Crag banter

I had heard a lot about Acephale but had never experienced it first hand. This amazing limestone crag, about a 45-minute hike up into the “hills” just past Canmore, Alberta, falls nothing short of world class. As I stood beneath all the routes at the upper wall I was in awe of how fantastic every climb looked.

Of course, with any first time at a crag you want to get on the best routes. From what we were staring at, they all looked like “the best routes”. Thus, we resorted to some of the “locals” (Calgarians who apparently have claimed ownership as it being “our crag”). And thus, the crag banter began.

The atmosphere at a crag has the potential to make or break a good day. What defines a good day? Well, I would think sending, people cranking, good conversation, nice weather, big exciting (clean) falls, someone sharing good food, or perhaps beers at the end of it all. What promotes a bad day? A bad attitude, being a douche bag, gloating over another’s shortcomings, or even spewing opinionated garbage that only fits your personal “do’s and don’ts” of climbing.

“You don’t stick clip the second bolt on this route, that’s cheating!” exclaimed a “local”. “But dude, if you were to blow that second clip, you’d clearly hit your belayer, or worse you’d deck.” “Naaa, you won’t deck, that second clip is piss easy.” “I don’t know man, that move before clipping is pretty hard.” “No it isn’t man, you don’t need to stick clip it at all.” “Well, whatever.” “Well what’s next, stick clipping the third, or fourth, or why don’t you just lace that whole thing up with a stick clip.” “Wow.”

My buddy (call him climber A) and this “local” (we’ll call him cimber B) got into it for a while on what was considered “cheating” when climbing, what was considered “safe”, and so on. After listening to them bat this back and forth I began to formulate my own opinion: Climbing is supposed to be fun, who’s gives a F about stick clipping the first or second bolt. If a climber deems something to be unsafe, then make it safer. If a climber wants to push the limits and take the “ballsy” route, then do so. There’s no right or wrong. Does the climber who didn’t stick clip the second bolt become better for sending the route in that manner? No. Is it cheating to stick clip the second bolt of a route because there’s potential of a ground fall? No. If you’re that concerned about whether someone should stick clip the second bolt of a route for safety and whether that’s right or wrong, perhaps at that time you should try to find the closest form of cold water, proceed to stick your head in it and cool off. Enough said about that.

Next point to address: Climbers will always have a difference of opinions to what routes are good, worth climbing, life changing, or simply not worth giving a second look at. Now, back to Climber “A” and Climber “B” – “Hey man, what routes do you recommend climbing here?” “Oh, dude, stick to ‘these ones’, as the rest are crap” “Huh, really, I heard the lower wall has some pretty good routes.” “No man, those are all terrible!” Climber “C” steps in, “No way man, the lower wall has some fantastic routes” “Naaa, they’re all crap.” Thus my next point…everyone is always going to have his or her own opinion on whether or not a route is good or crap. I’ve learned about this type of situation with movies. When you walk into your local movie rental establishment, more often then not the clerk at hand will have an opinion on just about every movie possible (whether they’ve even seen it or not). But here’s the thing…their taste may differ dramatically then yours. Take Braveheart for instance, I’ve literally heard someone say, “that movie wasn’t all that good”. We’re talking about one of the best movies made of all time. You see, you can’t just bow down to someone else’s opinion…you need to (back to climbing) get on whatever route you feel like and deem it’s worth yourself.

Climbing at Acephale for the first time was an experience and a half. I love going to new crags, getting on new rock and having a blast. For the record, I did get my back side handed to me, but that’s cool…I sort of expected that (as with any new place you go to for the first time). By the second day my fingers were pretty raw but at the same time I practically raced up the trail because I was so psyched to get back on such rad routes. And for the record, the lower and upper wall all have super good routes to climb. The lower wall has a few more moderate climbs (11+’s and mid 12’s) and the upper wall tends to have some harder routes (12+ and up), although there are a couple of 11’s.

Climbing is fun. It’s so fun. I fell off the last hold of my project today…and this was not the first time, however this time i just started laughing. No swearing, no hissy fits, just straight up laughing. It was good.