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Pander posted:Another other Chicagoland climbers here, advice about Vertical Endeavors in Warrenville? Seems like a pretty big place, lots of options. $700 total for my g/f and me for a year right now. Figured if we go 2x a week it'd be about $3.50 each, which seems like a good deal. Just wondering if they change routes out, upkeep the place well, etc. I used to go to VE more frequently and now go every once in a while (maybe once a month). It is always nice getting out there after climbing regularly in one (LVAC) of the Chicago gyms. Many of my climbing friends who are able to do all of their climbing out at VE. As I said, I don't go often, but when I do it seems like a fair amount of new routes are up. If it wasn't such a pain to get out there (compared to a short walk to a smaller gym in Chicago) I would go to VE more often.
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Dec 22, 2012 02:49
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Pander posted:It was pretty hard to focus on a single color. Is that a skill that grows with time? You get better at it. I usually climb at a smaller gym in Chicago (LVAC) where each rope has 6-12 routes that use that rope. This leads to a lot of shared holds and lots of tap all over the place. When I first started climbing there I found it annoying and somewhat difficult to pick out the right colors, now it is only an issue if different routes are using too similar of colors.
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Dec 31, 2012 23:18
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Slim Killington posted:Hey fellow climbing goons! Awesome. Thanks for the heads up. Know any more details about expected opening or address?
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Jan 24, 2013 00:08
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Need to get a pair of my shoes (La Sportiva Miuras) resoled. Any recommendations on where to send them? Been searching around online a bit and seems like there are quite a few options. Some places have an option to pick your rubber. Any one want to convince me that some particular rubber is the best?
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Feb 13, 2013 02:26
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Went to Red River Gorge in Kentucky last weekend for a solid two days of sport climbing. Weather was perfect (mid 40s to low 50s) and mostly sunny. By chance it also happened to be the first weekend that Miguel's was open. That pizza always tastes so good after a day of climbing. This trip it was me and my usual climbing partner. Leading at the gym we go to in Chicago is difficult because they restrict it to certain times so we spent this trip getting comfortable leading again. Since I don't get to lead too often I have some mental hurdles to get over. It wasn't too busy so we ended up climbing every route twice. The second time was always much smoother and we were able to move with more confidence. This went a long way towards both of us getting comfortable leading again. This trip also involved making our own stick clip during the trip down. Bought a clamp, duct tape, some bolts, and punched angles to build an extendable stick clip. Worked extremely well.
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Feb 28, 2013 01:22
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spwrozek posted:Loved climbing at the red. It is definitely stick clip central though... This trip we climbed entirely in Muir Valley. Climbed at Practice Wall the first day and Bruise Brothers the second. Basically climbed every 5.7-5.9 at both multiple times. Tried out a pretty fun 5.10b at Practice Wall but by the time I figured out how to get past the part I was having difficulties with it was too late, I was shot. Felt great to be outside again. I think it has been 8 or so months since I last got out. Need to work on leading more and being less of a pussy and close the gap between what I climb on top and what I lead.
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Mar 1, 2013 02:31
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canvasbagfight posted:I've recently gotten back into climbing after a 6 year hiatus. I have some Evos that have a good amount of rubber left on them from 2007, but they feel awfully slippery even after taking steel wool to them. Is there any hope or does the rubber compound just age beyond salvage? It's not just the highly polished knobs I'm slipping off. Practically everything. I literally can't trust my feet at all on anything but large shelves/jugs when I climb. While it's great for getting my arms back into the swing of things, I'm finding it hard to advance. I was climbing at the V4 level before and now I'm happy just to send a V2... Thoughts? I'm probably going to get some Miuras. Completely anecdotal but my backup pair of shoes are pretty ancient (actually unsure how old, just know at least 6 years, were a gift from a friend who was encouraging me to get into climbing. He worked at a gear shop and got them for super cheap but they didn't fit so he never wore them) and they still stick pretty well. Been climbing on them for the last couple of weeks as I'm getting my Miuras resoled. I really enjoy my Miuras. I'm male but actually wear the female version because I thought the heel felt better.
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Mar 8, 2013 02:54
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Reformed Tomboy posted:hahaha those aren't old! My dad uses pair of La Sportiva shoes he bought in '79. Those are ancient shoes. Of course, he's had them resoled a few times, but still. They don't even compare in age to your dad's. Asked the friend who gave them to me and my estimate was fairly close. He guesses they are from 2005.
