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MisterE
Social climber
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Topic Author's Original Post - Jul 22, 2012 - 11:42pm PT
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Chuck Pratt saw this years ago.
There ain't no short-cuts here, and the natural talent is rarer than a unicorn.
Discuss.
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0ri0n
Trad climber
El Portal
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Jul 23, 2012 - 12:59am PT
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Yeah, its just like a top rope. Super chill ;)
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JoeSimo
Trad climber
Bay Area, CA
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Jul 23, 2012 - 01:12am PT
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In a very sick way I want to climb more off-width. I might need professional help
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Jul 23, 2012 - 02:42am PT
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It's definitely all in the doing.
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ß Î Ø T Ç H
Boulder climber
bouldering
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Jul 23, 2012 - 02:52am PT
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Face climbing is where it's at, not cracks (of any size).
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skywalker
climber
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Jul 23, 2012 - 03:08am PT
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The Bastion??? No, but if you know someone who likes, or well likes, a good friend indeed!
Cheers!!!
S...
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Wayno
Big Wall climber
Seattle, WA
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Jul 23, 2012 - 03:39am PT
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I did it . I sucked. Flailed on a 5.9+. I thought I was going to die. At least I finished it. Not my cup of tea.
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Prod
Trad climber
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Jul 23, 2012 - 09:17am PT
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I disagree, I think it is a necessary, and usually avoided, skill set that is required to be a well rounded climber. As is face, slab, cracks or all sizes, etc.
I have also heard it argued that it is where the climbers who can't excel in other arenas flock to. OW and aid.
Prod.
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Jul 23, 2012 - 10:20am PT
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Werner posted a couple of years ago (paraphrasing) "Offwidth is the least intuitive form of rock climbing".
And now we have the Wide Boyz from England Tom Randall and Pete Whittaker who have taken the art much further, adding another dimension entirely to this arcane area of climbing.
to wit:
Pratt's great dictum, "Technique is your protection" no longer holds completely true as a challenge in the wide with the advent of large cams. It was for so long a bastion of go-it-alone; something Pratt so very much related to. But Kevin is right, unprotected runout face and slab....both remain pretty much the way they stood back in 1970, still a "last bastion" while the Wide has been largely tamed. No equipment has been able to mollify that monster, the way really big cams have taken down offwidth.
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Don Paul
Big Wall climber
Colombia, South America
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Jul 23, 2012 - 10:22am PT
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This shoe device is for aiding offwidth cracks?
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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Jul 23, 2012 - 10:32am PT
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Their Century Crack is a gigantically long horizontal offwidth that then turns the lip and summits out in a shorter vertical/overhanging cruxy bit. Don, while turning the lip and to avoid the rope getting pinched between the rock and a #5 or #6 placed just there, they put this "unit" in as a jamming preventer. I point this out both in fun (with which the WideBoyz are always working as well) and to point out their improvisational and creative powers at work in that truly groundbreaking ascent of theirs.
for more:
http://wideboyz.blogspot.com/
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Ed Hartouni
Trad climber
Livermore, CA
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Jul 23, 2012 - 10:44am PT
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The Warbler's point extends to all crack climbs, with modern technology you can sew everyone of them up to the point of making them a "top rope"
so that would take cracks off the list of "true climbing" if that were a measure of sticking your neck out...
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JLP
Social climber
The internet
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Jul 23, 2012 - 12:56pm PT
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More like the Last Chance for people who can't climb hard in any other realm. The climber avoids all of the pressure, competition and comparison present elsewhere in rock climbng - and in most other competitive sports. The whole thing is a lot easier for the ego, especially if you call it a 13 and get it in just a few gos.
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Jul 23, 2012 - 01:30pm PT
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I'm glad to have come of age in offwidth in the run-it-out days.
I dont think any upcoming wydecrackers will have that
opportunity, unless they learn their craft in minimalist rack situations in places like Patagonia or farther afield.
As far as the last frontier in Bold climbing, cragging anyway, I think it's in soloing and gritstone, runout slabs seems to overlap that...
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Elcapinyoazz
Social climber
Joshua Tree
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Jul 23, 2012 - 01:42pm PT
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More like the Last Chance for people who can't climb hard in any other realm
Funny, I though Rifle was the place for that. Only place I've been where you can climb "5.13" without ever pulling a move harder than 11b. (although, admittedly, I've never clipped bolts in the Red)
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JEleazarian
Trad climber
Fresno CA
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Jul 23, 2012 - 02:06pm PT
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I'm glad to have come of age in offwidth in the run-it-out days.
Me, too, although the run-it-out days were in effect on slab and face climbing too, particularly considering some of Kevin's routes on, say, Lower Cathedral Rock from the mid-70's, or early Apron routes like Coonyard Pinnacle. And even without grid-bolting, climbing, say, Coonyard in today's footwear feels quite different from doing so in klettershoes, or even RR's and PA's.
I think, though, that offwidth probably will remain unattractive to most because, even with modern protection, it's one horrendous amount of work for the uninitiated; the ergs go quickly, and the grace comes slowly.
John
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JLP
Social climber
The internet
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Jul 23, 2012 - 02:40pm PT
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Only place I've been where you can climb "5.13" without ever pulling a move harder than 11b. Which route?
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Elcapinyoazz
Social climber
Joshua Tree
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Jul 23, 2012 - 02:50pm PT
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Pump-O-Rama.
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Prod
Trad climber
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Jul 23, 2012 - 03:08pm PT
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Anyone pulling down, finishing, on anything rated 5.13 should be proud in my book. You two need to get a room.
Specializing is cool if that is your thing, but the best climbers, ones that I respect the most, are the ones who can get on a route at their grade limit and go. thin steep face, OW, run out slabs etc.
Prod.
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