Knee pads for Maple Canyon?

My wife and I just pulled the trigger on reserving camping at Maple Canyon. Never reserved or paid that much for camping before. Anyway, I live in WA and I have never done a knee bar outside in my life. But I am seeing lots of people wearing knee pads in photos of the canyon. So should I make/get some for our trip?

I will mostly be climbing in the 5.11/12- range but plan to pick one or two steep 13s to work while I am there. Are knee pads essential or just nice?

Eric

Hey Eric, I'd say knee pads are completely a personal preference thing. I've never used knee pads at Maple but one of my partners swears by them no matter the rock / location / angle. If you're planning on working overhung routes with known knee bars then maybe knee pads would be handy, but I'd say not required for 99% of routes in Maple. Maybe someone out there with overhung-knee-bar-route experience can comment. Have a great time!

It is partly a personal preference thing, but more so it is a question of what routes and what grades you are getting on there. On the 10s and 11s, use of kneepads is uncommon and unneccesary. On the 12s, kneepad use is optional; pretty much all the 12s in Maple are usually climbed without kneepads, but on some of them the use of a kneepad will allow for additional rests and make the route easier. On the 13s, kneepad use becomes much, much more common.

At the Pipe Dream (one of the main zones at Maple for 13s--it is the huge cave), probably 80% or more of those climbing on the 13a and up routes will be wearing pads. There are certainly people who climb the steep 13s in the Pipe Dream without knee pads, but they are generally climbing at a very high level, and can afford to make those routes harder by not using all of the available technology. At 13a in the Pipe Dream, you will likely be getting on Sprout or Diggler/Confianza. Sprout is a super long, super enduro route that goes to the top of the cave. It requires 1 pad, for the right knee, for a good kneebard rest just before the redpoint crux. Diggler/Confianza (essentially 2 variations of the same route) are shorter and more power-endurance based routes, and have 2 kneebars. The first is a right kneebar that you pivot off of for a move, and the second is a double kneebar for resting. All of these routes can be climbed without kneebars/pads, but you would be making things much harder for yourself. Trying to use these kneebars in pants would be uncomfortable, much less effective, and generally not recommended. So, if you want to project/send these routes, and 13a is a non-trivial grade for you, then by all means get some kneepads.

There are other good 13a’s elsewhere in Maple that do not require pads. There are various shorter, more boulder 13a’s in and near the Box Canyon that do not have kneebars. Loser and Captain Bullet are the most popular ones, although these are more in the 13a/b range than regular 13a. Captain Bullet is the 13a of choice if you have no endurance and don’t want to walk more than 5 feet from the car. There are also some good (and low in the grade!) 13a’s at the Compound, which features a sustained power-endurance climbing style. Pads are recommended for these as well, but not quite so mandatory.

In short, if you want to go do a bunch of 11s and 12s, you really don’t need to get kneepads. If you want to project a short, boulder 13a, you don’t need kneepads. If you want to project one of the steep enduro 13a’s in one of the big caves, kneepads are highly recommended.

Perfect! Thanks for the info, I will probably get some knee pads since 13s in the pipe dream cave are one of the major draws of the area. Is it worth it to buy some from rock & resole or are they easy to make?

Eric

Eric K wrote:Perfect! Thanks for the info, I will probably get some knee pads since 13s in the pipe dream cave are one of the major draws of the area. Is it worth it to buy some from rock & resole or are they easy to make? Eric

I find it is worth it just to buy them from R&R. Making them youself, you'll spend almost as much money by the time you buy the knee braces, rubber, glue, etc. Still, I have seen some pretty nice homemade pads, so it may be worth trying if you are crafty and want a little project. It is worth it to use proper sticky rubber for your pads; it does make a difference. A softer rubber compound such as Stealth C4 or Vibram Grip2 is ideal, since kneebaring is definitely more "smearing" than "edging".

Be warned that the sizing is super weird for the Rock & Resole pads. They just use the knee brace sizes, but since you are wearing it over you thigh, not actually your knee, it means it makes no sense. I wear a large R&R pad, and I am a reasonably small person. If possible, find a way to try them on before you buy.

Recently R&R started using a shorter knee brace to make the pads, which makes for a much smaller/shorter pad. This is unbelievably stupid (IMO), since it provides less coverage, makes them not stay on as well, and provides less room at the top for the duct tape. If you can, ask them if they have any of the longer braces avaibale to make a pad with (I was able to talk them into doing this for my most recent pair of pads).

Welcome to the dark art of kneebaring. Now go shave your thighs and stockpile duct tape.