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Red Oktober
May 24, 2006

wiggly eyes!



I was in my local gym cancelling my membership after the price rise, and Steve McClure was there resetting the wall for the new year.



Had a lovely chat, he's a very nice man.

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Dumbdog
Sep 13, 2011
Such a nice guy and fingers of steel.

Red Oktober
May 24, 2006

wiggly eyes!



Just because he doesn't want to crush your larynx doesn't mean that he can't.

Sigmund Fraud
Jul 31, 2005

armorer posted:

"Free climbing" is climbing as we know it. "Free SOLOing" is climbing by one's self with no ropes or safety devices. The terms are similar enough that when someone says "He free climbed it", people often hear "He free solo'd it" which means something quite different.
To add to the confusion, there is also roped soloing where you self belay. Technically also free solo climbing. :)

armorer
Aug 6, 2012

I like metal.

Sigmund Fraud posted:

To add to the confusion, there is also roped soloing where you self belay. Technically also free solo climbing. :)

True, I've actually done this before a few times with a grigri when trimming the tree in my yard.

Happiness Commando
Feb 1, 2002
$$ joy at gunpoint $$

I'm climbing V0s and 5.8s now. Will The Self-Coached Climber help me, or should I just keep climbing until I'm closer to 5.10s?

French Canadian
Feb 23, 2004

Fluffy cat sensory experience

Happiness Commando posted:

I'm climbing V0s and 5.8s now. Will The Self-Coached Climber help me, or should I just keep climbing until I'm closer to 5.10s?

I don't see why it would hurt, but don't get all wrapped up in it unless you suddenly have major issues in progressing or being scared, etc.

Mahlertov Cocktail
Mar 1, 2010

I ate your Mahler avatar! Hahahaha!
Does anyone get lower back pain from climbing? I don't really think that it's the climbing because I last climbed on Tuesday and the back issues started up on Saturday, but I figured I'd ask. It's maybe six inches above my hips on my right side.

El Marrow
Jan 21, 2009

Everybody here is just as dead as you.

Mahlertov Cocktail posted:

Does anyone get lower back pain from climbing? I don't really think that it's the climbing because I last climbed on Tuesday and the back issues started up on Saturday, but I figured I'd ask. It's maybe six inches above my hips on my right side.

Thankfully not. Climbing actually alleviates my back pain, strangely enough.

Mahlertov Cocktail
Mar 1, 2010

I ate your Mahler avatar! Hahahaha!
That's always been my experience too. It seems like you end up stretching it nicely. I was just asking since I didn't do any weird movements since climbing and it just started twinging out of the blue so I figured I'd ask. It's getting better though, so maybe I just slept funny.

Papercut
Aug 24, 2005

The quickest substitution in the history of the NBA

Mahlertov Cocktail posted:

Does anyone get lower back pain from climbing? I don't really think that it's the climbing because I last climbed on Tuesday and the back issues started up on Saturday, but I figured I'd ask. It's maybe six inches above my hips on my right side.

Are you bouldering and not down-climbing? That's the only way I can see hurting your lower back climbing.

Mahlertov Cocktail
Mar 1, 2010

I ate your Mahler avatar! Hahahaha!
No, I typically downclimb. I jump a couple times per session, but never from very high and I've never felt any problems from it. And again, this wasn't something that happened right after climbing, I was just fishing around for reasons when it probably is just having slept weirdly one night.

Chris!
Dec 2, 2004

E

Mahlertov Cocktail posted:

No, I typically downclimb. I jump a couple times per session, but never from very high and I've never felt any problems from it. And again, this wasn't something that happened right after climbing, I was just fishing around for reasons when it probably is just having slept weirdly one night.

Hopefully it's just that! Maybe double check you're warming up, stretching before and after and warming down enough as well :)

Mahlertov Cocktail
Mar 1, 2010

I ate your Mahler avatar! Hahahaha!
Will do! :)

canis minor
May 4, 2011

El Marrow posted:

Thankfully not. Climbing actually alleviates my back pain, strangely enough.

