Climber type quiz / The Heavy Hitter

What a Heavy Hitter is like

You arrive at the home crag with one or two problems in mind, and they're hard ones. Big days, a few of them, each aimed at a number. Warm-ups are short and the pads go under the project. You know your crag's hard lines by feel, and your sends cluster right at the top of your grade. The easy circuit barely registers in your log, which is fine with you.

Take the quiz: are you a Heavy Hitter?

The four traits behind the Heavy Hitter

Every climber type is four letters, one from each pair. The Heavy Hitter is HBCW: Homebody, Burst, Ceiling and Weekend.

Homebody Where you climb: Homebody, not Explorer

Most of your climbing happens in one place. You know its problems, its conditions and its landings, and that depth is worth more to you than a longer list of places visited.

Burst How your days fall: Burst, not Metronome

Your climbing comes in big days with gaps between them. When you get out you stay until your skin is done, and a quiet few weeks before the next one is normal.

Ceiling What you go for: Ceiling, not Pyramid

You aim at the top of your grade. Warm-ups are short, the day is built around one or two hard lines, and the easy circuit barely shows up in your log.

Weekend When you get out: Weekend, not Weekday

You climb when most people do: Saturdays and Sundays, around a working week. That means busier crags, shared pads and making the most of the days you get.

What the Heavy Hitter's kit has to handle

• Homebody: a brush that stays in the bagClimbing the same problems week after week means your own chalk builds up on the holds. Brushing after your session keeps the home circuit worth coming back to.
• Burst: skin care for the day afterBig days end when the skin does. A salve the same evening is the difference between climbing again in three days and waiting a week.
• Ceiling: a way to warm up fingers at the cragGoing straight to hard lines asks a lot of cold fingers. A portable block lets you load them properly before the first real attempt.

Types close to the Heavy Hitter

Change one letter and you get a different climber. These four each share three traits with the Heavy Hitter.

• The Hotshot (EBCW)Explorer instead of Homebody. Turns up on the weekend, finds the hardest line, leaves with it.
• The Specialist (HMCW)Metronome instead of Burst. Knows the home crag's hard lines better than anyone, every weekend.
• The Weekend Warrior (HBPW)Pyramid instead of Ceiling. Big weekend days at the home crag, volume first.
• The Crimp Reaper (HBCD)Weekday instead of Weekend. Comes for the home crag's cruxes while everyone's at work.

The Heavy Hitter's opposite

Flip all four letters and you get The Vagabond (EMPD): climbing is the job: steady midweek mileage, crag to crag.

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