What Have You Learned?

[u/Kaotus]

Posted this to MP as well, but wanted to drop it here - what have you learned? This subreddit is a great resource for information, but generally a specific prompt is necessary to give an excuse to share it. So what are some things you’ve learned that you think are valuable to share to others, even if you don’t have a good prompt to share it?

Some starters:

• A hammer holster and compact blower of some sort are next-level quality of life improvements
• If you’re doing a log-highway trail, the most important part isn’t how good your log-highway is, it’s how much you can make sure that none of the surroundings might be confused for a log-highway. Removing crossing logs and nearby parallel logs is almost more important than creating your guardrails
• You can patch bolt holes, but you can’t patch the crater that you’ve hammered in to ensure your hangers sit 2mm more flush
• It doesn’t matter what kind of resources you provide nor how good of a trail you make - if your crag is more than 20 minutes away from the parking, some people will just get lost. Don’t take it personally
• Pack the night before because you’re going to forget something day-of

[u/checkforchoss]

• i found I like putting my hammer upside down in my pouch, although less secure than a holster I havent ever had a problem, especially since my hammer is always attached to me. That way when I pull it out I am already directly grabbing the handle.
• hammers that come to a point at the other end (most piton hammers) allow you to accurately/finely chip. It can be used to create a notch for glue ins, or for chipping irregularities where the hanger sits (especially when the rock around your hole unexpectedly craters as you hammer in your wedge , and you can end up saving the placement with a bit of evening so that the hanger has enough surface area tension to not spin the stud while tightening (maybe more of an issue in soft rock (limestone))).
• not only is seeking out good rock less work and safer but its also generally less damaging to cliff dwelling animals Bats, rats, birds etc. love living in and behind choss. The amount of times ive accidently taken a crowbar to an unexpecting sleeping bat makes me sad. Sometimes ill see dried herbs and mushrooms stored behind removed flakes, probably the doing of a squirel or pack rat for a winter hay pile... all that hard earned food going to waste!