Same here - though my back issues stem from bad posture (which I've been working on lately) and sitting job. Upper back, if that matters.

Climbing actually makes it go away, probably due to endorphins.

IrvingWashington
Dec 9, 2007

Shabbat Shalom
Clapping Larry
Does anyone here use the TRX (or rather the way cheaper version on amazon)? It looks like it would be pretty handy for core training if nothing else. $200 is too much, but around $30 seems like it might be worth giving it a go.

e: vvv thanks!

IrvingWashington fucked around with this message at 18:47 on Jan 20, 2015

spwrozek
Sep 4, 2006

Sail when it's windy

IrvingWashington posted:

Does anyone here use the TRX (or rather the way cheaper version on amazon)? It looks like it would be pretty handy for core training if nothing else. $200 is too much, but around $30 seems like it might be worth giving it a go.

I have a TRX. It was worth the $150 I paid for it (since it comes with 8 training videos, plus a lot free on youtube if you look around). I use it 2-3 times a week for core and sometimes legs. I usually can hammer out a 15-20 min core workout and be completely spent.

Sigmund Fraud
Jul 31, 2005

Happiness Commando posted:

I'm climbing V0s and 5.8s now. Will The Self-Coached Climber help me, or should I just keep climbing until I'm closer to 5.10s?

Self-Coached Climber has a large focus on basic movement skills such as flagging, drop knees etc. It also focuses alot on movement initiation and balance which many climbers miss pracicing when they start out. Strong climbers can tear themselves up 5.11 and still lack good form. That being said it is quite theoretical.

Sigmund Fraud
Jul 31, 2005

First climb in a week. 2 hours of absolutely rubbish hangover bouldering and I were about to give up and just go sauna when a friend showed up and convinced me to start leading instead. Got 5 moves from sending a 7c and on my second try I managed to find a no hands rest on it (albeit very hard on the core and legs). It feels very possible. Well it goes to show the value of mixing it up if it's not working and having a coffee break.

Endjinneer
Aug 17, 2005
Fallen Rib
Here are some pictures from my trip over new year. Three of us went to Tafraoute in the anti-atlas mountains in Morocco. The climbing is everything from boulder problems to 800m grandes courses, on mostly bomber quartzite. Protection is all trad, the food and accommodation are dirt cheap and provided you aren't fazed by bad roads, erratic grading and the complete absence of any rescue service the whole place is just amazing. Also, it is relatively undeveloped. You can drive down the valleys and see line after line on 100m faces that nobody has bothered to climb yet. The place is mind blowing.

Owl Crack: First E1 of the trip

Me on Call to Prayer, my third clean E1 but this time with added cactus hazards. You don't get those at Stanage!

Go big or go home at Anergui. Spot the climber! 3 alternated 40m pitches at VS/HVS, then maybe another 150m moving together to the top.

View down Anergui valley. The crag in the middle at the right is maybe five pitches high. Most of the crags don't have any routes on.

Yes you can climb on the painted rocks.

I like to call this sequence "cragfast".





Sunset ridge:


Me chilling. The route up the right of the scoop in the crag behind is called Pink Lady and we alternated the nine pitches.

My other friend gets his E1, last climb of the trip.

Mahlertov Cocktail
Mar 1, 2010

I ate your Mahler avatar! Hahahaha!
Dude that looks like a hell of a lot of fun. Amazing pictures!

Sigmund Fraud
Jul 31, 2005

Amazing pictures! How far from the crags did you stay and what was the accommodation? How's quartzite to climb on compared to like limestone or north European granite?

big scary monsters
Sep 2, 2011

-~Skullwave~-
That looks awesome. I really want to go ice climbing in Morocco but maybe it is worth packing some rock shoes too...

Endjinneer
Aug 17, 2005
Fallen Rib

Sigmund Fraud posted:

Amazing pictures! How far from the crags did you stay and what was the accommodation? How's quartzite to climb on compared to like limestone or north European granite?

