hail Hath No Fury...

Hard Day at the Orifice climbs into giant hole and it is 5.12

There are more I just need to get to work.

Route names sometimes offer insight to the quality of the climbing and your likely response to it. Consider these at Joshua Tree:

Hemroidic [sic] Terror 5.7 R
I'm So Embarrassed for You 5.7

The first was genuinely terrifying (the "R" should have been a clue) and the second was one of the most awkward climbs any of us have encountered. Even the ever-graceful 5.11 leader in our group looked like a beached whale getting through one section of the climb.

On the other hand:

Fun Stuff 5.8 -- really is lots of fun

Yep part of the prize for the FA my personal favorite mountainproject.com/v/mark-… as the name implies we had a lot of fun putting it up.

Another favorite and the only route for me on the Captain. Magic Mushroom, "as much a defiance of the self-serious attitudes of the Robbin's era as it was a celebration of the drugs they quaffed enroute".

Doub-Griffith almost seems like they are making fun of all of the climbers coming up with cutesy names by going back to the self-serious era.

Seems like the best route names are the ones that are inspired by some aspect of the rock or something that happened during the FA, rather then when someone has a list of names they came up with before hand.

And then of course there's the fact that most climbers are male and a lot of route names have that influence.

Alot of the Devils Lake climbs in Wisc. were first done by Chicago Mountaineering club, and Univ. of Chicago type 'elite' educational brains. So back in 40-50's they chose big words that you wouldn't ever use from the dictionary to show how smart they were. Climbs are often impressive, the names though often have little to do with it. The old 70's Hoofer's edition to the guidebook was written very well with lots of clever comments about the routes. Some of the original comments were preserved in later editions done by others.

as Eric said, triple meaning is fun. as well as word play. Especially if you are a fan of the dry wit.

i like Luebben's "Arete Already" on Helens Dome, S.Platte.

or "Nick Arete" is a fun one too. though i dont know where it is.

or also is popular to make routes sound like other well known routes, such as "Naked Hedge", "Crack a Beer".

One of my favorite "sounds like" was alway Grand Giraffe - Eldo

One that touches on a number of the already mentioned themes, and adds vulgarity, is the Eldo route "Phallus in Suck It Land" referencing the nearby "Alice in Bucketland."

magical chrome plated semi automatic enema syringe 5.7 at Lumpy Ridge... a bit contrived but you are climbing up to a giant ass of rock. Would make more sense if you climbed up the ass crack itself, but thats a different route.

Then theres always the onsight FA freesolo of Blind Faith 10a in Eldo. talk about having some.

That is a good one.

Serial Driller
Driller on the Loose

On the more macabre side:
Ben Burnham was doing a new route fell and hit the ground. Coma, weeks in the hospital. My friends Bob and John found him semi-conscious administered first aid and called for help, fortunately he recovered. Later after Ben bolted and climbed the route Bob suggested that the route be named Crash and Burnham. I suggested it to Ben (who had a good sense of humor then) and he agreed with that as the name. Of course that lead to other routes nearby: Trauma Center and Cerebral Jig. the latter is the term Bob Kerry used to describe Ben when they found him after the accident. Ben thought that was funny too.