Chockstone Forum

      Sponsored By
      ROCK
   HARDWARE

Chockstone Photography

Australian Landscape Prints

Chockstone Forum - General Discussion

General Climbing Discussion

Topic Date User

Definition of Onsight 27-Feb-2009 At 7:56:26 AM oweng

Message

On 26/02/2009 pazcoop wrote:
>On 26/02/2009 oweng wrote:
>
>>Im also a big fan of downclimbing. There is a climb at Coles Bay called
>>Light Fingered Maddison. I would have had about 6 onsight attempts spread
>>over two or three years on this single climb. On the last attept I took
>>a fall. Still angry and bitter.
>
>
>Surely there's a story behind this...Falling and trying again is a part
>of modern climbing and will help you progress. If every time I got to a
>crux and thought I couldn't do it so downclimbed, my strength and body
>would still remain unfamiliar with the particular move, staggering progression.
>Rather if you had of given it a proper shot a few years ago, surely you'd
>probably be able to do it cleanly by now. You never even know, sometimes
>you can do stuff you didn't even think you could.
>I'm not saying downclimbing isn't an important skill, I just think your
>attitude is a bit...strange (although I wanted to say retarded)

Good points. I dont disagree. In my defense, it was really only two seperate attempts. On the first day I climbed up and down the first 2 or 3 metres three or four times. Didnt want to commit to the crux as it was really greasy from salt spray. A few years later I tried it again. Its pumpy right of the deck, so again climbed the first few metres a couple of times putting the gear in and going back to the ground for a rest. I then went for it, got through the crux move but fell of just before the rest ledge. Had another go and got the redpoint.

I was only annoyed, because its a route I wanted to onsight. Its not my normal way of climbing. Light Fingered Maddison and Skyrocket on the Organ Pipes are the only two routes ive looked at and decided that I had to onsight them.