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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
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Topic Author's Original Post - Jan 3, 2018 - 03:06pm PT
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Yes, sometimes you could care less and a frivolous name for a line comes readily or not at all and you settle for a name that merely 'works'
But what triggers you to use a thoughtful route name?
Thoughtful names might include;
puns
deep meaning
reflecting something important about the safety of the route
musical or artistically resonate
For me, generally, I try to link a route name to something about the route. Could be anything. But often the route name is a word that means something to me outside of the climbing specific context, but may apply.
For example, I have a route I love that I put up with mtnyoung called "Legitimation" - at the time, I had been reading about how things gain significance through a process of legitimation. This area was basically new to us and I knew that this line would be that legitimizing factor for the rest of the routes we would put up there. So the name has significance outside of climbing and applies equally well to the route and it's relative position to other climbs on the wall.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Always a secondary consideration for me. Usually my partner comes up with the name. Some climbs that I did like “Leanie Meanie” and Enema Crack” already had names given by people who first tried them and failed. I thought....what the hell, I’ll ride with them.
Sport climbs maybe should be numbered left to right or vise versa.
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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I like puns.
I did a jugfest route and called it A Thousand Pints Of Lite off the George Bush speech and then decades later almost guided his son Jeb up it (long story not worth it).
I also like routes that commemorate a passed friend.
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G_Gnome
Trad climber
Cali
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I agree with Jim that sport routes should just be numbered.
When we used to put routes up in Josh and the Southern Sierra we use all of those inspirations. Fear - EBGBs, Pun - Good to the last drop, Music - Supertramp Crime of the Century, Difficulty - Hang em High, etc.
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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Numbers don't work. New routes screw them up.
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Yo Ron...just add letters for new climbs. The one to the right of 14 is now 14a. Now that could confuse a few folks.
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thebravecowboy
climber
The Good Places
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I always think of the perfect name after I have told others of the crappy name that first popped into my head.
A recent foray, The Cleaver, took a little while to name. Too many Shakey Flakes, Flakes of wrath, etc, already out there.
Other stuff takes a name by shape and then in the process of cultivating the send finds its true name. The Diagonal became, over a year of backing off before even attempting, the Minipony Gangbang. The ungulate action on the drive in settled it one frosty morning. And the thing is indeed a pretty full-on, if dimunitive, experience.
Some of my compatriots will pick a theme and then change my route name to something that fits their fancy. Fine by me, so long as the rock-dodging, rope-holding, hand drilling, etc, get shared oht equal.
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Toker Villain
Big Wall climber
Toquerville, Utah
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So 14a is actually a .13c, but 10d is actually an .11b, but 12d is actually .12c,.....
Nah, some sport routes have cool names, some are even a bit runout like Full Metal Jockstrap.
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Gail Hightower
climber
SE
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I try to name routes after some distinct feature of the climb, but also reference something beyond climbing.
Recently I saw a new route in late summer, really white limestone, but just now getting around to cleaning/bolting it.
Was thinking: Light in August? Or maybe a tried and true moby dick reference because of the white nature of the rock?
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Yeti
Trad climber
Ketchum, Idaho
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Sorry (not really) to promote my work, but check out "What's at the Root of the Name of the Route" in my book "Climbing to Freedom." It's available through Western Eye Press.
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mtnyoung
Trad climber
Twain Harte, California
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For me, generally, I try to link a route name to something about the route...
Easy for you to say Mungeclimber.
All you do is simply take one of the million or so words in the English language and add the word "Munge" to the beginning or the end ;)
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NutAgain!
Trad climber
South Pasadena, CA
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TBC- next time you are running dry on Flake names, I give you the following license royalty-free in perpetuity:
Flake This Job and Shove It (if the climb needed some cleaning)
Flake It To the Limit
Flake and Bake
And, inspired by Trump-meister hisself.... drum-roll...
