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freeclimb9

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Everything posted by freeclimb9

  1. Oversite Committees are a waking nightmare. The only implementations I've witnessed that work (kind of) are at the City of Rocks and a couple privately owned climbing areas in southern Utah and central Arizona. The basic problem is establishing authority. If your committee doesn't have it, you get no respect. And even if your committee does, big egos will still mess with you. my $.02
  2. Caleb Weatherbee of Farmer's Almanac fame has predicted a colder than normal upcoming winter.
  3. freeclimb9

    junkie

    Maybe this is a dumb question, but what is the situation where you'd use ice screws to bail rather than vee thread? Like when you are in a super hurry to get down as in a thunderstorm or something? It's pretty spicy to v-thread thin runnels, or ice-filled cracks.
  4. Though the calendar is a good idea, a beanie would get seen more often (and is useful for climbing). I envisage a black knit cap with "cc.com" across the back and and prominent "fuh Q" on the front. PM me if you want the name of a company that makes nice ones (fleece lined) for a reasonable price.
  5. Try to keep your right foot moving in a clockwise motion while you trace the number 6 with your right hand.
  6. It's been my experience that reasonably acting attorneys achieve fair results. An aggressive attorney can get the big score, or can just cost a lot. BTW, try some energy candy: www.zappage.com
  7. If I come out to climb ice, can I stay at your place? Do you have a snowmachine and ice tools too?
  8. At the gym this afternoon I decided to try it all. Shrugs, upright rows, and some yoga positions. The shrugs felt great as did hand stands; A spreading warmth from the pained area resulted. Is this some chakra release? Thanks for being a sounding board and for the suggestions.
  9. Well, a thin pillow helps when I'm hurting. But the pain itself is most often caused by strain, not unalignment. I have triggerd the pain with long weight-lifting sessions where I concentrate on shoulder exercises. I perform military press, lateral raise, and reverse fly. I also do cable rows with different grip positions and widths which work the mnuscles in the area. I'm wondering if another exercise might prevent the problem. Shoulder shrugs, or something else? With regard to yoga, I have done sun salutations astanga style in the past, and probably should start again.
  10. Sometimes I get muscle pain around the most prominent vertebrae at the base of my neck. I get no hand numbness, or anything, so I figure it's not a disc problem. The pain seems concentrated on the upper part of the vertebrae, and seems like a muscle attachment problem. This causes further neck stiffness. Can anyone recommend exercises, or anything else, to remedy, or prevent this? Thanks.
  11. It's quite possible. I got your digits somewhere, so will ring if I make the trip.
  12. Of course. But it concerned me that the boy's jackets didnt' have crotch straps. With regard to the aluminum canoe, it might have had flotation embedded in the bow and stern. It might not have. I have pulled aluminum canoes off of a riverbottom, so I know some don't float when capsized (that was yet another canoe epic, but not of my own making: I was tubing the upper Gila river with friends when some gumbies got into serious trouble. It really killed the beer buzz.). Different gear would have made it all a little easier. With no exaggaration, the trip across the lake was like a 2 mile stretch of class 2-3 whitewater. A canoe with no keel and some rocker would have been better. There's always next time.
  13. Really? I remember my parents showing us kids how even a completely submerged canoe could not be made to sink. Thank goodness, or I would have lost more than I did when we got swamped going down the Hoh... Anyway, capsizing wouldn't have been fun! My experience with aluminum canoes is that they sink unless you can keep them capsized with trapped air inside. A wooden, or plastic canoe will float.
  14. We had planned for an afternoon canoe ride across a couple lakes along the base of the Tetons. We got a ride to remember. The three of us –myself and my sons Nate (age 10) and Liam (age 8)– had spent a few days enjoying the tourist delights of the area from our tent cabin bivy at Colter Bay. The whole trip was meant as a diversion from the impending start of school. We had gone on a horse ride, swam in Jackson lake, and enjoyed the sight of the nearby mountains. For another experience, I decided we should rent a canoe from Dornans and paddle up String Lake and across Leigh Lake to the mouth of Leigh Canyon. We got the canoe –an aluminum model with no rocker and a keel– and got it into the water. Nate and Liam took turns being the bowman (the guy in front who sets the paddling pace), and we made our way northwards to the portage between String and Leigh lakes. I humped the canoe over the portage, and put into Leigh Lake. We paddled long the western shore of the lake, and stopped for a quick lunch. Then we started out for the beach at the mouth of Leigh canyon. Gathering storm clouds over the mountain crest warned of impending wind, so I encouraged the boys to keep paddling. They warmed to the task, and we clipped along. But we weren’t quite fast enough. When we were about 50 yards off the beach, the winds blasted from the canyon. Strong winds. Very strong. Winds strong enough to make it difficult to stand, and certainly impossible for us to paddle against. But that wasn’t an option anyways: the canoe’s slender sides acted much like a sail, and caused us to sheer away from our course. The northern shore was also close, but waves built rapidly, and I had no desire to keep the canoe broached. Nate and Liam, meanwhile, were