The uk.rec.climbing FAQ - your British belay partner on the Internet
Includes translation for Americans!
0) All of the links in here work, as of March 13 2000. Any that are essential but missing which you think should be in, email carthur@independent.co.uk.
1) What does this group discuss?
First, it is NOT for purely commercial messages, for those of
you who get this far. (Some don't.) We don't want your tedious adverts. If
you run a climbing-oriented company, put the details in your .sig
(signature) and join the discussion. People flame advertisers. But they
click on URLs in .sigs. It's that simple.
1a) Er.. so what does this group discuss?
Almost anything, as long as it vaguely relates to Britain (or things or people British) and climbing or mountaineering (including ski-mountaineering and Alpinism). According to the charter, you can add "anything else which may be of interest" in the UK, or by Brits around the world. Mainly the focus is on the eastern side of the Atlantic. For world issues, and a generally more American slant, try rec.climbing.
If you're also interested in walking - generally taken to be less vertical stuff with bigger boots and without ropes - you could have a look at uk.rec.walking.
2) I'm buying my first rack/ trying to mark the middle of my rope/ ...What should I do?
The brilliant Frequently Given Answers to these questions and many more can be found at Stefan's Frequently Given Answers page which is at http://www.cs.bris.ac.uk/~stefan/FGA.html. Visit them now..
3) Where is the nearest climbing wall? I live in....
Why not try the UK Climbing web pages at http://www.ukclimbing.com/listings/?t=wall, which have a huge searchable listing of climbing walls, with phone numbers, maps to help you find them, costs, opening times, details and reviews for many of them? Alternatively, the British Mountaineering Council's web page, at http://www.thebmc.co.uk/ has a list, but frankly it's less accurate and doesn't have reviews.
4) What other things are available on the Web about climbing in the UK?
Apart from the UK Climbing and BMC pages, there's ClimbUK at http://www.climbing.co.uk which has lots of news and other info (climbing walls, accommodation, gear reviews).
There's the Scottish Mountain archive, which is at http://www.fortunecity.com/olympia/coe/25/.
And then there's a page full of links to climbing things all over, at http://www.comp.lancs.ac.uk/uns026/links/links.html.
There's the RockFax site, which has tons of climbing both in the UK and US, at http://www.rockfax.com or http://www.rockfax.co.uk - they're identical.
There's the Unofficial UK Climbing page, which has a guide to chalk (as in Dover) at http://www.lbell.demon.co.uk.
There's another terrific page (including travel info) at http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/~ecxjsl/othclub.html.
Sid Siddiqui, everybody's favourite quarry bolter, has a page at http://www.megagrip.co.uk which includes lots of new route info.
There's a page with Factory Shops and deals at http://ChezPhil.org/factoryshops/index.html. We also like the Slackjaw page (if you liked Hard Grit, you'll like this) at http://www.slackjaw.co.uk - go have a look.
Why, you could spend all your life on the Web and not actually manage to climb at all. (This is not recommended.)
5) What's the weather going to be like this weekend? I'm going to..
You can find the BBC's version of UK weather (5-day - that is, including today) at http://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/ (rated "good about 70% of the time" by Steve Gray), and the Teletext one at http://www1.teletext.co.uk/weather/weather.asp (includes Anglesey and Keswick - thanks, Tim Sly).
PA has a site at http://www.pa.press.net/weather (rated "good about 50% of the time" by Steve Gray) and http://www.meto.gov.uk/sec3/sec3.html which the not-at-all weather-obsessed Steve Gray says gives two-day regional forecasts.
There there's http://www.onlineweather.com which gives a "true 4-day forecast", according to someone, initials SG.
6) What are snow + ice conditions in Scotland like?
The Scottish Ski & Winter Activity Report is at http://www.winterhighland.co.uk/general/. It takes an age to load, even on a fast connection, but be patient - it's worth it.
Or email climb-cond@ed.ac.uk.
Or the CairnGorm Weather Home Page (it's got a camera!): http://www.phy.hw.ac.uk/resrev/aws/weather.htm.
Or an American one with some European info at http://www.csac.org/.
