Are Crack Gloves Cheating?

I have always wondered how far is too far with the advantages we give ourselves. I cut the finger tips off an old pair of gardening gloves which I use for crack gloves, and when I'm wearing them, I am able to jam much more securely and for longer in hand cracks, and especially in fist cracks. This past weekend I found myself climbing a fist crack which was damp, and even wet in some places. Because I was wearing my gloves, it was easy to jam and climb even in the poor conditions. Without the gloves, I would have had no chance climbing this, even if it was dry. In the recent Reel Rock, Pete Whittaker and Tom Randall tape pieces of cardboard into their tape gloves to make their hands much bigger so that a crack is easier for them to climb. Is this ethically correct or should this be considered cheating?

Let me know what you think because rubber crack gloves certainly increase friction compared to the back of a hand.

Eh, a huge amount of things we use can be considered aid, including our shoes. I use my crack gloves a lot and I also purposefully don't use them a lot. 

 Do whatever sounds fun and the appropriate level of challenge to you and don't worry about it. 

One climber could consider them aid, another could consider them not, there's no rules so they'd both be right. The word for gloves in German is "hand shoes." Think of these as hand shoes. 

or better yet, don't think about it at all, do whatever you want, and have a good time. 

edit: a word

So do climbing shoes, cams, thin ropes, 3/8 bolt, lightweight anything …

Nobody is keeping count, so you can't be cheating.  

Personally, I don't think they are cheating but I agree they are an advantage.

For me, personally, I use crack gloves to protect my skin. I sometimes even wear them on climbs that may not have significant cracks. Approaching my mid-60s, the skin on the back of my hand is now quite thin. BITD, my hands could stand a lot more punishment—not now. As to your point… yes, I feel like I generally “stick” in the jams better… but if it is thin hands, they sometimes prevent better jams that could be had without the gloves. As said above, most everything we wear/carry is aid of some type. Draw the line wherever you like and have fun. In the end, it’s just a sport (even if we often like to think it’s WAY more than that).

Yes, crack gloves are cheating. Some day the World Climbing Authority is going to cancel all crack glove FAs. The Crack Glove cheating scandal will have two paragraphs in the future History of Rock Climbing, it has been foretold.

'Cheating', assuming you are not altering the rock with a chisel, only matters if you are trying to make money as a climber. For the rest of us, all bets are off. Go have fun. If somebody criticized me for using crack gloves, I would probably find a new partner. 

As an avid gardener, you also just gave me an idea. Thanks.

There’s no such thing as cheating in climbing - there’s only lying.

Robbins wrote a letter to Climbing BITD stating that Friends were cheating and shouldn’t be used.

I consider it aid (rather than cheating) if you're layering up to compensate for size, but a thin layer just for skin protection is fine. There's nothing wrong with aid climbing though if that's your thing. 

How about these gecko gloves? Aid? https://www.howitworksdaily.com/the-gecko-inspired-gloves-that-let-you-climb-walls-like-spiderman/

Tape is aid

All in all, it’s an argument based on ego. “I climbed that route without X, you climbed it using X, therefore I’m a better climber than you”.

Might as well ask if leashes are cheating for ice climbing 

abandon moderation wrote:

I don't think taping in general is cheating, but taping for size (really, cardboard padding under gloves?) is not only cheating, but I think largely missing the point of free climbing.

And as always, if it is cheating, you're only cheating yourself...

I think a lot of people are moving towards a non-sport understanding of climbing. Climbing is interesting in that it's both a sport and non-sport activity. In the sport of climbing the rules are pretty strict and you must do X and cannot do Y to claim Z achievement. In the non-sport activity of climbing people do whatever sounds fun and interesting and don't even bother with the question of whether or not something was a free ascent.

A buddy of mine hand jammed a wide fist crack by using motorcycle gloves with giant plastic knobs on the knuckles. Was it a free ascent? Don't know don't care, we had a good time. So long as we don't cross into making claims about "I sent this" or "I freed that" and stay in the non-sport realm of climbing then it's all good. If, however, someone wants to lead a thing and get accredited with a free ascent and they're taking it seriously and want it unambiguously recognized as such then yeah, all this does actually matter quite a lot. Quite a lot of us care a lot more about our personal experience and having fun then what anyone thinks, though. 

John Long wore gardening gloves when he sent Paisano Overhang (5.13c) in ‘78

plantmandan wrote:

'Cheating', assuming you are not altering the rock with a chisel, only matters if you are trying to make money as a climber. For the rest of us, all bets are off. Go have fun. If somebody criticized me for using crack gloves, I would probably find a new partner. 

As an avid gardener, you also just gave me an idea. Thanks.

 

Good points, but I see crack gloves on pro climbers frequently.

They make most crack climbs easier.  Whether you think that is cheating is up to you. Personally, I wouldn't consider it a "clean send," but that is just me.

Colonel Von Spanker wrote:

John Long wore gardening gloves when he sent Paisano Overhang (5.12c) in ‘73

FTFY

It's been said that the only pure forms of climbing are naked free solo and aid.  Everything else is an arbitrary game.

Randy wrote:

They make wide crack climbs easier.  Whether you think that is cheating is up to you. Personally, I wouldn't consider it a "clean send," but that is just me.

Fixed that for ya. Personally, I don't really care for crack climbing of any size anymore, so whatever. But I do find it funny for people to be hung up on literally the most convenient part of wide crack climbing prep; I find dealing w/ having the right shoes, shirts, pants, knee sleeves, socks, taping/gluing job way more off-putting.

Has anyone made the obligatory “there is no cheating in climbing, only lying” comment yet?  Sorry, I didn’t read anything, I just felt compelled to offer my opinion based solely on the title because smart phone and internet.

Makes the meat and potatoes 10-11 hands pitches less annoying.  Avoids having to make a boxing glove out of tape - saves time, but not as hard-man looking.  Not many 12ish and up pitches they’ll fit into, but you can tape your fingers all the same.  Great for longer routes with a little of everything so you can switch in and out - why most use them.