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diana
Feb 15, 2004, 3:01 PM
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Yesterday, my two climbing partners and I had a great day of climbing at our local (mainly TR) crag, which also happens to be a state park. At the bottom of the climbing area is one of the main park trails, and there were a fair number of hikers out. One family walked up to us and said, "Hey! How'd you get the rope up there?" Luckily for them, one of my partners is a very friendly guy who loves to teach people about climbing, and he explained how we set the anchor at the top, yada yada.
My other partner and I were off quietly amusing ourselves with possible smart-ass responses. And that got me wondering, what could you have come up with?
:-)
Diana
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ryanhurl
Feb 15, 2004, 3:12 PM
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Smart ass answers could be:
1) you free solo the thing and tote the rope with you. This will help perpetuate the status of climbing being "extreme" to your local touron(Tourist + Moron)
2) maybe that you use your long bomb lasso-ing skills and just chuck it up there and around the rock.
3) If you have a dog with you, say you have trained the dog to run around to the top of the cliff and place the set up. Go on and on about how it took 2 years for you to teach the dog how to do it, but boy has it been worth it.
4) Simply reply with "You know, that's an interesting question. I'm not quite sure myself, it's always been that way when I got here"
I dunno, i usually try to be nice about it trying in vain to debunk all the falsities that people think climbing is....
Sent you a PM too :-)
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vertical_planar
Feb 15, 2004, 3:29 PM
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ever heard of ninjas?
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moss1956
Feb 15, 2004, 3:31 PM
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Generally, people think I have been rappelling, as that is much more popular than climbing in Iowa. I am very polite, but I point out that climbing is a lot safer than rappelling.
Speaking of rappelling, I am out climbing and these guys pull up in a pickup truck, with some loud country music blairing, smelling of beer, and one of them free solos a 5.8 to hang the rope. (Sort of like your smart aleck answer.) They then start doing their rappelling thing. The rope is this black shiny nylon cord you might get at the hardware store to tie up your dog.
I ask: "Are you sure thats safe?" The guy who free soloed the route tells me,
"What do you mean? We were hauling logs with it all morning!"
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goldencrowbar
Feb 15, 2004, 3:35 PM
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You coil the rope onto the ground, then everybody sets around it and starts chanting. The rope then magically turns into a snake and slithers it's way to the top.
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rokklym
Feb 15, 2004, 3:49 PM
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It always seems like if tourons see us climbing, they will come up with some dumb sort of questions, which is OK cuz hey, if its something you've never seen before of course its going to be interesting. But, no matter what you tell them they will call it propelling or something like that.
As far as the how did the rope get up there question, well you can always tell them that you have one of those guns that shoots the rope up there, thats always more believable for them than the truth.
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rokklym
Feb 15, 2004, 4:02 PM
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In reply to: Generally, people think I have been rappelling, as that is much more popular than climbing in Iowa. I am very polite, but I point out that climbing is a lot safer than rappelling. Speaking of rappelling, I am out climbing and these guys pull up in a pickup truck, with some loud country music blairing, smelling of beer, and one of them free solos a 5.8 to hang the rope. (Sort of like your smart aleck answer.) They then start doing their rappelling thing. The rope is this black shiny nylon cord you might get at the hardware store to tie up your dog. I ask: "Are you sure thats safe?" The guy who free soloed the route tells me, "What do you mean? We were hauling logs with it all morning!"
Any where you go I think you can run into the redneck rappellers. Sometimes its fun to watch their stupid actions but scary too. Usually they have the rope wrapped around a tree with one knot on it somewhere and some tied up harnesses. The scary thing is when these idiots bring their thing to a popular climbing area. You know someones going to get hurt and its going to be listed as a climbing accident like all the other idiots that climbed up something to impress their sister/cousin/girlfriend combo and fell to their death. Plus, it never fails that Bubba ( you know bubba, he is the guy thats always incharge of the group ) Knows all there is to know about mountain climbing and wont take advice from you no matter how nice you try to be.
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oudinardin
Feb 15, 2004, 4:05 PM
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Ahhhh, population control.
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kyhangdog
Feb 15, 2004, 4:06 PM
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Anti-gravity backpack.
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andypro
Feb 15, 2004, 6:34 PM
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I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the rope gun yet :lol: :lol: Tha'ts always my favorite. Then they want tos ee it, and you ahve to explain to them how dangerous it can be, and that youd rather not take it out unless it's needed :lol: :lol: :lol:
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roughster
Feb 15, 2004, 10:51 PM
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*inster your smart ass comment here*
...and then little Jimmy and his family walk off muttering "assholes" under their breath.
15 years later, little Jimmy is Superintendent of Parks and Recreation for your area/state....
Yep, it was really worth it wasn't it?
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moss1956
Feb 15, 2004, 11:12 PM
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Roughster is right.
Climbers are a really tiny piece of the land use picture. We all need to be diplomats at the crag, as we aren't going to win access issues via political force.
In Iowa most climbing is done in hunting preserves. The state biologist does not care for the damage it does to the microclimates that exist in those places.
For instance Iowa has Ice Caves. During our subzero winters big ice blocks form underground, and then during the summer cool air comes out of the vents in the ground near the ice caves creating ecological conditions that usually only occur 100's of miles to the north of here. People tramping around getting to the base of climbs compact the vents and destroy the microclimate. The biologist would love to have some ammunition to get Pictured Rocks closed to climbers.
