The weird climbers’ quirks newbies need to know

The weird climbers’ quirks newbies need to know

So you are new to climbing? Welcome, climbing is an amazing sport and like all sports, climbing has its terminology, etiquette, and quirks. Being new to the sport, you may not notice or bother yourself to discover these quirks. However, to help prevent potential awkward situations for new climbers. Here is what you’ll need to know when you are among seasoned climbers.

Claiming a clean send on top rope

If you are new or just started climbing there are things that climbers are very particular about. On top of the list is climbing a route clean. You must never claim you’ve sent a route if you did it on top rope. Although, this isn’t a rule per se. However, it will annoy most climbers. Claiming to have finished a route without mentioning it was on top rope is like claiming to have finished a marathon but on a treadmill. It is not the same.

To send a route clean is the ultimate achievement for a climber. To claim and earn the respect of your fellow climbers. You must first, climb the route on lead. You cannot rest by hanging on a bolt hanger or continuing from where you fall. It has to be done on lead, ground up to anchor. Period.

Only use what you are supposed to

Honesty is an important virtue for a climber. Because if you don’t other climbers will point it out. To claim a clean send you cannot use anything which is not intended to be part of the route. You cannot use other colour holds or pull on a quickdraw or bolt hanger. Nor can you grab the side of the wall if it is not designated as part of the route.

You must reach the last hold and clip your rope to the anchor. If you can do all that you can claim the send and you have to earn the right to boast to other climbers of your achievement and they will be happy for you. But if you “cheated” and other climbers saw it they WILL point it out to your face.

Being a safety police

Yes, you’ve got your belaying certification. Well done! Maybe you are the best participant out of your group and passed with a gold star on your certificate.

With your certification, you might think it is your responsibility to ensure everyone else belays with absolute safety in mind. No slack of more than an arms-length always is in the proper belay stance, eyes on the climber at all times and blah blah blah. Yes, safety is very important and all regular climbers know that. However, whether we choose to be safe to the letter is a whole other matter. So think twice before you jump in and nitpick at other climbers’ “bad habits” especially if you’re new to the sport.

Providing unsolicited beta

Most people would love a tip or advice when it comes to doing something hard. But being generous with climbing beta is not a good thing. To many climbers, on sighting a route can be a big deal and we might not want to lose the opportunity for an onsight attempt. Sharing beta about the route will ruin climbers’ chances for on-sighting. However, if you are climbing with your friends and you want to be an ass feel free to be generous with your “questionable beta”.

Giving ultra-safe belay

Yes, safety is the most important thing when it comes to climbing. Because you need to be alive and injury-free to climb. Hence learning to lead belay safely is one of the first things a new climber getting into leading needs to learn and practice. However, a safe belay does not equal a tight belay. There is nothing climbers hate more then having a tug of war with the belayer when trying to clip into a draw. Having slack in your belay is not unsafe but necessary. As for knowing how much slack you need to give a good belay that will take loads of practice.

Complaining about routes being sandbagged

Discussing climbing grades can be a very touchy subject in the climbing community. No matter how the conversation goes climbers and route setters can get offended either way. So it is good not to jump to conclusions that the route is under-graded after your first attempt. This is especially the case if you are new to climbing and yet to have experienced different styles of routes.

Different gyms cater to climbers of different skill levels. Gyms that focus on attracting new climbers tend to have more beginner-friendly routes. This means sending a 6a grade takes minimum to no effort. However, if you start visiting other gyms and find the 6a routes feel like a project route that doesn’t mean the route setters don’t know what they are doing. Different route setters have different styles and there are many opinions as to how a route should be graded. I believe Adam Ondra sums it up beautifully in his video.

Yes, there will be routes that you think are under-graded and your ego may be hurt because you can’t onsight it. Although, you can onsight 6b routes at the gym you frequent. If that is the case it is more likely that the routes you are used to are over-graded. So the best way to determine that is to climb at different gyms and outdoor crags to try routes set by different setters.

Climbing outdoors allows you to try routes established by climbers from a different era and you’ll know just how different routes are being graded.

Welcome to the club

You might not fully understand why we have these weird climbers’ quirks. But give it a couple of years and you’ll understand why we behave the way we do.

Welcome to the club.

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