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skywalker1
Trad climber
co
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Perhaps a poor analogy but if you are on a road trip climbing hard full days you will ultimately find your hands will become ground beef. And you will tape.
S...
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ExfifteenExfifteen
climber
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Still not seeing the common sense in using tape. Sure, it prevents most gobies, not all I've learned, but common sense would dictate to never leave the ground. It makes the climbing easier, but so what!
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donini
Trad climber
Ouray, Colorado
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I tape only to prevent trashing my hands. I never add more tape to make my hands fit better. The harder tight red and green camalot cracks are actually more difficult with tape.
If you climb a lot of cracks, and don’t just talk about it, you will very likely end up taping, especially as you age and your skin thins.
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steveA
Trad climber
Wolfeboro, NH
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Hey Jim, Hope your doing well!
Not my hands
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Aeriq
Sport climber
100-year Visitor
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August West
Trad climber
Where the wind blows strange
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Not that blood freaks me out, but I don't think there are many climbers out there who never wear/wore tape that didn't bleed all over a route at some point in time. I always thought that poor form.
I found that if I was careful how I taped my hands and fingers, I had far less sweaty skin in contact with the rock and rarely ever needed to chalk up.
Each to their own, but bleeding on a route is still gross.
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eeyonkee
Trad climber
Golden, CO
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I almost always tape.
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couchmaster
climber
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If you are in Yosemite climbing a well pinned out crack with super smooth sides (of which there are many), tape is not needed at all. Someplace like Trout Creek you don't see anyone climb with out it. It's just super rare. I always tape in Joshua Tree too, those little quartz crystals do damage to my baby like skin. If you are there for a weekend not a problem to get a few gobis, but if you're there for a couple weeks, you'll be sitting out and hanging in camp due to bloody hands quite soon.
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Hungry
Trad climber
flagstaff, AZ
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As mentioned above, while good technique helps, there are a lot of us in our late 50s and older with thinning skin that is not forgiving of even minor errors. If I had learned to climb 5.12 cracks when I was younger, maybe my technique would be so good now that I wouldn't need it, but when I am trying to follow my husband on 11s these days and still learning as I go, the tape (and carrying it out) is worthwhile.
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ExfifteenExfifteen
climber
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If you climb a lot of cracks, and don’t just talk about it, you will very likely end up taping, especially as you age and your skin thins.
Lots of cracks I do climb. But, I am no Donini!!! Still, those taped hands make the red and green camalot climbing easier for me. Plain and simple. But, do I care? Not really, I do aid climb too. Whatever. And I am also in my fifties... damn, your old donini!!!
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johntp
Trad climber
Punter
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Who is ExfifteenExfifteen?
Taping has it's place. It is no more of an aid than sticky rubber and chalk.
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ExfifteenExfifteen
climber
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Taping has it's place. It is no more of an aid than sticky rubber and chalk.
And I agree with you. All I ever said was... I have taped, i prefer not to, it makes climbing easier, and I am a nobody who likes to climb.
It does sound like the same qualities as chalk and rubber.
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johntp
Trad climber
Punter
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and I am a nobody who likes to climb.
Me too.
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Don Paul
Social climber
Washington DC
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Vedauwoo WY is a beautiful place but the granite has razor sharp crystals in it. The inside of a crack is like a geode. I guess if your jam doesn't slip you don't get cut but that was not my experience lol. For offwidths you need to tape or at least cover up your whole body.
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Don Lauria
Trad climber
Bishop, CA
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I wondered immediately upon discovering this thread, "What would Alfonso Bedoya have thought?"
Upon reflection, his response in the scene from The Treasure of Sierra Madre might have been something like this:
Humphrey Bogart: If you're a climber where's your tape?
Alfonso Bedoya: Tape? We ain't got no tape. We don't need no tape. I don't have to show you any stinking tape!
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August West
Trad climber
Where the wind blows strange
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^^^
You don't need no stinkin' tape. But if there is any blood in the crack, the DNA Nazis are going to track you down and then will see who's laughing!
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eeyonkee
Trad climber
Golden, CO
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I often tape up AND bleed, just ask my climbing partners.
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