We stayed in Tafraoute which is the biggest local town and about 20 minutes from the nearest crags on the south side of the Jebel el Kest massif. Eight days in the hotel Argana for three of us cost £250 and was fine if you don't mind waiting a bit for hot water. For double that you can stay in hotel les Amandiers, which feels like being in The Shining, but set during the glory days of the empire. It has a bar, a pool and the new routes book which makes it the unofficial HQ of climbing this side. Figure £6 per restaurant meal.
The bigger crags along the Tarakatin valley are maybe 40 minutes drive and then around an hour's walk in but it really varies - you can commute as far as you can be bothered. Our trip to Anergui took about 60 minutes to drive up a mind boggling road and then 40 minutes to walk in.

If you go round the north side, there are the amazing Samzar and Afantinazar valleys, with some epic sized cliffs but less in the way of digs. You can stay in kasbah tizourgane which is meant to be nice, and seems to be becoming the unofficial HQ of north side climbing. We didn't get round there this year except for Pink Lady, but we will be back there. Oh yes.
A trip split between Kasbah Tisourgane and Tafraoute would be a really good plan.

The quartzite looks like it'll be low friction but it's made of baked beach sand and it has a really rough microtexture. It sticks to rubber really well, like font sandstone. It doesn't have the soapy feel limestone can have, or the crystalline coarseness and 'massiveness' of most of the granite I've climbed. Close up it looks a bit like gneiss, but with much more fissuring.
It's thickly laminated and so it has fissured into large blocks. The cracks take protection very well at all widths, we should have taken all our size 4 cams and all our micro wires. The blocks often take sling runners.
The climbing tends to be jammy on the friendly side of vertical, with large belay ledges. Some areas that have seen less traffic can have a bit of loose rock, between us we pulled maybe two handholds off all trip.
Sometimes you'll have a moment when you realise that the reassuring spike you put a sling over is in fact the tip of a huge flake, which you also have two wires behind and are currently trying to layback off the rock face.

More info here:
http://www.climb-tafraout.com/

Sound_man
Aug 25, 2004
Rocking to the 80s
I'll be in Denver on the 26th and would like to get some climbing in. Is Movement Denver any good? Any Denver goons want to get some mid day climbing in? I have dinner plans that night but will be free all day.

Bud Manstrong
Dec 11, 2003

The Curse of the Flying Criosphinx

Sound_man posted:

I'll be in Denver on the 26th and would like to get some climbing in. Is Movement Denver any good? Any Denver goons want to get some mid day climbing in? I have dinner plans that night but will be free all day.

Movement is great. Go there if you're downtown. If you're in the suburbs, there are a few other gyms that might be closer. I'm working that day, but we've got a few other climbers downtown who might be available. Have fun.

Sound_man
Aug 25, 2004
Rocking to the 80s
My work climbing partner decided to bail and go snowboarding today, and movement's doesn't have autobelays. I'm going to hit REI and then the gym so I would be there around 11:30 or noon if anyone is looking for a climbing partner let me know. My email is mrock87 at gmail

remote control carnivore
May 7, 2009

Endjinneer posted:

Here are some pictures from my trip over new year.
:swoon:

Discussion with my regular crew about trying some alpine stuff this summer. So far on the list, possibly: Longs Cables route, Ellingwood Arete, Wham Ridge, possibly Petit Grepon if we really get our poo poo together.

C'mon, REI member refund. Mama needs a bunch of gear.

spwrozek
Sep 4, 2006

Sail when it's windy

I climbed plastic rocks today. Fun was had.

remote control carnivore
May 7, 2009

spwrozek posted:

I climbed plastic rocks today. Fun was had.

My partners were taunting me with photos from GoG today while I was trapped at work. :( I plastic'd yesterday, but it's just not the same.

spwrozek
Sep 4, 2006

Sail when it's windy

Save me jeebus posted:

My partners were taunting me with photos from GoG today while I was trapped at work. :( I plastic'd yesterday, but it's just not the same.

I hear you there, it was 70 yesterday on Denver and stuck on the office. Boo.

gamera009
Apr 7, 2005

spwrozek posted:

I hear you there, it was 70 yesterday on Denver and stuck on the office. Boo.

