Off the Wall

Like Golfers, Slow Climbers Should Let Faster Ones Pass

Playing Through

I worked at a golf course for a number of years, but I barely ever golfed because I hate it. This begs the question as to why I would work at a golf course, not for just a year, but for multiple years. It’s a long story that adds nothing to the narrative here. Golf has got one thing right, though: an established etiquette surrounding passing. Climbing, for some reason, has yet to firm up the same tradition, or at least in my opinion has yet to do so.

There have been incidences of this on two occasions in as many weeks. Both of these had a very similar theme. A slower group doing everything in its power to stay in front of me and my partner. On both of these occasions the slower group was very successful at this, and they both played out similarly.

Both groups struggled with the opening pitches, neither of which were the crux of the respective climbs, both groups had me waiting patiently behind them, and both groups were convinced that after those first “non-crux” pitches they

“This isn’t a rant about how climbers have ‘no business’ being on a route. You only get better by trying, and you’ll get a lot better by failing. That being said, a certain level of self-awareness is required, for the enjoyment and safety of everyone around you.”

would be able to speed up and put some distance between our parties. They were wrong. They were correct about climbing the easier pitches ahead at a faster speed, but what they failed to account for was that the same was true for my partner and I by several magnitudes. What resulted was boredom, sore necks from looking up stagnantly from a belay ledge, and a little cliffside human flesh barbecue.

Everyone has to sharpen their teeth and every group has as much right to be on the cliff as much as I do. This isn’t a rant about how climbers have “no business” being on a route. You only get better by trying, and you’ll get a lot better by failing. That being said, a certain level of self-awareness is required, for the enjoyment and safety of everyone around you. I don’t enjoy a log jam, and when I was fresher in my career, I found it to be a great source of anxiety to have a fast party breathing down my neck. At the first available opportunity I always encouraged groups to pass. We both had a better day because of it.

With regards to safety, daylight is precious. It is a valuable quantity when climbing, and it is limited. To not account for this variable can be disastrous. To climb slow could mean sentencing yourself to a long day, a bit of an epic, or getting benighted. By failing to allow people to pass when is appropriate you could be condemning the group jammed behind you to the same fate or worse.

I can’t believe I’m saying this, let’s be golfers when we climb the high stuff. Not drunk and behind the wheel of a small electric buggy, just aware that letting parties pass is part of the game. Stay Canadian at the cliff (a.k.a. polite as f!@#), do as golfers do, but always remember that rock climbing is, objectively speaking, much better than golfing.