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Climbing, Adventure, Gear & Choss
Confessions of a Tick-aholic
“It’s like leaving your dirty dishes in your friend’s sink.”
Tickmarks. Something so small, and yet so big, at least when it comes to the emotional response they elicit in climbers. The above quote is from a friend of mine who, in case it’s not obvious, really despises them for the way they detract from his climbing experience. It’s also not too difficult to find some heated discussions online, especially when cracks are involved, and it seems like there is no real consensus on the matter among the climbing community at large. Some folks consider them a fact of life in modern climbing, and others think they rob you of the purity of the experience, but maybe we can find some middle ground.
First, let’s identify the three different kinds.
Small, and relatively unobtrusive:
Medium, getting a little silly:
Big ass tick marks, ridiculous for all but the legally blind:
Now, I’ve certainly added tickmarks to climbs, but when I do, I generally go with the small ones, just a little dab of chalk to highlight a feature I want to zero in on quickly. And existing ones don’t bother me often, as most of the time they point out an inobvious but useful hold for your feet or fingers, and I’m happy to have the extra help. I also don’t do a whole lot of onsighting, so it’s usually not ruining the purity of my experience. I do think they can be an eyesore at times, however, and last night while out at a local crag, I came across some monsters that did irk me a little. I mean, a small white dot here and there is ok, but these things were 4 inches long, and pointed to the most obvious jugs on the climb. I brushed them off as best I could, despite my partner’s protest to just leave them and get more climbing done in the limited time we had. But I digress.
It seems that even the most vocal critics agree that if folks would just remove them when they are done, we could all live together in peace and harmony. We’d probably have one less fun thread to read about on the climbing forums, but I say it’s a worthy tradeoff. Of course, we haven’t even broached the topic of whether it’s ethical to remove someone else’s tickmarks, and that’s a whole other can of worms. I mean, what if they come back to their project and have to retick the whole thing? That’s probably on par with getting your draws stolen for some people, and would light up the message boards like shiny bolts next to a splitter crack.
For now, if we all rememeber to clean up after ourselves as best we can (just like Mom taught us to), we could probably all experience the rock in a way that brings the most personal enjoyment. And don’t forget, it’s just rock climbing, it’s still damn fun, tick marks or not!
4 Responses to Confessions of a Tick-aholic
Bulldog Creek Dog Walk (IV WI 4+)
Hayden Carpenter and Tom Bohanon recently repeated an obscure ice climb on the south side of Mt Sopris. Given a brief mention in Jack Robert’s ice guide, Bulldog Creek Walk is described as being 100 meters of WI 4. What they found was seven pitches of ice in a remote setting that makes for one […]
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Spot on BJ – this post is incredibly timely. Over the past month many of the moderate sport climbs on Indy Pass are being defaced with massive tick marks. Tick marks on the proj, go for it, but marking the obvious holds on the 10a warm up – this must stop. The most frustrating thing about these elusive ‘tickers’ is that they tick bad holds or holds off the obvious line. When newer climbers are on these routes, they unconsciously follow the poor beta of the ticks.
Yeah, I’ve seen a lot of those on the Pass too recently. Someone out there is on a tick mark jihad!
Recently I did a climb that was new to me at Rifle: Quasimodo, 11d. The first time I did it, I thought, “this climb is horrible, bad movement, contrived, weird.” Then, realizing that the climb had hardly any chalk on it (yes, weird for Rifle), I noticed that I had been following the ticks of the folks who I saw doing it before me. I got back on it, and sure enough, the worst, most horrible holds had been ticked all the way up the route, and I (embarrasingly enough to say, considering my climbing experience and time I’ve spent at Rifle– I should know better) unwittingly had followed every last tick. Needless to say, that next time I was on it, I thought, “This thing is a great jug-haul warm-up to a super-fun techy-ish finish.” My whole outlook on the route changed. I agree that tick marks should be small and unobtrusive, but I also think that any seasoned climber can get sucked into following chalk and tick marks enough that, as I found out, we need to also remember to climb creatively and with our own beta– and maybe take the time to scrub off obnoxious ticks every now and them
Sucker ticks rule!