Category Archives: 19S Climbing Folklore

Miguel’s Pizza

Climbing Status Symbol
“Miguel’s Pizza”

Decker Wentz
Hanover, NH
May 22, 2019

Informant Data:

Decker Wentz is a 20-year-old sophomore at Dartmouth College. He grew up just outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Decker has been rock climbing with his dad since he was four years old. He would climb about monthly with his dad, going to climbing gyms but mostly climbing at various outdoors locations. In his senior year of high school, he began to really take ownership of climbing as an activity that he loved doing, not just one that he did with his dad. When he came to school at Dartmouth, it became one of the most important things in his life, as he joined the Dartmouth Mountaineering Club (DMC) and the Climbing Team. His first DMC trip was an ice climbing trip his freshman winter, and since then he has become more and more involved in the club. Decker is now a leader in the DMC and currently holds the position of chair. He has also been quite an involved member in the social aspects of both clubs.

 

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context: This piece of folklore was collected in a conversation with Decker at Baker-Berry library. Decker first learned about Miguel’s Pizza in a conversation with other climbers where one pointed out another’s “Miguel’s Pizza” sticker, which started a conversation. It is not incredibly common for someone to start a conversation on the basis of seeing the Miguel’s logo, but it is widely recognized if a climber sees another climber with it. Miguel’s Pizza is a pizza place and campground located in the middle of Red River Gorge, a famous and very difficult climbing area located in Kentucky. If a climber goes to Red River Gorge, Miguel’s is the place to stay and to eat. Therefore, the easily-identifiable logo is a sign to other climbers that the person possessing it has climbed at Red River Gorge.

 

  • Cultural Context: Since Red River Gorge is an incredibly good destination for climbing on the east coast with difficult climbing, almost all serious American climbers on the east coast know about it, know about Miguel’s Pizza, and associate the two. Therefore, a climber who goes to Red River Gorge is considered a strong climber. However, as the scope of climbers becomes broader, Miguel’s and Red River Gorge becomes less and less well-known. Generally, American west coast climbers may still recognize the logo of Miguel’s Pizza and associate it with Red River Gorge. However, it is not very well-known in the international climbing community outside of the United States.

 

Text:

Miguel’s Pizza is a pizza place and campground located in the middle of the Red River Gorge climbing area in Kentucky. Miguel’s is known as the place to stay and to eat when climbers go to Red River Gorge, and has a very distinctive logo that says “Miguel’s Pizza” and has the image of a man’s smiling face with flowing blonde hair. After visiting Red River Gorge and Miguel’s, many climbers buy merchandise with the logo on it. Because of this, Miguel’s logo has become a status symbol within the climbing community because the logo indicates that the possessor has climbed at Red River Gorge, which means they must be a very good climber.

 

Sam Drew, Age 20
Hinman Box 0250, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
Dartmouth College
Russian 013
Spring 2019

Wine Game

Customary DMC Folklore
“Wine Game”

Alex Derenchuk
Hanover, NH
May 22, 2019

 

Informant Data:

Alex Derenchuk is a senior at Dartmouth College. He grew up in and attended high school in Bloomington, Indiana, but now lives in Tennessee. Alex started rock climbing his freshman year at Dartmouth in 2015 and has been very involved in the Dartmouth Mountaineering Club (DMC) ever since. He is now a leader in the club and has climbed quite often over the years and learned many climbing skills as a result. He has also been quite an involved member in the social aspects of the club.

 

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context: This piece of folklore was collected in a conversation with Alex at Baker-Berry library. Alex was first exposed to wine game during his freshman year after joining the DMC. It is most frequently performed around the campfire at the end of the days of climbing trips during breaks, and also at social events in off-campus apartments in Hanover during the term. All the members of the DMC present will gather in a circle to play wine game, but only those who want to participate will do so. It is usually started by a singular upperclassman or leader in the club.

