Fat guys who climb hard.

SteveBechtel wrote: Petro over 190? You must not know the guy. He did climb 13+, but closer to 150, I'd say.

I've only seen him from a bit of a distance. But as a former linebacker myself I know you're not effective unless you're at least 180; and he was effective. Maybe he dropped a bunch for climbing

I grew up in Central PA and watched the hard core locals climb with amazing efficiency the very hard just under vertical stuff in the area while carrying spare tires fitting of a Monster Truck.

Don't know a thing about his weight, and never met him, but George Bell is no wisp of a guy and he's done most of the stuff on my bucket list.

I hope I'm not insulting you George, more recent pics of you that I've seen seem to show a meaner leaner you. On the climbs we've both done, I trust your beta more than most as being realistic for the "real" climber.

john long references being "over 200lbs" when he was going nuts in the 70's and 80's.

i can feel a difference between when i'm 170 and 175, but then again i'm weak like a baby.

Petro isn't a tall guy, I can't imagine he would be anywhere near 200 even at his most bricked.

Greg Loh was pretty beefy back in the late 90s and crankin V10...but again, not a tall guy, probably not 2 bills.

Muscle weighs a lot. I bet he played at 190 or so; don't have any idea what his climbing weight is.

i remember this anecdote because i'm a lynn hill fan so i looked it up-

from john long's "how to rock climb", page 212, on upward oppositionals in a belay anchor:

"...I (210 lbs) once fell at Tahquitz and pulled belayer Lynn Hill (105 lbs) 10 feet into the air."

Maybe he's counting the rack....

This thread needs more pics of Eric Coffman climbing, please.

I'm glad you like my pics Mark!!

Eric Coffman leading Too Secret To Find 5.10b Joshua Tree

Rob Gordon wrote:Stepped on the scale yesterday and it rang up 198. Good god. That's like 30 pounds above my ideal weight for climbing. I'm still able to climb around V5, but certainly I'm about two grades off from my personal bests, and forget certain problems that require extreme finess on tiny holds. Got me thinking. Who here weighs over 190-200 and is able to climb, let's say, V7+ or 5.13+. Not talking onsight, just two or three sessions for the send. Can it be done?? Any famous climbers who are this heavy and crushing?

Bouldering harder than v7 is much easier than climbing 13+ IMHO. I'm usually between 190 and 200 and generally can boulder that hard with a few sessions, but have never been able to send 13+, not because I can't do the moves, but getting the required endurance to hang on for a long pumpy hard route is harder for us fat boys. 13- is not too terribly difficult though.

I have been both over 200 and fat, there is a diff. Once climbing with largo.. he commented" we might rip the anchors" It's a bit arbitrary.. john Gill was for sure 180++ and climbed V9.. years ago.

Scott Blunk ?? He had better be 200+ at his height

I have done f/a's up tp 12+ at 200 and flashed same.

Eric Coffman wrote:I'm glad you like my pics Mark!!

Sarcasm detector broken....

I did a quick google search of fat/overweight/obese climbers. Apparently they don't really exist. Even if you are large, probably not a whole lot of fat moving up that wall.

Some of what I found for your pleasure:

fatclimber

fatclimber2

fatclimber3

I squash the scales at about 235. I'm fairly muscular and at 6'4" I have a good reach. Too bad I don't climb hard at all. Fuck those little tiny holds, I want to climb a ladder of rock.

Woodchuck ATC wrote:Saw a guy who must have been 240 and 5'9", belaying a guy who was also near 220. Leading smoothly on 5.10 is pretty impressive in my opinion. I was doubtful they could get off the ground when I saw them in Muir Valley, RRG last week.

Then I guess I really impressed you... I'm around 205 (6'1") right now and I can still get up 11+ sport. I feel and climb my hardest around 175 though. Diet in progress...

Nick Mardi wrote: Then I guess I really impressed you... I'm around 205 (6'1") right now and I can still get up 11+ sport. I feel and climb my hardest around 175 though. Diet in progress...

That's just because you drink coffee on Boulder sidewalks and wear beannie hat.

• Being 5'9" and 240, leading 5.10 is a whole lot different than being 6'1", 205 and climbing 5.11+.
• No way Petro weights 200, dude is short though still burly. Petro definitely climbed .13+, maybe .14-. I don't even know if those grades really existed when Largo was one of the top dogs.
• I think Greg Loh told me that he was about 200lbs when he was into power lifting when he was in the Marines? However when he was cranking V12 and .13+/.14-(short things in American Fork) in the mid to late '90's I don't think he was that heavy, maybe 180. FWIW he always told me that if you have enough power you don't need endurance because all the moves are easy.
• To the OP .13+ is closer to V10 and V7 is closer to .13-, might be why you have a few people chiming in that they do V7 but nobody commenting on .13+ or saying that they lack the endurance for it.
• I have a hard time believing that Magnus is actually 5'8.5" since that is how tall I am and when I met him he seemed shorter, though he may slouch like a typical climber.

FWIW, when I travel to destination sport crags I typically feel short and fat, I'm 5'8.5" and 150-155, everyone is taller and thinner than I am, most recently I noticed this at both the Red River Gorge and Rodellar, seems like everyone is 6' and 140lbs.