Iowa in its natural state is one of the most amazing places on the planet. The only other place quite like it is in the Steppes of Siberia. For those of you who have never spent time here, imagine the Central Valley without the rest of California, but better.
There are just a few 100 thousand acres left of natural Iowa left. It is not our fault, but every use of the land that could be pushed out takes pressure off of that space. We really don't want to be the dumbo's who get booted.
Be nice.
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roughster
Feb 15, 2004, 11:23 PM
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Moss:
Its sad that many climbers don't realize that we represent climbers as a user group every time we go to the crag. Those seemingly small "Hey how you doing" and "Nice day isn't it" to passing hikers and Park/State Staff make all the difference in the world.
I am dealing with a land manager who has a beef against climbers for reasons unknown. Maybe it was just some smart ass punks that said something on the wrong day at the wrong time, and now climbers are forever on the shit list for the one person that matters for this area.
Use your heads people is all I can say. Try to be as polite and friendly to anyone and everyone you see. At the worst, you get good karma, at the best you just may save access to your area.
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mowz
Feb 15, 2004, 11:27 PM
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My answer would have been: It grew out of the rock.
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robmcc
Feb 16, 2004, 6:01 AM
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In reply to: *inster your smart ass comment here* ...and then little Jimmy and his family walk off muttering "assholes" under their breath. 15 years later, little Jimmy is Superintendent of Parks and Recreation for your area/state.... Yep, it was really worth it wasn't it?
Ok, I've consulted with several experts and have determined that this is what's known in techincal circles as an "overreaction". :P
If you naysayers will check the original post, the curious non climbers got a patient, friendly answer while we (I'm the other climbing partner) were amusing ourselves with possible other answers. I hate to break it to you all, but in ANY profession or activity, there's some good natured ribbing of the noobs or non-participants. My non-favorite was a local cop who pulled me over for something or other, expired inspection maybe, and gave me a load of patronizing crap and called me, in a roundabout way, a liar. Should I tar all police officers with my annoyance at this one particular jerk? No, I think not. Parents of twins get this all the time. "Oh, are they twins?" Really, really, soon you'll tire of this (to be blunt) stupid question. An uncle of mine has twins and was asked by a Roman Catholic priest if they were twins. His response? "No Father, they're clones!" Everybody (including the priest) got a laugh out of it. It's all in the delivery. IT people joke about the stupid things their users do. Police joke about the stupid things their clients do. Medical personnel joke about the funny things that you, their patients, do. Firefighters (me, once) joke about the funny things they see. Everyone does. Lighten up a little. You can't walk on eggshells all the time on the off chance that some random person will go on to be President and make your life hell.
So, back to the original question. Nobody's saying go out and be an asshole to the public. We're supposedly all climbers, among friends if you will, wondering what amusing responses you MIGHT come up with in that situation. And yes, fact is, you can even give a smart ass answer if you do it in such a way that they're amused by the joke, not the butt of it ("No Father, they're clones!").
Rob
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coldclimb
Feb 16, 2004, 6:07 AM
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Hehehe, I think this is the best one. Somehow they will accept it even though it does nothing towards answering their question. :lol: :lol:
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climbsomething
Feb 16, 2004, 6:17 AM
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When people ask stupid questions online, I take the name of the Lord-Gumby in vain, and I even invoke His likeness.
Still working on my crag location material, though.
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skiclimb
Feb 16, 2004, 6:55 AM
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Indian rope trick...then pull out a horn and start playing wierd music...
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keazah
Feb 16, 2004, 7:19 AM
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Answer: We just flew up there to place it so we can then fly back down and climb it without using any of our super flying abilities!!
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hosh
Feb 16, 2004, 8:16 AM
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Not answering questions as if you are actually trying to answer them is fun. Try something like, "I got a really bad tummy ache from all the kraut I ate with my Costco dog..." Or why not, "Did you know that the skin in your ear actually grows sideways? If it didn't, your ears would never actually get clean!" Or how about this one, "Zaht kanese!" (which means "Shut up!" in Russian) But, as that other guy was saying, I usually don't mess with people I don't know. But it works real well on friends that are being dumb.
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rrrADAM
Feb 16, 2004, 5:32 PM
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Tell 'em it's all in the shoes...
You put the shoes on, click your heels why saying, "I wish the rope was there... I wish the rope was there."
In all reality though, I just tell em how we get it up there, as climbers who are more non climber friendly go over better than climbers who are not... Especially in areas that have sensitive access issues. :wink:
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scubasnyder
Feb 16, 2004, 5:38 PM
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I always just say, its always been there didnt you see it before ??
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roughster
Feb 16, 2004, 5:45 PM
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Rob,
This is going to sound bad, but eh? That never stopped me before :lol: The jist of my message is not that some good "fun" can't be had amongst the climbers themselves about the issue, but rather how many of the younger generation of climbers who read these threads will think, "Heheh yeah it would be funny to come up with some totally off the top smart ass answer the next time a touron asks me a question".
You can tell yourself it won't happen, but judging by many of the posts we see around here, I can assure that at least a few will have thought that concerning this post.
Anyways, what does it cost you to be nice over the issue to someone who may truly have an interest in our sport? Every person out there who thinks good things is just one more person who will be in our corner when the shit hits the fan access-wise. And it will "hit the fan" eventually. It always does.
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adampaiva
Feb 16, 2004, 5:50 PM
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I say why dont you go to rockclimbing.com and find out because this topic has been covered a gazillion times already.
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