Flake News
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clinker
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, California
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For a direct line, up a groove on a crappy rock pinnacle, The Derrierettissima. It is waiting for you Munge.
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thebravecowboy
climber
The Good Places
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what about a classic for the area? like:
PDW, phil. P-f*#king-DW, man!
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jeff constine
Trad climber
Ao Namao
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With the new weed laws, I can't remember any FA.
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MH2
Boulder climber
Andy Cairns
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A thoughtful name? Hmm...
How about Clay and Earwax? Routes at Index, Wa, that I think were named by Jon Nelson. As I remember, the goal was to come up with route names that had nothing whatsoever to do with the route and nothing to do with any previous name used. Route names as close to random as possible. I am not sure what thought process, if any, was used, but it seemed to me a difficult goal to achieve unless you appealed to a higher authority on randomization, like dice.
I wasn't intending to tell any story about me, since I pretty near never have done first ascents, and even then did not name them. However, in checking out Index just now I found that a route I did there on top rope has an inexplicably accurate representation on mountain project. The line was picked, if I remember, by Dick Cilley. It was short and ended at a ledge next to the remains of a campfire. Prompted to come up with a name, I chose Heat Seeker.
edit:
I would have preferred Quest for Fire but did not like the movie.
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drljefe
climber
El Presidio San Augustin del Tucson
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For me, generally, I try to link a route name to something about the route.
So how many routes do you have named “Choss” and “Grass”?
:-)
I love naming routes. I have a running list of names to call on if something immediate doesn’t
present itself.
I’ve just been bouldering for the past few years and, laugh all you want, problems get names too.
And damn good problems deserve damn good names.
This one is called The Art of Dreaming (it’s pretty much a route (-: )
after a Carlos Castaneda book.
Like, I could have never called it “Hueco Line” or “NW Arete”
much less other good names like “Hipsters Know Things” or “Hot For Teacher”.
Bottom line is, a good line deserves a good name.
I think a great line deserves something....romantic.
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 3, 2018 - 08:05pm PT
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bravecowboy, that looks like cottage cheese! the chossy one.
mtnyoung, "March Mungeness"! :)
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7SacredPools
Trad climber
Ontario, Canada
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That line is certainly worthy of a name.
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Rolfr
Sport climber
La Quinta and Penticton BC
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As a recovering Canadian who spends half the year in SoCal, I prefer play on words. I named a recent SoCal route" One Toque Over the Line". A recent skaha route that traverses for the first 40 feet was named by a friend " Never Too Old to Be a Swinger"
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 3, 2018 - 08:56pm PT
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Jefe, Art of Dreaming is a classic, IMHO, example of a deep connection to a line.
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 3, 2018 - 08:57pm PT
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DMT - the 4 dollar hammer is such a fun name! Make it work!
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Moof
Big Wall climber
Orygun
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Include poodles for sure.
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herm
Trad climber
Bishop
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"Bad Daddy" in Pine Creek Canyon.
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Mungeclimber
Trad climber
Nothing creative to say
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Topic Author's Reply - Jan 3, 2018 - 09:27pm PT
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Avi Poodles or just the regular ones, that are like people? ;)
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F
climber
away from the ground
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What’s with the route names at the STD walls?
The Pink
The Stink
The Shocker
The one hand clap
Should have used a Magnum
I thought dirtbags didn’t get laid....?
And who would name a crag The STD walls...?
No class.
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clinker
Trad climber
Santa Cruz, California
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I thought dirtbags didn’t get laid....? `
Inheritance money?
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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Bitd routes were often named by their location.... the DNB, the NW Face of Half Dome, the NEB of HCR etc. Now that everyone has Google Maps on their phones, routes can be given precise coordinates for names.
The peak I want to climb would have a name something like....47.2333,73.1167. Kind of sexy in a modern, mechanistic way and no one would get lost looking for it.
