5.9(f+) 5.9(DNF) 5.10a (DNF) 5.10a(c) 5.10a(c)
Well - this was shaping up to be a less than stellar climbing night. There were a load of new routes in the gym, and I 'warmed up' with a pumpy overhang-y 5.9 on the first pillar. Just before the overhang, there were a couple footholds around the corner that I didn't see, and I really tired my self out trying to figure out how to get up the climb without them. I may have fallen anyway if I knew they were there - it took me a couple tries even once I found them.
The next 9 I tried was on the second pillar and it started with a big overhang with a kind of freaky cling that required the use of an underhang hold which I made it past once, but I fell, and my belay partner lowered me back to the floor, and my arms were too pumped to get over it again. The difficult thing about climbing with new partners is sorting out belay styles. Different people play by different rules - and some folks just come down if they fall instead of trying again from the same spot.
Next came a green 10a on the 3rd pillar with yet another brutal overhang right at the beginning of the climb. I never made it past it. I tried several times, but my right foot started cramping, and my arms were just done from the previous two climbs.
Given the way my evening was going I decided to try a climb i was reasonably certain I could finish, and was lucky enough to find the slabby 10a in the back just opening up. It's a no-hands start - which I cheated - but after that, I climbed it clean. Not quicly, and not always gracefully, but clean, for all that!
The last climb was the white 10a on the other side of the back wall, which I've done before, and did again tonight. It felt pretty solid, and it felt good to end the night on a positive note.
Monday, December 1, 2008 by Rebecca
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6 comments:
I've been meaning to ask you and Daniel, what are these notations you put on your climbs?
For instance, Daniel said for yesterday's:
My climbs: 10a(o), 10c(o), 11a(f++), 10b(o)
and you said, about your climbs: 5.9(f+) 5.9(DNF) 5.10a (DNF) 5.10a(c) 5.10a(c)
About the only thing I understand is DNF.
(o) = onsight. Climbed clean with no prior experience of the route.
(c) = clean. No takes, rests, or hangdogging, but you've climbed the route before.
(f) = one take.
(f+) = more than one take, but not more than two or maybe three, or a little hangdogging.
(f++) = a shitload of takes, rests, cheating, etc. Basically falling up the wall.
(dnf or dnc) = did not finish/complete.
Okay, I understand all of it, except for f. What does it mean, one take? Can you rest but not hangdog and if you do hangdog, does it automatically become a f+?
Well, a take could be a fall, or it could be a rest - I'm considering it any point where you come off the wall and weight the rope. Hangdogging is a gray area, particularly since sometimes you can do it without even being aware of it.
The degrees of f, f+ etc are pretty subjective, and I think Rebecca's are a little different from mine. Put in other terms, f could mean "almost legit," f+ could mean "needs work," and f++ could be any climb which incites laughter at the ridiculousness of how terribly you did at it.
Uh-oh. I realize now that I don't really know what hangdogging is. I need to read up on this stuff. Thanks for all the info and your patience :0)
Well, Rockclimbing.com defines hangdogging thusly:
Hang Dog - vb./n. to repeatedly rest on the rope while climbing.
Which is a bit vague. I'VE always taken it to mean weighting the rope, but less than 100% - ie, not coming all the way off the wall, but letting your belayer help you over difficult moves by racheting up the rope a little bit at a time, allowing you to leverage off the harness. Does that make sense?
I could be wrong, though. That definition could just as easily mean "coming off the wall to rest a lot."
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