Climbing techniques I learned from an old timer vs today's gear...

I got trained by a guy who climbed with a Blake's hitch and a steel core lanyard for 30 years. He showed me how to set a friction saver with just a pole and a throwball, no fancy mechanical ascender needed. Has anyone else noticed we rely too much on gadgets now instead of just knowing your rope?

2 comments

2 Comments

ross.sean7d agoTop Commenter

Lean into the muscle memory part of it. When you learn to do it all by hand and feel the rope, you can get yourself out of a jam without needing to pull a bunch of gadgets out of your bag.

quinn5827d ago

Yeah but here's the thing about muscle memory with ropes - mine seems to remember how to tie itself into a Gordian knot every single time. I've been doing this long enough that I should have it down by now, but my hands still turn into useless flippers the second I'm in a hurry. Last week I spent ten minutes trying to undo a figure eight knot that I apparently tied wrong, and my buddy just walked over and flicked it loose in two seconds. So I get the idea of feeling the rope, but my hands apparently have their own agenda and it's usually to embarrass me in front of people who actually know what they're doing. Still agree with your point though, I'd rather be bad at a basic knot than have some gadget fail on me halfway up a wall.