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Lone Quail
Trad climber
Littleton, Colorado
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In my opinion the best names incorporate a pun, are tied to the nature of the route/area, and/or have significance with the FA. A foreboding suggestion is always good too. "Turning Green" is one of my favorites and has a triple meaning. Themed areas such as the Cat Wall in Indian Creek result in some classy names. When out of ideas I have a returning theme of physics and astronomy resulting in names like "Dark Energy", "Dark Matter", "MACHO", and "WIMP".
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AP
Trad climber
Calgary
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Miles Davis did a set at Isle of Wight, sort of a loose jam interwoven with various themes. It was recorded on film and for an album. Columbia asked Miles the name of the tune.
Miles said "Call It Anythin" so that is the name on the record.
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MH2
Boulder climber
Andy Cairns
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On the theme of puns and boulder problems, a South African (hot!!) Christmas highball: It's A One Fall Life.
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JimT
climber
Munich
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Unless there´s something interesting or quirky about the route I´ll admit I don´t put lot of thought into the names,just music or whatever I can think of. After 1,000+ routes it gets hard to be creative! The last lot were cactus names.
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Lone Quail
Trad climber
Littleton, Colorado
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Numbers don't work. New routes screw them up.
Just use decimal numbers and there is an infinite ability to fill in or extend in either direction. For perspective consider Grand Junction where the E/W roads are lettered: A, B, C etc., and intermediate roads have names such ad D 1/2 and D 3/4 - awkward but it works.
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dee ee
Mountain climber
Of THIS World (Planet Earth)
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We always put thought, discussion and mutual agreement into our route names.
Unless it is on Strava, then I just go with the immediate inspiration or the music that is in my head. It is much more fleeting and spontaneous.
Or course, the guidebook author has the ultimate call, regardless of previous agreement.
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Wayno
Big Wall climber
Seattle, WA
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Across the Nation from Butthair.
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gonamok
climber
dont make me come over there
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Me and Allenby used to sit around getting high and toss out names for routes. Sometimes we would come up with a name we liked so much that we had to go find a route to put it on. But usually it came down to some play on the nature of the route or what was going on at the time we put it up, despite all those names we had on tap. To us naming the route or problem was part of the fun of exploration.
Names mean different things too. I was calling a woodson project "the vision" because of a spiritual experience i had while working on it johansolo sent it and kept the name. Darrel Hensel put up a route next to it and called it "night vision", a totally different take on the theme. Its great how route names can progress in an area. Your route, your name is the rule, no matter how unpopular it may be. If its a legit ascent the FA party has earned the right to name it as they please.
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karabin museum
Trad climber
phoenix, az
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I have over 800 FAs in the outdoors, and over the last 15 years at the rock gym I have named over 20,000 routes.
And I still have not run out of names.
Many times a song on the radio inspires the name.
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thebravecowboy
climber
The Good Places
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Dingus and the OG T crew dispensing that ST gold like it's Pez!
this one, tentatively known as Batshjt Crazy, found and groped and grasped, cleaned and cursed, firstly, by your'n fellow Tennesean, mah buddy, today. it seems to fit your two part solution, DMT. I am gonna start doodling, for to have a fitting name on the fly. It's all random to begin with anyway
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EdBannister
Mountain climber
13,000 feet
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least though on a route name...
Bill and Perry on the refrigerator...
but it is in the book as left and right.
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steveA
Trad climber
Wolfeboro, NH
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JimD,
Your 1st post here had me laughing. Way to jab at the sport climbers; even thou, we all have been found on them, from time to time.
DMT- That was a great bit of history there, and really an interesting post; especially with the pictures. I will always remember my one and only visit, to the Tennessee Wall. Amazing number of natural lines, packed into a small area.
I haven't done a new route in 20 years, but when I did, either my partner, or I would suggest a name. Usually it stuck.
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drljefe
climber
El Presidio San Augustin del Tucson
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Rad DMT.
I’m with gonamok- sometimes a name comes to you with no route, and you just gotta find the line.
