Nielsonru wrote:Just ... blur the faces of the people in these photos and obscure their location.

+1

Meant to respond sooner, but busy making a spectacle of myself at the gym.

It's not my business telling anyone what to do, but if you are going to post photos of other climbers and make fun of them anonymously, I am going to tell you what I think of it.

FWIW, movable belay anchors are pretty common at gyms here, and are much better than fixed anchors, as they allow a nice soft catch while still preventing a lighter belayer from being sieved through the first draw.

I take extreme umbrage at people who take offense. I prefer, like Chuck Noll, a strong defense. Go Broncos!

Brassmonkey wrote:On another sport specific forum I frequent there is a thread called strange denizens of the pool. It is flipping hilarious. The stories of what people do and how they act are ridiculous and extremely entertaining. Got me to thinking after I saw yet another shit show at the gym tonight that we could probably get the same going on here. I stealthily took a pic of the belayer in this pic. Everything looks normal right? Well it is for the most part, until you notice she has a pack clipped to her harness on a runner. Why you may ask? Well, initially she was wearing it while belaying him because "he lifts me off the ground when he falls so I need the extra weight". When he would take she laid on her back with the pack on. Someone suggested that wasn't the greatest idea so apparently the next best idea was to simply clip it to her harness. It didn't do shit when he fell, in case you were wondering. Pic deleted :( Bring on the stories! (Hopefully there isn't a thread already like this, I searched and couldnt find one)

It is quite amusing when someone makes fun of someone else, but really displays their own ignorance.

Brassmonkey wrote:...I saw yet another shit show at the gym tonight...she has a pack clipped to her harness on a runner

There may be something to chuckle about here, but it isn't be about the climbers in this description. This purported fecal festival is actually a perfectly sensible technique for anchoring the belayer when the leader significantly outweighs them. Probably the only thing wrong was that that pack should have been heavier.

In fact, it is fairly common in the UK for gyms to have sandbags for this purpose. So much so that, for instance, the Indoor Climbing Manual by John White, tinyurl.com/plqe5hw, says on page 36 in the section on belaying,

"The attachment points on the floor or sandbags are provided to give support to people belaying a climber who is much heavier than they are."

Yeah, I'm thinking the guy all racked up in a gym was much more "head-scratch worthy."

In response to JLP's post, I wonder what the guy can learn at the gym about trad climbing. From what I see whatever you learn in the gym bout trad climbing (unless you gym has cracks) in 2 hours can be learned in 10 minutes at the crag......I'll take some enlightenment.

And presonally at the gym or at the crags, I know I look like a complete dweeb. I wear belay glasses and with them you look like a dweb. (but then again after a mountain biking accident with 7 fractures in 4 bones in my neck bewteen C4 and C7, I don't have a choice about to wear them or not

I exploded a foot hold at the bouldering gym the other day, it broke into three small pieces and came off with a bunch of force. I'm going to start wearin my helmet while belaying at the globo gym, and you all should too.

I liked a recent Powder magazine article about how to avoid looking like a beater. Turns out, the more you try to avoid beatering, the more you appear to be one.

Can everyone just agree that people are all goofy, and it is pretty amusing to point out goofiness, as long as you are willing to laugh at your own antics?

"Do not take life too seriously. You will never get out of it alive" -Elbert Hubbard

Here is the last piece I placed on the table ledge traverse on the diamond a few years ago. It was kind of a joke at the time, but in retrospect it was not only stupid, it was dangerous.

Nielsonru wrote:Yeah, I'm thinking the guy all racked up in a gym was much more "head-scratch worthy."

My favorite is kind of the inverse of that. At time I see someone climbing outside with a "Lead Belay Certified" card hanging off their harness, I laugh and laugh and laugh

I saw a guy leading with double ropes in the gym a while back, clipping two bolt lines all the way up a 5.10 (thus ensuring that no one could climb the routes next to him) on a crowded evening with people waiting for him to slowly make his way up. All while resting at every clip.

I see nothing wrong with mocking people, and the photo is now gone. Also pardon me if someone said this already. But the guy in the gym with the trad rack: isn't he just trying to add weight, for training purposes? Doesn't seem silly to me.

