It almost goes without saying that some of what appears here, and on other climbing sites is 100% BS. Here's my list of the biggest turds.

In no particular order...

- When fitting shoes, the tighter the better. But hey, it keeps those sweet deals coming on EBay.

- Never take rope in when catching a leader fall. Foot, meet ledge.

- Nylon loses 5% of its strength each year due solely to age. Quick, someone alert the rope manufacturers!

- Dropped gear must be retired due to the risk of microfractures. A perennial tackle box favorite.

- Fall Factor determines the peak load on gear, the climber, and belayer. Yup, that's it; nothing else matters.

- Toproping on static rope will get you injured. A classic case of, "No, I haven't actually done it. I just know it's a no-no."

- Expensive cams are safer than the cheap ones. Usually something along the lines of, "You don't want to look down that long run-out and see a $29 unit down there." Hey buddy, I got a $200 cam to sell ya.

- Home-made or modified gear will kill you. Riiight. There are no more improvements possible. Ever.

- Gasoline, oil, WD-40 will damage nylon. Caution is prudent. Blowing smoke out your a$$ when you don't know what you're talking about OTOH...

- TR self-belay with a toothed cam ascender will shred the rope. (see TR on static rope.)

- Place Tricams and large SLCDs with the rails or wider lobes on the bottom. Like tipping over is even possible!

- Never clip metal-to-metal. Pitons and bolt hangers = instant flying biner shards.

I always heard that Metal on Metal was really bad. Then I saw Anthrax open for Metallica, and it was fucking awesome!

All brand new cams are completely safe.

How's that? If they're UIAA Certified they've been tested by a third party testing facility per the UIAA125/CE12275 specification, so by definition they all are tested to the same standard. How much they exceed the standard is an altogether different question...

How's that? If they're UIAA Certified they've been tested by a third party testing facility per the UIAA125/CE12275 specification, so by definition they all are tested to the same standard. How much they exceed the standard is an altogether different question...

Does climbing 5.13 mean that you might have more mileage on the rock than the 5.10 or 5.11 climber?

Not to refute your point but so often the sound, reasonable, and seasoned comments are ignored by some loudmouth who's been climbing for 2 years. How am I (or others) supposed to react? There were a lot of things I thought I was right about 2 years in that I was completely wrong about.

The grade shouldn't be the issue, experience should be. Then again, experience gets conflated with years climbing and the word experience loses meaning.

I think that the greatest internet climbing myth/falsehood is that unless you can climb 5.12 or 5.13 or V10 or whatever, then you aren't entitled to have an opinion regarding certain subjects.

"You only climb 5.11. Come back when you're climbing 5.13 and then you can comment, noob"

I'm never going to climb 5.13 but, after 20+ years of climbing, I feel I can make a comment on most climbing related subjects.

Even if I had only been climbing 20 days, I am still allowed to comment on a subject, without some grade obsessed sycophant telling me to shut up, because I don't crank V10 and I don't know Tommy or Joe or Bill or whoever. It's called FREEDOM OF SPEECH.

This seems to be a particularly American attitude and it is particularly rife on this site. I don't really see it on forums in the UK or here, in Australia.

What amazes me is, these ego-stroking sycophants don't even realise how dumb they are making themselves sound. You don't sound hard and smart. You sound like 'A' grade butt kissers.

Climbing 5.13 does not mean you are smarter, wiser or more able to make a comment. It just means you can climb 5.13.

And that you probably spend too much time climbing plastic.

I still reserve the right to call anyone a dumbass, anytime and anywhere. Heh heh.

Apparently, knowledge about some Gear4Rocks is Alien to you.

Jay

I didn't say you didn't have the right to call someone a dumbass. I said you don't have the right to tell that dumbass that they don't have the right to prove they are a dumbass by making a dumbass comment because you are either a harder climber or a more experienced climber.

dumbass

2 ratings, 3 stars: 1 user got it and 1 didn't.

Jay

The grade shouldn't be the issue, experience should be.

All brand new cams are completely safe.

I think that the greatest internet climbing myth/falsehood is that unless you can climb 5.12 or 5.13 or V10 or whatever, then you aren't entitled to have an opinion regarding certain subjects.

"You only climb 5.11. Come back when you're climbing 5.13 and then you can comment, noob"

I'm never going to climb 5.13 but, after 20+ years of climbing, I feel I can make a comment on most climbing related subjects.

Even if I had only been climbing 20 days, I am still allowed to comment on a subject, without some grade obsessed sycophant telling me to shut up, because I don't crank V10 and I don't know Tommy or Joe or Bill or whoever. It's called FREEDOM OF SPEECH.

This seems to be a particularly American attitude and it is particularly rife on this site. I don't really see it on forums in the UK or here, in Australia.

What amazes me is, these ego-stroking sycophants don't even realise how dumb they are making themselves sound. You don't sound hard and smart. You sound like 'A' grade butt kissers.

Climbing 5.13 does not mean you are smarter, wiser or more able to make a comment. It just means you can climb 5.13.

And that you probably spend too much time climbing plastic.

I think that the greatest internet climbing myth/falsehood is that unless you can climb 5.12 or 5.13 or V10 or whatever, then you aren't entitled to have an opinion regarding certain subjects.

Maybe I've been climbing 40+ years and have an IQ of 89. Do you really want to trust just me because of my experience?

I think that intelligence is more important than ratings and years on the job. Maybe we need to start using the words "wise" and "wisdom" to describe that desirable trait that makes one worthy to give advice.

Dave

Does climbing 5.13 mean that you might have more mileage on the rock than the 5.10 or 5.11 climber?

Not to refute your point but so often the sound, reasonable, and seasoned comments are ignored by some loudmouth who's been climbing for 2 years. How am I (or others) supposed to react? There were a lot of things I thought I was right about 2 years in that I was completely wrong about.

The grade shouldn't be the issue, experience should be. Then again, experience gets conflated with years climbing and the word experience loses meaning.

i feel this whole wisdom/intelligence/experience/difficulty thing boils down to a combination of these parts and an explicit understanding of how one goes about defining and relating them.

the intelligent climber probably learns very quickly. therefore, they may be knowledgeable while lacking a large amount of experience.

the experienced climber may or may not climb hard, but they have almost certainly seen some things that the rest of us can learn from.

the climber who can crank the 5.whatever or the Vridiculous is not necessarily experienced, intelligent, or wise.

finally, the wise climber is probably just keeping their mouth shut.

point is, the validity of one's statement about a particular topic could depend on difficulty, experience, or intelligence, none of which are necessarily related (though people assume they are).

also, i find the notion that experience can be measured in number of years climbing to be bogus. your average weekend warrior may get out one or two weekends a month, which translates to 25ish climbing days per year. In one summer it's possible to road trip for a few months and accrue the equivalent of "two years" (or more) worth of experience. not to mention, climbers tend to have rather inflated ideas about the number of days they actually climb.

a similar argument applies to experience and difficulty.

Great comment and well put.

2 ratings, 3 stars: 1 user got it and 1 didn't.

Jay