Climber type quiz / The Hotshot

What a Hotshot is like

You show up somewhere new, find the line everyone talks about, and go at it with everything. Your season is a few big weekends rather than a steady drip, and most of your sends sit at the top of your grade. You don't mind an audience. The pyramid underneath is thin, and a weekend without the big send can feel wasted, but when it goes it's the send of the trip.

Take the quiz: are you a Hotshot?

The four traits behind the Hotshot

Every climber type is four letters, one from each pair. The Hotshot is EBCW: Explorer, Burst, Ceiling and Weekend.

Explorer Where you climb: Explorer, not Homebody

You spread your days across a lot of different crags or gyms. New rock, unfamiliar styles and no beta are part of the appeal, and the same wall twice in a row feels like a waste.

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 Hotshot's kit has to handle

• Explorer: a chalk bucket that closes properlyA different crag every trip means the chalk lives in the car and the pack. A lid that seals keeps it in the bucket and off the back seat.
• 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 Hotshot

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

• The Heavy Hitter (HBCW)Homebody instead of Explorer. Saturday at the home crag, straight to the hard stuff.
• The Headhunter (EMCW)Metronome instead of Burst. Every weekend somewhere new, always at the top of the grade.
• The Joyrider (EBPW)Pyramid instead of Ceiling. Out for the fun of it, somewhere new every weekend.
• The Crusher (EBCD)Weekday instead of Weekend. Travels midweek for the hard lines and gets them done.

The Hotshot's opposite

Flip all four letters and you get The Local (HMPD): keeps the home crag in order, a few sends every weekday.

All sixteen climber types

Find my climber type