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Mar 9, 2013 03:34
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Large Hardon Collider posted:Thanks for the info on vertical endeavors. I'm planning a trip next week, and I'm excited to try toproping. What I meant to ask, though, is does anyone climb at hidden peak? I don't but have heard from many of my climbing friends in the city that it is their favorite place to go. If I bouldered more I would probably go there. I usually climb at LVAC. I work fairly close to it and may look into going during the lunch hours. Would be a nice break in the day.
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Mar 19, 2013 23:55
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spandexcajun posted:The "Wind tower" in Eldorado, lived up to it's name that day, communications were harder then we thought they would be due to wind / river noise: I recommend getting some two-way radios. Once you start using them you'll never want to not have some again.
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Mar 21, 2013 04:16
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Ghetto Blaster posted:Did a 3 hour lead climbing lesson at my local gym, i was surprised how difficult it was and how drastically my climbing level dropped. Now i feel even less prepared to go climb outdoors. I don't but know that I should. All of my outdoor climbing has been at heavily climbed areas with low chance of rockfall and I've felt pretty comfortable with the risk.
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Jun 10, 2013 03:01
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pokchu posted:One thing you could potentially as of your gym in that vein is to hold off on grading new problems for a few days after they are set. It removes that mental grade barrier and lets you give it everything you've got without a preconceived notion of difficulty or likelihood of failure. The bouldering area where I climb is just so poorly labeled that it is hard to tell a problem's rating. Once I got used to that I kind of started to like it.
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Jan 1, 2014 00:09
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ConspicuousEvil posted:On a lighter note, I'm going to Joe's in a couple of weeks. Anyone else got some good climbing trips planned? Going to be in Las Vegas in early May for business. Hoping to get out to Red Rock Canyon and get some climbing in.
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Mar 4, 2014 02:49
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Yesterday, I took a tour of the nearly completed First Ascent climbing gym in Chicago. Its looking pretty sweet. The support skeleton for the sport climbing was completely up and probably about 40% of the wall pieces were up. About half of the bouldering skeleton was up. Sounds like they should be opening up in mid August. If you're in Chicago I'd recommend doing one of their hard hat tours. Its great that Chicago has gone from zero dedicated sport climbing gyms in the city to two in the last year.
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Jun 28, 2015 15:32
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Hand warmers in chalk bag and pockets .
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Dec 13, 2015 10:07
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Heading to El Potrero Chico this Saturday for a week of climbing. I'm really excited. This will be my first time there and my first time doing some multi-pitch.
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Feb 9, 2016 02:22
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SeaborneClink posted:Please don't tell me that. I've been trying to not buy this rope for a while now. I bought the 70m version of this rope for my El Potrero Chico trip. It is a pretty great rope.
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Mar 9, 2016 06:29
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Did a two day trip in the Red River Gorge, KY over the last weekend. Spent most of the two days in the Miller Fork region. Climbed at the Secret Garden crag on day 1 and most of day 2 at The Nursery. Had to drop off a friend so he could catch a ride back home and then went to Phantasia and climbed a couple routes there. Except for a handful of routes the weekend was full of slab. Highlights included Sloppy Seconds in the Secret Garden and Count Floyd Show in Phantasia. Climbed quite a few really fun slabby routes of ranging difficulty (5.6 to 5.11b). Overall a good weekend. Definitely hoping to get in at least one more trip before summer and possibly work some easier 12s. Niyqor fucked around with this message at 01:07 on Apr 19, 2016 |
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Apr 7, 2016 02:26
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Just spent the weekend climbing in Southern Illinois at Jackson Falls. It was my first time there and I got my rear end handed to me. I was struggling on grades that I typically don't have problems with. Definitely need to spend some more time there to get used to the type of climbs that are there. Favorite route was Wild at Heart, which depending on what source you trust ranges from a 5.10d to a 5.11b. It had really great movement and features in just the right spots. That area, Railroad area, is pretty solid.
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Apr 19, 2016 01:24
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My wrist injury experience is limited to a climbing partner who hurt his wrist. He was out for a long (6+ month) time. I don't remember the exact injury.