 

  • Cultural Context: As far as Alex knows, wine game is a custom exclusive to the Dartmouth Mountaineering Club in particular. It is not something that is practiced by climbers belonging to any other group. Wine game is important to the DMC because it fosters bonding among members of the club, both intra-class bonding as well as inter-class bonding. It promotes intra-class bonding because it is a competition between class years, and therefore makes members of the same class year feel as though they are working together. It promotes inter-class bonding because it is another way to bring together club members of differing class years in the same social space to be able to socialize with each other in a different sort of environment than usual.

 

Text:

Wine game begins when the group of members of the DMC come together to form a circle, initiated by an upperclassman or leader in the club. The leader has a one-gallon jug of Carlo Rossi wine, and takes the cap off and throws it away to symbolize that once the jug is open, it must be finished, and the cap will no longer be needed. The jug is then christened with a short dedication led by the initiator to “DMCers past and present,” as well as “the homies and the homeless,” “Earl and Valerie,” John Joline, and Chris Vale. All of these people are important figures in the history of the DMC, and this dedication adds a level of seriousness to the ritual, where all members presents quiet down and listen. When wine game is done around a campfire, a bit of wine is poured out into the fire with each name mentioned. After this christening, the one who performed the christening takes the first swig of wine from the bottle and then passes it on. The aim of the game is to finish the last of the wine from the jug, but the game is done by class year—if you win, you win for your class. Therefore, it is really a competition between class years, not on the individual level. Everybody is only allowed a singular swig, and then must pass the jug on to the next person in the circle. This way, the game is fair, and everyone gets a chance to win it for their class. When drinking, members must hold the jug by their pinky finger and rest it on their bent arm, a method known as “Texas sidearm.”

 

Sam Drew, Age 20
Hinman Box 0250, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
Dartmouth College
Russian 13
Spring 2019

“Bring Sally Up”

Dartmouth Climbing Music Folklore
“Bring Sally Up”

Sarah Jennewein
Hanover, NH
May 22, 2019

Informant Data:

Sarah Jennewein is a sophomore at Dartmouth College. Sarah grew up in Tampa, Florida with her two brothers and sister before coming to Dartmouth. Sarah only began climbing when she got to Dartmouth. She was a member of a Hike and Climb freshman trip. While she initially found climbing at Dartmouth to be intimidating, after going on a climbing trip with Dartmouth students during a break freshman year, she fell in love. She now climbs and attends mountaineering events regularly. She is a member of the Dartmouth climbing team and has the designation of a leader in the mountaineering club for sport climbing, ice climbing, and top rope climbing. Climbing has made Dartmouth feel like home for Sarah.

 

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context: This piece of folklore was collected via a video interview with Sarah Jennewein while at Dartmouth College. Sarah learned about this piece of folklore as a freshman on the Dartmouth Climbing Team. The idea of doing push ups to “Bring Sally Up” was not started by the Dartmouth Climbing Team, but the tradition of the Dartmouth Climbing Team routinely performing push ups to the song has become an integral  method of training and bonding. The song was brought to the Dartmouth Climbing Team by senior Matt Rube. The tradition is typically performed in the climbing gym at Dartmouth, but members of the team perform it at various locations whenever they are with teammates; for example, the activity has occured at airports traveling to and from climbing activities as well as at crags. Typically only climbers participate. The tradition at Dartmouth began as a method of conditioning during recruitment for the climbing team. The song is still used for conditioning purposes, but it also serves as a fun way to encourage friendly competition. The informant said it has become a great bonding method for the team.

 

  • Cultural Context: Despite common misconceptions, climbing is a social sport. The Dartmouth Climbing Team competes in competitions where each member’s score will contribute to how the team as a whole does. The climbing team trains together and will give feedback while climbing on how best to complete a climb. As such, team bonding and joint training is integral to a successful team. The social nature of the “Bring Sally Up” competition fosters team bonding and a collaborate urge for improvement. Additionally, climbing requires incredible physical strength; quite often, climbers will need to pull themselves up with only their arms without a foothold. Arm strength training, as practiced in the “Bring Sally Up” tradition, is essential for successful climbers.