Once the garage gym is built, I will have the Boulder/Denver climbing goons over for the "wall-warming" party where we grill, drink from a pinner keg and set problems.

jackchaos
Aug 6, 2008
Thoughts on the new zenith rubber on upcoming boreal shoes.

tortilla_chip
Jun 13, 2007

k-partite
Does Boreal even distribute outside the EU anymore?

remote control carnivore
May 7, 2009

tortilla_chip posted:

Does Boreal even distribute outside the EU anymore?

They sell Jokers at least at REI. Boreals were my first climbing shoes. (I hate them, though).

spwrozek
Sep 4, 2006

Sail when it's windy

Daniel woods was at the gym today... He makes V10 look so easy.

www.amazon.com
Nov 5, 2012
I just started rock climbing at an indoor gym near me. Triangle rock club near the raleigh / RTP area of nc. I have a birthday coming up so I was thinking of asking for a harness or something not crazy expensive. I don't currently own any gear and the gym offers free rentals for the first month, but im not really even sure of what would be the more important thing to own for yourself instead of renting. I feel like shoes and a harness are probably the first things you would want to get but I don't really know. I've been climbing for all of about 2 weeks now and am still a complete beginner. I've seen this harness mentioned a few times in this thread: http://gearx.com/petzl-sama-harness and thought it would be a good option that was relatively inexpensive. Is there anything I should know about it or is there something that would be a better choice. I've never really tried anything on other than what is available as a rental.


Also as a side note. I would like to find someone in the area that I could climb with. I'm belay certified but not for lead climbing or anything. I've been going to meetups at this place but I would like to go more often than the meetups are scheduled.

www.amazon.com fucked around with this message at 08:16 on Feb 2, 2015

henne
May 9, 2009

by exmarx
I have an older version of that harness and really like it. That said the leg loops aren't adjustable and I think they run small. I tighten the waist belt all the way to fit and the leg loops barely fit over my (not very big) thighs. I actually got the harness when a friend couldn't get it over his legs and he gave it to me. I don't like the petzl harnesses with the double waist adjustment but have been very happy with all of the Black Diamond harnesses I have owned/worn, as have all of my friends with BD harnesses. Most harnesses and load bearing climbing gear in general isn't returnable, so I'd highly advise trying one on before you buy if at all possible.

www.amazon.com
Nov 5, 2012
Well I plan on going to REI in the next couple of days but I don't know that they have any petzl harnesses in store where I am according to the find in store function on their website. I think I need to put the price point at about $60 or so if I want it as a birthday gift. From what I have heard mentioned on here the petzl adjama is the same as the sama except with adjustable leg loops. I couldn't find it on sale for anything less than msrp which i guess is why i was looking at the sama instead. I guess my thing is I don't really know what the major differences are between harnesses. I only really see myself climbing inside for the foreseeable future. So I basically just want something that is comfortable to wear for a while at a time. The only real preference I think I have at the moment is that is has the vertical belay loop, instead of just one single loop at the top for tying in and belaying. And it has to have an extra loop or two to clip a carabiner and a place to eventually connect a chalk bag in the back.

I'm about a 32" waist. I just sort of assumed that since the size of that harness I was looking at was sized for up to 33" that the legs ought to fit. I don't really know much other than it might look cool. A girl I talked to had the black diamond siren which as far as I can tell is the female version of the black diamond flight harness which looks good but I don't really know how different it is. other than adjustable leg loops. and it being 70 bucks vs just over 50.


Let me edit this again. I see on REI and a couple other sites some harnesses are offered as packages that come with a locking carabiner, belay device and a chalk bag. any opinions on these packages.

www.amazon.com fucked around with this message at 09:21 on Feb 2, 2015

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PRADA SLUT
Mar 14, 2006

Inexperienced,
heartless,
but even so

tortilla_chip posted:

Does Boreal even distribute outside the EU anymore?

I got a pair of Kryptos about two years ago, I see them on occasion,

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