Chris Kalous gives us the low down on hard aid climbing. In case you don't get it, it's supposed to be a joke! As in funny! So laugh, and stop taking it so seriously. Freakin aid climbers. Sheesh. www.supertopo.com/climbing/thr...
I find this rant extremely cool, i've listened it over and over, over the years... this guy is awesome and i totally agree with everything he said. clean aid is a thing now... sorry for taking this seriously and not as a joke...
I was searching for videos of ninjas, and this came up with some ninja videos. I’m a climber and I’ve seen this video a bunch of times. Never gets old.
4:43 THIS GUY IS GREAT!I know he's mostly known for those"Honey, I Think I Shrunk the Kids"movies- but you gotta see "Club Paradise" ( w/ Robin Williams, Peter O'Toole). I swear you will laugh yourbutt off! It's alot like this skit- heplays the homely dork who doesntthink he's a dork, but struts about likehe's supercool. OMG pls watch it.This guy is so FUNNY!!Here's a line he says in the movie:"We're looking for Johnny".Insignificant to you now but watch the film and tell me how funny it is afterward!
Innit a llbit diffnt than counting corpses smacked to the ground? I know a less dramatic definition: A5/C5 is a pitch with minimum 9 bodyweight points in a row between anchors that can take a fall, with whippers more than 25 meters long, A4/C4 would be up to 8 bodyweight points in a row, A3/C3 has 3 to 5 of them, A2/C2 - 2 weak points in a row between bombers, A1/C1 - all are bombers, A0/C0 - no ladders, just using bomber anchors as footholds or handholds. In addition, there is R for risk of hitting a ledge once you fall and an "X" for a lethal fall potential. But what do know, i've never had the guts to check any of these, I'm worried i'd get tangled and strangled by whatever it takes :D.
LMAO Got an chance to hang with chris for a short time in vegas many moons ago. While I was an load mouth young punk and Chris was a little above that I could listen to hours on his "rants" he is classic. And beware all nay sayers he is the real deal. He is the true sprit of climbing. Dangerous and adventure. Climbing was never meant to be safe... Kurt Arend
I’m drawn to aid climbing not because you’re waiting every piece and making the climbing easier, but because you get to learn the route in a totally new way. You learn about every nook and cranny of the route as you aid up it, and trusting my body weight on sketchy pieces is a thrill to me😁. It also feels good to know that some of the routes which can only be air climbed are at the peak of what is humanly possible. I don’t think I know a lot of people who can fit their fingers into a piton scar😂. I love this video and am not at all trying to hate on him. I agree with his points he makes; just wanted to help give the people in the comments section who are free climbers some insight into why aid climbing is such a unique experience
This is funny! I was an aid climber too and I agree with him. His "Rant" describes well the flawed rating system. Aid climbing is still hard, though, and I'll keep doing it! DAMN FUNNY!
Question: When someone free climbs long rows of pin scars, uses the fixed pro left by the aid climbers on the first ascent have they really free climbed it? For a truly free ascent shouldn't you shun pin scars as artificial features and fixed pro altogether? I'm just kidding actually, freeing old aid routs from the ground up is fair game(a great game). I can't say the same for so called 'free climbs' that were rap bolted, manicured and strung together with pre-placed pro.
This video is funny. I agree with russellsteapot. Maybe aid climbing needs to revise its scale to be more focused on difficulty. I dont really know, I'm a free climber. I think aid climbing is interesting though. I'd like to try it someday.
Hmmm. I'd argue that aid climbing is just a different game than free climbing. Since its a different game, with its own rules, it should not be judged according to free climbing "rules". What can be criticized may be its grading system. It's a bit like ice climbing WI grading. The evolution in equipment and technique is what keeps improving and keeping things interesting in aid climbing.
The aid route to the left of the casual route could be "grand traverse" which I think is A4. I think this route went free though and was only called 11b. I could be wrong there though - I don't know much about the area other than reading the guide books.
hahaha i love this debate. I think people should do it as long as they have fun doing it. I do understand and respect what chris is saying here though. some people say that using a rope is cheating too. I say just pack out what you packed in and tread light. =^) if you have a fun story to tell afterwords then great.