 

Text:

(While i have recorded the Dartmouth climbing tradition of “Bring Sally Up” as closely as possible to Sarah’s exact words based on notes taken during the interview, this is ultimately my own phrasing of Sarah’s words.)

“Bring Sally Up” refers to a tradition of doing push ups throughout the duration of the song. Each time the song says ”Sally Up”, the teammates push up, and when the song says “Sally Down”, the teammates hold the downwards position of the push up until the song says to go up again. The song is three and a half minutes long, and 31 push ups are performed throughout the song. The tradition was brought to Dartmouth by senior Matt Rube. The song is officially called “Flowers” by Moby. The main lines of the song are “Green Sally up and green Sally down

Lift and squat, gotta tear the ground”, which are repeated multiple times. Occasionally throughout the song other lines such as “Old Miss Lucy’s dead and gone

Left me here to weep and moan” are added, causing the participants to have to hold themselves in the downward push up position until the song again instructs them to rise. Many participants, including my informant, often substitute the word “Green” for “Bring”, thereby interpreting the song as a more direct order for when to do the pushups. It is very difficult to complete all 31 pushups, creating friendly competition over who is able to do so.

 

Kelly Peterec, Age 20
Hinman Box 3552, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
Dartmouth College
Russian 13
Spring 2019

 

The Legend of Devil’s Tower

Climbing Polymodal Folklore
The Legend of Devil’s Tower

Decker Wentz
Hanover, New Hampshire
May 23, 2019

 

Informant Data:

Decker Wentz is a 20-year-old sophomore at Dartmouth College. He grew up just outside Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Decker has been rock climbing with his dad since he was four years old. He would climb about monthly with his dad, going to climbing gyms but mostly climbing at various outdoors locations. In his senior year of high school, he began to really take ownership of climbing as an activity that he loved doing, not just one that he did with his dad. When he came to school at Dartmouth, it became one of the most important things in his life, as he joined the Dartmouth Mountaineering Club (DMC) and the Climbing Team. His first DMC trip was an ice climbing trip his freshman winter, and since then he has become more and more involved in the club. Decker is now a leader in the DMC and currently holds the position of chair. He has also been quite an involved member in the social aspects of both clubs.

 

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context: Every year, the Dartmouth Mountaineering Club runs trips during the break between two terms to climb away from campus. Polymodal climbing folklore, such as climbing legends and stories, are often shared during the trip either during dinners, campfires, or when the group is just hanging out. Polymodal folklore serves as a way to solidify and pass down group identity from generation to generation. Specifically, having knowledge of the legends within one’s group helps the members of the folk group have a better understanding of their origins, values, and identity. In addition, the telling of legends within a group is often a fun way for the current folk group to bond, and is an entertaining experience.

 

  • Cultural Context: The Devils Tower is a monolithic rock formation in northeastern Wyoming that sits 5,112 feet above sea level. It rises 1,267 above the Belle Fourche River. It is a famous rock-climbing location that is difficult to summit. Since it was first summited in 1893, 5,000 people summit it each year. A total of 5 people have died while attempting the climb. 

    Rescue missions are usually left to professional rescuers, and rarely involve individuals outside of the profession, especially in serious cases. Thus, the fact that the rescue teams asked the founder of the DMC to aid in the mission because they were not able to accomplish the rescue is rare and speaks to the difficulty of the mission. That Jack Durrance was able to successfully rescue the man is an incredibly impressive feat.

 

Text:

[I have recorded The Legend as closely as I could to the way Decker told it to me. The following descriptions were collected from the notes I took during the interview, and are paraphrases of what he shared during the interview.]

Legend has it that a man accidentally parachuted onto the top of the Devil’s Tower and got stuck there. They tried everything they could to rescue him, eventually calling in firemen, helicopters, and even the military, but nothing was working. At that time, the only person who had ever successfully summited the Devil’s Tower was Jack Durrance, who was the founder of the Dartmouth Mountaineering Club. They begged him to help the rescue mission, so he summited Devils Tower again, and safely repelled the man down.