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Jun 10, 2016 01:17
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stoicheian posted:Heading to the Red River Gorge for the first time this weekend! Any routes I shouldn't miss? I have lead up to 5.11a outside, but am really a mid 5.10 climber. As others recommended, you can't go wrong trying to hit up what Mountain Project labels the classics. They'll probably be pretty busy over the weekend though. Drive-by crag has quite a few lines that are that are worth doing. Slick and the 9mm the guidebook and website have wrong description, it is not the furthest left route anymore, look at the pictures and find it that way. Fire and Brimstone and Breakfast Burrito are two great, longer routes. Whip-Stocking is breaking into the 5.11s and fun. The Shire has a bunch of easier routes that are pretty fun. Because of this you are pretty much guaranteed to have others there. I had a lot of fun on the < 5.10 routes. I'd also highly recommend the 5.10d K.S.B Purple Valley is a crag that is a bit out of the way so you may find fewer people there. There are a handful of 5.10s there, with Come in Your Lycra probably being the highlight. If you go here and hop on Captain One Eye first, don't be discouraged; the beginning of this route is quite hard. Delusions of Grandeur is a real fun 5.11b slab route. I didn't get a chance to do it but Electric Cowboy is highly recommended. There is a ton of great climbing in the Red. You'll have a great time. Niyqor fucked around with this message at 16:24 on Apr 13, 2017 |
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Apr 13, 2017 15:31
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If you ever go back to the gallery, I'd highly recommend The Preacher's Daughter. I'm pretty sure this was the highlight of the day I spent at The Gallery early in February.
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Jun 2, 2017 22:14
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My normal climbing partner has a black diamond solution harness and really enjoys it. I'll definitely be trying on when it comes time to replacing my Arc'teryx AR-395a.
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Dec 29, 2017 04:05
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Baronash posted:Is anyone here based out of the Midwest (specifically Wisconsin/Illinois/Michigan) who could tell me whether climbing there is as dire as it seems? I'm moving back that way after picking up climbing in Colorado, and a cursory look isn't making me feel confident about the presence of quality sport routes or halfway decent gyms. I'm based in Chicago. There are now plenty of quality gyms here with more slated to open in the next year or so. If you come to Chicago, I'd recommend the First Ascent group of gyms. If you're ending up in southeast Michigan, Planet Rock is pretty solid. I've only been to the Ann Arbor location. It is one of the older gyms but I've always enjoyed going. For outdoor climbing, there are a few options. You will not have access to climbing like you do in Colorado. Most Chicago climbers I know that actually going climbing outdoors end up driving down the Kentucky and going to the Red River Gorge. You can squeeze in a day and a half of climbing in a weekend. This is where I've done most of my climbing. RRG is about 7 hours from Chicago. Jackson Falls is in Southern Illinois. I've only been there once but I'd like to go there more. People that like it really enjoy it. Unfortunately, it a bit less 6 hours from Chicago. This is pretty much why I usually take on the extra hour and just go to the RRG. A new place opened up near St. Louis. I haven't checked it out yet. In Wisconsin, you have Devils Lake, Necedah and Hillbilly Hollow (there may be more, this is what I hear people talking about). There are bouldering options as well. I'm not as familiar with them.
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Apr 6, 2018 18:11
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jet_dee posted:Are there any other keyboard warriors here (aka office workers) who've found repetitive strain injuries in mouse hands/wrists/forearms becoming worse through fingerboarding? I may give those a rest for a year now and just do more climbing instead. I bash away at a keyboard and mouse all day everyday and before climbing I had discomfort and as a result I've tried out quite a few keyboards and mice over the years. I'd highly recommend trying out different keyboards and mice. A couple years ago I switched to a vertical mouse and I'd highly recommend it. I've recommended vertical mice to a few other programmers I know and they've enjoyed the switch. I've been climbing and hangboarding for a while and haven't noticed any increase in the same problems I had before.
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Apr 8, 2018 21:09
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I'd go to either First Ascent Humboldt Park or First Ascent Block 37.
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Oct 6, 2018 15:23
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Baronash posted:Any goon climbers in Illinois/Wisconsin? I’m looking to hit up Devil’s Lake pretty regularly this year, and wanted to know if some folks could use a climbing partner. I'm in Chicago.
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Mar 2, 2019 06:53
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spwrozek posted:Red River gorge. My girl on some 5.7. me climbing starry night. Nice. I'm happy I was able to recognize the area. I really need to get back down there. I've been slacking on trips. Also, that shot of starry night does not do it justice.
