ryland_moore

VA sucks for rock climbing. There are a few small areas around Roanoke, Blacksburg, and up near Charlotesville, but not worth road-tripping to. Hit up the New, but it is kind of a long drive if you are going from the Red River Gorge or from S.W. Virginia. I'd focus more around Tennessee. You have the Obed River Gorge, T-Wall, Suck Creek Canyon, Foster Falls, Sunset, and countless others around Chattanooga and N. Georgia. If in N.C. Looking Glass is o.k. if you like multi-pitch friction slab, but I would go to Linville GOrge anyday over Looking Glass or Stone Mountain, another granite slab in NC along the Blue Ridge Parkway. Pick up the Dixie Cragger's ATlas and take a look. I'd rec. checking out Whitesides, but that area has some serious run outs. I saw one that was approx. 400' route with 8 pieces of gear! Strong ground-up ethic there, but really beautiful. Good luck! Also check out the Southeastern Climbers Coalition. They usually have good info on areas to climb.

Dwayner, these aren't caves of the limestone variety, they are hollowed out lava tuves made of volcanic rock. In talking with Kimball from Eugene, he was telling me that you can still climb in them, just do not use any chalk. As for bolted routes, I always thought there were lines in there, just not sure if a) they were chopped or b) you are allowed to put up others.

Its my birthday that weekend too! Thatnks Timmay for hosting my B-Day party at Smiff this year!

eternal X, I know you are trying to be prepared for this climb, but I can't help but ask what kind of glacier experience and two-man rope team travel have you had on a mountain like Rainier? Why so many questions? The Emmons is definately one of the first routes to head up, but just because it can be straight forward, does not mean it is easy or does not have inherent dangers. I apologize if I read your questions wrong, but many of them seem pretty basic. Like you should already know the answers yourself before climbing Rainier. My bad if I am wrong, it can be hard to digest this kinda stuff through the internet. At least one of the two of you should be very experienced in climbing big glaciers. My two cents. Have a good weekend. Leaving for Sahale slog now!

The knot strategy can work well on glaciers.....when there is snow for the rope to cut into. If you are on the Emmons this late in the season, I am assuming (and only assuming) that the glacier is pretty close to being dry. Meaning that the rope would not really cut into the lip of the crevasses. I may be wrong, but this style definaltey works better when there is a layer of softness over last season's snow accumulation, rather than solid ice that has been going through the melt-refreeze cycle all summer long. If you are going to travel in a two man team, you should be able to extract a fallen climber from a crevasse by yourself. Period. The hardest thing is actually setting up the anchor. Once you can take the weight off your harness and onto the anchor, then you are alomst home free. Just like a normal extraction from this point forward. I would also suspect that the Emmons this time of year has clearly defined snow bridges and you will know where the looming gapers are as they will be visible. I doubt you will have serious issues with punching through completely covered hidden crevasses. With that said, snow bridges can still collapse, so just be cautious. Have a blast and best of luck with solid weather!

Yeah, I was supposed to pick her up at the Portland airport by 8pm that SUnday. But I was still dropping you off at your house by that time in Tacoma! She ended up renting a car and driving home, then lecturing me about responsibility and priorities. I think she is clear on my priorities now.