 

Angela Liu, aged 21
2 North Park St., Hanover, NH
Dartmouth College
Russian 13
Spring 2019

Thumb On Rope

Dartmouth Climbing Customary Folklore
“Thumb On Rope”

Sarah Jennewein
Hanover, NH
May 22, 2019

Informant Data:

Sarah Jennewein is a sophomore at Dartmouth College. Sarah grew up in Tampa, Florida, before coming to Dartmouth. Sarah only began climbing when she got to Dartmouth. She was a member of a Hike and Climb freshman trip. While she initially found climbing at Dartmouth to be intimidating, after going on a climbing trip with Dartmouth students during a break freshman year, she fell in love. She now climbs and attends mountaineering events regularly. She is a member of the Dartmouth climbing team and has the designation of a leader in the mountaineering club for sport climbing, ice climbing, and top rope climbing. Climbing has made Dartmouth feel like home for Sarah.

 

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context: This piece of folklore was collected via a video interview with Sarah Jennewein while at Dartmouth College. Sarah learned about this piece of folklore as a freshman on the Dartmouth Climbing Team. This tradition is not unique to only the Dartmouth Climbing Team, but it is routinely performed by the team each time they climb outdoors. This tradition is performed by members of the team only; non-climbers typically do not participate. The “thumb on the rope” game is played specifically when climbing outdoors with a top rope. At Dartmouth, this usually means that the game is performed at a climbing location called Rumney or on a trip during a school break to other outdoor climbing locations. Typically, only a small group of all climbers are present on these trips, and the game is performed as the group is getting ready to end the climbing for the day. Specifically, this game occurs as the top ropes are being taken down. Sarah noted that the tradition gives a sense of bonding and fosters the feeling of family. She added that the game is both fun and competitive, and it provides a forum for jokes and entertainment. Whoever manages to get their thumb on the top of the rope has bragging rights within the community.

 

  • Cultural Context: The two major types of climbing are bouldering and sport climbing. Unlike bouldering, sport climbing involves being roped in and wearing a harness while being belayed by another climber on the ground due to the dangerous heights that the climbers can reach. Top rope climbing is a type of sport climbing. The rope is attached to the climber,  passed up through an anchor at the top of the climb, and then passed down to a belayer at the bottom of the climb. At Dartmouth, top rope climbing is not performed in the climbing gym on campus, as the climbing gym on campus is a bouldering gym. Therefore, no ropes are used in the Dartmouth Climbing Gym, and the “thumb on rope” game cannot be played unless the climbers are not on campus. Dartmouth climbers typically top rope climb at an outdoor area called Rumney or on break trips. This item of folklore is a fun and competitive way for team members to bond after top rope climbing.

 

Item:

(While i have recorded the Dartmouth climbing tradition of the thumb on the rope game as closely as possible to Sarah’s exact words based on notes taken during the interview, this is ultimately my own phrasing of Sarah’s words.)

The “thumb on rope” game does not have an official name, but rather is a game commonly known by the climbing community. This game is played by members outside of the Dartmouth community, but these are the specific rules that the Dartmouth community adheres to. When disassembling the setup of a top rope climb after everyone has finished climbing, the top rope must be allowed to fall from the anchor at the top of the climb. Before the rope hits the ground, if you are able to catch the end of the rope within a thumbs length of the end so that you can put your thumb on the very top, someone who you are climbing with has to buy you a beer or other beverage.

 

Kelly Peterec, Age 20
Hinman Box 3552, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
Dartmouth College
Russian 013
Spring 2019

 

“Whipper”

Climbing Vernacular
“Whipper”

Kayla Lieuw
Hanover, New Hampshire
May 22, 2019

 

Informant Data:

Kayla Lieuw is a 22 year-old senior at Dartmouth College from Potomac, Maryland. She is a middle class Asian American woman. Her father was part of the military. Kayla started climbing when she was only eight years old. Her mother was looking for something for her brother and her to do while her father was deployed, and they came across rock climbing. Since then, climbing has become a big part of her life. Before college, she has regularly competed in regional and national competitions. When she came to Dartmouth, she joined the Dartmouth Mountaineering Club (DMC), and has been climbing for all four years of her time here. She also competes regularly at regional and national competitions with the rest of the competitive climbers at DMC.

