Birth of Highballing

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Messages 21 - 40 of total 58 in this topic << First  |  < Previous  |  Show All  |  Next >  |  Last >>
matty

Trad climber
under the sea
Nov 15, 2011 - 03:32pm PT
^^^ BADASS!!!
dee ee

Mountain climber
citizen of planet Earth
Nov 25, 2011 - 05:47pm PT
I saw this bald dude getting pretty high at Josh last weekend.

sandstone conglomerate

climber
sharon conglomerate central
Nov 25, 2011 - 06:49pm PT
Great shot! I chalked up just looking at it.
When is the book due?
bvb

Social climber
flagstaff arizona
Nov 25, 2011 - 06:58pm PT
Slashface might be my favorite BP in Josh...right behind KP's "Once Upon A Dime". Or is it "In My Time Of Dimes"? Off the geology tour road, down by Knuckleball. Oh so many great gems down there...
ß Î Ø T Ç H

Boulder climber
bouldering
Nov 25, 2011 - 07:11pm PT
... the line between bouldering and free soloing is frequently blurred.
In this video, Lisa Rands talks about reaching a hieght where no-matter how many pads below, jumping off or falling is not an option. I think, by definition that would be "Zone 1" soloing. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSsdFlotCrA
altieboo

Boulder climber
Livermore, Ca/ Currently: Peoples Republic
Nov 25, 2011 - 11:57pm PT
gonamok

climber
dont make me come over there
Nov 26, 2011 - 03:55am PT
highball - you get hurt
free solo - you die
Double D

climber
Dec 15, 2011 - 12:00am PT
and here I have the EBs.

Largo... It ain't the shoes bro.

tom woods

Gym climber
Bishop, CA
Dec 15, 2011 - 10:25am PT
I'd like to hear more about those ancient photos Gill posted.

Who were those guys?

Why were they bouldering? I get it on the tower, but the other boulder looks like he's really bouldering for the sake of bouldering.

Shoes? No shoes?

Very neat, anyway you slice it.
jogill

climber
Colorado
Dec 15, 2011 - 08:46pm PT
I'd like to hear more about those ancient photos Gill posted

Tom. go to my website for a history of bouldering, which began more or less in Great Britain during the later part of the 19th century. That's where the words "bouldering" and "problem" originated.

But it didn't become a recognized "sport" until the 1950s and 1960s.

John Gill's Website
Jefe'

Boulder climber
Bishop
Dec 15, 2011 - 09:43pm PT
John, really appreciate your website.
tom woods

Gym climber
Bishop, CA
Dec 15, 2011 - 10:39pm PT
That website is great. Thanks!

I'd write more, but I need to go read Gill's site.
Radish

Trad climber
SeKi, California
Dec 15, 2011 - 10:51pm PT
John Sherman pulled off some of our High Ball problems when he came to visit us.
StahlBro

Trad climber
San Diego, CA
Dec 15, 2011 - 10:59pm PT

How about bike shoes and no chalk?
2 l l

Sport climber
Rancho Verga, CA
Jul 1, 2012 - 02:27am PT
highball - you get hurt
free solo - you die
Logical enough, but I'd defer to Bachar (for one). Obviously he climbed full sized boulders, but he also spoke of a 'zone' rating on solos, where you could theoretically walk away from a fall (and he did, at times). For us mortals, anything above your own height is essentially a highball, taking into account twisting falls, bad landings and gravity herself.
tarek

climber
berkeley
Jul 1, 2012 - 02:42am PT
there's tall stuff, low crux, good landing
tall, high crux, good landing
tall, high crux, horrendous shark's teeth below
not tall, super scary terrible landing anyway
had-it-wired, relaxed too much, cratered
"never came off that way before"
"my hand popped and I did a face-out"
not really high, but there's that big horn
not high, but slab crux at top
time-nearly-stopped-slo-mo mantel
conditions conditions conditions
etc.
Blakey

Trad climber
Newcastle UK
Jul 1, 2012 - 06:20am PT

Highballing is a trendy term that IMHO the use accompanied, (and was coined by) the users of mats. BITD we just 'soloed'. I am often tickled by how 'low' some 'high'balling is....... I think the phrase 'Skyballing' better suits soloing with mats - say 25' and above.......

Steve
can't say

Social climber
Pasadena CA
Jul 1, 2012 - 08:15am PT
Jaybro

Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
Jul 2, 2012 - 11:30am PT
Not necessary to do exclusively, but a continuing essential element of our paradigm.


I fell off a crack from 20' last year and broke my foot. I'd done the route, solo many times before. Two weeks later, I was climbing again on a limited basis, with two different sized climbing shoes. Later that summer I soloed a route on Devil's Tower, feeling all too mortal, which is a good way to feel when soloing. Haven't done any but the easiest solos since then. But sooner or later some crack will lure me up into the maim zone, I know it. That's how we're wired. But, as I grow in climbing, I take a more reasoned, more informed and less brazen approach.
klk

Trad climber
cali
Jul 2, 2012 - 12:26pm PT
Highballing is a trendy term that IMHO the use accompanied, (and was coined by) the users of mats.

Maybe in GB. But in SoCal the word goes back to at least the early 1980s.

As Pat notes, it's an old word in railroad circles.

I don't know the word's origins in climbing. But it could be a Largoism.

Messages 21 - 40 of total 58 in this topic << First  |  < Previous  |  Show All  |  Next >  |  Last >>
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