Does a "TRAD RULES" mentality = weakness?

[SCIN]

Most hard all around climbers dabble in both.

[bazoqop]

All climbing kicks ass!

Yup..

[ReachHigh]

If are we talking about more sporty trad where you have good anchors and short approaches like the red then personal experience says a vote on yes. The best routes <5.10 at the red are typically trad lines and while there are some outstanding trad lines of harder grades people aren't driving here for those routes, its the harder sport that the red shines.


If we are taking something more akin to light alpine, hell no, trad is usually the only option of accent and its a whole another experience.

[Savage]

Crack climbing is so vastly different that its hard to compare the two. I can climb fairly hard on sport, but I'm been on some oldschool 7s that cause me to make poopy in my pants. Probably because I had never fallen on my own ear until this weekend on Synchro.

But yes, i do know people that only climb gear that blow at sport. For me, splitter hand-crack is one of the best feelings of climbing movement, but sport does it for me just the same.

[camhead]

I had never fallen on my own ear until this weekend on Synchro.

Whoa, that sucks. Best luck on recovery, and I hope you did no permanent damage to your hearing.

[Savage]

"Gear"...ass! =)

[Gobstopper]

Trad makes me feel kind of funny, like when we used to climb the rope in gym class.

[rustyvasectomy]

In theory, to climb difficult rock climbs, no matter what style, one must be strong and bouldering is the best way to get such fitness. Also, someone who climbs hard has appreciation for hard movement and would thus enjoy bouldering. Finally, this mentality is an old school one and we all know old schoolers practiced on boulders. While I am sure there are some exceptions to this, anyone ever encounter a lot of people that climb hard (5.12 and up) trad and refuse to boulder?

No Mr. Rusty. I have not come across any people that climb hard trad and not boulder. This is a very convincing argument, you hit the nail on the head. Thank you for proving that a "Trad rules" mentality does not equal weakness.


+1

Ahh, yes! the discipline of climbing small rocks. While this too will heighten your trad climbing ability, it does not help nearly as much as sport climbing. Small-rock-climbers tend to suffer from the inability to climb for more than 15 feet without having to light a bowl and fix the zipper on their trendy american apparel hoodies. Furthermore, the sudden influx of dreadlocks that every new small-rock climber gets is a weight disadvantage in trad climbing. Finally, as every new small-rock climber's vocabulary dwindles to two words ("brah" and "dudebrah") effective communication with a belayer becomes nearly impossible. All these reasons cause small-rock climbing to not be as effective as sport climbing for a trad climber.

[Savage]

haha... furthermore, its hard to each your climbing partner over Phish, playing in the backround

[anticlmber]

dude, really, you're going to come down on my dudebrahs and i for bouldering??

man that is so non-sweet to the point of being hella-lame. dude.....


you used to be a big deal to me but no more.