UKC

There seems to be an ever increasing number of people leaving their ( generally black) phones on the (generally black) matting at The Depot.

They’re usually fairly well back from the wall, so I’ve not yet landed on one, but it’s only a matter of time before someone does and an altercation ensues.

What’s your view on this? Would you expect someone to pay for your phone if they stepped or landed on it?

What do you plan to say if you do end up crunching a phone as you stumble from the landing zone or wander off absentmindedly after failing on your project?

In reply to TheGeneralist:

If it's on the mat, it deserves to splat

In reply to TheGeneralist:

I haven't yet but it's only a matter of time, same problem up here in Newcastle. if/when I do land on a phone I think I will be forcibly explaining  the risk of me doing an ankle rather than apologising for the damage to the phone.

In reply to TheGeneralist:

If someone leaves their phone on the mat and it gets trodden/landed, that's their problem for leaving it there. I'd be very surprised if that happening led to an altercation though, more likely someone being cheesed off at their own daftness for leaving their phone in a stupid place.

FWIW I make sure the landing area is clear before I start up anyway.

In reply to TheGeneralist:

Similar problem at my local bouldering wall. Got shouted at for falling off and nearly killing someone's phone.

(Apparently falling off is only allowed if you're one of the cool kids and attempting a ridiculous dyno. Being forty-something and trying to keep fitness up for playing outside is not an acceptable attitude to take.)

In reply to TheGeneralist:

I hope nobody gets injured because they land on a phone left on the mats. Shouldn't things like pint glasses, phones, coffee cups etc be banned on matted areas anyway?

In reply to TheGeneralist:

Also had a chunky pair of headphones drop from midway up an autobelay at AWCC Liverpool also coins falling too.  Phones are a problem, but easily solved by landing on the odd one or two.

In reply to TheGeneralist:

If you landed on a phone instead of a mat you could accuse the owner of endangering your safety through negligence.  Offer to settle out if court for the stiffness you feel in your ankle/arm/elbow

In reply to TheGeneralist:

Hell no. Would be my fault entirely. If anything I owe them compensation if my dangerously placed phone injures them

In reply to TheGeneralist:

The usual hilarity is watching someone butching up a steep problem, having their phone slide out of their pocket as they make the heel hook, then throwing wildly for the next hold only to peel off and plummet down toward their wafer thin dumbphone. I've not one break yet, though.

There should be a no phones on the mats policy - not so much to solve this issue, but rather to stop people making endlessly inane videos of themselves.

In reply to C Witter:

Videos are a useful tool for recording yourself on hard problems when you're on your own. Not everything is vanity, but you keep grumbling....

In reply to midgen:

Doesn't stop them from grumbling when you walk between them gurning and their phone propped against their chalk bucket!

In reply to TheGeneralist:

Given that phones are quite robust and bouldering mats are quite soft, if you ended up sat on one most likely no damage would result.  An iPad maybe less so as it would bend and crack as it is larger.

That said, any objects left on mats are really not ideal as they are a trip hazard, perhaps the wall needs to have words about it.  Is there anywhere sensible for a table to put things like phones and water bottles on near the bouldering area?

Phones falling out of pockets probably pose more of an issue on roped walls where they could knock the belayer out, you should really not climb with stuff in your pocket unless there is a zip to keep it in.

In reply to TheGeneralist:

By that description it's the Manchester Depot you are talking about! It has got a bit ridiculous recently but they have had a bit of a crackdown, especially people leaving water bottles on the mats.

I have yet to land on one but did accidentally* step on a phone and it didn't break. Owner gave me a look but didn't challenge me.

*genuine accident

In reply to C Witter:

Though I've not actually done it indoors (yet?), I occasionally get people to video me on problems I keep falling off of (and some that I don't) to make sure my body is doing what I think it's doing on problems where body position is particularly important. Likewise, I video myself doing parkour all the time - not because I want to stick it on YouTube, but because I'm relatively novice and don't have the awareness (or mental capacity to think about it) of what my body is doing mid-air.

That said, I get the feeling that many people videoing themselves doing massive dyno problems are probably looking for the Insta short rather than useful feedback...

In reply to tehmarks:

I went to Flashpoint in Bristol last week and couldn't believe how many phones there were lying about. I'm wondering if the rise amongst millennials bouldering correlates with the number of millennials who have smashed screen?

In reply to TheGeneralist: no idea about the depot but last time I was at one of the local bouldering wall almost everybody was carrying a phone around to scan QR codes and log problems as they moved around , when I told my kids not to , as their phones would get smashed or lost they moaned and groaned for  a good 15 seconds before putting their phones in the Aldi branded wall bag and cracking on.

In reply to TheGeneralist:

One of the many reasons I enjoy taking my kids down the climbing wall is that they will be away from their phones for a few hours.

Simon...

In reply to tehmarks:

I've not got a massive problem with people videoing themselves - live and let live. And I approve if it's for autodidactic reasons... however, I'm being deluged on social media by people videoing themselves climbing  perfectly mundane problems and it makes me wonder when we collectively decided to replace everything we previously held dear with a constant stream of utter banality.

In reply to TheGeneralist:

Swag?? More worried about landing on people at the Depot tbh!😃😃

In reply to TheGeneralist:

On the crash mats which, if in the fall/stumble zone, is stupidity, but also on the black hard rubber flooring, not in the fall zone, but still very easy to step on as I'm often wandering past looking at at the walls/problems, not the floor.

I've been very close to crunching several. Most don't seem to be being used for anything useful. Not sure if some people are worried about security, or just can't bear to be separated from them.

