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Uber classic oz offwidths 8-Jan-2017 At 8:32:27 PM Wendy

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On 8/01/2017 PThomson wrote:
>Did you do it with Nathan, Ev? I heard that he may have repeated it cleanly?
>
>Heh. Funny to hear you're comment about taping, because I was JUST having
>a debate with Neil about exactly that (I refuse to ever tape because I've
>found numerous examples where taping -even to minimise damage to my hands-
>makes the climbs grades easier, which to me is defeating the physiological
>uniqueness that makes climbing "the great leveler"). I feel like if you
>use tape or Hand Jammies or whatever on this route, you don't deserve to
>call it a tick... Because it's approaching it as a roof-offwidth which
>makes it the challenge. Taping to make your hands bigger for the sake of
>ticking it is defeating the entire point of this climb. I didn't put a
>scrap of tape on today.
>
>I genuinely have no doubt if I'd taped to add a 1mm or two to the circumference
>of my hands I'd have been able to do it today, but in doing so I'd be artificially
>countering the aspects of my physiology which makes tight hands easy for
>me to climb (which, in turn, would be hard for someone with mitts big enough
>to do this route as Fist jams). Unlike climbing shoes or chalk, taping
>specifically to achieve climbs is not providing an "equal" (or more-or-less
>equal) advantage across the field, because it becomes a different experience
>specifically depending on physiology. Hence, as far as I'm concerned, it's
>a form of aid climbing.
>
>Let the flaming begin (dons flame-retardant overalls). =P
>
>-Paul T

Have you told Steph Davis she's an aid climber?

Seriously, there's a world of difference between a simple set of gloves and purposefully using tape to change the size of your hands. Or fingers for that matter. I almost never touch rock without tape gloves on since I became a nurse. Every little scrape sucks when you rub alcohol into them 50 trillion times a shift. Not to mention the infection risk. They really are just the same as shoes, actually, no, shoes make a much greater difference to climbing. Should we go back to hobnail boots to avoid aid climbing? Or will bare feet suffice? And these days, people have all sorts of specialist shoes. Surely that must be aid, choosing the pair of shoes that will make using those foot holds easier? Hell, I can find a few people who will still tell you that chalk is aid.

Honestly give yourself a break and just go the tape gloves! I have the same pair in the top of my pack that gets reused on whatever I'm climbing until it needs patching and then reused until it gets ridiculous and I treat myself to a new pair. That's much less particular than most people are about which pair of shoes they will wear up each route.