 

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context: The vernacular term “whipper” is used during conversations between climbers to describe the events that have happened during the climb. The term can refer to climbing events both indoors and outdoors. Kayla shared that she often uses it in conversation to recount climbs to other climbers. An example of the way “whipper” can be used is: “Do you remember when she took a huge whipper during our last session? It was epic.”The purpose of vernacular folklore in climbing is to bolster a sense of community between climbers. Having unique vernacular terms defines an in-group identity for the people who know, understand, and use the term. In the case of climbing, it also serves to distinguish people as members of the counter-culture established by climbers. Vernacular also helps capture ideas that would otherwise be communicated in multiple words in just one word. In addition to verbal efficiency, it also emphasizes the importance of the idea in climbing culture since the folk group has dedicated an entire new term to capture its essence.

 

  • Cultural Context: There are two types of outdoor belayed climbs: top roping and lead climbing. Top roping refers to when there is an anchor at the top of the of the climb, and a rope is run through the anchor, forming a sort of pulley system that keeps the climber safe in case he or she loses grip and falls while climbing. Lead climbing, on the other hand, refers to when the rope is clipped to bolts along the climb. For lead climbing, there are bolts regularly drilled into the climbing wall that are essentially metal loops. Each time the climber reaches a bolt, he or she clips the rope onto the bolt to secure his or herself so that in case of a fall, the bolt catches climber. It is like another pulley system, but with smaller intervals. Thus, the distance of the fall is equal to the distant the climber has covered after securing the rope to the last bolt. If the climber climbs two feet above the last bolt and falls, the climber will fall four feet before being stopped by the bolt.

 

Text:

[I have recorded “whipper” as closely as I could to the way Kayla told it to me. The following descriptions were collected from the notes I took during the interview, and are paraphrases of what she shared during the interview.]

The term “whipper” in climbing refers to when a climber falls while lead climbing. As mentioned above, the fall is a function of how far above the bolt the climber is when he or she falls. The term usually refers to a big fall, but can also refer to smaller falls. A climber can get rope burn when he or she goes through a whipper, especially if it is a big one. Climbers describe the whipper as usually being pretty fun, though if the fall is big, hitting the climbing wall can be painful.

 

Angela Liu, aged 21
2 North Park St., Hanover, NH
Dartmouth College
Russian 13
Spring 2019

The Feed

Dartmouth Climbing Polymodal Folklore
The Feed

Marlee Montella
Hanover, NH
May 22, 2019

 

Informant Data:

Marlee is a sophomore at Dartmouth College from Nevada. She began climbing her freshman year of high school before attending Dartmouth. Marlee originally started climbing indoors. Once she got to Dartmouth, she participated in team trips outside as well as continued bouldering in the Dartmouth Climbing Gym. Marlee is now a member of the Dartmouth Mountaineering Club and is on the Dartmouth Climbing Team. She often participates in break trips. Marlee says that climbing has helped shape her Dartmouth experience; climbing was the first group that she joined on campus. When she started, it was a small group and she was one of the few people that had climbed before. She noted that the climbing community is fun and a great friend group.

 

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context: This piece of folklore was conducted via an interview with Marlee at Sigma Delta sorority. My informant learned about this tradition after joining the climbing team and participating with friends.The Dartmouth Mountaineering Club (DMC) Feed occurs weekly and is hosted by members of the DMC. Typically, only members of the DMC or the climbing team attend. The feed is shaped by the people that attend as mingling and informal conversation is a large part of the appeal. The feed serves both as an opportunity to present any important information that members of the climbing community should know about as well as a chance to enjoy spending time with fellow climbers and to meet new members. Marlee noted that it is a  good chance to see other people in the climbing community that you do not always see and to meet and talk to other DMC members. The Feed is both a fun bonding experience and a functional way to establish bonds between members of the climbing community.

