Chockstone Forum

      Sponsored By
      ROCK
   HARDWARE

Chockstone Photography

Australian Landscape Prints

Chockstone Forum - General Discussion

General Climbing Discussion

Author

Hardrock in the city at last


Sabu

19-Oct-2007
12:55:20 PM

On 19/10/2007 nmonteith wrote:
>even if it does involve an extra
>20km of driving.
GASP! Neil you malicious green house gas emitter...... ;P

i still havn't been and from this feedback i guess i'll happily wait till after my exams!!


bluey

19-Oct-2007
1:39:53 PM

Hey I even got a couple of spinners at Nuna the other night* - must be contagious between the two gyms.

* this is not to diminish how much more a problem it is at CBD. Whoever it was earlier who mentioned Hardrock's liability makes a good point - surely spinning holds after this length of time (or at any time) indicates Hardrock is not meeting their duty of care, no matter how many millions of legal disclaimers we have to sign to climb there.


muki

19-Oct-2007
2:05:19 PM

As the godd doc says, this is so easy to fix, given the amount of time HR has been operating as a
climbing venue, it really surprises me that they are yet to address the issue.
The best way to do this is to put a sticky backing on the hold, in the past when working in climbing gyms
I would make a silicon template directly on the hold, not too thick, say 2-3mm, allow it to cure then
secure the hold tightly, this gives a grippy interface between the gritty surface of the wall and the hold.
for larger holds, a couple of locating screws will help with the torque that is created by leverage.
I too whent to check the gym out (just a look no climbing) when in melbs about a month ago, was a bit
disappointed by the lack of knowledge that gym staff had of climbing! all staff members I talked to had
no climbing background or experience! this IMO, is probably why the belay info the good doc recieved
was substandard, and also why the crux of all the climbs set only has reachy moves, rather than the
subtleties of the many types of cruxes on real rock that we have come to know and love. BP


bluey

19-Oct-2007
2:11:54 PM

Hardrock clearly has a username on this site - I've seen their announcements and comments in the past. Given this, I don't understand why we haven't heard anything from the owners about the spinning holds problem. They know it's an issue - would be interesting to hear what their response is.

Msg to Hardrock: Why is it taking so bloody long to stop the holds spinning????????


bluey

23-Jan-2008
11:51:28 AM

Cripes, didn't think in resurrecting this thread I'd see myself as the author of the last two posts! But I repeat my call of 3 months ago (!):

Msg to Hardrock: Why is it taking so bloody long to stop the holds spinning????????

If you want to lead there you have to bring your own deathwish. Nuna is looking chockers again, no doubt cos people tried CBD for a while and then ran away.

You get mulptiple spinners on the same route. Some you can spin around with just a flick of the finger!

Is it all just a cunning plan to keep leaders away, fill the place with beginners and develop in them a fearless approach to climbing where spinning holds no longer churn the stomach??


westie

23-Jan-2008
12:45:11 PM

On 23/01/2008 bluey wrote:
If you want to lead there you have to bring your own deathwish. Nuna is
>looking chockers again, no doubt cos people tried CBD for a while and then
>ran away.

whereas my local gym's a pleasure at the moment. practically deserted on weekends.

City gym = nonsensical routes, spinners / missing holds, crowds of beginners and onlookers (WTF?) and no taps even!!! could have been so much better.


harold

23-Jan-2008
1:40:30 PM

Not sure what your saying bluey re spinning holds being dangerous - leading or TR. I always thought that the rope was meant to keep your of the deck. I have seen it inferred before on various forum discussions, that falling off without warning is dangerous. I find this opinion a little disturbing and goes against the whole point of having a roope and belayer. I dont as a rule give my belayer any warning as to when I am going to fall - if I trust my belayer I just climb untill I fall off and expect them to catch me. In the gym, or anywhere on bolts, if you arent falling off a bit then your not pushing yourself and you wont get any better. Just a thought, dont take it the wrong way.