Or ask here in the newsgroup, specifying which bit of Scotland (etc) you're interested in. Note also that avalanche conditions are posted to the newsgroup automatically during winter by the Avalanche Server.
7) Where's the nearest climbing club? I live in...
Five options (best first):
8) Sod all that, I was actually wondering about caving.
uk.rec.caving was created early in November 1996. Try your newsgroups list; you could also contact David Gibson on gibson@microsolv.demon.co.uk if more help is needed.
9) Can anybody here actually climb?
The skill level of people who post and lurk here varies from beginner to E9 leader (ahoy, Seb Grieve, Meshuga E9 6c 1st ascent). Among mountaineers, they've been all over Scotland, Europe and the Himalaya. Someone here almost certainly climbs at the same grade as you. More usefully, someone here almost certainly climbs better - meaning you can get useful advice and information from them. (Actually, that's sort of the idea of newsgroups.) And someone almost surely climbs worse, so you can give them the benefit of your helpful advice.
10) Should I post a test message here, to check my system works?
No thanks. If you can read this, you should be able to post too. If you have a burning urge to post a test message, try uk.test, misc.test or alt.test.
11) Can I post pictures of my wonderful climbing trip here?
No thanks at all - binaries take enormous amounts of space, and are even more hated than test messages. Take it from us - binary posts have been tested on uk.rec.climbing denizens for irritancy, and work all too well. "Post a binary, go to hell", one might say: you post the binary, we tell you to go to hell, express route.
Why? Because some people use systems which download every message in the newsgroup before they can read them, and binaries take thousands of times more filespace than text. This means your binary post racks up other people's phone bills. (For anyone who didn't know, Britons have to pay for local phone calls.)
If you have an unstoppable urge to show yourself or someone else off, post pix to alt.binaries.pictures or on a Web site, and post a short message in uk.r.c.
12) I've just developed this really great 55-line ASCII signature showing a climber dynoing for...
Same as for binaries and test messages. Not welcome, thanks.
13) Can I post trip reports?
Please do (and more people are) - as long as they're about a trip in the UK (whatever your nationality), or a Briton's trip elsewhere. Otherwise, post to rec.climbing (and if you want, send a short posting to uk.r.c. too).
14) I can't get away this weekend but I want something that looks like climbing to happen on my computer. Any advice?
There's a screensaver, written by uk.r.c crimper Paul Roberts, that everyone says is terrific, available for free at http://www.homeusers.prestel.co.uk/cherryjam/utilities.html.There's also a Mac version, if you have the AfterDark screensaver. Put those wasted CPU cycles to work!
15) How do I stop my car being broken in to at a crag?
Either
16) How do I stop from dying at the crag?
This is mostly your own business - wear/don't wear a helmet, solo/don't solo, etc. A terrific piece of advice though to prevent your rope unclipping from your gear if you do peel comes from Bob Wightman: "you should always clip the gear so that the gate of the lower crab faces away from you. Provided that you are not going to traverse past it. The reason being that if you fall there is a VERY small chance of the rope passing over the outside of the gate and unclipping the crab." The other thing to not do is "back clip", which involves passing the rope from over the crab you're clipping into the rock and up to your
harness. This wrecks ropes. A bit, anyway.
17) I'm not from the UK. Can I post things here?
Sure. But don't be surprised if your post is received with laconic irony; Brits don't expect anyone else to understand anything about the sport in the UK. (So it's best to use words like "Stanage" and "queue" somewhere in your offering.) Questions like "Is there any mountaineering in Scotland during winter?" earn the respect they deserve.
And a brief language glossary for American visitors: over here, it's krab, not biner (here, that's a hat); ab, not rap (song style); tick, not send (letters); groove not dihedral (crystal structure); bridge not stem (plant part); crimp not crank (old car starter); mate not dude (rich fop); wall not gym (iron-pumping site), sport-climbing not rad (scientific measurement), Egyptian not drop knee (surgeon's accident), Leo Houlding not Chris Sharma (who?); Cenotaph Corner not Open Book (pre-Internet reading technology).
