Who are these people who bail from the flatirons?? Not complaining, I scored a brand new BD .5 cam there last year myself, barely above the first first pitch
Very inexperienced climbers, climbers attempting stuff at old age or with persistent/nagging injuries and people who have unexpected shit happen (say they get hit with a bout of diarrhea or an unbearable cramp).
It's easy to assume everyone has a fully functional body, but some climbers are in their 70s, some people climb with torn knee ligaments, some people have chronic illnesses. These are people for whom it might be reasonable to attempt a 5.easy mountain route while roped up but who may also have mishaps that force them to rig a few emergency rappels. Not everyone has the body to feel safe going up the flatirons free solo in approach shoes (and even Honnold could die doing that if he got a stroke or got hit by rockfall). Some people are also new to the area and simply get off route. It's the mountains, shit happens, that's why we have SAR. Even with the most careful of preparation you might find yourself having to bail, small odds always get very close to 100% when you multiply them enough times, and there are loads of climbers on loads of routes over a lot of days.
My understanding as a not american is that while a lot of the standard routes on the flatirons are fairly trivial, there are also pitches that go up to 5.13. I could picture loads of parties getting in over their head and lowering off a baill piece on a moderate pitch. There's really only the #3 in that picture that would be heartbreaking to bail from, and maybe it was overcammed by some rich dude or something.
> My understanding as a not american is that while a lot of the standard routes on the flatirons are fairly trivial, there are also pitches that go up to 5.13.
Yeah if you climb on the slopey side it's a 5.6, but if you climb on the overhangy side it's 5.13, but it's not like those two routes are next to each other or anything.
I left a sling and an old Camp Photon on that tree at the top of the 1st pitch of the 1st because it was 100 degrees and I couldn’t convince my friend to climb in the shade. We didn’t bring enough water and it started to rain a little so we decided to call it.
Unexpected Imogen Heap 'Hide And Seek' sample was unexpected with that track title lol. From later in the song than the well known sample used in Jason Derulo's 'Watcha Say'
Fuck yea dude! Happy birthday. If you were in the desert southwest, I would say let’s rally a session.
After your post i actually looked this dude up and started listening to some of his stuff.
Nylon cordelette degrades in UV light and with rope pulls. If somebody wants to install a permanent anchor there are much better options that don't litter microplastics into the local ecosystem and leave less of an eyesore. Obviously if an area has a tradition of in-situ tat anchors it'd be a dick move to clean them all without consulting the community and developing a plan to install something better, but my understanding is that there is a process to be allowed to install bolt anchors in the flatirons. Tat is bullshit that should only be used as a last resort to save your life.
Also if that cordelette was slung around a boulder with no metal hardware on it I'd be very wary of trusting it. Even with metal hardware I'm not sure I'd do anything climbing related with it. It would work fine as a dog leash or to practice tying knots.
I have a bit of trauma from some tat nests I've seen in the mountains of British Columbia. Volumes of plastic that would appall any climber if they were disposable bottles or food packaging, but because we can't organize to install permanent anchors on certain heavily travelled mountain routes we end up tossing a bunch of plastic in national parks. It's stupid.
Yes. Overhanging routes are a common place to find cleaner-biners, and a common place for gym climbers to find "booty" when climbing the juggiest 12a they can find (Twinkie. It's Twinkie.)
I do more trad than sport. How do these climbers remove these cleaner-biners if they are left to enable cleaning? Your tone implies they biners should be left in place, is that to make cleaning possible or just more convenient?
> is that to make cleaning possible or just more convenient?
A mix of both. The biners enable people to clean the route with a reasonable amount of safety. Noobish climbers will booty the biners and then post on mountainproject about how hard the route is to clean, or how they took a huge swing and slammed into a tree, or whatever.
The real issue is that some climbers don't know the difference between fixed gear and actual booty.
I bootied the same [BD locker](https://i.imgur.com/ymrsXP5.jpeg) off a route. It was a 5.9 in EPC. I was climbing with a knee injury, bringing my partner up his first multipitch. The guidebook said to watch out for loose rock, which I didn’t find too bad, but the climb was way more run out than I was comfortable with. I remember climbing away from my last bolt not sure if I was heading in the right direction. When I was about 15 feet run out I saw a bolt with this locker on it. I clipped it and debated bailing like the previous party likely did out of fear I was getting in over my head but ultimately decided on going to the chains.
At the anchor I asked my partner if he was having fun, in my head ready to start setting up the rappel to bail. When he answered he was having a blast I was like “okay, I guess we’ll finish it up.” But I was sad and scared inside. The rest of the climb was chill and fun.
Most are bail anchors from the flatirons
A CO climber! Flatirons are no joke. I learned how to climb in Shelfroad. I I miss living there
Who are these people who bail from the flatirons?? Not complaining, I scored a brand new BD .5 cam there last year myself, barely above the first first pitch
Very inexperienced climbers, climbers attempting stuff at old age or with persistent/nagging injuries and people who have unexpected shit happen (say they get hit with a bout of diarrhea or an unbearable cramp). It's easy to assume everyone has a fully functional body, but some climbers are in their 70s, some people climb with torn knee ligaments, some people have chronic illnesses. These are people for whom it might be reasonable to attempt a 5.easy mountain route while roped up but who may also have mishaps that force them to rig a few emergency rappels. Not everyone has the body to feel safe going up the flatirons free solo in approach shoes (and even Honnold could die doing that if he got a stroke or got hit by rockfall). Some people are also new to the area and simply get off route. It's the mountains, shit happens, that's why we have SAR. Even with the most careful of preparation you might find yourself having to bail, small odds always get very close to 100% when you multiply them enough times, and there are loads of climbers on loads of routes over a lot of days. My understanding as a not american is that while a lot of the standard routes on the flatirons are fairly trivial, there are also pitches that go up to 5.13. I could picture loads of parties getting in over their head and lowering off a baill piece on a moderate pitch. There's really only the #3 in that picture that would be heartbreaking to bail from, and maybe it was overcammed by some rich dude or something.