 

  • Cultural Context: Marlee noted that the Dartmouth Climbing Team is not part of the Dartmouth Mountaineering Club, but rather is a separate subset of the overarching Dartmouth Outing Club. Members of the Dartmouth Climbing Team are encouraged to attend the Dartmouth Mountaineering Club Feeds, as climbers make up a significant portion of members in the Dartmouth Mountaineering Club. The Feed is an important way to bring together members of these communities to establish bonds within the community and to have a forum to present important information to the community.

 

Item:

(While i have recorded the Dartmouth climbing tradition of  The Feed as closely as possible to Marlee’s exact words based on notes taken during the interview, this is ultimately my own phrasing of Marlee’s words.)

The Feed is a dinner that occurs every Tuesday evening with the Dartmouth Mountaineering Club and the Dartmouth Climbing Team. This specific tradition is unique to Dartmouth College. Each week, two members volunteer to cook for the rest of the community. The funds are provided by the Dartmouth Outing Club. Typically, one large meal such as tacos or chile will be cooked, and there will be a vegetarian option. Participants bring their own bowl to be ecologically friendly. Typically, all attending members will participate in an introduction game with questions such as “Tell us your name, your year, where you are from, and if you could lactate anything what would it be”. People mingle and leaders of the communities will present any important information such as upcoming events and trips. Occasionally guest speakers relevant to the climbing community will present. The number of people attending the feed fluctuates widely, and attendance is not mandatory.

 

Kelly Peterec, Age 20
Hinman Box 3552, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
Dartmouth College
Russian 13
Spring 2019

“Pumped”

Climbing Vernacular
“Pumped”

Olivia Hunter
Hanover, New Hampshire
May 20, 2019

Informant Data:

Olivia Hunter is a 22 year-old senior at Dartmouth College from Vancouver, Canada. She is upper-middle class and an atheist, white woman. Her demographic background is primarily western European, but she is also part eastern European and Jewish. She has 4 parents—two biological parents and two step parents, and 5 half siblings. Both her father and her step father works in business, and both her mother and step mother don’t work, although her mother is a travel blogger and is sometimes paid to travel. In elementary school and in high school Olivia used to be a competitive athlete as a gymnast and being on a competitive volleyball team. However, after starting college, she realized that she was burnt out from the competitive sports she played in high school, and wanted to try something different and do a sport just for fun instead of for competition. At college, she has many friends who are climbers, and her boyfriend is also a climber. Eventually, one of her friends convinced her to go to the climbing gym at the River Apartments at Dartmouth College, and taught her the basics of climbing. She has been climbing ever since. She decided to keep climbing because it was a fun sport with a great community, and a great way to get exercise. She is not a competitive climber.

 

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context: The vernacular term “pumped” is used during conversations between climbers to describe the state of the climber. It is often used when climbers are trying to finish a climb or trying to end a climbing session. The term can refer to a climber’s condition when climbing both indoors and outdoors. Olivia shared that she used it last weekend to end a climbing session when she was too tired and could no longer do more climbs. An example of the way “pumped” can be used is: “I think I can do one more climb, but I’ll need to call it after that. I’m really pumped.”The purpose of vernacular folklore in climbing is to bolster a sense of community between climbers. Having unique vernacular terms defines an in-group identity for the people who know, understand, and use the term. In the case of climbing, it also serves to distinguish people as members of the counter-culture established by climbers. Vernacular also helps capture ideas that would otherwise be communicated in multiple words in just one word. In addition to verbal efficiency, it also emphasizes the importance of the idea in climbing culture since the folk group has dedicated an entire new term to capture its essence.

 

  • Cultural Context: Climbing is a unique sport because it relies a lot on the climber’s grip strength. Since the fingers are composed solely of joints and ligaments, grip strength comes primarily the climber’s forearm. Because the forearm is usually not a part of the body that is often exercised day-to-day, grip strength is acquired solely through experience in climbing. It can’t be built up from everyday activities, and so is a pretty good indicator of how much muscle a person has acquired through climbing alone.

 

Text:

[I have recorded “pumped” as closely as I could to the way Olivia told I to me. The following descriptions were collected from the notes I took during the interview, and are paraphrases of what she shared during the interview.]