getting tossed around the canoe by its rolling motion, so I barked at them to stow their paddles, to sit down, hold tightly, and not move. I braced my paddle to steer us to run with the wind, and we began our ride. The wind rapidly pushed the water into waves then ripped the wavetops away into spume that foamed into streaks across the lake. The waves themselves were about three to four feet from trough to crest. We were surrounded by white horses, and were being driven ourselves by the strong wind. The flat bottom and keel of the canoe –so pleasant for keeping a straight course while on a flat lake– were now making it very difficult to surf the waves. I was alternately bracing and side paddling to keep us from broaching. The last thing I wanted was for us to be swamped. The canoe would’ve sunk directly, and a swimmer would have a hard time remaining above the waves. Understandably, Nate and Liam were not especially calm, and I shouted through the wind more than once for them to shut up when they began crying their concerns for survival aloud. I shouted that we’d be okay if we could continue running with the wind. But warned that the waves would be higher as we got nearer the lee shore, and gave them instructions on what to do should we swamp. Waves began breaking over the stern –and over my back– as we were blown along. This wasn’t encouraging to me, but our speed was. The width of Leigh Lake that we traversed during the storm is nearly two miles, and we covered that distance in a time I estimate of 10 minutes. As we neared the lee shore, the waves caught and carried us for a longer distance, and drove us even faster than the wind could alone. I warned the boys that the most dangerous part of our trip was likely to be beaching the canoe among the breakers. But providence was with us when we arrived on the far shore: a small spit of rock formed a sort of breakwater along its northern edge, and I was able to control our surfing angle enough to scud into it. I barked orders at the boys to not move until I gave the word, then to do exactly as instructed. The canoe keel rode up upon the beach rocks, I jumped into waist deep water to hold the stern steady, then gave the word to exit over the bow. They were out in seconds, and into the forest while I pushed the canoe onto driftwood on shore. I overturned the canoe to drain the water then pushed it higher into the forest to create a shelter over the moss-covered ground. The boys crawled underneath, and I broke out raingear and chocolate to make our wait for the storm’s end more comfortable. An hour later the winds had abated enough for us to relaunch and sneak along shore to a part of the lake less in the line of the canyon’s mouth from which the maelstrom had emanated. And by the time we were paddling back across String Lake, hardly a catspaw broke the smoothness of the water’s surface. The three of us now joked and laughed through our adrenaline afterglow about what had felt like a near-disastrous situation. Definitely a canoe ride to remember.
  15. They're not called "Steve". "Katabatic" is used to describe winds created by cool air moving downhill.
  16. With regard to new clothing, the Sierra Club has a whole line of natural fiber casual clothes. Sales proceeds go to --surprise!-- the Sierra Club. They looked nice enough.
  17. Clearly you've been sleep walking. The meatless horsecock alone should've blown you away. And what about the dynamically water ballasted C-1 canoes? "New" comes to mind in describing that. BTW, the movie is called "Autoroute", but you were pretty close. Another party tonight.
  18. I spent yesterday (8-15-2003) at the Summer Market in Salt Lake, and saw some interesting stuff. Rock on: Approach/climbing shoes and boots: Vinylove baby: Electronic gizmos: meatless horsecock: more energy: BTW, the women at leashables were the finest.
  19. Yates makes a few leashes. They're very well thought out, well made, and have no stupid oversights. I like the M9 handcuffs which come in both right and left handed forms (some manufacturers only make leashes with one-handedness). Yates has also just introduced detachable M9 hand cuffs which would be a good match for steep ice tools --even leashless styles. http://www.yatesgear.com/
  20. I've climbed with a 100m 10.5mm rope. The weight of the rope is not a big deal compared to the weight of the honking rack. With regards to a 100mX9mm rope, that's an old ice-climbing trick. The leader ties into both ends and starts out on double ropes. If the leader can't make it to a nice belay spot, they untie and drop one end to be belayed by the single strand. I'd be hesitant to do that on easy rock terrain where the dropped strand is bound to get clustered.
  21. What's up with doing five sets of an exercise? From what I've read, the return in strength gains diminishes quickly with greater numbers of sets (the second set gives a return of about 20%, the third 8% --these are from a study at SUNY I think). Is the idea to just increase vascularity?
  22. Thanks for posting the announcement, wdietsch. It's an interesting choice for many reasons. For folks here in Utah, of significance is that it means Leavitt won't run for a fourth term. I'm sure the fight for Republican party endorsement among potential Governor canidates will be like a sack of cats: nasty and mostly out of sight.
  23. So wtf? Did you want to climb at the City, or elsewhere, or what? BTW, routes in the Tetons, or Winds, are primed since the weather is drifting towards an autumn cycle.
  24. I'll add another. "No good deed goes unpunished." Many, many successful climbing parties have been launched with much preplanning but little advance notice. Personally, I wouldn't put the word out about free beer and good climbing until about a week beforehand.
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