Well if you don't think Hard aid should be rated on a death scale. How about the size of your nuts scale. Only having climbed moderate aid pitches, I can only imagine A4+ requiring big brass balls, even if you won't die, not a lot of people have the nerve to even go there to find out.
@traemccombs I hear ya, I can't comp hard free climbing to aid but I can say move thirty feet from a shitty copper head up a blank face using only hooks and tiny HB offsets towards what you think 'might' be a good placement and it gives us a good buzz. If I showed up at the bottom of an aid rout and was ready to blast off and some serious free climbers showed up wanting to 'free it' I would step aside and cheer them on! If they pulled it off I'd buy the beer. Then I'd aid climb it clean.
Aid grades are based on the types of placements you must make, not the factor of death. Yes within the types of placements there is a higher or lower risk of potential injury or death but most grading descriptions word it as "potential death' or as a chance of something if tonfall, its not carved in stone that if you fall on hard aid your gonna die, its just a greater chance. Like i said A0 - A5 is based on what kinda pro ya have and what kinda pro ya got below that, not a guarentee on injury or death. And the clean grades are the same. So no need for dead climbing party members and drawing straws thats not what its about.
It´s good to have a rating system but I dont think there is as much drive in aid climbing to do harder routes. El Cap is really a training ground for the Himalayas, and the idea is to learn how to cover terrain and move fast, not to minimize the safety. Check out some of the incredible walls - Charakusa, Trango, Mt Asgard on Baffin Island, etc - then jump off with a wingsuit. Look at the bigger picture don´t just chase numbers.
People climb free routes with R and X ratings all the time and are fine. So should we strip R & X ratings on free climbs? No, because the rating gives the climber valuable info before getting on the rock. Same with aid ratings. There's a skill & risk difference between A2, A3, A4 & A5. In preping for an aid climb I'd wanna know the security of placements, which the rating conveys.
@splitterchoss e It is funny, but his point about the way some do aid is true (turning A4 into A2). I heard that in the 80's some Japanese climbers graced the dihedral wall with a load of 1/4in X 1/2 inch deep direct aid bolts on a section that had been done clean XX times. From what I saw in JA they shit on their own rocks too. There's a 1500ft tall face North of Kurobe dam that was so loaded with soft pins that it made me sick when combined with the chopsticks and sushi litter that abounds.
I think every British person watching this just gasped with shock. Personally how can aid climbing be classed as rock climbing. You're just ascending a ladder or if seconding, a rope. Your not climbing the rock feature your just going up a rope.
You obviously don't understand aid climbing. It's lead, free and aid climbing all rolled into one. It's not just jugging a rope. The follower does the jugging if hey choose! Go and do some research please !!
Good rant, at least food for thought. I always thought the ratings were more about the difficulty in placing the gear and how precarious it is. I guess you could sum that up to danger but if your smart enough to engineer your way up, everything should be fine. If you put a 5.14 climber on a A5 pitch, they will rip, and you would have your corpse. Anyways, I'm in awe of anyone who climbs the Reticent Wall anyways.
Aid is dead? Thats just rediculous. Its like sport climbers saying a trad climber taking a rest on the placement is "not proper climbing". It is a different discipline. There is a place for both free and aid climbing. I'd say Aid is a good extension towards true mountaineering. You're climbing to get to the top, not because of its grade or kudos or chance of death. Please lets not make climbing as clicky as every other sport.
Also, why it's not banned I have no idea. I hear concern over the effect of chalk eroding the rock, and scratch marks left by people dry-tooling summer rock routes that is ruining the route. Here people are drilling and bolting into the rock! Drilling!!! Disgraceful.
What about leading a trad route with potential death fall? That is mentally difficult. All free climbing is technically difficult. Aid climbing is at the bottom of the barrel.
