Wallstein

Well lets just say my partner had more of an epic than me. I think he just got off the crutches. I only bruised my ribs catching the whipper.

You find a couple of my biners up there from failed attempt/epic from a month ago?

Way to go guys! Looks great.

check out this check out this thread on supertaco. shows a modified gri-gri. I haven't heard this trick mentioned which I think is pretty key if you are doing any free climbing. I attach a Wild Country ropeman to my gear loop that hold the break strand. this allows me to keep the right amount of slack in the loop to make clipping easy. This isn't really a big deal when aid climbing but for free climbing its really important. I've been able to lead hard 5.11 with this rig and it works pretty well.

I did all the pitches maybe 4 or 5 years ago. I remember maybe placing a pin on p2. Thought it was kinda funky but I didn't really have a full rack for aid trickery. I free climbed all most all of it. The big corner pitch has been done clean but I nailed a few LA's. I was looking at if for the free potential and wanted a few really good pieces in place. bring lots of small offsets nuts. Pitch 4 wasn't so bad, but again I was free climbing a lot. don't remember if I placed any pins though. Doubt I used any sawed angles as I haven't owned any in a long time. not much help....

I looked at it and thats about all. I don't want to say it contrived but it's not the line of least resistance. If you follow the corner 8 ft higher there is an obvious finger bucket rail that leads to the arete (the 11b way). Never been one to make things artificially harder. That being said it does look cool and kinda hard.

I was jealous of you guys in the shade! The rock was so damn hot. Conditions should be perfect the next couple days to go up there with high's in the low 60's... You should go up there. Also look at Good Girls like Bad boys. Really good.

Yep I've been using that system pretty much since mini-traxions came out. Probably somewhere close to a couple hundred days of use on them (maybe even more). Usually the weight of the rope is enough to make it feed fine. If there isn't much rope hanging I'll put a pair of shoes or water bottle on it. Will work on a dynamic rope but I usually use a medium stretch static. The sterling safety-pro is a good choice. Decently burly sheath with enough stretch to make the fall soft enough.

Trip: Index - Upper Town Wall - Technicians of the Sacred Date: 8/14/2012 Trip Report: Every time that I come home it feels like its been to long and I don't spent enough time in my native state of Washington. I just spent the last month in Ten Sleep, WY pumping up my ego at what maybe the softest crag in the country. No better way to have an ego re-adjustment than heading straight to the Upper Town Wall and continue working on a multi year project of trying to tick the whole cliff. Thankfully I've had pretty good success in the last few summers up there and have managed to tick 8 different free routes. Even with that much experience there was still one route that I feared more than the rest, Technicians of the Sacred. Like most long free routes on the Upper Wall there is more hearsay and rumors than actual reports of anyone climbing them. A few that I've heard for Technician are "bad bolts, impossible if you are short, and unrepeated." Never one to listen to other people's conjecture I had to see for myself. As with many of the other routes I've done on the wall I opted to do my first mission solo and from the top down, especially given the rumors of bad bolts and the lack of traffic. Though I was actually surprised at how clean the upper pitches look, maybe it was cause it was way steeper than I expected. Nothing like a good dangle rapping over the 11b or 12c arete pitch up high! These are two of the best climbing partners I've ever had. They are always ready, they never get tired or lazy, and I never have to belay them. What more can you ask for? It appears no has been to this anchor in awhile. And I think I may of actually been the one who left the faded cordalette here years ago while working on freeing Golden Arch. The blue stuff looked really old. This view never gets old for me. After one solo mission on the upper pitches, I recruited Kevin Kewl to take a lead lap. We opted to skip the first pitch which is the crux and just did the remaining 4, which break down at 11b, 12a, 11b, 11b (mostly accurate in the classic Index sandbag sorta way). Kevin put on a good show and managed a no falls ascent. I fell once on the 12a after not executing my beta correctly. The upper two 11b pitches were some of the best I've ever done at Index and not what you'd normally find on the UTW. Big holds, above the head heal hooks, and technical stemming. Absolutely stellar climbing! Now that I knew I could do the upper pitches and was feeling a little bit better on the granite I came back alone and put some work in on the first pitch which is the crux 12b. Anybody who has been to the Upper Wall has seen it. It's a striking black and white streaked open corner that sits almost directly above where the trail spits you out. This pitch in particular has been through the rumor mill a few times. I've heard of multiple solid 5.13 climbers getting shut down on it. But being able to climb 5.13 anywhere else has almost nothing to do with being able to climb 5.12b at Index. It takes more than power or endurance to figure out a pitch like this. Often it comes down to creativity and an acute understanding of the subtleties of Index granite. I couldn't think of a more fitting name than Technicians of the Sacred to describe it. Though on my first burn I felt more like a technician of the irreverent than the sacred. I got straight up school'd. If I couldn't hold onto a hold I'd just try and grab it harder, if I couldn't reach a hold I'd try and crank farther, but mostly if I couldn't do a move I'd just slump into my harness and watch my ego slowly deflate to a more appropriate size. I had neither the respect nor the creativity required. I didn't even reach the anchors. Maybe the rumors were actually true this time? But if I've learnt one thing from all the climbing I've done over the years is the first burn is just that, Its the first and not the last. And to go right along with that I've also learnt that I will surely send it on my last go if I try enough times... I came back a couple days later with fresher tips, better shoes, and slightly more aligned ego. Which made a hint of a difference, I actually made it to the anchor after an hour and half of proper punishing. But the granite revealed a few more of its secrets which I met with a more respected and inspired approach. With little expectations I managed to do it with one hang next go. If nothing else I am persistent. I'd been in Washington for 6 days and had spent 3 on Technicians. MIght as well make it 4 out of 7... This time I enrolled my occasional "boss man" Fitz Cahall (of the kick-ass dirtbagdiaries.com check it out!) The plan this time was to go for it from the ground but still approaching it as another beta mission. My self given chances of sending where somewhere close zero. Confidence was high! With highs approaching the low 80's climbing in the sun would mean certain death. We opted for the 5pm start once the climb went into the shade. It was so warm at the base that we could barely sit on the rocks. At least their was no need for a warm up... I laced up my nearly brand new TC pros (which maybe considered cheating) and ventured upward doing my best to execute every move correctly. What I lacked in technicians ability and confidence I made up for with primal screams of stoke. Somehow it managed to work. I made it through the brutal 4 bolt crux to the rest ledge. I was maybe a tad bit more than slightly shocked. Yes, that was a double thumbs up send! The 5pm start didn't leave much light left for the rest of the climbing and didn't leave anytime for falling which thankfully I didn't do. But It still got dark up there. Par for the course. A technician of the sacred? Maybe. Maybe not. A technician of persistance and stoke? More likely. --- And a final note. The bolts are good, it doesn't matter if you are short, and its been repeated.

