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Birthday presents for climbers


BoulderBaby

31-Aug-2010
4:52:42 AM

On 30/08/2010 rod wrote:
>On 30/08/2010 hargs wrote:
>>Belay glasses!
>
>i've got some of those and aside from the neck benefits they're brilliant
>at keeping the attention focussed on what's going on up above rather than
>being distracted by the bullshit going on at the base. great for visual
>gags too when looked at from above the prisms you see the wearer's eyes

Love belay Glasses. soooo bloody expensive though. Maybe they'll be cheaper in Czech...


nmonteith

31-Aug-2010
7:45:04 AM

On 30/08/2010 rod wrote:
>I go through a set of 16 to 20 draws every 18 months, harness
>needs replacement every 2 years, ropes every 2 years, shoes every 4 to
>6 months, helmets last about 2 years, the list goes on and on.

Send all this stuff to me! Most of my quickdraws date from the 1990s. How can you go through 20 in less than two years? And replacing a helmet after 2 years??

hargs

31-Aug-2010
8:41:08 AM

I think it's a typo: I just replaced my helmet after 20 years; I lost the old one.


bluey

31-Aug-2010
12:22:24 PM

My non-climbing friend found me some great stuff for my birthday from this site:

http://rockclimbingjewelry.com/

The carabiner clasps really open and close like a teeny tiny screwgate!

Great for the lady climber in your life, and perhaps also something for the gents too.

diddy

31-Aug-2010
1:26:16 PM

I recently got a 10-visit pass to Lactic (bouldering gym) as a present. Very well received.

widewetandslippery

31-Aug-2010
2:54:25 PM

On 31/08/2010 bluey wrote:
>My non-climbing friend found me some great stuff for my birthday from this
>site:
>
>http://rockclimbingjewelry.com/
>
>The carabiner clasps really open and close like a teeny tiny screwgate!
>
>Great for the lady climber in your life, and perhaps also something for
>the gents too.
>
>

Lame.

My name is dave and I am a rockclimber and if you want to buy me presents beer and roo meat suit. Oh, I need a pair of shoes and a place to live.

martym

31-Aug-2010
11:38:46 PM

On 31/08/2010 Musique wrote:
Maybe they'll be cheaper
>in Czech...

Warning: Nothing's cheaper in Czech.. if anything more expensive.
We went to Arco in Italy last week, same prices as everywhere else in Europe. Perhaps in off season there might be a few discounts, but you might as well wait and see if there are sales at your local Mountain Equipment or somewhere like that...

No, the only cheap place seems to be online via the states, and even that's not SUPER cheap - you need to get a lot of gear to warrant the extra $20-50 in packaging etc.

rod

1-Sep-2010
4:49:03 AM

On 31/08/2010 nmonteith wrote:
>Send all this stuff to me! Most of my quickdraws date from the 1990s.
>How can you go through 20 in less than two years? And replacing a helmet
>after 2 years??

Smelly shoes are in the post Neil, make sure you tip the postie.

I was talking to the little lady about it this week, I sent some photos of the stuff and she soon got the Todd Skinner point of it all, but even she reckons I don't climb that much...crikey, I'm not a guide.

No joke the draws are trashed after 18 to 24 months, there's such visible rope/bolt wear that I retire some of them earlier...but they're not dangerous, taking a look at my original Reverso one day in the middle of a multi-pitch gave me the heeby jeebies: 3 seasons. Helmet: Petzl Meteor III completely trashed in 2 years, I think it must have reacted with the sunscreen/sweat combo or everyone would be returning them. The harness is what pained me the most though: Arcteryx gold plated expensive item and the leg section at the belay loop was beyond orange after less than 2 years: on that one I asked Super Cyrille to send it back to the rep and give him what for. Ropes I'm OK with, I can use them for statics and approach/descent cordes but the rest of the items mentioned piss me off because I really don't think I put them through the ringer.

Luckily my cams and nuts will last a lifetime, they gather cobwebs between mountain jaunts.


bluey

1-Sep-2010
11:28:57 AM

On 31/08/2010 widewetandslippery wrote:
>On 31/08/2010 bluey wrote:
>>My non-climbing friend found me some great stuff for my birthday from
>this
>>site:
>>
>>http://rockclimbingjewelry.com/
>>
>>The carabiner clasps really open and close like a teeny tiny screwgate!
>>
>>Great for the lady climber in your life, and perhaps also something for
>>the gents too.
>>
>>
>
>Lame.
>
>My name is dave and I am a rockclimber and if you want to buy me presents
>beer and roo meat suit. Oh, I need a pair of shoes and a place to live.

A suit made out of roo meat sounds not only lame but kind of revolting.

technogeekery

2-Sep-2010
4:07:13 PM

On 30/08/2010 Winston Smith wrote:
>A big chunk of time so they can do with it what ever the f#$@k they want without having to be home on time to make small talk with people whose opening gambit is "so I hear you're an abseiler"..

Snap. Time away from family duties to climb.


IdratherbeclimbingM9

2-Sep-2010
5:04:13 PM

On 30/08/2010 Hugh wrote:
>Litterally, walk into any climbing store and buy what ever gear is climbing
>related. You can NEVER have too much, but you can have too little. It will
>be near impossible to go wrong....

You are not too fussy then. ☺

(The following are general comments and not directed at Hugh...)

It annoys me when fashion within climbing dictates what is available. An example someone mentioned earlier is slings. I remember a period when obtaining long pre-sewn slings was like finding hens teeth, & this coincided with the rise of sport climbing and quickdraws, but now (thankfully) the practical side has won out, and it is possible to buy decent length slings again.

Once you have a bit of gear then colour coding it is useful..., but fashion dictates what is available at any given time, and when items require replacement you usually cannot obtain the colour preferrred.

On the topic of amount of gear, I disagree. You can definitely have too much. Equipment is no substitute for technique/ability/mindset, ... though it can help in certain situations, provided you are not carrying too much of it, as it can weigh you down or get in the way!

Regarding longevity of equipment, unless it is dropped or otherwise mistreated, it can last an incredibly long time. In fact for most hardware, techno-evolution will render it obsolete before it is worn out in many instances...

Having a budget to enable climbing/lifestyle (includes shelter, food and fuel for weekends away etc), is a better thing to work towards.

If someone gives you anything climbing related, appreciate the gift and the giver, even if they gave you something that you may not have needed at that point in time, because they cared enough to try and please you.
☺


Gavo

2-Sep-2010
5:13:35 PM

>
>A suit made out of roo meat sounds not only lame but kind of revolting.

I read it that way at first as well, but Im quite sure he meant "it would suit me to have roo meat" or something to that effect.

Of course, you were probably cracking a joke which I missed and look like a complete tool but I dont mind that so the post proceeds :)


IdratherbeclimbingM9

2-Sep-2010
5:26:14 PM

I actually think that ww&s would do either, and enjoy the notoriety in the process!

There are 33 messages in this topic.