rob_cranfill

Nice job, Jacob!

As to the earlier poster's suggestion of "protect, protect, protect", I had an experience in 2001 on the R&D that perhaps tempers that recommendation. I was belaying a beginning leader (I still to this day wonder if I could/should have done more to help protect her) who was on the first pitch of R&D and had gone a tad off route, placing pro in something of a zig-zag line, when she got to a rather large mantle move, which she then did *not* protect. She went to make the move, and the rope drag popped her back off, tumbling down quite a ways, breaking ribs and face bones and I don't want to remember what else. Of course, the real problem was putting the *wrong* pro in, and not the *right* stuff, so "protect, protect, protect" is still valid, I suppose. Communication, as always near Icicle Creek, was basically impossible. I still wonder if I perhaps should have just refused to pay out more rope when I could see she was off route. If she'd just made that mantle move, all would have been OK. Maybe. - rob

As for letting SAR know that the "Y sign" might be an anchor, the home page of the Oregonian (newspaper) has a picture of it, and it's captioned "Rescuers found this self-equalizing anchor on the side of Mt. Hood." So I think people know. - rob

Re: The Seattle Times' quote "the depth of ice on the Blue Glacier has dropped an average of 65 feet annually since 1987" There was a correction in the paper the next day. They meant to say the average depth of the ice had dropped 65 feet since 1987.

Thanks, dudes. BTW, I've thrown my bivvy bag down in the trees back of the parking lot for Blue Lake, so if you've got a real small tent (ie, one-man) maybe you can do it. - rob

So okay, I've never done LB but two buddies of mine want to do it. I was wondering if a party of three could do the Becky Route reasonably? I guess I'm wondering if the belay stations, such as they are, are large enough, and bomber enough, for doing a party-of-three deal. I'm guessing a 5.6 route probably doesn't have hanging belays. I know it's less than optimal, but I'm the only one who leads trad. We'll do it mid-week so as not to be *too* much of a roadblock. Or maybe we'll just do SEWS, and I'll have 'em draw straws for the honor of LB. Whaddayathink? - rob

(No, not some kind of tiny offwidth....) I don't know the proper phrase to describe this, but last weekend I went climbing at Leavenworth, and after doing three 5.9 cracks, I look at my thumbs and say "Hey, what are those cracks in my thumbs?" (said in the voice of the young Bill Cosby). My friends said it was a common complaint - pressure cracks in the calluses beside and 'above' (toward the tip of) the nail. Deep, icky things. I've had 'em taped for the last four days, and think they're healing OK, but I wanna know how to prevent 'em. People have suggested various things: file the calluses down; keep 'em soft with Aloe Vera gel; keep 'em soft by hand-washing my dishes (never!). I was wondering if this is the sort of thing people use "Bag Balm" for? Any other suggestions? = rob ------------------ rob.cranfill@att.net My home page

I've been using a pair of Morotola FRS radios (dunno which model, the cheapo one without any LCD display at all... I think it may be discontinued) and I like 'em for the aforementioned yelling-over-the-wind-and-around-the-corner belay situations, and also for separated parties. Used them once between a party waiting at the Snow Creek parking lot and another party at the base of Snow Creek Wall (not sure exactly where they were, but pretty far in). I wanted to add that I have developed the superstition that the units will drain the battery even when they are "off". I can tell that the radios never really go all the way off, since even then if I press the "monitor" button, they make a little tiny clicking noise out the speaker. So I keep 'em with their batteries out (probably would suffice to remove just one battery from each, but I do all three.) - rob

Re: Mountain Masters I bought a pair at REI (don't laugh) last year, and they told me the rubber was some new formulation, supposed to last longer. Well, maybe so, but after 1 year, this pair is looking kinda thin. I wear 'em every day, in town, and I think that was a mistake. Other than that, I like 'em. But I think I'm just gonna go back to wearing hiking boots to the crags; stash 'em at the base.... - rob

Spent the day at Vantage, Friday March 9th. Cold in the AM, but HOT in the sun by noon - I climbed without my shirt on! A couple of tiny splotches of ice left in the shade, but other than that, it was like spring time. Saw maybe 8 people the entire day. A few loose holds here and there, but this is only my second time at Vantage, so I don't know if that's par for the course, or if it's post-winter erosion.... Get out there, folks, it's happening! - rob