Rock Climbing Blog by Derek Rippe
Archive for October, 2010
Seneca Rocks Video
Oct 25th
FINALLY got the opportunity to climb at Seneca Rocks in West Virginia! We climbed “Green Wall” which is 3 pitches of 5.7 trad climbing. Nick led the route, and Michelle and I followed.
I picked up the GoPro Hero HD camera the day before, and took it along on the trip. Here is the short video I put together:
Retiring Gear: When Is Enough, Enough?
Oct 20th
A series of recent articles posted over on BackcountryBeacon.com discussing when to retire gear hit home with some questions and concerns I’ve had lately about my own gear.
Retiring gear that is unquestionably damaged or unsafe is easy to do, but what about that piece of gear you’ve had for a few seasons now that seems to function just fine, aside from a couple of nicks and scratches? “It’s well loved,” “it’s broken in,” or perhaps you go with the old adage, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
I’m a first-time owner for much of my gear. I just purchased my first rope a few months ago, right along with my first set of draws; I purchased a few slings and some spare carabiners to make alpine draws and my PAS – everything I needed for sport climbing. Albeit just a few hundred dollars worth of gear, I can’t fathom replacing any of it already. I certainly don’t look forward to replacing expensive cams on a regular basis.
My lack of enthusiasm for replacing gear is largely due to my financial situation – I don’t make a lot of money, especially for where I live. So replacing hundreds of dollars in gear every year is hard for me to stomach. But when enough is enough, will I be able to replace my gear?
I’m scared to think that the answer might be “no” and that might not change until either myself or someone I’m close to suffers the consequences of using gear that should have been replaced.
That’s a scary thought, I know. The prospect of seeing anyone hurt by damaged or unsafe gear scares me a lot. But the reason I’m afraid I won’t replace gear that isn’t obviously broken is because I’m still using my harness that I bought in… 2002, I believe.
Sure, it passes all visual inspections, but the article on backcountry.com states,
Nylon has an ideal shelf life of about 10 years. This is how long a harness will maintain it’s strength if it sits in a climate-controlled room without ever being used or exposed to sunlight.
10 years. I’ve been using mine on-and-off for 8 years, meaning I should probably have purchased a new harness when I got back into climbing regularly – about 2 years ago. I’ve had a couple of discussions about it with my girlfriend, who has strongly recommended I purchase a new harness. But I haven’t been able to pull the trigger because my harness SEEMS to be functioning just fine.
Maybe what I should be doing is taking advantage of the free shipping offer over at Backcountry.com right now.
As for the rest of my gear, I’ll be bookmarking these two articles from Backcountry so that I can remind myself to check my gear regularly AND so that I know what I’m looking for.
- When To Retire Climbing Gear Part 1: Ropes, Harnesses, Slings, Helmets
- When To Retire Climbing Gear – Part 2: ‘Biners, Cams and More
So tell me, what signs do you adhere to when choosing whether a piece of gear should be retired? And (do I dare ask), have you ever experienced the consequences of damaged/unsafe gear being used and failing? (Kind of a macabre question, I know, but sometimes it puts things in perspective to hear the bad stories.)
Feel The Force: The Scarpa Force Climbing Shoe
Oct 17th
I have always, and I mean ALWAYS, wanted a pair of velcro climbing shoes. I’d seen climbers at the gym with them and it seemed so convenient and efficient. But the selection of shoes at the local outdoor store was limited, and I refuse to buy shoes without trying them on first.
On my prior visit to EMS for climbing shoes, when I finally landed on the La Sportiva Nago shoe, I tried on every shoe they had available. When it came to the shoes without laces, I had the same problem with every brand (available): there was too much room in the toebox when the shoe fit comfortably, and when I sized down enough to actually fill the toebox, the shoes hurt too much.
When the time came to get the Nago’s resoled, I decided to head back over to EMS and pick up a second pair of shoes (Why EMS? Because I get 15% off with my Sportrock membership). The selection hadn’t changed much, except for two shoes: the Scarpa Techno and the Scarpa Force.
When I first slipped the shoe on, I noticed something different – there wasn’t a lot of space above my toes in the toebox (very much unlike every La Sportiva, 5.10 and Evolv velcro shoe I tried). I sized down to a EU 41 / US 8 and I KNEW this was the shoe I would be walking out of the store with. A snug fit with no hotspots or pressure points, which was surprising seeing my toes were curled and scrunched up in the toebox. But it just felt right.
That was almost a year ago, and the Scarpa Force is still my primary climbing shoe for the gym and the crag. The shoe is fully synthetic, so you don’t get the stretch that you would with a leather shoe. As a result, the fit is almost exactly the same as it was the day I purchased them, except the shoe is more molded to the shape of my feet (you can see the bumps from the knuckles of my toes in the top of the toebox – click the image to view a larger version).
Perhaps my favorite aspect of this shoe is the power it allows me to place to the toebox. I can toe-in and edge on some of the smallest of features, without a lot of bend at the joints where my toes meet the ball of my foot. Picture a ballerina standing on her toes – I can do that in these shoes (although not for very long!). The support in the toebox is unsurpassed, especially for how comfortable the shoe remains.
