A friend—I can't remember who—once made up a great word to describe climbers' habit of testing out hand holds and finger jams on man-made structures. You know how it goes: You're walking down a city street or climbing a stair well, and casually, almost without thinking, you find yourself crimping the edge of a brick or slotting your hand in the crack between two concrete slabs. We all do it. Unfortunately, age and decrepitude being what they are, I can't remember the term he/she came up with.
Hand-jive?
Grappling?
Brailling?
Man, it's right on the tip of my tongue.... This is a sniglet that's sorely needed. If you've got a good name for this common climber behavior, let me know.
Thursday, June 04, 2009
Sniglet
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2 comments:
"Buildering" is the term I'm familiar with. We have a fun book at the AAC Library called "L.A. Climbs: Alternative Uses for Architecture" that's complete with route diagrams and degrees of difficulty.
I was just doing this last night - walking by a building with some granite slabs with ridges in it thinking - if I wasn't late to work already I'd be giving that a go.
Will have to check out that book.
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