Climbing fake mountains and other futile exercises [sports and such]

autono-wally, erotibot300

Climbing!

Fake mountains!

Real mountains!

Alien Star Ships!

Raaargh!

So I recently got "back" to climbing, something I did a little before and liked, but didn't have the time for. Now I do, and it's fun as hell! I just don't know what to do in the time in between, maybe general exercises...

Anyone else? Any other fun things you like to do that aren't the regular kind of exercise?

Fire Truck

I have been going to my local bouldering gym pretty regularly because I like the people that work there better than at the climbing gym, even if I like roped climbing better in general.

Just did an awesome trip out to Smith Rock a couple weeks ago, and led the best 5.10b I can ever remember climbing.

Lost Salient

I like climbing real mountains!

I went up my first lil baby mountain in the blue ridge the other weekend



It was really pretty!

autono-wally, erotibot300

I like all the people there so far, in both climbing gyms I went to. Everyone was very relaxed and awesome to each other. I think the sports kinda attracts people like that, a rock wall doesn't care much if you're angry at it

autono-wally, erotibot300

Lost Salient wrote: »

I like climbing real mountains!

I went up my first lil baby mountain in the blue ridge the other weekend



It was really pretty!

That is great. An acquiantance of mine started hall climbing last summer and went climbing outside this year- I think after at least a few months, maybe a full year, I might feel confident enough that my arms won't turn into spaghetti. How did you prepare yourselves for outside climbing?

Lost Salient

Welllllll

Climbing might have been the wrong word

I like to go up and down mountains with my feet and then get to the top and use my hands and feet to climb on rocks and shit.

It is approximately NOTHING AT ALL like what @Blake T does.

Didgeridoo

I have been itching to try bouldering again, lately. When I was a kid I did a bit of top-rope climbing and some bouldering, but it's been years. I enjoyed it at the time... I'm not quite sure how to 'get in' to stuff other than top-roping though. The goal seems pretty clear with top-roping! Get to the top, adurr!

How do you start off bouldering, though? Just go in and futz around on the wall? Try and go sideways? I might try it out anyhow. I've been wanting to do something other than weights for a while, but wasn't sure what. We've got a pretty nice rock climbing and bouldering gym only ten minutes away.

autono-wally, erotibot300

Lost Salient wrote: »

Welllllll

Climbing might have been the wrong word

I like to go up and down mountains with my feet and then get to the top and use my hands and feet to climb on rocks and shit.

It is approximately NOTHING AT ALL like what @Blake T does.

But both are fun :P

I've been looking for a sport I like doing and finally I ended up with running and climbing.

Didgeridoo wrote: »

I have been itching to try bouldering again, lately. When I was a kid I did a bit of top-rope climbing and some bouldering, but it's been years. I enjoyed it at the time... I'm not quite sure how to 'get in' to stuff other than top-roping though. The goal seems pretty clear with top-roping! Get to the top, adurr!

How do you start off bouldering, though? Just go in and futz around on the wall? Try and go sideways? I might try it out anyhow. I've been wanting to do something other than weights for a while, but wasn't sure what. We've got a pretty nice rock climbing and bouldering gym only ten minutes away.

well most climbing gyms have courses and such, I'll probably get a course for sport climbing and from there go to anything else I might want.

Fire Truck

I want to get a trad rack more than anything.

Someone give me thousands of dollars.

autono-wally, erotibot300

Fire Truck wrote: »

I want to get a trad rack more than anything.

Someone give me thousands of dollars.

is it that expensive? not that I would ever be cheap on equipment your live literally depends on, but wouldn't it be more in the "hundreds of dollars" range than thousands?

autono-wally, erotibot300

for the starter set, anyways

TrippyJing

I dance a lot.

TrippyJing

Like, a lot.

Fire Truck

Eh, I would expect to pay at least 1000 if you wanted to be versatile at all. Maybe I am being pessimistic.

autono-wally, erotibot300

TrippyJing wrote: »

I dance a lot.

dancing is pretty fun. the so was a dancing teacher for something like 5 years, I might need to make her teach me, all I did was a starter course

Dis'

autono-wally, erotibot300 wrote: »

Fire Truck wrote: »

I want to get a trad rack more than anything.

Someone give me thousands of dollars.

is it that expensive? not that I would ever be cheap on equipment your live literally depends on, but wouldn't it be more in the "hundreds of dollars" range than thousands?

I put together a trad rack that can do pretty much anything my meagre skill level can ask of it (~20 nuts, 4 hexs, 4 friends, a pile of carabiners, slings and quickdraws) for about £250? Made some savings by looking for sales in shops and the like, but it would have been very hard pressed to be thousands unless you have massive cams or are setting up a rack like an instructor or expert climber would use.

