freeclimb9

Been there, done that. Your premise about optimal flight times in Summer is incorrect. Colder air is more dense, and offers more lift, so Winter can be much better. The problem with the whole climb-then-fly scenario isn't when conditions are great, or when the suck. In those cases, the decision to fly, or not, is clear. When conditions become marginal, however, the decision making process can be torqued by adrenaline, and bad decisions are made. And there is no safety line. The fact is, if you fly, at some point you're gonna bounce. Maybe really hard.

FREE BEER! Hell, I'd go back to the NE Oregon area just for the scenery.

If you want to hear about a bad experience, I recently traveled through Enterprise Oregon, and found the local drinking establishment CLOSED! WTF? It was 10:30AM already!

quote: Originally posted by Fromage: 1. Where is a good place to slog up to and make a high camp from which to do most of the classics on the Grand (Exum, O-S, Petzoldt, etc.)? IMO, the lower saddle is best, but go light or suffer. The other camp spots --meadows, caves, moraine-- are good, too. They just require an adjustment in departure time. 2. Anyone ever had any problems with wildlife? Especially the non-human kind, but I guess the question lends itself to smartass answers. Lower elevations are where the megafauna are encountered. 3. Has anyone been there late season before? Your thoughts and recommendations? Late August is not "late season". The "season" really starts in mid-July and runs through September. September can be the best month for rock climbing since there's no one around and there's minimal snow. For the ice routes, the ice gets fairly black as the season ends (depending on the year). This year was almost normal, so there's plenty of snow. The Black Ice couloir was all snow as of July 4th. Any other beta or suggestions for a fun, pleasant, safe trip are appreciated. There's free camping if you drive into the Grand Teton National Forest east of the range. The view from the Jackson Lodge makes the drinks that much better. Moose falls --about a mile from the entrance into Yellowstone (there's a bridge that goes over them)-- features warm water for a nice place to swim in the current and into the falls themselves. There are a lot of other climbing routes that are great, but aren't listed as "classics". Victims of classics-myopia might suffer long waits in line.

I believe the longest one day USCF-sanctioned race is Lotoja (www.lotoja.com) with over 200 miles of racing. September 14th this year. For 2003, I think the race will end on top of Teton pass, but for now the race still rolls along the Snake river from Alpine to Jackson Hole.

Of all species, the barnacle has the largest penis in relationship to its size... this is why you will never see a barnacle driving a Ferrari.

Did it dawn on you that she was trying to make conversation? