Has anyone ever tried using tools and crampons, it would make almost anything possible, and look mighty cool too, you could climb brick walls and stuff as well as pulling crazy figure fours on skyscrapers and stuff. only down sides are that the equipment cost a bit more than free, the equipment damages the buildings a bit more than skin (interesting side point – what would buildering dry tooling ethics be, does scratching up holds really matter) and dropping your tools could hurt passersby slightly more than a chalk bag

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10 Responses

  1. gingerdave Reply

    there was a link a little while ago about someone climbing up a frozen drain pipe it got lost in the changeover but it showed ice climbing up a side of house. dry tooling might be taking it a bit too far though

  2. Philthy Reply

    I don't think you can put ethics into the drytooling of buildings. There's just no way to avoid certain damage. One of the glories of buildering is the lack of destruction on environment AND building. Aside from chalk, and occassionally skin/blood, being left on the building, nothing permanent remains. Everything will be gone with the next rainfall. Now You're not going to be leaving marks on brick, but many other materials will suffer aesthetically.

  3. chimpo Reply

    hey im not so sure; smearing can potentially leave shoe rubber streaks, and testing decorative architecture by yarding on it super hard cant really be described as nondestructive. for proof we turn to our master mr aaaaaard arvin,

    Quote
    I did a dry run the night before to see if the I-Beams would hold. I jumped around, fell on them, swung back and forth, and they held.

    also sometimes you get those rather odd people complaining about noise pollution in the middle of nowhere which i guess could kind of apply to groans and grunts and stuff (but not really)

    sorry to be argumentative

  4. Sloouh Reply

    I know a couple of people who have had people phone the police on them for noise polloution from skateboarding, not even at night. The police couldn't do anything and told everyone that and left. As long as you don't make a serious amount of noise you'll be ok on the noise frount.

  5. Philthy Reply

    And skateboarding, while not being THAT loud, is still much more audio than bouldering. Except from the thud of me falling. And the chain of expletives that follow…

  6. ardarvin Reply

    My opinion on dry-tool-buildering: go for it. I mean, it doesn't really interest me at all, but whatever floats your boat.

    As far as ethics… You are probably not going to wreck anything, unless you try sticking to glass. I do try and keep a “leave no trace” mentality when it comes to buildering, cause I like to be a repeat offender, and leaving marks on a route jepordizes that.

    It's like how skating was in the early nineties… no one cared about it except for the occasion power tripping cop who deemed it unsafe. But once skating got super popular, and property owners noticed their nice marble ledges getting chipped (along with the gay-ass tags left by stupid little homie-g skaters) then it got shut down REAL fast.

    I suppose if dry-tooling got really popular then it would be a problem… but like that is going to happen.  :moon:

  7. The Akron Sound Reply

    A few technical notes on the use of ice tools in an urban environment:
    1)  If land on concrete with crampons (if you're wearing crampons) you'll break your ankles and ruin your 'poons.
    2)  Metal-on-metal doesn't create much friction.  Mind those girders!
    3)  Any encounter with law enforcement will be exacerbated by the fact that you're holding two terrifying weapons.
    4)  Stone surfaces that support hands and feet might not hold up to the concentrated pressure of picks (I'm thinking of crumbly brick, mortar, and soft limestone here.  Obviously granite is not an issue.)  The inability to guage the integrity of the hold could be deadly.
    I've considered it in the past (Ard, the brick wall in the sunken area between Main and Koerner library is prime pickin's), but for me it just isn't worth it.  The joy of buildering for me is in its spontaneity, the “street shoes and send” ethos.  For this same reason I've always resisted using climbing shoes or chalk on urban climbs, saving them and the ropes for a few special projects.
     That said, I don't think building damage presents an ethical dilemma in the same way that urban bolting would (which, as I recall, was roundly rejected in the poll).  If you want to drytool, I say go for it.  Just don't get sucked into their systems of technology; instead use your body and little else to reinterpret their structures.
    Oh, and wear a helmet.  And don't look up and pull down at the same time.

  8. Dru Reply

    from experience, tools OK, dont bother with crampons – just wear street shoes or rockshoes. best of both worlds.

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