So the American sentence "Dude, I was
crimping up this dihedral, stemming like mad, totally rad, I was pumped like crazy, far more than in the gym that time, and then the biner broke - it was utterly freaky! Eventually we had to rap off" becomes, in English, "Oh, nothing much.. did the Corner... want a drink?"
18) What *are* the frequently asked questions,
then?
Gear questions - about anoraks, shoes, iceaxes and other stuff - are perennial, and always draw a big response, so they can't be boring, can they?
Where to go questions - can anyone recommend a good climb at Pembroke, in the Peak District, on Ben Nevis.. if you're going to ask, do try to give some details (such as where you're going, what grades you can lead/second, do you want adventure or safety, single or multi-pitch, one day or a week). Don't exaggerate your abilities. Who knows, your life (and someone else's) might depend on it.
Student questions (why are they allowed out, why can't non-students see how useful student clubs are) tend to rev up every October/November. Posts from students tend to quieten down as exams loom around April/May.
Grading questions (Is Three Pebble Slab/Long Johns Slab overgraded, is Everything in Yorkshire/Scotland undergraded) are perennial too, but often draw a good crowd.
Sodoff questions (as in, "Why don't you sod off and die?") arise from time to time, usually between any two people. The effects are usually brief and not widespread.
19) What are these PP things I see mentioned in some posts here?
They are the long-lost remnants of an age when giants bestrode the Earth. Oh, all right, they're the relics of an in-joke from a while ago. If you're really interested, have a look at DejaNews (http://www.deja.com/usenet) under
"uk.rec.climbing" and "PP". You'll be an expert before
you know it, but after your best friends do.
20) How can I be sure what I post is relevant to uk.rec.climbing?
In their more peevish moods, some of the uk.r.c.
denizens will flame almost anything that apears on their screens. Yes, you
can advertise your gear for sale (personal only, rather than trade please,
by longstanding Usenet practice) or discuss differences between boots or
whatever takes your fancy. Relevancy will be determined by it being either
ignored or setting off a long and worthy thread.
Bear in mind that blatant, boring or repeated
adverts are very, very, very unpopular. And, to repeat, the best way to
advertise a Web site, in the long run, is to put it in your .sig. (If you
don't know what a .sig is, either read the help file on your newsreading
software or pay a visit to the newsgroup news.answers.)
If you are repeatedly and gratuitously
offensive to people they won't like it. This is rather like real life.
However, instead of kicking you they may just get you kicked off your
Internet service provider. Then you have to tell everyone you've got a new
email address and the cycle is likely to repeat. It's your lookout.
In the final analysis - try it and see!
Remember, you have less chance of being physically hurt here than on a
crag, unless you're sticking a fork in the toaster while reading this.
Emotionally hurt.. well, take your chances.
21) I've seen some posting about how to become a
millionaire and I want to tell whoever sent it that, goodness me, I really
disapprove quite strongly of them. What's the best way to do it?
Not by hitting "reply" and filling the screen
with four-letter words. The posters of such stuff disappear rapidly; your
reply, though, will linger like a stale fart, and be as welcome. Either
ignore it or learn more about the Internet, and the function of
"postmasters".
22) Is this newsgroup archived anywhere?
Actually, almost every newsgroup is archived by those
near-altruistic folks over at DejaNews (http://www.deja.com/usenet). You can find out
whether something you're wondering about has ever been asked - though if it
has (and provided it hasn't been beaten to death) don't let that put you
off asking again. After all, we might all be much wiser since we last dealt
with whatever it was.
23) I've read all this and I'm still not sure
about posting to uk.r.c. What advice do you have?
Very simple. First, there are no rules; second, if you
break any of them, you will be treated to the classic British sarcasm which
we use instead of flaming here. And if you find that upsetting, well, don't
worry. It's not as if it's real life or anything. Keep that in mind and
just post anyway.
Thanks to the many people who contributed, criticised and otherwise helped get this FAQ together. They are so dear to me I've forgotten their names but they know who they are and can claim drinks in pubs on this basis.
Comments, criticisms to me (carthur@independent.co.uk) or the newsgroup or both. Thanks for reading.