Re the spinners - maybe they are just trying to simulate Werribee Gorge or even the Sun Deck, where a hand hold can bust off at anytime. I might give the place a miss until I see positive reviews here.


Organ Pipe

23-Jan-2008
1:45:51 PM

Yes it's frustrating.

I asked at the desk to use the allen key to fix some spinners. The staff member explained that they were not able to "lend it out" as it had "gone missing last time".

Pity.

Even if this 'high value' tool, prized amond theives, cannot be trusted to a regular, surely the staff memeber could have stood at the bottom of the route, passed me the allen key as I began climbing and retrieved it when I returned to the bottom.


bluey

23-Jan-2008
1:58:52 PM

Hey Harold -
The danger is in the first move or two when you either haven't done the first clip, or are close to the second but could deck cos there's enough run out in the rope. Yeah, your belayer should spot you etc, but it's certainly not ideal!


nmonteith

23-Jan-2008
3:05:20 PM

I agree Bluey! 90% of the time i know when i might be about to fall off a route and can give a quick verbal warning to my belayer. I also usually have a quick chance to evaluate what will happen in a fall before i come off (ledge below?) Having a spinner makes it totally random and is dangerous for everyone. In unexpected falls you can fly off at strange angles, even upside down if the ropes happens to be in the wrong place.


meinmuk

23-Jan-2008
3:57:58 PM

On 23/01/2008 Organ Pipe wrote:

>I asked at the desk to use the allen key to fix some spinners. The staff member explained that they were not able to "lend it out" as it had "gone missing last time".

Classic! No wonder they haven't been able to fix the holds! Someone pinched the Allen key. I'll have to use that one when "the dog ate my homework" stops working.

Maybe Safer Gyms Victoria could buy them a new one!


The good Dr

23-Jan-2008
5:44:51 PM

The spinning holds are also a great way to injure your fingers, particularly when a foothold lets loose while pulling on a small edge.

Even though I can walk to this gym I am not going, as I go to train, not to get injured.


cruze

23-Jan-2008
7:15:57 PM

My climbing partner made quite an astute observation the last (and I mean that in every sense) time we went there: Have you noticed the number of people using hire gear compared to others?

People who climb regularly don't go there much and/or they seem content to rely on the patronage of beginners who know no better.

Being climbers doesn't give us the right to have access to great facilities, but refusing to listen to criticism and do anything about it has to be bad for business.

Spinning holds while clipping is really dangerous considering that clipping has to be one of the most important times (and the time when most errors in belaying occur) for making sure the holds don't move!!


garbie

24-Jan-2008
11:00:14 AM

On 23/01/2008 meinmuk wrote:
>
>Maybe Safer Gyms Victoria could buy them a new one!
>

Who are they, haven't heard of them?


nmonteith

24-Jan-2008
11:04:28 AM

The plastic division of Safer Cliffs Victoria. They are extensively funded to the tune of $3.75 million, thanks to a recent generous government grant.


bluey

24-Jan-2008
11:07:14 AM

Are you joking???


nmonteith

24-Jan-2008
11:17:58 AM

The grant was mostly for installation of a leadable glue-up up the cement pylons of the Westgate Bridge. The project is one (small) part of the overall redevelopment of that area - which includes the mutli-billion $ tunnel that will go between port melbourne and the western suburbs to fix the traffic jam mess. Construction begins 2009....


cruze

24-Jan-2008
11:20:20 AM

I think that it would be a shame to retrobolt the Westgate Bridge. I, and many others, have soloed that structure nude on a regular basis. Why do people always want to reduce climbs to their level?


bluey

24-Jan-2008
11:22:16 AM

Geeze guys, it's not even April 1 yet.

And sarcasm is the lowest form of wit, you know.

24-Jan-2008
1:45:44 PM

In the next week or two I'll be hitting the gym with a group of raw beginners, and the city gym is the most convenient. Is the spinning holds problem bad enough that I should recommend that the group should instead trek out to Altona or Nunawading?

There are 227 messages in this topic.