Creatine and Climbing--Thanx for the input

I want to thank everyone for their input on the question of 'is creatine worth it for climbing?' After some research, here's what I've found:

First, Creatine CAN (most likely WILL) make you stronger. It does this by cell volumization (retaining H2O on a cellular level

of creatine consumed in less than 5 lbs of raw beef, just that you would have to consume about 5 lbs of raw beef to equal the typical 5g serving size of a typical creatine supplement. that's a whole lot of meat everyday when you consider that the recommended 'loading phase' for creatine starts at 10g/day (=10 lbs of beef...but hey, it's what's for dinner!)

It sounds like you read the same research I did, and I can only add my own experience. I think this question about weight gain vs. recruitment may be specific for body type. I tend to stay really thin and have a difficult time gaining weight. My body fat percentage stays really low. I had been lifting for about three years before I started climbing, and twice used creating with good results during that time. I increased my protein and carb intake also, but noticed significant gains during my time using creatine. About two years into my climbing I decided to try a creatine cycle to see if it would help with contact strength and explosive power in bouldering. For me, a little weight gain is a welcome thing, as long as it's muscle weight and I again noticed good results. Of course some folks struggle to keep weight off and even gaining extra muscle weight is going to cause a decline in climbing performance. In general I am quite conservative with supplements, and stick to the widely known training principals. If you decide to use creatine, or any supplement, you may want to consider what your specific goals are and how you can measure these goals in order to evaluate your improvement.

Sorry, but I think all this is rather sad. Do you really need this???...