I'd say Swim is probably the easiest. Hard to miss the 1/2" bolts with chain straight down a clean face. I've done it at night without a headlamp. (twice now....)

Be ready to curse that thing and take it back to REI and don't rely on it if its needed for survival.

I used a Titanium Jetboil down in Patagonia this year and it was an absolute piece of shit. Probably the worst gear failure I've ever seen. First the knob to adjust flow broke off, then the small cup cracked in half, then the whole plastic ring/piece on the bottom of the pot melted and broke, and finally all of the little heat dispersing things on the bottom started falling off. Then not to mention the poor design of the handle and how loose the cozy/insulating layer is. My old original Jetboil lasted years with countless day of use. The new one made it less than 15 days and at $150 i was really disappointed.

Way to go Drew!!!! I'm going to have to hire him to be my rope gun this summer.

I've also used this method a hand full of times. Mostly while in the alpine. It can also be helpful for managing the slack below the jugger. When jugging in the alpine and its chossy sometimes its easier to have the belayer pull in the rope every so often so the jugger doesn't have to manage it. This can slow things down but sometimes its the right call. When the jugger get to an A1 piece or a big ledge he clips in and takes his jugs off real quick and the belayer pulls up all the rope. Obviously the jugger must be secure. I've also done with where the climber starts off jugging but then finishes on easy terrain and its easier to just get a quick belay then continue jugging. Definitely a good trick to have in the bag

Another option instead of inserting an additional piece of equipment into the system is just to add more rope to the system to reduce and/or remove the possibility of a factor 2. To do this the belayer just lowers him self below the belay by a good amount. Say 10 to 15ft or more. This makes it impossible to take a factor two fall onto the anchor. It is kinda a pain for the belayer to get into this position but not that bad with some crafty rope skills.

My girlfriend was the stunt double for the ninja in yellow in GI Joe. Can't wait to see the whole thing. Also a bunch of Canadian climbers were responsible for a lot of the rigging that went into the mountain stunts.

I'm with Sol as far as the Master Cams go. I've tried them and got frustrated with them as well as had difficulties cleaning them. I rocked Aliens back in the day when they didn't break, though they'd wear out way to fast for me. Three years of heavy use and the lobes were cooked. Hard to beat if you are into techno aid on El Cap. Though I've probably climbed El Cap 5 times without any Aliens now. Now a days I use a set of TCU's and a set of C3's. The C3's definitely take some getting use to as they are a slightly different size than the Aliens/TCU's . And so far I've had great luck with the durability of them. They do ice up fairly easy though. If I had to live with a single set the rest of my life it would be TCU's. They last a long time, they are easy to clean, don't freeze up that easy, and made by a solid company. And if opinions are weighted by how fast you can climb the nose leading every pitch I've got Hudon beat by 9 hours. But Mark is still one of my idols.

