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What are your climbing, "Pet Peeves"?

Wiled Horse · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Dec 2002 · Points: 3,669

"Creekend"

Devin Copeland · · H-Town · Joined Jul 2013 · Points: 0

Bros with beanies

Cigarette smoke

Hippie chicks with hairy arm pits

Oh, and pointless bitching on the internet...wait...

The Blueprint Part Dank · · FEMA Region VIII · Joined Jun 2013 · Points: 460

I'm not a very judgmental person, I have things that annoy me, like people who take too long building anchors (I mean, I get that some times you need to be a bit creative and it can take a bit of time. But those clouds up there don't look too friendly, we've gotta MOVE!), or people who spray about their Boulder crushing when I'm trying to talk about my recent alpine adventures (pure arrogance on my part, admittedly)

But as I've gotten older, I've come to realize that if I'm annoyed at the crag, I'm being rather foolish. No amount of music playing. Dog barking, hang dogging cluster fucks can take away from the fact that I'm outside climbing, and not at work, so why get annoyed? All I'm going to do is make my day less enjoyable with a bad attitude.

One thing that really does bug me, is when I have climbing partners that are annoyed with me about something, and rather than just saying something, passive aggressively stow it away until the annoyance builds itself into a massive, albeit well camouflaged elephant in the room.

I'll be the first one to admit my fallibility, and it really irks me when I find out three months later that a good climbing partner no longer wants to climb as often as before because of something simple and easy for me to fix that was never pointed out as a flaw. I value relationships over my own pride, and I try to instill that knowledge into everyone I climb with, I'm more than happy to take criticism and work to make others have a better time no matter what, but I can't do that if you're own passive aggressive behavior makes you too timid to simply speak up.

The Blueprint Part Dank · · FEMA Region VIII · Joined Jun 2013 · Points: 460
Devin Copeland wrote:Cigarette smoke
Yes, very annoying, but I've noticed more and more predominance of the E-Cigarette at the crag, which I find to be a very thoughtful gesture on the part of the smokers I've seen using them. Less fire hazard and much kinder to others sensibilities. Ions of my regular partners is a smoker who made the switch, and he says it's much easier to use than a traditional cig (which in dry CO is also a major fire risk to boot).
cdec · · SLC, UT · Joined Jan 2007 · Points: 654
Ian Stewart wrote: You mean the group was climbing a route, you walked up to an empty route beside it, and they say "yo, we're climbing that next"?
yes exactly.

Ian Stewart wrote: Again, it boils down to common courtesy. I've been out before, moments away from finishing a climb when a group walks up to the base of the climb we were hoping to do next. I've politely asked "hey, we're almost done here and were planning on doing that next...think you guys might be interested in doing this one after us instead?" Assuming the grade and quality are about the same, this has never been a problem for me. Really, most of the time it's been the case that they were planning on doing the climb we were on but went to the other as a backup since it was free. There are good an bad ways to approach every situation...some people are just assholes.
Couldn't agree more. In this case it wasn't going to be moments but the same approach would have been nice.
Scott McMahon · · Boulder, CO · Joined Feb 2006 · Points: 1,425
Ian Stewart wrote: You mean the group was climbing a route, you walked up to an empty route beside it, and they say "yo, we're climbing that next"? Again, it boils down to common courtesy. I've been out before, moments away from finishing a climb when a group walks up to the base of the climb we were hoping to do next. I've politely asked "hey, we're almost done here and were planning on doing that next...think you guys might be interested in doing this one after us instead?" Assuming the grade and quality are about the same, this has never been a problem for me. Really, most of the time it's been the case that they were planning on doing the climb we were on but went to the other as a backup since it was free. There are good an bad ways to approach every situation...some people are just assholes.
I actually had a guy gank a route that I was like a second away from climbing. Just switched over the draws and was finishing the knot and some old dude on the route next to me just starts up the route I was gonna do. I wasn't taking too long and my buddy just literally lowered and we were swapping the lead. Literally standing 2-3 feet in front of the route in an obvious "here I go" fashion.

I was too astonished to even be mad. Same guy had just previously thrutched all over his initial route while completely skipping the 2nd bolt while we all anxiously watched.

That's what I get for climbing at the watermark.
Tzilla Rapdrilla · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jan 2006 · Points: 955

Euro single point failure death anchors at the top of routes - glad we don't seem to be headed in that direction in the US.

