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No, I’m not asking you to sell the seven old pairs of climbing shoes you’ve “been meaning to resole.” Nor am I going to tell you how to maximize your time picking through stuff in other people’s yards. I will, however, give a detailed description of how best to "yardsale" your belongings before, during, and after climbing.
No, I’m not asking you to sell the seven old pairs of climbing shoes you’ve “been meaning to resole.” Nor am I going to tell you how to maximize your time picking through stuff in other people’s yards. I will, however, give a detailed description of how best to "yardsale" your belongings before, during, and after climbing.
WHAT IS "YARDSALING": verb.
Unlike the two-word “yard sale,” yardsaling has nothing to do with giving
unwanted belongings to others for 25 cents each. Instead, it has everything to
do with spreading your climbing gear, food, clothing, and other items out in as
big an area as possible. (Note: This term can also be applied to alpine skiing,
when one hits a mogul, falls, and loses hat, gloves, goggles, ski poles, and
both skis. This alternate definition will not, however, be used in this post.)
THE PRE-CLIMBING YARDSALE (Also known as “packing”):
Yardsaling is by far the most effective method of
determining what to pack for a day at the crag. Begin by deciding what you’d
like to wear on the approach, and lay those items out across your bed. Then add
in your belay layers, extra socks, just-in-case layers, unnecessary rain
layers, and your belay gloves to the spreading stacks. Then spread out
all of your climbing gear—harness, chalk bag, extra chalk, warm-up shoes,
sending shoes, extra shoes, approach shoes, crocs, draws, slings, rope, rope
bag, cams, nuts, hexes, nut tool, headlamp, additional garb—across your bedroom
to make sure you have everything. Next, add several water bottles, wet wipes,
granola bars you won’t eat, sandwiches you will eat, and other snacks and
necessities in any room you have left. Lastly, pull out several backpacks to
assess into which everything might fit. Voila! Yardsale complete. Now you can
go about stuffing everything into the desired backpack(s).
YARDSALING AT THE CRAG:
Say good-bye to rummaging through your backpack every time
you want a long draw or pb+j. When you get to the base of your project, or the
warm-up route next to it, set down your pack(s) and immediately open every
available zipper. Reach hands into pockets and begin pulling out every item you
touch until you have the essentials—gear for climbing/belaying the
route, snacks, and water—and most everything else in your pack strewn about
around you. Feel free to begin making loose piles to “organize” your yardsale
while simultaneously spreading out your items to cover no less than a
seven-foot radius from your backpack.
Set your backpack down in the middle of your living room. Similar to while at the crag, open every zipper and snap pocket and pull out all items, tossing them haphazardly around the room. Once your backpack is empty, set it against your couch to let it “air out,” and then begin hanging the rest of your items on the remaining furniture surfaces, moving to the floor when you run out of space.
If you’re climbing the next day, leave items out overnight (as this doubles as your pre-climbing yardsale) and pack in the morning. If you’re taking a few days off, consider leaving your gear out for a day or two or three or until you feel the need to sit on your couch without touching dirty socks.
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