Seriously people, brush the damn holds!
Something magical happened to me the other day. My partner and I were climbing routes at ASCEND Point Breeze. We were leading as well as top roping. My ankle, which I broke and had surgery on six months ago, feels strong and good, but when I want to try something hard, I prefer climbing on top rope. I’m still worried about taking falls on lead. I hopped on a hard-for-me route, and fell my way up it, stringing only two to four moves together, feeling very weak and insecure the whole way.
I was super pissed.
Granted it was hot (although I will say that climate control at Point Breeze verged on chilly this summer) and all the holds were mostly big-giant slopers. Climbing on slopers is my kryptonite. But I was discouraged because I knew this route. I had been on it multiple times. I could do all the moves. This was a red point day for me, and I arrived at the gym sure it was going to go down, first try. I’d had several promising earlier attempts on other days, only hanging once or twice on the thing. But this red point day, I could barely hold onto anything.
Every time I fell and hung on the rope, I pulled out the bristle-y thing that is attached to my chalk bag, you know, my brush, and let my anger loose, furiously brushing all the holds I could reach from where I hung, even the footholds. The route had been up for a few weeks, and no one regularly brushed it, it seemed, but me, so the holds were gross. Brushing away all the grime made me feel better even though it took me longer to climb the damn thing. But, finally, I made it to the top.
And, as I was being lowered, I brushed all the holds again. Crazy, I know. I’m a bit of a lunatic that way. I love brushing holds! (Except on the Kilter Board— I don’t like brushing those holds because the back of my brush always scrapes against the wall and makes this noise, like fingernails on a chalkboard, that gives me the heeby-geebies.)
Then while I rested, I belayed my partner while he climbed and brushed holds, and tied into the route again even though I had fairly low expectations of sending the thing.
Here is where the magic came in. Second try of the day, I sent the route!
My hands felt solid and secure—sticky, like velcro— and my feet didn’t slip. It helped that I had just reminded myself of all the moves on that first messy, failed attempt of the day, but the magic was in brushing all the holds— that completely changed how they felt, and how I felt using them. I wasn’t expending any extra grip strength or energy just trying to stay on much less crank on dirty plastic slopers. With newly brushed holds, I became the strong climber I knew I could be. I didn’t wear myself out wrestling gravity in vain. There was no excessive grunting or sweating or foot slippage.
There was lightness and elegance and dancer-like grace.
The moral of the story is, brushing old chalk and shoe rubber off holds is an important habit for all climbers (and by climbers I mean all people who come into the gym to climb no matter how often) to adopt, unless you are the kind of climber who only ever touches a route once and only once. This shouldn’t be news. Have you seen the IG account @imbrushingyourdamn.holds? Or the funnier, defunct one, @thisholdwentupyesterday? If you haven’t seen them, look them up. They are funny but also true. It isn’t just me who has a problem with how quickly the holds get gross, especially in the summertime.
I do admit that in writing this I’m pleasing my inner mom. My kids no longer live at home, and I need another outlet. So I’m taking this opportunity— no, no, no, you can’t stop me, sorry— to make some suggestions to the five people who read this blog, and maybe you five know someone who needs to hear this message and will pass it along.
I see a lot of people with brushes on their chalk bags, but rarely do I see those same people using them. Granted, maybe I just missed it since I’m never in the gym to police that— I'm usually there to climb, duh. But the state of the holds in the ASCEND climbing gyms would argue otherwise. Not enough people brush the holds they climb on. And, even if ASCEND could employ someone just to brush all the holds in the gym regularly, maybe early in the wee hours of a dark morning before the gym opened, or late at night after the gym closed, I’m pretty sure this would still not add up to enough brushing.
It is up to the climbers to brush the dang holds.
If you are a climber who already brushes all the time, you have my and many others’ gratitude. You need not read further unless for sheer entertainment value, and I’m going to warn you right now, you may end up being disappointed. Sometimes I’m funny, but probably more to myself than anyone else.
If you are a climber who never really gave brushing a thought, or always assumed someone else would come along and do it, please continue reading for education’s sake.
If you are climbing a route, hang-dogging your proj, brush the holds around you when you fall. By the time you have made all the moves, you may have brushed the entire route. It can only help you, especially if you are planning to try the route again later. Or, if you are just warming up and you notice how gross the jugs feel, brush them as your belayer slowly lowers you. Even good holds deserve TLC.
If you climb boulders, you can only brush holds you can reach well from the ground with those personal brushes. Still, the start holds and maybe the next two are the ones that get the chalkiest the fastest. Brush what you can! Even if you are new to climbing and trying that illusive purple V1 over and over and over (and over and over) again, please brush the holds you can reach— for yourself, but also for your fellow boulderers.
No matter your climbing level, brush the holds!
If you don’t have your own personal brush hanging out on your chalk bag there are usually loaner brushes sitting on the front desks of at least ASCEND Point Breeze and ASCEND South Side, so you can grab one for your climbing shesh. Just remember to return it. Or if you have $10 you can buy one— then you too can have one dangling from the little loop on your chalk bag or chalk bucket!
And, if you can’t reach the holds? ASCEND gyms provide brushes on telescoping poles that will reach the majority of the holds, even nearly to the top of the wall. Really though, at about halfway up the climb, the holds aren’t as gunked up since most people who boulder don’t stop to chalk up up there. So, while you’re working on a problem, keep it brushed for yourself— maybe you will send it quicker! And then when you do send it— because brushing is magical and will lead you to success— brush it for those who come after you.
Share the magic. There are brushes all over the damn place, so there’s no excuse. Share the joy. Brushing is fun! And, nothing screams Real Rock Climber like someone expertly and intentionally brushing the holds.
Consider brushing the holds as a form of hospitality, a form of community building that we can all easily partake in— although there are some of us who do brush holds and like standing around bitching about those who don’t brush holds, that’s not really the kind of positive community building I’m referring to.
Did anyone in your life ever suggest that when you borrow something from someone, you should return it in the same or better condition than when you received it? My mom often said this to me. This is wisdom known as “etiquette” or “manners" from a time gone by. Maybe if we always find the problems or routes we want to work on already brushed and relatively clean when we get there, we will be more inclined to brush it when we’re done. And then maybe we’ll all be slightly happier climbers in the long run.
Well, we’ll have one less thing to complain about anyway.
Try it, you might like it!