I find aid climbing sketchier then free climbing.... when I'm sport climbing, I'm holding onto to solid rock with my own hands... when I'm aiding I'm intentionally and constantly putting my weight on gear
There ain't nothin wrong with 5.10 climbers having an adventure on a big wall. All of climbing is a pointless exercise, some people want to climb walls and most of those people don't climb 5.13, so aid is necessary. So aid makes sense for the average climber that values big objectives and adventure over technical difficulty.
Good thing they took his drink away from him. Even though I agree with a lot of what he says,it's not pretty when pompous people have too many. Or maybe it's just the way he comes across.
The drilling bit I disagree with, but I see nothing wrong with doing clean aid. It's a mechanical fun. And yes, it allows those of us who weren't born 5'7" and weighing 101lbs to be able to access areas that may be otherwise inaccessible. Entertaining point nonetheless. It's just sad to see the divisiveness this guy feels and perhaps that's come from others who were as vehement about some other position. Anyhoo, I haven't climbed in years so I should shut my fat old buttocks up. :)
That is sort of stupid, isn't the aid climber who is putting in a bolt hang dogging. Why have a different set of rules? I feel like the same sort of unwritten rules should apply, see if the first ascentionist has a problem with more protection being added.
The problem here is the word climbing. If you haul yourself up using jummars then it's not really climbing is it? It's dragging! Should be called aid dragging. My mum could climb something as smooth as a pool table with jummers. What's the point? If you can't climb it then admit it, say you're not good enough, go away, train and get better then come back. If you do something you know you can do you have achieved nothing. Do something you don't think you can do and find a way to do it. Then you
No offense, but there are plenty of videos of A5, dropping a pig from a belay. But... more than that, falling on a route you’re working is the exact same as Aid Climbing. Using gear to hold you is pulling in gear. Many climbs today were originally aidclimbed, and May pitches would not go free without pin scars. Point being, different people enjoy different types of climbing. Let that be that. Every sport climb is “drilled” letting the mountain be brought down to your level. I mean I can’t count the routes I’ve done where someone bolted next to a crack because it only took super small sketchy Pro in that section. So sport, aid, it’s all climbing. (; loved the rant though. It’s only possibly A5 the first time someone does it. After that fixed heads are A1 clips and may as well be an old rusty bolt. Enjoy what you do, let others enjoy what they do. Get over yourself or go free-solo naked.
Uh, if you are referring to the Fisher Towers near Castle Valley, Utah, you can scratch your name with a nail in the rock there. Nobody is falling on Rurps there. It's all drilled pitons and bolts.
I'm new to climbing and the climbers I've met to date and the videos I've seen are of very humble but competent, friendly yet daring in their climbs and stories... this is the first that I've heard so much pompous crap... For all I know everything this guy is saying may be true but man does his verbal diarrhea make me want to hang my head in shame... for all climbers (trad, free, indoor, sport etc...)
+The Rice Industry Its not really much more expensive than normal trad IMO. Aiders aren't all that pricey really so unless you have to roll with a bunch of irons it's not too bad.
Why not ? Seriously if you are climbing for fun who gives a fuck how you do it as long as you don't damage the rock. Putting bolts/pitons in is only necessary if you are setting up a free climb. Don't be so sanctimonious!!
Chalk is aid gear... I'm just saying, its kinda lame how people are always spraying on about that 5.13 or whatever that they just freed, and I can see the white crap under their fingernails. They don't fool me a bit. Dried out blood is really the only acceptable substitute to your bare skin, and it has to be your own blood.
None being more macho than the other? Macho is the last thing I would call myself, or want to be known as, but free soloing 5.12 is way more badass/macho than any aid route could ever be. I mean, you have NO protection with a free solo. Also it's just really weak that people want to climb something that they aren't strong enough to.
I think you have diminished the skill involved with performing at a higher technical standard. Kayaking is similar even free climbing indicates danger in most rating systems. Climbing, in general, is so arbitrary that as long as people are agreeing on an ethic then we can leave them be. The wall would only be truly free in a non stop free solo ascent and that would be even more pointless and impossible withoud decades of development. Anchors, Ropes, Gear woohoo have fun its a lark anyway.
