UKC

I've always felt my colour blindness has hampered my indoor climbing. It always takes way longer for me to see holds when there are red, green or grey routes on one wall.

Apart from picking routes which I can see better, has anyone got any tips? Not really expecting much just had a bit of a frustrating session at the wall and was wondering how many other people are annoyed by this.

In reply to heist182:

If you regularly use the same few indoor walls then I suggest talking to the staff there.

A customer once explained to me that he had problems when we put orange routes and green routes on the same panels. I made sure that I used different colours next time, or added tags to one of the colours. Problem solved!

In reply to heist182:

I sympathise with you, I have only started climbing a few weeks ago and noticed this problem. I can't do some routes because I get mixed up with the colours from the other ones. I hope there is some tips for this but I am pretty sceptical.

In reply to heist182: Try to work out the route from the ground, get your mate to help if you're not sure on colours. It's good practise anyway.
(This is what I try to do, but sometimes on walls you just can't see the coloured holds from the ground very easily)

Hope that helps

In reply to heist182:
>> Apart from picking routes which I can see better, has anyone got any tips?

Climb outdoors?

Seriously I can understand what you mean because one of my regular climbing partners is colour blind and he is always asking me "is that a red or whatever?" I have to talk him up a route which he finds very frustrating as it interrupts his flow and it's difficult for him to think ahead untill the "permitted" holds have been identified.

In reply to heist182:
My colour vision is peculiar. I sometimes see holds as being the same colour whilst my friends tell me they are different, and yet on the same route I can see holds as being of different colours whilst everyone else tells me they are the same.

So in the end I often just make my own route up. I set my own challenges.

What makes it easier for me to follow a route at a climbing wall (route setters please note):
Differentiate by texture as well as by colour.
Differentiate by style of hold / route as well as by colour. For example, differentiating between a jug route and a crimp route on the same rope is easier than differentiating between two crimp routes.
Have all the same coloured holds from the same manufacturer. Different manufacturers may use different dyes, and so the colours are different.
Put paper or card tags on the holds of one route but not another.

In reply to pinkpeople53:

What he said.
Also, maybe you could get a keyring laser pointer thingamabob to save time and confusion; all that "third one down from the clip, just to the left of the cornish pasty shaped hold, no, that one there under the blobby crimp thing" etc..

In reply to heist182:

Things I try:

* Careful route selection - eg: features-only routes, walls without similar colours (for me red:pink:purple, purple:blue, green:yellow:orange, orange:red, green:grey:brown can all be trouble)
* Calibrate on holds at ground level with partner ("so this is green, but this is yellow?") Then I have a better shot at telling the difference the rest of the way.
* Identify shapes/texture of holds used for route (not always reliable)
* Get the route pointed out from the ground (tedious).

But it's still rubbish.

In reply to heist182:

I always use it as an excuse even though I'm not colour blind ; o )

In reply to heist182:

I have a colour blind partner and use a laser pointer if the colours are unhelpful

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

I can relate to that!

A covering/smearing of chalk is a great excuse for mistaking the colour underneath when it suits!

In reply to heist182:

snap - my wife knows I'm colour blind - most of my mates don't.

snooker can also be a problem - red & brown look the same to me

In reply to heist182:
The guys who run the wall where I climb put tags on and draw a little graphic on them to differentiate between problems they also undergrade their problems which is great for when you go outdoors and everything feels two grades easier.

In reply to heist182:

Many routes are set with similar types of hold, stick to them and work a more plausible excuse

In reply to heist182:


ask your wall to buy spotted or swirlled holds. That way you are following the colour pattern on the hold, not the colour.
Say a yellow hold with black spots, is easier to follow, cos you're looking for the spots on the hold.

In reply to heist182
does the Disabilty Discrimination Act cover this sort of thing?

In reply to heist182:

My boyfriend is colour blind and it makes the whole thing a new challenge! Gentle encouragement of left, right, not that one and silence when he gets the right one are helpful... I think?!

That said he always makes the routes harder then they need to be and as such is a much better climber when we get outdoors where he can choose whichever hold he likes!

So the best advise I have is get a good climbing partner and just climb! Don't worry to much and all the extra hanging around is just building up your muscles for when the weather is better!

In reply to heist182:
Another colour blind climber here.

As has been said:
Confirm the different colours before you start.
Try to differentiate using texture or style of holds.
Also:
Get a patient belayer.
Try not to get fed up of people taking the p1ss. Honestly, some of them *really* think that "That's a good excuse, I must remember to try that myself" or "Yeah, I say that too when I can't do the route" are original and funny.

It's worth chatting to your local wall staff. I've found you get mixed reactions though.
One wall I used seemed very interested and even sent me an email - I replied but have heard nothing since. Perhaps they decided it wasn't a big enough problem to devote time to? The more people that mention it to them, the more they are likely to see it as a widespread issue, that is worth their time to resolve though.

However, at another wall, I asked if they could maybe think about trying to avoid using purple and blue holds of the same type on the same panel (explaining why). The managers response was "Well, you can ask!".
Great PR there.

At the end of the day, there's not much else you can do. Different people can get confused by different colour combinations. Chalk & rubber on the holds, poor lighting, differing colurs of backgrounds can all make it much worse too.

The best walls I've been to are ones that use plain colours on the background and clean the holds regularly.

Si

In reply to heist182:

Stop moaning, it's good for your stamina

In reply to heist182:

I have a different kind of problem with colours, usually that all the footholds look black with a bit of white on them when looking from above. Also, when black routes are close to white routes: is it a black hold doused with chalk or a white hold stained with rubber.