UKC

In reply to afx22:

So disgraceful. Must surely be some knob head indoor bred tosser.

In reply to afx22:

This too

https://instagram.com/stories/davidmason85/2756895170140508733?utm_medium=s...

In reply to afx22:

Jesus wept, that’s grim. After this current run of good weather we’re going to need a few days of horizontal driving rain to clean up the Peak’s boulders. 

In reply to afx22:

You’ve never been to new mills, then? A popular f5 (yes, that easy) that never ever gets rained on still somehow attracts idiots who need to mark the feet hold and climb with hands caked in the stuff. Bloody infuriating. It’s not just a lack of respect for the rock, but also other climbers who might like to turn up and do the problem ‘onsight’..
 

In reply to afx22:

For a second I thought I was looking at a sea stack with a gannet colony.

In reply to 65:

I was thinking of a new fusion sport of paintball and climbing using chalk balls.

I am not sure its fair to blame indoor bods since I have never seen a wall in that state.

In reply to afx22:

Noticing it more and more sadly.

A while back at Rivelin on Fringe Benefit, i spent more time trying to clean the holds than i did climbing, not just on the hold but around it which i really could not understand. The same at my local, Pleasley Vale, around not just on every hold, overhanging too so does not get washed off really. As a side note, the rubbish left down there is getting more and more which is a concern if anyone starts noticing.

In reply to afx22:

It's quite common I'm afraid, particularly after a damp weekend that was forecast to be dry. I had a Sunday eve lamp session at secret garden a couple of months back and found every hold on the entire crag like that. The conditions were great by the eve and I didn't use any chalk at all.

In reply to mondite:

I'd guess it's more that the indoor crowd aren't as well educated on outdoor ethics. The holds outside aren't stripped and acid-bathed every 4 weeks.

It's especially bad on sedimentary rock as once it's got damp it doesn't just brush/wash off like it would on igneous. The holds are easily ruined.

In reply to PaulJepson:

I boulder indoors (convenience and live in the middle of Glasgow). I note a big increae in numbers and lockdow impacts will have forced more to try outside and perhaps some have acquired actaste for it. 

I note very few indoors cleaning holds. It appears to be a missing part of their kit and approach to a problem. Frequently I need to clean days of accumulated chalk from holds and that does make a difference to success or failure sometimes. Its like they've been fed everything and don't expect to need to get a brush out and clean a hold. Or simply have never been told /none of their friends do. The people I see brushing tend to be the more dedicated or log term.Some education at the centres could help?

In reply to afx22:

You can see how this happens though - the required items for new indoor boulderers at our local wall are a set of hire shoes and a big pack of expensive loose chalk. My mate tried to explain to one that you don't really need clouds of it for a V0 jugfest but was ignored. Maybe the wall should explain the use of chalk, as well as the usual stuff about downclimbing and not walking under climbers, but then they'd lose the money from all the chalk sales. 

In reply to PaulJepson:

As mik82 says, it's not just a problem of people not appreciating chalk ethics, it's also chalk efficacy.  A lot of folk don't really understand what chalk is for, it's just a magic make-strong powder and I think there's also a belief among even quite experienced climbers that if you slap enough chalk directly onto damp rock it will instantly turn it into dry rock.

In reply to mik82:

I can assure you that it would be easier and more economic for climbing centres if chalk use did not exist! 

Sure you might make 50p markup on a ball of chalk but that's quickly eaten up by every single piece of electrical equipment packing up after about 6 months because it's chock-full of the white stuff. 

In reply to The Connor-Crabb:

Lots of "names" up there this weekend so hopefully they helped clean it up a bit and educate others rather than adding to the problem! 

In reply to afx22:

The clip in this bouldering film is particularly awful. A little context, these climbers find a valley full of boulders. They think they might be a new discovery but every so often they find subtle evidence of previous visitors. It makes them suspect that they're not the first, but they are the first to put a bug video of it on the internet. Do they try and follow this leave no trace ethic? Absolutely not. If you click the link you'll see someone ab down an arete and cover the WHOLE thing in chalk. Does he use all of the arete on his ascent? Of course not. Does he brush the chalk off afterwards? Oh no! He doesn't have time for that, he's too busy covering every inch of some other boulder in chalk. For these guys the tick marks are the bits with no chalk on.

https://youtu.be/gLnM389Wo9Y&t=18m57s

In reply to Flinticus:

I’ve been a strong advocate of climbing walls and instructors taking some ownership of this for years.

From my observations over the years of indoor wall beginner groups around the country, cleaning routes and problems after and during use appears to be ignored.

For the cost of a toothbrush, why not have walls and instructors include and encourage good behaviour into the fundamentals, along with all the usual bull crap, from the get go?

In reply to pitchfork wielding mob:

Bit confused to why many of the above are so convinced that this must be the "indoor crowd".  Based purely on the evidence, I would have thought the "outdoor crowd" the more likely culprit, what with Baslow Edge being outside (assuming it hasn't been moved since I last visited, which I admit was a few years ago). 

Paige Classen, the main name on that YouTube video, is, I believe, well known for her outdoor climbing exploits.

Is there some clue to the culprit's identity or group allegiances I'm missing?  Or is this simply prejudice against "the others" that seems so common in society?

youtube.com/watch?v=qLvGnro4Cgw&

In reply to Andy Gamisou:

I think there is evidence which supports it though; at least there was earlier in the pandemic when the climbing walls were closed and people were forced outside. There was a massive surge in this sort of bad behavior. 

I wish I was joking but there was a bouldering venue near me where people used coloured chalk to colour the holds! 

It could just all be because there are more and more people climbing but it's not a stretch to assume that a lot of this kind of thing is caused by the ignorant. 

In reply to PaulJepson: That will be because all the outdoor climbers who train indoors were being pushed outside to train.... 

I'd expect this mythical indoor crowd to stay indoors if it's raining, rather than heading outside for the first time.  At the end of the day it is climbers who are doing this.

In reply to afx22:

I was up at Hepburn this last weekend and the Northern Soul block was a right mess. Loads of tick marks from someone using toe hook on Prep H and an insane amount of chalk on N Soul. Hand prints all over it and basically zero evidence of brushing. NS not easy to brush without a stick brush admittedly but that's something a big group of climbers generally have between them these days.

Lets be honest we all have a part to play in this and it is easy to blame others "indoor climbers" etc...and while arguably it might be less experienced people who sometimes leave problems in less than ideal states, lots of us, me included put videos up, push the sport on social media etc. So we all make problems, routes, crags, areas more popular. It then is a numbers game, the sheer volume now outside climbing, someone will forget the tick marks, forget the brush or just generally be a nob. 

Taking care and leaving as little trace as possible should become as ingrained as taking your shoes and chalk to the crag. 

Absolutely not absolving myself of responsibility because there will no doubt over the last 15 years been times when i forgot tick marks or to brush something. 

If we keep raising these issues constructively when we see them that's how we influence people. 

Someone contacted me after seeing the picture i posted and apologised for not brushing and leaving the boulder like it was. I think that took guts to message me when they could easily just of turned a blind eye and slunk off.

So that's a bit of positivity from the situation