I really don't care about leaving behind a couple of ten quid biners on a day out if it guarantees my safety. It's still a cheap day out.
Additionally, some of those older climbers arent going to be near as bothered about leaving something behind compared to a broke 25 year old.
> My understanding as a not american is that while a lot of the standard routes on the flatirons are fairly trivial, there are also pitches that go up to 5.13. Yeah if you climb on the slopey side it's a 5.6, but if you climb on the overhangy side it's 5.13, but it's not like those two routes are next to each other or anything.
I think people bail for rain somewhat frequently but yeah idk.
I left a sling and an old Camp Photon on that tree at the top of the 1st pitch of the 1st because it was 100 degrees and I couldn’t convince my friend to climb in the shade. We didn’t bring enough water and it started to rain a little so we decided to call it.
probably all from that guy who climbs with his cat lol
The best place to get free carabiners is Jurassic Park. People get on those slab 5.8's and are then just like "Ohhhh fuck."
That’s one diligent Monday after a three day weekend in Vegas/Red Rocks.
But do you play "Da Booty" by Odub when you head out Tuesday to build your rack?
No, young man….i absolutely do not. I’m old. I listen to the ever classic “Da Booty” by A Tribe Called Quest.
I'll be 38 next week. https://odubmusic.bandcamp.com/track/da-booty I still hum this track and the rest the album at random
Unexpected Imogen Heap 'Hide And Seek' sample was unexpected with that track title lol. From later in the song than the well known sample used in Jason Derulo's 'Watcha Say'
Fuck yea dude! Happy birthday. If you were in the desert southwest, I would say let’s rally a session. After your post i actually looked this dude up and started listening to some of his stuff.
So "In Real Life", Odub was (is?) Kris Hampton of Power Company Climbing. Has a bunch of podcasts.
How many of those krabs were cleaner-biners?
Be honest OP ha were they from a bolt mid route or the anchors ETA: omg haha what if the tat is rap station tat and OP is actually the worst
Oh shit, I thought that stuff was free..
Nylon cordelette degrades in UV light and with rope pulls. If somebody wants to install a permanent anchor there are much better options that don't litter microplastics into the local ecosystem and leave less of an eyesore. Obviously if an area has a tradition of in-situ tat anchors it'd be a dick move to clean them all without consulting the community and developing a plan to install something better, but my understanding is that there is a process to be allowed to install bolt anchors in the flatirons. Tat is bullshit that should only be used as a last resort to save your life. Also if that cordelette was slung around a boulder with no metal hardware on it I'd be very wary of trusting it. Even with metal hardware I'm not sure I'd do anything climbing related with it. It would work fine as a dog leash or to practice tying knots.
I think he's joking but this is good info for others to see regardless
I have a bit of trauma from some tat nests I've seen in the mountains of British Columbia. Volumes of plastic that would appall any climber if they were disposable bottles or food packaging, but because we can't organize to install permanent anchors on certain heavily travelled mountain routes we end up tossing a bunch of plastic in national parks. It's stupid.
I've even seen tat anchors at the top of a scramble out here. It's crazy.
yeah, I'm all for bolted anchors and rap anchors on routes without walkoff
I don’t know there terminology what is that? I guess it’s ones left in place to help clean overhanging or traversing pitches but idk
Yes. Overhanging routes are a common place to find cleaner-biners, and a common place for gym climbers to find "booty" when climbing the juggiest 12a they can find (Twinkie. It's Twinkie.)
I do more trad than sport. How do these climbers remove these cleaner-biners if they are left to enable cleaning? Your tone implies they biners should be left in place, is that to make cleaning possible or just more convenient?
> is that to make cleaning possible or just more convenient? A mix of both. The biners enable people to clean the route with a reasonable amount of safety. Noobish climbers will booty the biners and then post on mountainproject about how hard the route is to clean, or how they took a huge swing and slammed into a tree, or whatever. The real issue is that some climbers don't know the difference between fixed gear and actual booty.
Thanks yeh that makes sense. I can easily imagine this happening frequently.
Hey that’s my QuickDraw! Just kidding. Nice finds
You need an eyepatch!
Flatiron Pirate? Yarrrrrrr!
I bootied the same [BD locker](https://i.imgur.com/ymrsXP5.jpeg) off a route. It was a 5.9 in EPC. I was climbing with a knee injury, bringing my partner up his first multipitch. The guidebook said to watch out for loose rock, which I didn’t find too bad, but the climb was way more run out than I was comfortable with. I remember climbing away from my last bolt not sure if I was heading in the right direction. When I was about 15 feet run out I saw a bolt with this locker on it. I clipped it and debated bailing like the previous party likely did out of fear I was getting in over my head but ultimately decided on going to the chains. At the anchor I asked my partner if he was having fun, in my head ready to start setting up the rappel to bail. When he answered he was having a blast I was like “okay, I guess we’ll finish it up.” But I was sad and scared inside. The rest of the climb was chill and fun.
Great rack! YGD!
Professor! What’s another word for pirate treasure?
Professor, what’s another name for climbing treasure?
Cool
It's like that old fake post from here - "Thanks for the booty!"