Brovid Hasselsmof

Fire Truck wrote: »

Eh, I would expect to pay at least 1000 if you wanted to be versatile at all. Maybe I am being pessimistic.

Yeah, best bet is to find a more experienced climbing partner who has their own kit that you can use while you accumulate your own rack (ilu big brother)

I got into climbing in Nov 2011. Went indoors nearly every week, did some trad a few times. Then got lazy and haven't been since Nov 2012. And now I keep putting off going back because I know I am going to completely suck again. Sigh.

autono-wally, erotibot300

smof wrote: »

Fire Truck wrote: »

Eh, I would expect to pay at least 1000 if you wanted to be versatile at all. Maybe I am being pessimistic.

Yeah, best bet is to find a more experienced climbing partner who has their own kit that you can use while you accumulate your own rack (ilu big brother)

I got into climbing in Nov 2011. Went indoors nearly every week, did some trad a few times. Then got lazy and haven't been since Nov 2012. And now I keep putting off going back because I know I am going to completely suck again. Sigh.

the vicious circle of sports. "I'll go next week.", forever..

Dis'

smof all that will have gone down is your stamina, you'll still have the skills and the fact you weigh approximately negative 10 kg to aide you! You'll be surprised at what you'll still be able to do when you come back from climbing after a break, it'll just tire you out more.

autono-wally, erotibot300

Dis' wrote: »

smof all that will have gone down is your stamina, you'll still have the skills and the fact you weigh approximately negative 10 kg to aide you! You'll be surprised at what you'll still be able to do when you come back from climbing after a break, it'll just tire you out more.

that sounds great. I'm always prone to somewhat big breaks in my sports because I've got so much other shit to do. A somewhat break-friendly sport is great!

Fire Truck

Dis' wrote: »

autono-wally, erotibot300 wrote: »

Fire Truck wrote: »

I want to get a trad rack more than anything.

Someone give me thousands of dollars.

is it that expensive? not that I would ever be cheap on equipment your live literally depends on, but wouldn't it be more in the "hundreds of dollars" range than thousands?

I put together a trad rack that can do pretty much anything my meagre skill level can ask of it (~20 nuts, 4 hexs, 4 friends, a pile of carabiners, slings and quickdraws) for about £250? Made some savings by looking for sales in shops and the like, but it would have been very hard pressed to be thousands unless you have massive cams or are setting up a rack like an instructor or expert climber would use.

I have a set of 6 nuts (heh) and 6 hexes. I would definitely like to get a bunch of new slings.Really what I want is a set of nice cams though, and that's where the cost starts to add up. I think having friends who are instructors has skewed my perception of how much is necessary, though.

Fire Truck

Didgeridoo wrote: »

I have been itching to try bouldering again, lately. When I was a kid I did a bit of top-rope climbing and some bouldering, but it's been years. I enjoyed it at the time... I'm not quite sure how to 'get in' to stuff other than top-roping though. The goal seems pretty clear with top-roping! Get to the top, adurr!

How do you start off bouldering, though? Just go in and futz around on the wall? Try and go sideways? I might try it out anyhow. I've been wanting to do something other than weights for a while, but wasn't sure what. We've got a pretty nice rock climbing and bouldering gym only ten minutes away.

Bouldering has problems the same way top roping has routes. Usually you're trying to get to the top and "top out", i.e. climb onto the top of the boulder and walk down the back side, but that just depends on the area.

If there's a climbing gym near you, they will probably have a bouldering area. It is nice because you don't need a partner to boulder in a gym (probably good to have one outdoors still for spotting and such).

Dis'

Fire Truck wrote: »

Dis' wrote: »

autono-wally, erotibot300 wrote: »

Fire Truck wrote: »

I want to get a trad rack more than anything.

Someone give me thousands of dollars.

is it that expensive? not that I would ever be cheap on equipment your live literally depends on, but wouldn't it be more in the "hundreds of dollars" range than thousands?

I put together a trad rack that can do pretty much anything my meagre skill level can ask of it (~20 nuts, 4 hexs, 4 friends, a pile of carabiners, slings and quickdraws) for about £250? Made some savings by looking for sales in shops and the like, but it would have been very hard pressed to be thousands unless you have massive cams or are setting up a rack like an instructor or expert climber would use.

I have a set of 6 nuts (heh) and 6 hexes. I would definitely like to get a bunch of new slings.Really what I want is a set of nice cams though, and that's where the cost starts to add up. I think having friends who are instructors has skewed my perception of how much is necessary, though.

The amount of cams you need really depends on what sort of rock you're climbing on though? Here in the UK you'll only need a few no matter where you're climbing which is why I just have the 4 (as opposed to small nuts, of which you often want as many as you can carry), but in more desert-y sandstone places you want a lot of cams irrc. What's it like where you are or where you're planning to go?

