Wallstein

Rumor has it that he couldn't do my route Dark Side of Liberty so he had to settle with doing some long moderates instead.

Good job Alex and Andy! Having been up there numerous times over the years (most recently this august) I think the pin scar that takes the famous red c3 has really improved. I remember it being pretty finicky 10 years ago and now it seems like it will take any cam of the appropriate size. Glad to hear you guys figured out the correct belay stances and didn't stop at the two bolts near the end of pitch 5. I should probably just remove the old bolt so there is just one there, which would force people to keep going to the good stance in the corner. It is also possible to easily link pitches 2 & 3. I hadn't done it that way till this summer and not really sure why not? Bummed I missed you guys up there. It was a really lonely August on that wall...

I never got around to writing a trip report on Cascade Climbers for my new route, Slave to Liberty, on Liberty Bell from this past summer. It takes a line just to the right of Liberty Crack and to the left of Thin Red Line. It goes at 5.13- with 7 of the pitches being new and 1 pitch being an FFA. I did put the route on Mountain Project though. Info can be found here; Slave to Liberty

We went out to the Gorge again today and did some scoping. Hoping to squeeze in Crown Jewel before it turned into a river again. Unfortunately that has already happened. We continued east a bit and noticed a good looking flow that wasn't running with water. It was on the cliff just to the left of the Rat Cave. Pretty sure it is called the Slippery Dolphin in the guide book and rarely forms. We were extremely surprised to find completely dry but plastic ice. The whole feature is still really well bonded to the wall and doesn't appear to be going anywhere anytime soon. We thought it was around grade 4+ or so on the left and maybe 5 on the right but the ice was so sticky that it all felt pretty easy.

We did the first 3 on Friday and also got bombed by a bit of stuff. There are some pretty big death-cicles hanging around the top. The 3rd pitch was pretty wet and the 4th looked really wet unfortunately. Thought about going back with a super early start on Saturday but the wind forecast scared me off. And our car got broken into at the trailhead. My girlfriend started getting charge notifications on her phone when we were on the 2nd pitch. The fucking tweakers went to Macdonalds and Wallmart! Who the hell goes there when someone else is buying!

All good advice in this thread. I'm in the petzl rocpec camp. I used the pika early on and hated it. Also used the hurricane and didn't love it. Also used high speed steel bits and could never figure out the "twice" as fast thing. I found the bits to bind way more and slow me down. Finding a hammer that fits you is also important. I've tried the original A5, the new D5, the Mcdevitt, and a petzl one but I've always returned to my original BD wall hammer. I've got small hands and short arms and the smaller nature of the BD hammer fits me perfectly. I also don't swing super hard, I'm am more of a gentle driller and find my sds bits don't chip nearly as fast this way. The one piece of advice that I never see mentioned in threads like this is to use Loctite or any of the available thread lockers.. Since the torque is so much lower on Stainless steel bolts the nut has a tendency to loosen up a lot. I can't tell you how many newish SS bolts I've come across that have loose nuts or the nut and hanger are completely gone. If there is a sling on the bolt the wind will the blow the sling back and forth and eventually loosen the nut right off. Seen this in Patagonia many times and around crags of the PNW. And regarding the blow tube or pump. I don't actually believe it is necessary. When I started bolting I always used one but I forgot the tube enough times that I just used the bit to twist all of the dust out out. After awhile I just stopped bringing a tube. Not sure of my exact count but I know I have for sure placed over 300 bolts by hand and have never once gotten a spinner. Then I've had partners using the exact setup as me and they used a blow tube and they got spinners. I think it has more to do with drilling technique and precision than dust in the whole. The only asterisk to this is if you are drilling on a horizontal surface and the dust doesn't naturally want to work it's way out. That would be a good time for a blow tube.

Pink! Dude that is a great old photo. I actually came across our ZM slides not that long ago. What a trip eh? Still look back at those days and think how crazy we were. It's no wonder that I've got so much grey hair these days! And that is the jacket that got skunked! Remember rolling into Vegas afterwards and still smelling like skunk?

I am almost inspired enough to go out there and try it some day! Good job guys!

I'd be interested in the Rockies book.

PM sent on the ledge

EDIT: I found a pair. Thanks! I'm looking for a some Silvretta bindings that will preferably take a smaller boot though I could also possibly be interested in large ones to modify. email works best. mikeylikesrocks@gmail.com

Thanks John! Sounds like SJ got in touch with you.