Never been to big on the theme areas, but sometimes they yield some good names.
This summer, we’d come out of the backcountry to shocking news/ current events, every time it seemed.
Combined with the music I was listening to, some apropos names stuck.
Nazi Punks F uck Off
Bedtime For Democracy
Alt Left
Tied for first with that epic highball hueco Line I posted before, was this one-
One of most architecturally beautiful boulders I’ve ever had the pleasure of climbing.
I called it Nothing Gold Can Stay,
after the famous poem by Robert Frost.
Over romanticized? Maybe.
But not to me.
There were plenty of silly names given this summer as well.
Much like DMT’s T Wall story, when you discover an entire new area, when every day out is nothing but fa’s, naming stuff becomes more of a thing. Maybe there’s a method to the madness, maybe not.
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Studly
Trad climber
WA
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So I'm doing a first ascent with my friend Rick and he picked the name for the climb....Getting It Up For the Crack of Dawn.
Years later my daughter and her boyfriend are climbing there with the new guidebook and...
I told her to ask Rick, and no I never got to meet Dawn.
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MH2
Boulder climber
Andy Cairns
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Uncleaned Unclimbed Unnamed
Any other route named that?
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Spider Savage
Mountain climber
The shaggy fringe of Los Angeles
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A very fun job. I usually go to my favorite literature. Especially Dan Simons books. (Texas Cyn, LA)
Often a fun name just occurs; "Eat or Be Eaten" the route at Stoney Point looks like a big bass fish from the right angle.
The poetry comes in when the last belay is rigged.
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kpinwalla2
Social climber
WA
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Like several others here, I'm not typically a fan of random names. I'd like the name to be related to the route in some way, perhaps by recalling something memorable that occurred during the development/FA of the route. For example: my wife was making the 2nd ascent of a new route we did at Smith. As she did, a random climber walked by and said "she's just floating up the rock, she's the helium woman". So the route was named "Helium Woman". A route I put up at Frenchman Coulee lures climbers into a position where they're literally straddling a steep arete, like they're sitting in a saddle, hence the name "Ride'em Cowboy". A route at Red Rocks completed during a sunset that outshone the glow of nearby Vegas, hence the name "Neon Sunset". "Theater of Shadows" became the name of a long route in City of Rocks where the late afternoon sun cast our shadows on an adjacent wall. On my initial rappel to investigate the route that became "Creature Feature" in Red River Gorge I encountered copious spiderwebs (and large spiders), pesky biting flies, a copperhead on a ledge, and huge millipedes. Sometimes it's fun to use puns that somehow relate to the route e.g. "Flaked Out" at Spring Mountain, OR, or "I'm Pro-Choss and I Bolt" at Wallula, WA.
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mooch
Trad climber
Tribal Base Camp (Riverkern Annex)
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Sometimes it's fun to use puns that somehow relate to the route
Or if the formation's shape or character brings about route names. In one particular case, we named a formation The Dotard, after The Commander In Queef, due to the sloping right side which resembled Orange Julius's comb-over toupe'. The following routes make up The Dotard: 'Kakistocracy', 'Grab 'Em By The Toupe', 'Lucifer Sam' and 'Diggin' Dah-gina'. :)
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hamie
Social climber
Thekoots
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Mar 14, 2018 - 07:24pm PT
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Always. If it's worth climbing, then it's deserves a good name. My routes will be here long after I'm gone.
However you may sometimes have trouble convincing your partner!!
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DaveyTree
Trad climber
Fresno
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Jun 19, 2018 - 02:23pm PT
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I like to choose names after something that happens or a funny phrase someone said that day so when I read the name later the memories flood back. If I really can't pick one then I do have a running list of back-ups.
At times we run a theme to a wall which guides the names to follow.
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Barbarian
climber
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Jun 19, 2018 - 03:13pm PT
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Yo Ron...just add letters for new climbs. The one to the right of 14 is now 14a. Now that could confuse a few folks.
This can be fun if the route known as 10a is really a 12b. This can be a whole new way of sandbagging.
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Off White
climber
Tenino, WA
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Jun 19, 2018 - 03:42pm PT
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I've liked visual and verbal malaprops. Conflating a couple of book titles seen out of the corner of my eye in an airport bookstore generated a name I used later: Black Elvis
I misheard something a friend shouted at me at a Soundgarden show back when they still played all ages clubs inside abandoned gas stations, somehow I was sure he said Squirt Theory. Found the perfect route for the moniker a few years later.
A Halloween costume I came up with in 1986 in Tucson got recycled into several route names in two states: Karma Mechanic
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Highdesertman
Trad climber
jtree ca
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Jun 19, 2018 - 05:22pm PT
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After my partner ripped a cam and took a long and bloody fall Trauma Traverse was born.
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Tanya B
climber
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Feb 14, 2019 - 10:19am PT
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How about extensions to climbs?
Questions 1) If the original route is 11 bolts and then has a 7 bolt extension off the original anchor do the people who put up the extension get to rename the route, or just name the extension, or just have it listed as an extension to the original route but no change or additional name?
Question 2) If the original route is 8 bolts but a variation is put up which branches from the original route at bolt 4 and goes for another 14 bolts to its own anchor does that variation get its own name?
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Urmas
Social climber
Sierra Eastside
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Feb 14, 2019 - 10:41am PT
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Tanya, I would say it's up to the guidebook author. If it is called something else by others, it can be labeled a.k.a...
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Meech
Trad climber
PHX and SLC
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Feb 14, 2019 - 11:15am PT
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Yo Ron...just add letters for new climbs. The one to the right of 14 is now 14a. Now that could confuse a few folks.
Route goes up between 14a and 14b. 14aa? I can just imagine the conversations at the gym.
"Did you get out this weekend?"
"Yeah dood, I totally sent 11ca!"
"Is that the 12a slab or the 11c roof next to it? Or wait, am I thinking of 10bc and 10bd? Sh#t, Where's the guidebook?"
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Rolfr
Sport climber
Penticton BC
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Feb 14, 2019 - 11:29am PT
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Being a senior climber,I enjoy route names that poke fun at our old age and physical condition. My partner named my last new route "weakend warrior" and his previous short route " Short Circuit", double entendre referring to my medical condition.
Dam auto correct, that is supoosed to read Weakened Warrior
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Darryl Cramer
Social climber
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Feb 14, 2019 - 02:30pm PT
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Andy, Jon does have some great route names. Clay was inspired by the James Joyce story but has no meaning except sounding cool. Earwax was just something that appeared out of the blue. One of my favorite names at Index is Shirley which was named after Dick's mom.
Here's a pic of the FA
Spooner was named after Greg's mom if I remember correctly
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Zay
climber
Monterey, Ca
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Feb 14, 2019 - 03:48pm PT
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Elliot and I have decided that all routes in the Whites should have a "Western" theme... so our routes so far:
Buzzard Bait (on vulture rock)
Open Season
Wild, Wild West
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Ksolem
Trad climber
Monrovia, California
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Feb 14, 2019 - 04:15pm PT
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What's up with numbering sport climbs. In the Owens Gorge alone there are stacks of routes with fun names that have become landmarks. If some says let's meet #436-c.2 (because other routes and variations have intervened,) how does that compare to meeting at Looney Binge, Pick Pocket, Sendero Luminoso, Flash Flood or, God forbid, The Jaws of Life?
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Batrock
Trad climber
Burbank
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Feb 14, 2019 - 04:50pm PT
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The older I get the less I put effort into route names. I think all the routes I have done in the last few years could be named "It's An Ok Route, I Think It's Probably Easy 5.10". My favorite is a route I did last year I called Fingers On A Pancake.
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