Slings are cheap, get loads. I do enjoy wearing my longer ones like a bandolier and feeling like an action hero .

autono-wally, erotibot300

Fire Truck wrote: »

Didgeridoo wrote: »

I have been itching to try bouldering again, lately. When I was a kid I did a bit of top-rope climbing and some bouldering, but it's been years. I enjoyed it at the time... I'm not quite sure how to 'get in' to stuff other than top-roping though. The goal seems pretty clear with top-roping! Get to the top, adurr!

How do you start off bouldering, though? Just go in and futz around on the wall? Try and go sideways? I might try it out anyhow. I've been wanting to do something other than weights for a while, but wasn't sure what. We've got a pretty nice rock climbing and bouldering gym only ten minutes away.

Bouldering has problems the same way top roping has routes. Usually you're trying to get to the top and "top out", i.e. climb onto the top of the boulder and walk down the back side, but that just depends on the area.

If there's a climbing gym near you, they will probably have a bouldering area. It is nice because you don't need a partner to boulder in a gym (probably good to have one outdoors still for spotting and such).

I haven't looked much into bouldering at all so far, but it sounds interesting..

Fire Truck

I mostly climb at Smith Rock which is known for crumbly stone and tall routes. I like to travel all over, though.

My friends with trad racks all have at least 10 or 12 cams, though, and that's pretty typical of what I have seen everywhere here in the US.

Brovid Hasselsmof

Didgeridoo wrote: »

I have been itching to try bouldering again, lately. When I was a kid I did a bit of top-rope climbing and some bouldering, but it's been years. I enjoyed it at the time... I'm not quite sure how to 'get in' to stuff other than top-roping though. The goal seems pretty clear with top-roping! Get to the top, adurr!

How do you start off bouldering, though? Just go in and futz around on the wall? Try and go sideways? I might try it out anyhow. I've been wanting to do something other than weights for a while, but wasn't sure what. We've got a pretty nice rock climbing and bouldering gym only ten minutes away.

Do you mean how do you warm up? Just get on the wall and move around a bit. Ignore colours, just practice the movements you'll need. Do a bit of traversing. Do some really easy routes.

And while the point in roped climbing is to get to the top, the point in bouldering is working out problems. So do all the routes you can, and when you find one you can't you throw yourself at it repeatedly until sheer rage gets you up it. If you need a rest you can stand there looking philosophical for a while and pretend you're thinking about technique.

Didgeridoo

I sort of meant "what is the goal" but your post answered my question perfectly! I didn't know they marked out routes in the gym for bouldering, I thought they only did that for top roping. It's been a loooooong time since I've been to a climbing gym, heh

Artreus

I climb some. My gym is kind of amazing. And I had been planning a big trip outdoors for the 4th weekend but it just ended up raining everywhere

Brovid Hasselsmof

Didgeridoo wrote: »

I sort of meant "what is the goal" but your post answered my question perfectly! I didn't know they marked out routes in the gym for bouldering, I thought they only did that for top roping. It's been a loooooong time since I've been to a climbing gym, heh

They do! They are short and called problems rather than routes, and don't always go up. The whole thing with bouldering is it's a way to work on technique and try new things. So it tends to be hard and I suck at it. Roped climbing is positively relaxing by comparison.

Didgeridoo

Right on! I've been looking at gym bouldering since, as @FireTruck said, you don't have to have a partner. Makes it easier to just head out there. Thanks for the info!

Atheraal

I play roller hockey with my little brother and sister, and our dad. Not enough people for goalies, so we just use the poles of the basketball nets as goals. Now that the kids can make three-pointers.. I'm kinda thinking they might be pretty darn good at hockey?

Blake T

Fire Truck wrote: »

I mostly climb at Smith Rock which is known for crumbly stone and tall routes. I like to travel all over, though.

My friends with trad racks all have at least 10 or 12 cams, though, and that's pretty typical of what I have seen everywhere here in the US.

That isn't dependent on crumbly rock. (And in fact cams shouldn't be placed in looser/weaker rock and they put more load into the walls than nuts do)

My trad rack is two full racks of a complete range of standard sized nuts (so around 30 or so) a set of micro cams and a size 1 and a size 2 cam. Unless you are constantly climbing flaring splitter cracks cams aren't super necessary. Same with slings, they are only really necessary if you go off route or need have a lot of runners. You technically only need enough gear to get you to the point where you don't do a cat 1 fall/hit the ground.

Donovan Puppyfucker

@Lost Salient, Mountaineering is heaps of fun!

Artreus

I really, really want to get into mountaineering sometime soon