Jens

Great ropes...... Know for their soft hand. Probably not the best cords for nail ups and other such abuse though.

It can get pretty ganrly on top in winter. My advice is to give yourself a good chunk of time so you can drink beer at the Highlander in Ashford and them jump on a high pressure window when it arrives. Bring skis.

Cool TR

Love that shot of sherpa balanced rock! ---------------- I don't do campfires up their but is the rule no fires above 5,000 feet? Isn't that meadow somehere about 5,000? They might be OK?

The skinny ropes really do wear out quicker. Many sport climbers put about 2-3 falls a day when sport climbing (warmups, onsights, and projecting) I buy about 1 rope a year for sport climbing. I usually buy a 70m and cut it down at both ends as it gets beat on. Did anyone ever use that Beal program rope that is fat at the ends and skinny in the middle? I'll bet we'll see something like that again someday.

One of my partners had em' and liked em' but said they had durability issues. (I rember the sole coming off!). Speaking of scarpa, they look like they are strarting to spit out some sweet rock shoes. Back with a vengance after a 15+ year slump.

Their is some huge overhanging real-estate where you speak. Base jumpers reading this might want to have a look someday.

Serenity. Thanks for shedding some light on Blackwater issue. Keep the posts coming.

I saw em' writing tickets about a year ago.

When you pull into the flare, pull in with your right side in. You can't switch to use the rest if you pull in left side in. I think clean crack is easier than rotc (and not nearly as good). Tim, you are so right about Dagobah system. The moves are thrilling but a little licheny.

Wolf would be cool to have a beer with. As for teaching other to rope up, I met an old dude on the Ptarmigan traverse once who said he taught Jim Wickwire how to climb.

Man, these stickers on cars mean watch out- I drive like an idiot! It seems to be pretty much universal. ---- Speaking of stickers, anybody esle remove all their climbing bumper stickers so their stuff doesn't get jacked?

I'm super anal about my resoles. Nobody's perfect. Ramuta is pretty good though. I've only been unhappy with about one job in the last seven or so. Although I wish he would put thinner pieces of rubber on for better sensitivity. All in all, he's awesome! Page's is weird, I've seen the most amazing work of all time and some work that so crappy, the shoes were virtually unusable. My theory is that if Dave does em', they rock. He can put a super thin slab of rubber that is of consisten thickness for uber senstitivity with great rand work. If one of his underlings does em', throw the shoes away. Just a theory.

Cordellettes,equalettes, and daisy chains are lame.

Yikes, while reading the paper today, I noticed that the canadian dollar is crushing our dollar. I wonder if more ice folks from Seattle will chose Colorado or Montana trips over the Rockies? Luckily Lillooet ice is always a baragin. I sure love Banff, but may have to cut down on the number of trips. As for rock, Certainly smith trips over squamish for me.

That sounds good!

Yes, I cut all the shit off my harnesses. I guess it might be a good practice for all of us to frequently spin our belay loops? As a sidenote, their are some brand new sporto-rigs that feature a skinny spectra belay loop. Doesn't that stuff melt at super low temps? When rapping, belay loops get quite hot. But I guess if you are a high end sporto, you don't do much rappelling. What are all those harnesses that the sponsored folk are wearing that have black leg loops with neon green edges?

Nice climbing guys. I must say that "Elvis' Pharmacist" is probably the best route name of all time.

If you want, cascadeclimber & I might be able to show some willis wall video footage and slides. We promise not to be as drunk as we were for our slideshow several years ago.

No, both pairs get worn at the crags and gym.

It'll be interesting to hear more about the Russians ascent of the grandaddy of all peaks. --------------------------------- Even though I'm a sporto myself, sadly I must admit that Dwayner is right on the money with his exit 38 comments. Or at least for all the bolted choss that lies on the south side of I-90, 99% of which has more clips than moves and some of the worst rock of any established crag in America. People that jump between vantange and exit 38 for their cragging are really fooling themselves.

I have two pairs of the exact same shoes that I swap routinely at the gym and at the crags. One pair has been resoled with stealth c4 the other with Oynx. I personally can't tell the difference. ------------------- As a sidenote: The rubber montrail puts on their shoes is worse than the stuff on the shoes when I started climbing. One has no chance of climbing near their limit with montrail rubber.

Amazing. This mediocre route has gone in under an hour.

It has certainly been contemplated by many climbers over the years, including one scheme that inovled an inflatable air mattress.