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Apr 8, 2019 15:44
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Sab669 posted:Unfortunately it seems like everyone is either crazy good and doing much harder stuff, or just starting out doing 1's and 2's This might feel awkward but you might try asking a climber that is climbing harder for some beta even if they aren't climbing that problem. I personally don't mind when someone asks for tips or even asks if I'd climb something in front of them. As others have said, watch the better climbers climb. Even if they are doing harder problems you can still pick up a lot of movement ideas you might not have thought about.
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May 23, 2019 05:20
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Hauki posted:I’ve watched that series like several times over now, and it definitely helped me some, but I’m at a loss as to when to work in a backstep, heel hook/toe hook, etc. Try to force the movement and you'll start getting a better idea of when it is useful. It can be useful to find some very easy route or boulder and try climbing it multiple ways to see which movement feel better. Also, make sure you are watching other climbers climb. Sometimes you'll see something and think "huh, I didn't realize movement like that could help."
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Jun 1, 2019 17:32
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Mezzanon posted:What’s the go-to option for getting shoes re-soled? I have some exceptionally beaten up and comfortable madrocks that I would like to get redone for casual climbing while I break in my new shoes. Do I just mail my shoes off or????? I've mostly used Yosemite Bum. Turn around time has always been pretty fast.
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Jun 4, 2019 22:37
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ShaneB posted:How can I get comfortable leading real slab? Falling is petrifying and makes me want to take no chances whatsoever. I just figure I'll be dragging my body across the rockface and that seems tremendously unfun. Talk to your buddies and ask if that has ever happened to them. My friends are all nervous about this but I don't think any of them have had a bad experience with it.
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Jun 12, 2019 02:19
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I also enjoy having a stream of new routes going up but I think you're underestimating the additional cost unless you are paying your route setters peanuts. There are some benefits to not rotating routes too quickly. 1) Encourages you to try harder routes as there aren't always new routes at the grades at which you're comfortable. 2) Gives you the time to see improvement on the routes 3) More time to project hard climbs I personally think a monthly rotation would be too quick but that probably depends on how much climbing is available at your gym(s).
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Jun 17, 2019 19:34
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meowmeowmeowmeow posted:Thread has moved on a bit but I learned to climb at a gym that didn't grade routes at all and I think I'm a better climber for it. Taught me a lot about reading routes from the ground and trying moves to figure out how stuff feels. Spent a lot of time trying moves on things way over my head in a way I don't think I would have in a graded gym.. Every once in a while the gyms around here have a competition where the routes aren't graded but the approximate order of difficulty is known. Those routes or boulder problems tend to stay ungraded for a while. I enjoy it. Most recently, that resulted in me working a 13b. I probably would not have done that otherwise. I'm unsure if I'll be able to send the route before it gets taken down but it has been nice trying it out.
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Jun 28, 2019 17:31
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Engineer Lenk posted:No one's picked Chaehyun Seo as an Olympic favorite yet? Between her and Jongwan Chon, Korea stands a good chance for at least one medal, maybe not as strong a team as Slovenia or Japan but a close third. Yeah, she is crushing it. I've always thought Janja would be the obvious winner but I'm not sure anymore. Need to keep an eye on Chaehyun Seo and see if she keeps up the consistency.
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Jul 24, 2019 17:57
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Hauki posted:
I believe she is injured. I tried verifying this but failed in the 30 seconds I spent on my phone.
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Jul 25, 2019 19:49
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The key is to just stop caring. Hopefully setters at a single gym mostly align with some occasional outliers or entire outlier new sets. Then at least you can mostly use them as a guideline within a single gym. There will always be soft and hard problems for a grade. This is fine. This way you occasionally get that ego boost and also get slammed back down. Also, remember that you are hopefully getting better. If you don't normally send a 12a and then you do, that doesn't necessarily mean it isn't a 12a. You might just be better now or that one particularly suits your strengths.
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Aug 15, 2019 23:38
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I love my orange Butora Acros. Everyone's fit is different but they are real comfortable for me. I think I owned four pairs.
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Sep 18, 2019 16:52
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That is awesome. I was doing some deep water soloing at Banks Lake back in July. It was a ton of fun.
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Oct 1, 2019 20:43
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I saw your photo of the crux of Lavender Eye and initially mistook it as you kneeling on a feature about a foot off the ground. I also got some outdoor climbing in this weekend. I ended up going to Devil's Lake in Wisconsin and did some top roping. It was a good time if a little in the chilly side. I'm looking forward to heading to Kentucky on a couple weekends and getting some sport climbing in.
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Oct 15, 2019 04:10
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