Who likes runout?
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If you climbed trad (what else was there back then) in the 1970s, you had to love run-outs. My longest run-out was 100 feet on a 5.7X pitch. Forces you to keep cool, calm & collected. Now-a-days, not so much into the run-out. Probably cuz I'd piss my pants from an ancient and less than perfect bladder. |
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Looks exposed. What route is this? It looks like it would be a clean fall. |
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I have a tendency to choose to runout....but many conditions prevail. Assess the fall, i never ever, almost never, runout w/ground fall potential. I have climbed After 7 (valley 8, easy 6 after the first pitch) and placed 4 pieces of gear on the last 5 pitches, but i am on familiar territory, and am comfortable. I tremble on new routes running out at >5.9, but then...oh, it just depends. The picture in this post looks fine, but is there a ledge below? And then sometimes, it is just what there is. |
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People that climb here mountainproject.com/v/custe… |
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Exposure is great, it's a fun route. I just didn't have a nut big enough or an extra 1'' cam to place in a few cracks, it sews up pretty well. The fall would be clean and into nothing if there wasn't a large ledge about 20-25 ft below my last piece of gear. Route is called 'Right to Flight' on Mt. Magazine in Arkansas |
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its amazing how much stronger you are when you don't want to fall. i've completed a couple of boulder problems above my level because the crux was at/near the top and i was too scared to fall. if the crux was at/near the start i probably wouldn't have forced myself to send it. |
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Hard to tell but it looks like that horizontal crack at your knee is a jug. When you reached it with your hand out-stretched your feet were what, 4' above your piece? No problemo. But you can never tell by pics alone. Maybe that horizontal crack was a heinous sloper. |
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It's amazing how tight your butthole can be when really running it out... makes you wanna keep a couple pieces of coal on hand. |
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I like it when it's over and I've pulled it off! Always wanted to figure out that zen mind set that gets you through those crazy runouts and bring it into the rest of life, but haven't figured that out yet!! |
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I love running it out on things I don't feel stressed on, and I love the point after slamming through a couple hard moves with no energy to place pro.... |
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Come climb in Western North Carolina if you like scary run outs on slab. We've got loads of those climbs. |
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The runout in this picture is totally unnecessary. I've climbed this route twice. You can place cams in all the horizontals. The last piece is a .75 or 1 Camelot and it's about 8 feet below the anchors. |
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C. Archibald wrote:The runout in this picture is totally unnecessary. I've climbed this route twice. You can place cams in all the horizontals. The last piece is a .75 or 1 Camelot and it's about 8 feet below the anchors.Funny, the OP noted the same thing in the comments: mountainproject.com/v/right… |
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How is that photo a runout? That is around 5-10ft short of a well protected NC trad route. That fall is great compared to sliding down 60+ ft of slab. |
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Viper: I completely understand! There are a lot of routes in SW OK that offer 40ft+ fall potentials and lots of 'X' rated routes. I hear the runout is very similiar in both of our states. This fall potential in the picture was a guesstimate of close to 30' maybe even 35'. |
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One runout climb that sticks with me was Quciksilver on Middle Cathedral (5.8 or 5.9) I climbed this in the late '70's or early 80's, the 1st pitch takes plenty of gear but the other 3 pitches have maybe 3 pieces per lead. I was looking at a good 30' fall, just shy of the next bolt (1/4" rawl drive) or maybe even the anchors when this guy climbing Free Wheelin' (I think thats the next route to the right, could be wrong) took a whipper, all I saw was a jet stream of chalk and arms flailing. My partner, Tony (British chap) yells up, "hang in there lad we don't need another whipper"! |
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Peter D. wrote: So getting back to runout routes, it played into the style and ethics of climbing back then. And you learned to downclimb, which essentially is a lost art. People are to quick to take or fall now, personally I've made some breaks thrus by not "taking" and forcing myself to either work the moves or downclimb to the last rest. Once you get conditioned to "taking", the last thing you would consider is running it out. Merry Christmas Everybody!Good topic. Thoughtful answers from all. Tradster, Peter D explained it better than I could. When I am really feeling IT I fall into a place of relaxation. Sort of like free soloing, but with some sort of life insurance. Merry Christmas to all. |
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ZANE wrote:I love running it out on things I don't feel stressed onIf you read Accidents in North American Mountaineering, that thought process is a large contributing factor to many people get injured or worse. "I was climbing well below my limit and didn't put in as much gear as I usually would have...then...." I know we're all guilty of this but I try to stitch it up (within reason) even on easy routes. Sometimes you have no choice though, like on a lot of routes in WNC. |
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For me, it's a cost-benefit thing. If I'm motivated enough and there's some practical benefit to doing so, I might do it. |