Trying to discuss old school climbing techniques at a picnic once shut down the conversation...

Pulled out a photo of me using a bowline on a coarser rope from years back... nobody at the table knew what I was talking about and just went quiet. Do you ever get that when sharing stuff from before all the new gear came around?

4 comments

4 Comments

blair_taylor321mo ago

Grabbed my old gear bag last week and showed some kids how we used to tie in with just a bowline. They just stared, probably thinking I was nuts. So I slowed down, tied it step by step on a thick rope, and let them feel the knot. One guy actually tried it and his eyes lit up when it held. Now they bug me to show them more old school tricks every time we meet. Turns out silence just means they're waiting for you to make it make sense.

henryp401mo ago

Yeah my buddy Mike had that happen just last month. He was at the crag and did a simple body belay off his hip for a second, just out of habit from way back. Two kids with brand new harnesses just froze and stared like he'd started speaking Latin. That total silence, you know? He ended up spending twenty minutes showing them the basics of friction, how people used to do it all the time. They were blown away that you could even catch a fall without a metal device. Sometimes that quiet isn't a wall, it's a door waiting for someone to turn the knob.

valschmidt1mo ago

See that kind of quiet, I take it as a chance to explain, not a shut down. Most folks today start with quick draws and gri-gris, so a bowline on a coil looks like magic. Pull out that photo next time and show how you'd tie in with it. That old knowledge is solid, and watching someone tie a proper figure-eight follow-through with thick rope can actually hook people. The quiet just means they're curious but don't have the words for it yet.

-1

amycarr1mo ago

During a climb last Tuesday, I tried explaining a bowline to some newbies. Valschmidt is right about the quiet meaning curiosity, but half of them were just scared of the rope burning their hands. Still, showing the figure-eight follow-through did get a couple of them to stop looking at their phones.