knee pads

[anticlmber]

finding a new sequence is conducive to affecting a grade and should be reflected as such, (cough, 50 words right, cough) but using a tactic that may or may not be the norm (extending draws, knee-pads, lying) where does the black and white become gray mess??

if the "why not do it the easy way" is your shield then why not just hang long, long anchor draws, clip from the ground and call it good? why even go?? what YOU do is your deal true, but if someone gives you shit and it bugs you, why does it?? does the truth REALLY hurt?

"Give me Denim or Give me Death!!"

[rustyvasectomy]

As a very wise man once said. "If you don't wear it during everyday life, you can't wear it sport climbing." Since the only person I know who wears kneepads 24 hours a day is Anticlimber, he is allowed.

Don't forget odub. Although his is to blow men more comfortably

[pigsteak]

no one ever asks me how long the draws were I used on my FA's. I only use the shortest draws available, so any extended draws were cheating, and negate the send.

and I always hang them each redpoint burn. anything less is cheating yourself out of REAL rockclimbing.

[steep4me]

Wearing a sticky rubber kneepad would definitely make the climb easier if one has an opportunity to get a better rest or pull-in advantage. The neoprene is just to protect the knee--which is totally fine. I just use my flesh to make a kneebar work. (only because I don't own a neoprene knee pad).

Arguments about shoes just make the point--all routes are more difficult without sticky rubber shoes. I think climbing shoes help one climb a lot harder. At some point, it seems like the extra aids are overboard?

Next thread will be "Is it cheating if you use a rocket pack to thrust you up to holds you couldn't reach previously?" And there will be someone saying "If sticky rubber shoes, gloves, and kneepads are ok, then why not a rocket pack?"

At some point, it will cease to be rock climbing.

[kafish2]

its seems that because knee-pads are not the norm in the red they are not factored into the grade? there was a time when the stand rest on paradise lost was not the norm(maybe still the norm but i have seen plenty of people use it), neither was 50 bucks stand rest, of if we speak of gear: sticky shoes (i know brought up before like 20 times). however all of these are starting to or have been used frequently. all should reflect in the grade of the climb in the future. while knee-pads are not used by the majority of climbers at the red i have seen them becoming more common and the fact that this discussion is occuring implies to some extent that it is an issue. it seems to me we are placed with a decision, either we make an ethical statement that knee-pads are not acceptable of we accept that people use them and that id may affect the grade of a route. if we are opposed to knee pads how far do we take it? just rubber pads? all pads? thick pants off too? (of course not pants are cool but what if you roll them up so high it makes a pseudo knee pad, is that a loop hole?)

[chriss]

it seems to me we are placed with a decision, either we make an ethical statement that knee-pads are not acceptable of we accept that people use them and that id may affect the grade of a route. if we are opposed to knee pads how far do we take it? just rubber pads? all pads? thick pants off too? (of course not pants are cool but what if you roll them up so high it makes a pseudo knee pad, is that a loop hole?)

This is turning into a funny conversation. Honestly who cares. If it matters to you, don't wear a knee pad. If you want to wear one, then wear it.

I always get a kick out of it when people start trying to tell you how to climb. Hopefully we are not going to start talking about the use of chalk and tick marks again. Yawn....

As far as an ethical statement that knee-pads are not acceptable, are you going to become the knee-pad police at the crag. Ha, you people bitching about knee-pads, should worry less about others, and more about yourself.

[Canuck]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but when chalk or sticky rubber shoes were introduced, existing climbs were not downgraded. It just made it more possible for more people to climb harder grades. Why should increased use of knee-pads be any different?

[kafish2]

well not all climbs allow for the use of knee-pads. since a route grade is relative to other routes the knee pad would not open up new posibilities on all climbs of that grade. it could mean that a climb of a given grade is not consistent with the difficulty of other climbs at the same grade.

I mean this is all speculative of course. this has not hit the red and i dont own a stealth rubber knee pad ("yet" should be added the end of each of those statements of course). In the end it is all just silly. But then again so is finding a cliff you can almost climb and trying to then do it without falling when if you really wanna get there you could just hike around the backside. But it is the sport we all love...

[512OW]

it seems to me we are placed with a decision, either we make an ethical statement that knee-pads are not acceptable of we accept that people use them and that id may affect the grade of a route. if we are opposed to knee pads how far do we take it? just rubber pads? all pads? thick pants off too? (of course not pants are cool but what if you roll them up so high it makes a pseudo knee pad, is that a loop hole?)

This is turning into a funny conversation. Honestly who cares. If it matters to you, don't wear a knee pad. If you want to wear one, then wear it.

I always get a kick out of it when people start trying to tell you how to climb. Hopefully we are not going to start talking about the use of chalk and tick marks again. Yawn....

As far as an ethical statement that knee-pads are not acceptable, are you going to become the knee-pad police at the crag. Ha, you people bitching about knee-pads, should worry less about others, and more about yourself.

Word. This is a ridiculous thread...

[SCIN]

What does it really fucking matter for all of us anyway? Even if you're climbing 5.14 (which none of us on here are anyway) you aren't shit and are probably just a recreational climber. Is anyone here a pro? Then what does it matter? Chriss said it right.