The term “pumped” in climbing refers to when the climber’s forearm is so sore that he or she can no longer move it anymore. It is caused by a lactic acid buildup in the forearm muscles, which are the dominant muscles that are being exercised during a climb. When someone is “pumped”, the muscles on their forearms have been broken down so much over the duration of the climb that he or she can no longer hold on to anything, and therefore can no longer climb for the day.

How easily a climber gets “pumped” is a function of how good or experienced of a climber he or she is. Being “pumped” signals the extent of a climber’s endurance when it comes to climbing. The more experienced the climber, the longer and harder he or she will have to climb to feel “pumped”. The less experienced the climber, the sooner he or she will feel “pumped” when climbing.

 

Angela Liu, aged 21
2 North Park St., Hanover, NH
Dartmouth College
Russian 13
Spring 2019

 

“Beta”

Climbing Vernacular
“Beta”

Matthew Rube
Hanover, New Hampshire
May 19, 2019

Informant Data:

Matthew Rube is a 21-year-old student in his final year at Dartmouth College. He was born in New York City, New York, United States on August 19, 1997. Matt has two younger siblings: a brother and a sister. His mother and father are both lawyers. His family origins are Western European Jewish and Eastern European Jewish (Ukrainian). Matt is white, upper-middle class, and Jewish. Matt has been climbing since he was 11 years old. When Matt started training to be a climber, his parents would drive him long distances and then wait as he practiced. This lead to them picking up climbing too to mediate long hours waiting for him in the gym. His siblings both climb: his sister is a high-level competitive climber and his brother climbs recreationally. Matt has been an elite-level competitive climber since elementary school and to this day. He founded the climbing team at Dartmouth College and was the captain for all four years. He competes indoors and climbs outdoors.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: Climbing is a very social and collaborative sport. For most types of climbing, there needs to be a minimum of two people: one to belay and one to climb. Usually, two or more people will go to a gym or to an outdoor climbing area together and then trade off on who belays and who climbs on a given route. As such, multiple people tend to be taking turns trying to climb one climb until everyone is satisfied and would like to try a different climb. This setup often results in many discussions about the climbs as people are attempting them or between the attempts. Climbs on the wall will shout down asking for advice and observers or belayers will shout up with different options. Between climbs, groups of climbers will stand around and discuss the climb, pointing out the hard parts and discussing possible strategies or things that had worked for them previously.

 

  • Social Context: The item of folklore collected is a vernacular term used in conversation between two climbers. This term is a very common term and is usually one of the first pieces of vernacular a new climber learns when they begin participating in the sport. Because the nature of this piece of vernacular is to share climbing wisdom, usually it is performed by a more experienced climber to a less experienced climber. However, this is not always the power dynamic at play. Sometimes this vernacular can be used between two climbers of equal level. In this case this is speculative wisdom (i.e. “this might work” or “I think we could try this”) as opposed to definitive advice.

    The purpose of the vernacular is to create a sense of community amongst climbers. There is so much vernacular within the climbing community that it can be difficult to understand conversations about climbing as a non-climber. This likely stems from the significant pride that climbers have as members of a counter-culture. The vernacular serves to create a sense of inclusion and exclusivity. Furthermore, the vernacular works to capture an idea that usually needs to be conveyed with more words; therefore, in addition to being a tool of group-cohesion, it is also a tool of efficiency.

 

Text:    

[I have recorded “beta” not exactly as Matt told it but as close as possible with the notes that I took. This is meant to be an accurate representation of his words, but is ultimately in my own phrasing]

The term “beta” is used by climbers in place of the word advice or strategy. Beta can refer to multiple things: how to do a particular climbing move, how to hold a particular climbing hold, how to get passed a particularly hard section of their current climb. Beta is a noun (i.e. “what’s the beta?” or “I have the beta”).

