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Topic Date User

The Bumblies Strike Back - Araps TR 20-Jul-2006 At 9:15:18 PM armyiain

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Allrighty as the original poster I will throw my hat into the ring.

Lots (if not most/all) of people starting out climb at very low grades. Especially when they are learning trad, not many people want to initially throw themselves up a climb that whilst they might be able to ascend clean, they can't protect safely. Thats why we went down to give my two mates some fun on sub-10 routes, and then Trapeze at the end of the week to sort of consolidate their skills. I would have seconded Jake for over 200m, cleaned probably over 60 placements and they were all good. Being assured that my placements were good when I was just learning to lead gave me confidence to push the grades ever so slightly - so now I am leading 14s instead of 13s and so on. I know Jake feels more confident leading trad as a result of this trip, even if his leading is only in the lower grades. As said earlier, I now really hope to get back down in the next month or so and push 15 and 16. So this wasn't so much a trip for me to push the grades, but to just enjoy some climbing and learning. I'm sure I can hear someone scoffing about a 'grade 15/16 organ pipes leader' teaching someone else, but I don't give a damn. I have climbed on numerous occaisons with people who lead 20+, and their confidence in my skills has given me confidence.

Everyone started somewhere. Some people climb mid-20s sport before they move to trad, so their experience is probably very unlike mine. I pretty much started on a little bit of sport, then moved to trad. I might be a bumbly when grades are considered, but technically, I like to think I know my stuff. There is a big difference between knowing the gear, its limitations, (and what you can do with it) and climbing ability. In my case, injury and lack of time over the past 2 years have really held my devotion to fitness and climbing back. I now really hope to rectify this.

Its not about what grades you climb - its about the fun you have, the jokes between mates as you take the piss out of each other. Its about the beers round the fire at night, the stunning moves on good rock, about scaring yourself a little silly by getting on something harder than your usual, regardless of what grade you comfortably climb. These are things we all enjoy, regardless of how hard we actually climb. I think if you agree on these things, in one sense, you are a bumbly at heart. We get out there on the rock, whenever we can. We don't care what grade it is, as long as we are having fun.