Brassmonkey wrote: Bring on the stories! (Hopefully there isn't a thread already like this, I searched and couldnt find one)

There have been threads like this already, Best thing EVER thread for example... Like many threads on this forum, it gets trolled and dies in the Community Forum.

So the Triathlete wants to make fun of people for looking ridiculous. Irony.

I was in a gym in Alaska and this guy strolls in pretty casually wearing a pair of jeans with two ice tools strapped to his pack. I guess he was just taking the tools on a walk, to the gym (no you can't drytool there).

It invited conversation, but it was obvious that he had not just come from ice climbing. I chose to ignore him.

I have however, had other interactions with this guy, they went as follows:

1. He tapes off a boulder problem which he speculates to be about a V12 or 14. Never sends it, but takes full credit for creating a "testpiece of gym climbing" -- This isn't a phrase you hear very often. However, I personally like imagine a testpiece of gym bouldering as V17 R on which someone has lost a finger.

2. On another occasion he openly laments (to everyone in the gym) "Why can't I climb 5.14c, I can do all the moves!"

3. I run into the guy outside. I'm trying 5.10 route that I pulled a loose block off a month or so ago. My wife is belaying. This dude is on the route next to us. This route is an open project (of low quality) speculated to be in the 5.14 range. It's been open since the late 80s or early 90s. Dude tells us he forgot his rope, so he's just going to project it with crash pad. This routes is about 45ft tall.
I decide to top rope the route I'm on before leading it, so I hike around the back of the crag leaving my wife alone with this guy. She said she tried to talk to him for a couple of minutes but it was real awkward, so she pretended to organize gear instead. She let him do his own thing on the project, and he takes a couple of burns and then sits on the crash pad. About 5 minutes or so later my wife looks over and Dude is picking his nose, and he's serious about it. And ultimately, in real weird guy style, after a couple minutes of digging, he eats all that treasure.

Party on dude.

Brandon for the win....

I see someone often at my gym who wears very loose leather gloves while climbing. He climbs about 5.8 on auto belays, and only uses jugs or gives up.

I used to have a circuit in college where I would lap a 5.12, rest in a crack and take a shot, then do it again. My record was eight and I don't remember much else. I think I might have gotten laid but who knows.

I saw a man lap tidal wave in Tonsai with swimming flippers, and he crushed it.

I should just mention Wee and those who know will laugh.

I have see a man place a cam in slick limestone, fall, hit the dirt, then do it again while praying to God.

I have seen a purple dildo glued to the sit down rest on Anti phil and a bottle of JD on the tower; I didn't partake in either.

If you don't have at least two stories for you and ten for your friends then you are just starting out at this crazy shit, you'll see.

Brandon.Phillips wrote:I was in a gym in Alaska and this guy strolls in pretty casually wearing a pair of jeans with two ice tools strapped to his pack. .

Tools carrying tools, now that is a good one.

The bottle of JD at the Tower is from Bertrand Gramont circa very early 90s. He had a fondness for the drink, and placed a bottle at the JD pitstop when he was bolting the early Tower routes, which is how it got its name. You probably know this, so preaching to quire. Sadly, Bertrand was killed in an auto accident.

[quote]My favorite is kind of the inverse of that. At time I see someone climbing outside with a "Lead Belay Certified" card hanging off their harness, I laugh and laugh and laugh[/quote]

So for a day of sport climbing at the crag you expect people to remove their gym cards, presumably because it suggests shameful noobishness? Or, let me rephrase my question: who are you trying to impress? Seems like more effort than it's worth (i.e., worth literally no effort).

Maybe you just meant in the context of multipitch/trad where gear loop space is at a premium... maybe.

lets not start down the path of butthurtness here over gym passes on the harness, this is a rock climbing forum

The story Brandon shared is a good one.

reminds me of the dude from El Paso who sold numerous kinds of weed, resoled shoes and had draws pre clipped to his rope/tie in point so when he got to a clip at Sitting Bull Falls he just pulled the draw and rope up with much might and made his clip(5.12).