Cigarette smoke for sure anywhere including at the crags.

Greg Springer · · Minneapolis · Joined May 2011 · Points: 20
PalisadePete wrote:My pet peeve involves people who don't let others do their own thing. We are all different and I want to spend the least amount of time around those complaining because someone else did something that has zero impact on me. Common courtesy means respecting our differences and celebrating our similarities. That means NOT ragging on people for smoking or owning a dog or lowering off an anchor differently than you normally do. Common courtesy also means not ragging on people for bringing their friends climbing. So what if a group has only one rope? More routes open for you, you ungracious ass. Climbers enjoy climbing and grow by sharing this passion with others; at one point in time we were all gumbys & probably first climbed on others' gear. Don't get your tinsel in a tangle just because a group of five 'climbers' are stoked to chill outside for a day to relax, picnic, and maybe even climb a bit. Now I hope you see why I'd rather climb with these people enjoying themselves than with some young wannabe bob scarpellis bitching about others "spending all day hanging out and only getting one climb in." My pet peeve is this "typical american" entitlement-based attitude where favors once done for us are scorn when shared with others.
my pet peeve is definitely NOT this post
Ellenore Zimmerman · · Unknown Hometown · Joined May 2013 · Points: 75

another pet peeve i have is old farts. They be huffing and puffing some hill to get to the crag then tell you how they climbed in 1965

Jon Zucco · · Denver, CO · Joined Aug 2008 · Points: 245

1.) Little shithead kids that are bored with their parents at the crag and not interested in climbing, so they proceed to blindly huck baseball sized rocks down the hill, where the trail is.

2.) the parents who ignore him, and me after I scold the kid for being a dangerous douche.

If your kid has no interest in climbing, do us all a favor and don't make him tag along. Also, the parents were blasting some kind of terrible white-reggae and smoking kools. Awful, awful people.

Also, I don't see an issue with rapping off of sport routes unless it's super overhung. Rapping helps preserve the fixed gear IMO and sometimes, I prefer to be in control of my descent. There, I said it.

M Lindfors · · Highlands Ranch · Joined Apr 2006 · Points: 35

Smokers, and people who walk across my rope while I am belaying or just walk across my rope. unleashed, untrained dogs/toddlers. Also dangerous or drunken/stoned belayers where the climber could hit me when they deck.

frankstoneline · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Apr 2009 · Points: 30
Jon Zucco wrote: Also, the parents were blasting some kind of terrible white-reggae and smoking kools. Awful, awful people.
Who been puttin they kools out on my floor!?
Christian "crisco" Burrell · · PG, Utah · Joined May 2007 · Points: 1,815

Guys who are doing a second ascent of a route and complain that it's still dirty. You're outside, on rock dude...

brat . · · Salt Lake City, UT · Joined Nov 2007 · Points: 81

#1 flaky partners.
#2 gym employees who think they know more than they actually do, and think they are qualified to teach others skills they do not fully understand.

Both of these things seem prevalent in CO.

Christian "crisco" Burrell · · PG, Utah · Joined May 2007 · Points: 1,815
brat wrote:#2 gym employees who think they know more than they actually do, and think they are qualified to teach others skills they do not fully understand. Both of these things seem prevalent in CO.
How about when the gym hires some little blonde treat who knows nothing at all about climbing to sell memberships?
Mark E Dixon · · Possunt, nec posse videntur · Joined Nov 2007 · Points: 974

The one thing I hate the most is needing to take rest days.

Zach Myers · · Durango, CO · Joined Oct 2012 · Points: 50

+1 to tick marks getting left behind. If you need a tick mark on every crystal to flail your way up a V0 and then don't have the common sense to wipe them off when you're done, than maybe you should go back to the brightly marked holds of your local gym.

teece303 · · Highlands Ranch, CO · Joined Dec 2012 · Points: 596

My pet peeve is Locker. Man, I gotta stop climbing with that guy... ;-p

Dustin Anderson · · Unknown Hometown · Joined Jul 2009 · Points: 0

People who have never red pointed anything and complain about perma-draws. Or folks who complain about how they aren't progressing and never take falls. Ohhhh! And draw thieves!!!!

Shawn Heath · · Forchheim, DE · Joined May 2008 · Points: 28,380

My pet peeve is people going on and on about Chris Sharma or any other "rock star" climber.

Guideline #1: Don't be a jerk.

General Climbing
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