I'm looking for a room, small condo, apartment or ADU in Portland to share with my girlfriend. She works at OHSU and needs to be fairly close or have easy access to the 5 or 405. It will mostly be her at the place as I live near Smith and travel a lot. Anyone have any room or ideas? We need to be out of our condo in downtown at the end of the month and haven't found a great option yet. We come with perks. I've got a great place just down the road from Smith Rock that you'd be welcome to crash at. I can also offer some pretty good discounts on Patagonia gear. And if you happen to break a bone my girlfriend should be able to fix it for you! You can email me at mikeylikesrocks@gmail.com if you have any leads. thanks.

check out the Patagonia Nano Air Vest. not sure if it is in season right now though. I've been using one for awhile now and it works great for me layered over a cap 4 weight piece.

I wish I could make it. Trevor can be entertaining.

I'll probably be headed that way next monday or so.

Somebody who worked on this movie https://chasingice.com/ might have some info. The had time lapses running for a really long time.

PM sent.

Only problem with the shrink wrap idea is that it is a no go in the alpine or anywhere that a stuck rope is a real concern. Those little pieces have a tendency to wedge themselves in little cracks and get stuck. If your rope only goes to single pitch areas this wouldn't be a concern. I definitely cut the factory shrink wrap markers off when I uncoil the rope for the first time. You can also just use a sharpie and write the details of the rope near the end. This lasts a surprisingly long time since that part of the rope doesn't really get used much.

I've seen the ends melted and flattened, then a heated metal stamp is used to put some number and or letters on the end. This becomes the identification for the rope and its details are stored in a log book. Not sure that would be practical for recreational use but I've seen in used in the guiding industry.

This is hands down the best soft shell patagonia has ever made. 100 bucks is a good deal.

Nice one Marc!

I've been tr soloing with a mini traxion since they came out in in the early 2000's. They caught on pretty quickly in Yosemite where I was living at the time. Since then I'm sure I've put in a couple hundred days with them. Pretty much every hard route I've established I used mini traxs to work out the moves. Most of these routes were at my limit and even above so falling on them is something I'm very acquainted with. I can think of one pitch in particular that took at least 50 attempts before i could do it. I probably fell over 500 times on that pitch alone. In all those years and falls I've only once done damage to my rope. And that one time was one of the few times I've used a dynamic rope. I'm not sure exactly what type of rope it was but more than likely a Sterling Nano or a Beal Joker (around 9.2mm). I remember I wasn't that excited about using that rope but I needed a 70m to get down and it was the only one I had. After numerous falls in the same spot I'd done some minor damage to the sheath. This probably wouldn't of happened with a fatter rope but I don't really use any fatter dynamic ropes. Since most of the routes I mini-traxion on are fairly big ( grade IV or longer) and take weeks and sometimes years to complete its pretty important that I use static ropes to fix everything. Dynamic ropes just don't hold up to the abuse of jumaring, rappelling and mini-traxioning. I've never once wished I was on a pitch and had a dynamic rope. The last major route I did I purchased 1800ft of Sterling Safety Pro 10mm low elongation rope. This has 3.2% stretch and feels pretty good to fall on. I'd stay away from the polyester blends as the elongation can be as low as 1%. I've used one of these ropes and they aren't that much fun to fall on though they are great for jumaring. The best ropes I've found aren't too stiff and aren't too limp. Either one will cause the rope to not slide smoothly. Blake posted a photo of mine in his blog post showing my setup. I still use this setup with one minor change. I drilled a small hole in the top mini-traxion that fits a little key ring. I then use a piece of elastic (old headlamp band) with a barrel toggle to adjust it. I put the elastic over my shoulder just like a shoulder length. This holds the mini-traxion up nice tight and helps with the feeding.

I use a 2 to 3L Dromedary and a 1/2L Nalgene on most Alpine climbs. Colin doesn't mention the 1/2L Nalgene but he also uses one on some climbs. I've found it to be the best of both worlds. I can put hot water in the nalgene or fill it up in little trickles or puddles. Its easy to clip to my harness or even put in my jacket but doesn't take up a lot of bulk.

Those are some really beautiful paintings! I wish I was up in Seattle right now and I'd definitely go check out the opening. Jeff, you be interested in trading some prints?