There is no one beta for a climb. The beta can vary based on the characteristics of the climber. For example, the beta for a short person is going to be different than the beta for a tall person due to differences in reach. The beta can also vary based on the characteristics of a climb. For example, there can be multiple moves that would work to get the climber passed a particularly tough spot on the wall; there are, therefore, multiple betas.

 

Olivia Hunter, Aged 21
22 N Park St., Apartment 201, Hanover NH
Dartmouth College
Russian 13
Spring 2019

“Sandbag”

Climbing Vernacular
“Sandbag”

Matthew Rube
Hanover, New Hampshire
May 19, 2019

Informant Data:

  • Matthew Rube is a 21-year-old student in his final year at Dartmouth College. He was born in New York City, New York, United States on August 19, 1997. Matt has two younger siblings: a brother and a sister. His mother and father are both lawyers. His family origins are Western European Jewish and Eastern European Jewish (Ukrainian). Matt is white, upper-middle class, and Jewish. Matt has been climbing since he was 11 years old. When Matt started training to be a climber, his parents would drive him long distances and then wait as he practiced. This lead to them picking up climbing too to mediate long hours waiting for him in the gym. His siblings both climb: his sister is a high-level competitive climber and his brother climbs recreationally. Matt has been an elite-level competitive climber since elementary school and to this day. He founded the climbing team at Dartmouth College and was the captain for all four years. He competes indoors and climbs outdoors.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: There are two main types of climbing: bouldering and sport climbing. Sport climbing involves wearing a harness and a rope. The climber is belayed by someone else. The ropes are necessary because sport climbing encompasses going up heights that would be dangerous to do without safety gear. Bouldering, on the other hand, involves climbing shorter heights without ropes. In either case, climbs are graded by difficulty so that climbers can attempt climbs within their skill level. There is no rubric for how climbs are graded; grading climbs is a non-formalized process. Typically, the level of a climb can be determined by experience. The more climbs a person has done, the more likely they are to know what level a climb would be categorized as, and therefore usually the more experienced climbers dictate what grade every climb gets. This is true of both indoor and outdoor climbing.Unfortunately, what can end up happening is that as a climber becomes too experienced, they lose sight of what an easy climb actually is. An easy climb to a highly experienced climber could be an incredibly difficult climb for a beginner. With time, therefore, an experienced climber may begin to grade climbs improperly because their perspective becomes skewed.

 

  • Social Context: The item of folklore collected is a vernacular term used in conversation between two climbers. This term is not a very common term used in climbing and is more often used by climbers who climb outdoors rather than climbers who climb in a gym. The use of this particular piece of vernacular usually signals to the listener that the climber is more experienced; usually beginners are not yet exposed to this term. This is generally a term used in casual conversation when describing a location; that location can be a gym or an outdoor area where lots of people climb.The purpose of the vernacular is to create a sense of community amongst climbers. There is so much vernacular within the climbing community that it can be difficult to understand conversations about climbing as a non-climber. This likely stems from the significant pride that climbers have as members of a counter-culture. The vernacular serves to create a sense of inclusion and exclusivity. Furthermore, the vernacular works to capture an idea that usually needs to be conveyed with more words; therefore, in addition to being a tool of group-cohesion, it is also a tool of efficiency.

Text:

  • [I have recorded “sandbag” not exactly as Matt told it but as close as possible with the notes that I took. This is meant to be an accurate representation of his words, but is ultimately in my own phrasing]
  • The term “sandbag” or “sandbagged” is used by climbers to describe the grading of a climb. A sandbagged climb is a climb that is graded easier than the climb itself warrants. As described above, this usually occurs when a climber becomes too experienced for a certain grade of climb and assigns the climb a grade that is easier than someone at the correct level would actually experience.This term is thought to originate from the idea of climbing while wearing extra weight. If a climber wears a sandbag while climbing, the climb becomes harder than one would reasonably expect when taking on that climb. Therefore, for a climb to be “sandbagged” it’s more difficult than the grading would make you expect, and so climbing it makes you feel like you’re wearing sandbags.

 

Olivia Hunter, Aged 21
22 N Park St., Apartment 201, Hanover NH
Dartmouth College
Russian 13
Spring 2019