Heard a young climber say rope friction is just a math problem and it bugged me all shift

Been doing this 18 years and I had to bite my tongue because experience told me to belly over that limb instead of calculating angles, but maybe I should just listen next time and see if the math works out better than my gut.

3 comments

3 Comments

barbara_jenkins668d ago

Used to be the same way honestly. Old school climbers drilled it into my head that feel was everything. Then I actually sat down with a guy who showed me the physics on a slab problem I always struggled with. He calculated the exact angle to walk my rope over an edge to reduce drag and it worked flawlessly. Gut still has its place but now I listen when someone brings numbers, they can save your shoulders sometimes.

jessica9218d ago

Ha, yeah I had that same moment too! Bought into the "just feel it" thing until my shoulder was screaming at me after a long trad climb. My buddy is an engineer and he started throwing out terms like "resultant force vectors" and I'm just standing there like "bro I'm trying to hang on here not solve a math problem." But okay fine, he was right. The numbers helped. Still hate admitting that out loud because it sounds so snobby when you tell someone "the angle of your rope is off by 4 degrees." Next thing you know we'll be bringing protractors to the crag.

emma_baker618d ago

Resultant force vectors" sounds like something I'd name a band, not something I'd think about while my feet are peeling off a slab. But yeah, the numbers don't lie even if they make us sound like dorks.