Depending on how far you want to go down it is possible to just use the min-traxions and nothing else. I use two mini's, the lower one tied to a longer belay loop and the upper one clipped to my normal belay loop. when you hang on the upper mini you can slide the lower one down. They will be close to 12" apart. To go down I grab the rope with one hand (to take a lot of my weight) and I use my other hand/finger to press the upper mini-traxions cam in to release it. I then slide it down till it is almost on top of the lower mini-traxion. I then slide the lower mini down and repeat the process. I can go down 3 to 5 feet with little effort. This process is much much harder on over hanging stuff, but i rarely mini-traxion steeper stuff. Works great at places like Index.

Glassgow is right, probably talking more in the 2-3k plus expenses. But as far as loosing rights to story/footage, that is always up for negotiations. I was asked to provide footage for this show for another spot they are running. And there is no way I was selling the rights to the story or footage. I was licensing the usage rights, big difference. A show like that can't afford to own the story and footage. I've also been asked a couple times to participate in some stupid reality tv show based on climbing. Both production companies were reputable and had the means to pull off a TV show but I DID opt out as the price they were willing to pay wasn't worth what they were asking of me. If they had offered 6 figures I'm sure I would of re-evaluated. To bad they didn't offer me that much as I'd be the one Layton was talking shit about, though I wouldn't care cause I'd be on an un-iterupted climbing trip for the next few years.

He's a sell out like the rest of us. We all have sold out to the modern world. He's given into the pressures of society to have a job and make money. Anybody who does that is selling something. Usually 40 hours of their life per week. KJ is opting to sell what he loves so he can do more of what he loves. For some reason I find that to be much better than selling most of your time to some job/activity that you don't love. And as far as Kevin getting involved in the wrong "circle jerk," I have a feeling that most people when offered a few thousand dollars for a days work would be part of any circle jerk asked of them. Most humans have a price.

I've got a custom FF vireo with half zip that I've used a bunch. Its great if it is just me and no wind. Thats what I used on the Devils Thumb traverse. Its also been used as two man setup but its just to tight. Definitely a great bag. But by adding a VBL from Western or the Sol Bivy and using the MB Down Hugger its only 50 grams more than a Vireo but I now have a wind/rain proof bivi. Also like the option of being able to share the Down Hugger with a partner, which is a no go with the viero. I've modified a BD winter bivi to barely fit two but it does very little to reduce the suffer factor. I just bought few yard of 1.3 oz Sil Nylon from Seattle Fabrics and am going to sew up a two man suffer sac. This was after the first of two REALLY cold shiver bivis on Fitzroy. Some how the decision of bringing a sleeping bag never came up so we didn't bring one. You can see the BD winter bivi around Kate's legs still. The night on top was definitely the coldest night of my life. A couple years earlier we brought a bag but only one bag for three people. I've got a custom zippered insert that gives it some room but it was still packed like sardines And yes of course chemical heater pacs are a must.

While doing some research for ultralight bivi systems I came across this on Western Mountaineering's website Has anyone used a system like this before? At only 127g (4.5oz) and being able to double as an emergency bivi it looks like a cool option. Adventure Medical Kits have some what similar products that might also be pretty good for really light bivi setups. Sol Thermal bivy I'm thinking about pairing one of the above VB setups with the Mont-bell Spiral Down Hugger which weighs in at a mere 391g (13.8). For a total bivy weight of 499g (17.6oz). This seams like it would be pretty light and versatile system. I've also considered using the Spiral Down Hugger as two man blanket system along with a Integral Designs Guide Tarp. This would total 830g (29oz) for a two man bivi. Any other ultra light bivy system out there?

Pink who would be stupid enough to spend 48 hours "speed" climbing on El Cap? Sounds pretty absurd to me... Huberbaum - short fixed and jugged the whole nose for the record. Hans/Yuji - mix of simul climbing and shortfixing. Dean/stanley - mostly simul climbed with a bit of short fixing near the top. All have there pro's and con's and all are way sketchy.

standing on a soap box is aid

Nice job up there Andrew. There was some tricky beta in the tight corner, impressive that you only missed one move. For some reason I doubt the route will ever see more traffic than an ascent every few years regardless of the grade. There is very little love for the UTW in the washington climbing community.