The Scarpa Force has proven a more-than-capable shoe for both route climbing and bouldering. It has served me well on V6 and V7 problems in the gym, and 5.11 and 5.12 routes both indoors and out.
I have had only one complaint about this shoe. The rubber has a bad habit of pulling away from the upper material (Suede/Lorica®), as you might be able to see in the picture of my dirty shoes above. A little bit of superglue usually fixes this (and when Rock & Resole resoled them a few months ago they patched them up a bit as well). It’s not really a big deal to me, but it started happening only a few weeks after owning the shoe, which kind of surprised me. Perhaps it is a design flaw, or perhaps it is because I’m cramming my fat foot into a shoe that is probably a half or full size smaller than it should be!
So if you’ve struggled with the fitment of other brands of climbing shoes, particularly with how much space you have in the toebox, check out the Scarpa Force sometime. You might find yourself surprised at how different, and comfortable, the fit actually is, while providing great climbing support.
At $130, the Scarpa Force runs in the upper price range of climbing shoes available, but I think you’ll find them to be well-worth the investment, as you’ll have them for years to come.
Fighting Fear: Overcoming The Little Voice In Your Head That Says "No"
Oct 14th
I made my first climbing trip to the New River Gorge in October of 2009, and it was a great trip. I had been lead climbing in the gym for about 5 months prior, and this was my first opportunity to do some lead climbing outside. On that trip I led a 5.10a clean, and put up another 5.10c. I remember feeling really great about that.
This past September, over Labor Day weekend, I finally got back to the New River Gorge for a 3-day climbing trip. I was excited to get together with friends and do a lot of climbing!
Unfortunately, the weekend was a complete disaster for me. I hadn’t been leading much in the gym, and I couldn’t get past the head game of taking falls. I was hesitant to get on 5.8s, and only put up one 5.9 the entire weekend. Everything else that weekend I did on top rope, and didn’t climb anything harder than a 5.10 (and those I felt nervous on). But I climb 5.12s in the gym, so what gives?
Climbing at the gym had become boring. I showed up more to support others than to focus on my own climbing. I wasn’t enthusiastic about route climbing, and I had all but stopped lead climbing. While I wasn’t getting any stronger or weaker physically, I was suffering mentally. I didn’t realize how poor my mental game had gotten until that weekend at the New River Gorge.
The experience was a bit of an eye opener for me, and I knew I had to do something about it. Not only was it embarrassing to be afraid to climb routes that were well within my capabilities, it was frustrating to know that I could do it but give up before even trying.
I was determined to make an immediate change, knowing I would be back at the New River Gorge 3 weeks later. My plan for the gym was simple:
- 5.10 and below would be climbed on lead, period.
- 5.11 and above would be done on top rope, but if I climbed the route clean than from then on I had to climb it on lead.
So for 3 weeks I focused almost entirely on lead climbing. Lead, lead, lead. I focused on pushing past the mental barriers that had stopped me in my tracks over Labor Day weekend. And when I returned to the New River Gorge at the end of September, things looked a lot better. I was still a little nervous while climbing, but I put up multiple 5.10s that weekend.
I knew I wasn’t done though. If I’m putting up 5.10s without falling, than I should be climbing harder difficulties. I should be climbing routes with moves that I might not be able to make, or at least not onsight.
I had another New River Gorge climbing trip planned in two weeks. Once again in the gym I focused on leading. I started leading harder routes out of the cave, knowing those would really challenge my strength.
5.10+ out of the cave? Check.
Oh what’s that, a 5.11+ out of the cave? Sure, I’ll give it a go. One take and one fall later, I’m at the top. I successfully climbed a few other 5.11s on lead – now I’m feeling a lot more confident leading 5.11s in the gym.
So the third weekend climbing trip at the New River Gorge arrives and it is a blast. Against better judgement, I skip warming up on the easier routes and get right to it. First day I put up a 5.11d. It wasn’t pretty, but I set it up for everyone else to try.
The second day I start out putting up a 5.10c and 5.10d, and got two 5.11a routes later in the day (although one of those was on top rope). On the third day I climbed another 5.11d (on top rope). That route is now at the top of my “projects” list: “Mensa” at Brain Wall, in the Beauty Mountain crag.
So I’m happy to say that I’m both quickly and successfully working through the fears I was having a little over a month ago. I’m starting to ignore the little voice in my head – the little voice that used to boom, “NO!” but now only squeeks, “no?”.
In fact, I’m ignoring it so much now that last night at the gym I got on my first 5.12 lead, out of the cave. It wasn’t what you would call “pretty”, but I’m looking forward to working it some more and locking down the sequencing.
So if you’ve read this far, I wouldn’t mind hearing about the climbing fears you’ve encountered and what you’ve done, or been trying to do, to overcome them.
Other Resources:
Here are some other posts about dealing with fear that you might be interested in reading:
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