mattp

Sobo, you may be more skilled at pulling ropes, or perhaps don't do as much rapping on broken rock as I do. And I guess you must also have a greater fear of the EDK than I do. I agree that a stuck rope is a rare occurence (the last time for me was several years ago), but it can be a major problem and I am comfortable with the EDK. If a partner prefers something else, I'll use something else. If not, I'll opt for the EDK most of the time.

Get your rope stuck a couple of times and you may revisit that conclusion but I understand the idea.

Not true. Not even close. There can be significant differences in durability, handling characteristics, etc. not to mention colors. But the advice to buy cheap ropes and therefore perhaps feel inclinded to buy new ropes more often is not necessarily bad advice.

Good link, Mr. Fox. And I see that you and Matt are joined by others in calling the EDK an "overhand knot."

I would expect that to be the case, but do you have any statistics or case study anslysis of any kind?

Interesting. Do you have a picture of that?

Exept that I would NOT tie a back up for the Euro Death knot. Adding a back up will increase the chances of getting it stuck, and reduce the advantage. And note: it is not the same as an overhand (if you tie the overhand "correctly" as a follow-through knot). The overhand is probably harder to untie than the double fisherman's, not as secure, and not much easier to pull over an edge.

If you run a couple of searches, you'll find a bunch of discussion on this board. I like the Euro Death Knot, but some prefer the security of the double fisherman. This knot, with a "flat" profile on one side, allows you to pull the rope through bushes and over edges easier. You gotta tie it tightly, "dress" it properly, and use generous tails.

Robert - How much have you torture tested it? Does anyone have any idea how a pair of them might perform on steep rock climbs? Sheath slippage?

Some of my best friends are miscreants.

Fred Beckey has been quoted as saying "writing a guidebook is like having kids: there is no money in it."

For extended trips abroad, the capability to use AA's is a good asset. However, for any normal vacation climbing trip up to a week or so, I have never had a problem using the stock proprietary batteries that come with most small digitals - just buy one or two extras at the time of purchase and charge them up before you go. One thing nice to have is a camera that shoots wide angle shots. The Canon S-80 and Panasonic Lumix Fx01 are small cameras that shoot the equivalent of 28mm. But the Canon, anyway, may not be as tough as some other small point and shoots-or at least it seems prone to a malfunction retracting the lens. The Panasonic is reviewed to produce slightly lower quality images.

The "Superfly" variation on Total Soul is 5.10d or 5.11a as well. Dave Gunstone once told me that the bolt is at your waist for the hard move on Desire, though, whereas the Superfly crux traverses out left and up about ten or twelve feet from the pro bolt.

Last time I checked, criminolgists were virtually unanimous in saying that the crime statistics showed assaults in general and abductions of children were in fact no more common now than they have ever been, but they are treated differently in the news and our reaction to these events has changed. Whether it is sensationalism in the media or fear mongering for a political agenda or maybe some other factor, we believe that the we are in more danger now than ever before from attack by miscreants in our society. For sure, we live in a sick society and the problems of random violence are real, but it may not be the crime wave that you perceive. With a greater percentage of our population in jail than ever before, one thing that seems not to have helped is "sentence reform."

By the way, that second picture of the crag shows, on the left, what may be the hardest climb in Darrington. It is a steep bolted arete said to be 5.12 or something like that - very cool looking.

I disagree with Norman to the extent that I don't think DRTopo looks like pirated material (though of course it could simply have been copied from existing material and I wouldn't know). It is also my guess that the availability of free Internet topo's like those on that site and for that matter my own site are just as likely to INCREASE interest in and sales of the latest area guidebooks as they are to cut into sales. This is certainly true for me: I often purchase local area guidebooks even if some or even a substantial amount of the routes are depicted elsewhere. I believe it is true for others, as well: in the case of Index, for example, I bet the author will tell you that the free topo's available on the Internet have not cut into his sales even though at least 75% of the routes he depicts are covered in the net version. And my guess is that a measureable percentage of the sales of the Darrington CD guide produced by David Whitelaw have come from inquiries generated from my own site depicting the same area and my site may even be a major contributor to his sales. There are some who may say to themselves: why buy the guidebook when I can download and print for free. There are as many or more that want more information once they learn about an area, and there are a whole bunch of people who would simply rather have a guidebook than a stack of printer output.

Thanks for the report. I once climbed the first three or four pitches of Psalms 61, Dave Gunstone's route to the left of Desire. Like you found on Desire, it was not completely straight-forward and it could use some cleaning, but overall it was pretty good. I always thought I ought to go back some time and complete it, but have not gotten around to it. Dave Whitelaw's topos will be a lot more helpful here than those in Rock Climbing Washington.

It sounds as if maybe you thought I was saying one should avoid sport climbing. I was not. The best strategy to become a competent climber is to pursue a variety of skills and experiences even as you may focus on one particular style that you most enjoy or which is most accessible or whatever.

Without the headstrong confidence that comes from having led a bunch of hard and steep sport climbing, you might instead try to evaluate a given bit of terrain before you launch onto it and maybe figure out how to back down when something looks like it may be too much for you. This kind of "training" will be a good stepping stone for harder trad leads as well as some sport climbs that you may find are over your head and potentially difficult to retreat from or poorly bolted or etc.

Standard wisdom these days seems to be that one should stick to sport until they feel confident at some arbitrary level, and that only then should they try leading on gear - at some level of difficulty substantially lower. That is one way to make the transition, but certainly not the only way to do so - nor is it really any safer than simply starting out leading trad climbs in the beginning, in my opinion. I have seen plenty of highly capable sport climbers do nutty things when they start leading trad pitches because they have grown so comfortable with the climbing without regard for the consquences of a fall. If your "goal" is to climb more traditional rock climbs, or to pursue alpine rock climbing, I think you'd do yourself a favor to look for an opportunity to learn to place gear, follow wandering or complex routes, and learn to rely on your own judgment rather than that of the route setter at as early a stage as possible. I think it would help make you more competent in pursuing the wide variety of sport climbs out there as well.

Kurt has certainly been a big player in ropeup every year -- actively involved in planning and execution. If mid season turns out to be a difficult time to plan an organized event, perhaps we could look at plannint a Ropefest/Kurtfest a little earlier than usual - say in September rather than October. Reserving the goup campsites in Leavenworth may be more difficult, though.

I did it in late summer a few years back and we found little use for the second tool. We encountered one place where we had to leave the glacier and climb 50 feet on crumbly rock to get around a crevasse, and the bergshrund below the final headwall required some digging in deep slop and I may have used the second tool briefly - ramming the shaft in piolet style. I could certainly have used my partners axe just and then sent it back to him via the rope just as easily as carrying a second tool. I would be surprised if you found a use for ice screws.

In my opinion, it is the best 5.10 climb in Washington. Best I've done, anyway. It is a "linkup" in name only. Nobody has probably climbed the finish of Davis Holland as it was was originally done for 20 years or more, and ALL parties who complete the route do so via Lovin Arms. We maintain two separate names for historical reference only and, perhaps, the fact that many parties bail after the first three pitches.

Could PP be right? Is it all some kind of misunderstanding and simply a coincidence that Valerie Plame's ID as an intelligence operative was leaked when the Admin was trying to discredit Wilson? I feel like such a fool. All along I believed THESE guys: evilgopbastards.com

That hard move on P3 is a one-move wonder, and not really all that hard if you stem up as high as you can before comitting to it. And, yes, the pro is small - but you can put as many small wires in there as you want. P2 is sustained and, I think, a much more demanding pitch overall.