In reply to TheGeneralist:

In my view if someone leaves their phone on the floor it is their fault if it gets trodden on or broken. It seems unreasonable to expect everyone else to keep an eye out for it. 
 

When I went on my first motorbike tour I introduced myself to one of our party by kicking his helmet across the hotel reception. I was carrying bags and didn’t see it in the middle of the floor. Fortunately he understood it was his mistake as much for leaving it there as much as mine for playing football with it. 

In reply to TheGeneralist:

Ask them what they've done on grit then walk off with a feeling of superior smugness when they ask you what grit is.

In reply to TheGeneralist:

Is there such a thing as bouldering wall swag?

With the cost of phones I would be tempted to join a few places and clean up.

Do walls have lockers? When I used to climb indoors it was at the Leeds wall and my phone, bag etc were always in a locker. 

In reply to TheGeneralist:

Seems common sense to me that when you change into your climbing shoes, everything that you don't need gets left with your shoes, coat, etc.

Who really needs their phone to be with them whilst climbing?

In reply to Dax H:

Big Rock certainly does, and my phone has always gone in there.  I guess there's the thing in youth bouldering culture about filming everything, though.  If it isn't on Instagram or YouTube it didn't happen, a bit like if your bike ride isn't on Strava that didn't.

The fix is fairly simple - if you do want it with you, wear clothing with a zip pocket.

In reply to Boris's Johnson:

What's grit?

In reply to TheGeneralist:

One of the UKC regulars is always doing this, cough Alkis, cough.

If it gets squashed it's their fault.

In reply to TheGeneralist:

If you were at the Nottingham Depot, it'd probably have been mine and both I and others have landed on it. I do have the bad habbit of dropping it on the mat if I have to do a high step and it restricts movement while in the pocket. If anyone breaks it, it's entirely on me... :-P

In reply to Paul Phillips - UKC and UKH:

Hah, you got there first! 🤣

In reply to Alkis:

Well I'd much rather step on, trip over or land on a nice slim smartphone than a water bottle anyway.

May I be the first grumpy old git to enquire as to whether it's unthinkable to have it not in your pocket and yet not on the mat either?  In a bag or locker perhaps?  (Logging ascents, timing intervals, proper training type stuff?  'On call' and semi-skiving off work?)

There was a bloke in the Sheff Depot the other day carrying his phone about mounted to a tripod.  Wouldn't want to land on that!  His warm-up seemed to involve doing a bit of shadow boxing in front of the big mirror behind the squat rack in the weights area, but he didn't set the phone up to film himself.  I guess his followers on the 'gram must have already seen it.

In reply to deepsoup:

It's a fair question. Partly it's because I have elderly parents and am pretty much always on call at work, and partly habit that is hard to break.

In reply to Alkis:

Turns out it was one that made me feel slightly more like a grumpy old git than I really wanted or expected it to though.  I reckon I'll let somebody else go first next time..

Definitely wasn't you shadowboxing in Sheff the other day though?  If it was you're light on your feet, I'll give you that.

In reply to Jimbo C:

Anyone who wants to find out the grade of the problem at a wall where the grade of the problem is accessible only by QR code?

In reply to tehmarks:

This QR code thing requiring a phone is utterly beyond me. What is wrong with something you can read with your eyes?

In reply to Robert Durran:

I don't own any walls so I can't possibly comment, and I haven't bothered with any of the new-fangled bouldering wall QR code innovations either so I could have the wrong end of the stick, but I think the general concept is a bit UKC logbook-like, where at some walls with graded circuits, one can access and post feedback on problems in the circuit, see what the consensus grade is, etc.

Don't really understand why one would care - if it's V2-V4 and it feels hard, it's either at the V4 end of the range or you personally find it hard for some reason. The solution in both cases is surely to try harder?

In reply to Robert Durran:

If you don't know grit by now, you ain't never never gonna know grit, oooooo-oooooh 

In reply to Boris's Johnson:

You want the grit? You can't handle the grit!

In reply to TheGeneralist: I blame Wordle 

In reply to deepsoup:

I usually have mine on the mat with me at the wall for three reasons: 1) I tend to have earphones in when I'm there on my own so I need my phone within 15m or so for the bluetooth, 2) I'm much more likely to take a proper amount of rest between attempts on a problem/circuit if I can see how much time has passed and 3) I don't like leaving something so valuable unattended in my bag near the entrance. I don't leave it lying on the mat though, it goes in the pocket of my bouldering bucket.

In reply to climbingpixie:

Bouldering bucket? There's something you don't want to see kicked across the mat by a distracted passer-by.

In recent years I have stopped bothering to bring chalk to the (bouldering) gym. Much of my time seems to be spent scrubbing excess chalk off holds to restore them to their 'natural' roughness. If my hands feel a bit sweaty I simply pat them on my shorts, which accumulate plenty of chalk from landing on my arse too many times. If my hands are feeling really greasy, I wash them.

Routes are different, as there is time to work up a sweat, not to mention those crucial psychological dips.

In reply to TheGeneralist:

Only chalk bags are allowed on the mats at my regular wall...

I wouldn't entertain a conversation if I landed on one at any wall, unless it injured me.

In reply to beardy mike:

Is there a rise in millennials climbing? Perhaps they are bringing their kids to the wall? I don't doubt that people in their thirties do silly things but lots of us have been going to climbing walls since the time before smartphones existed.

In reply to tehmarks:

Sounds like a solution that's looking for a problem. I've always felt that the best way to communicate something is to do it in the most simple possible way. 

In reply to Jimbo C:

I couldn't agree more.