I have done three stupid things in the last 11 years while climbing. First was at Foster Falls in Tennessee. My partner and I were climbing a .10c arrete. However, the pitch started up on a ledge about 30 feet off the trail. There was a tree to use as an anchor for the belayer. My buddy was chomping at the bit to jump on the arrete, and in my haste to get ready, I just clipped the anchor around the tree to the back of my harness without paying much attention. Well, at the second bolt my partner fell and as I caught his weight, something broke on the back of my harness and I was sliding to the edge. As I came up to the first bolt (waist height at the edge of the ledge) I was able to sink my weight down and not be pulled anymore. My buddy was hanging 5 feet off the deck 25 feet below me! I had clipped the biner to the anchor into a little plastice piece for ones chalk bag and not the belay loop on the back. The other dumb mistake I had was in Banos in Ecuador. We had just finished climbing Chimborazo and were headed down to the warmer climates to jump on some limestone and party a little. I was so anxious to climb I quickly tied in and started to climb. After the 3rd bolt on this awesome .11 the crux soon appeared abover me. It was fairly easy to this point (5.9 face) but had some steep, slightly overhanging bouldery moves starting 5 feet above. I looked down to tell my belayer to watch me and I saw my harness! I was using my mountaineering harness and it was one those deals that has the webbing come up in a loop below the crotch and you clip a locker between that part and the waist belt. I realized I had only tied into the legs! I downclimbed the route to the ground and retied back in properly. Finally, I went climbing with Erik and a friend up to Stuart last summer. We were moving pretty slow to attempt the N. Ridge in a day, so decided to bag it and just do W. Ridge. Erik's friend had been paddling Class V all day the day before and had only about an hour's worth of sleep. So we just went over to the base of he W. Ridge and started climbing thinking that if it is called the W. Risge, it must climb the W. Ridge proper, right? Wrong! After 4th classing it up solo for about 400 feet, we were beginning to realize that this way was not that heavily travelled. On one of the many series of "steps" there was a pseudo-chimney in front of me with large loose blocks barring the way to another ledge. I smeared one foot on the right side, and the other foot on the left side. I then palmed with my right hand and my left found a little crimper that ewas perpendicular. Has I stepped up, I transferred all of my weight onto my left foot and left handed crimper. Then the crimper broke and I was falling. I grabbed for the loose blocks in front of me and they started to slide. My feet were touching nothing as the side of the walls were about 4-5 feet apart, and below the blacks and ledge the rock was undercut. Thankfully, the rock blocks stopped sliding, but I still couldn't move. Erik's friend looked up at me who was about 30 feet below and said that he almost puked watching that. If I would have fallen, I might have stopped at the saddle between W. Ridge and Ingalls. I will never put all of my weight onto a single hold again.

Then you probably do not need to hear about the rest. It caused a few people to get physically ill!

I'll come up! I'd love to see him again and all you guys too! A Talkeetna Pub-club reunion? That could be scary! We will have to get Biff to fly out from Virginia.

I will look forward to see how your trip went. I am taking my GF up to Sahale this weekend. Looks like we will have good weather up in NCNP!

Heading up there next weekend. We could make a cc.com outing over it. Leejams, sounds like we have a similar tick list this summer!

Why was the smowboarder's death (I think he was from Argentina and living up at the mountain for the winter) on Cooper Spur not reported? Also, in the big accident up the S. Side, no mention of the helicopter crash. Why leave out pertinent climbing info. and include a non-climbing related accident in there where a guy died when he tied rope to a tree and used it as a handline to go down to get his cell phone that he dropped down into a rock quarry in New Mexico? Also, some bad-ass climbs were put up last year! If anyone works for AAC, excellent work on getting out the books to your members prior to them going out to stores. You guys are on the ball now!

He wants to do a route on the other side of the mountain where there will be very little traffic so he can say he did what he he says he did without anyone to be able to verify!

Or do Torment Forbidden traverse and descend East Ledges.

While descending the gully b/w Liberty Bell and Concord, we came across a goat. He looked thirsty so I took a leak on a nearby rock and the goat came right over. He was very thirsty!

Anyone know who the hero(s) is (are)?

If its not in just go do Entiat Icefall instead!

All of them......

"In order to run for the governor of California, we are going to have to put you on a strict weight training program and growth hormones if you ever want to compete with Arnold. We will also have to get you some bitches in your entorage so you can compete against Larry."

Too bad the final episode was two nights ago!

Were they rap anchors, or for a hanging belay off of bolts instead of setting up their own anchors? Not for leading the crack obviously.

I've heard the N. Face has a lot of loose shite. Is this true?

Are the caves, like Skeleton still fun to climb in sans chalk (chalk is aid!), or is all of the trash and the like make it a hideous place to be bouldering?

Does it go up right from the notch? Further down? Anyone have a topo of this climb? I haven't looked at the Beckey book yet, but just in case, beta? Thanks.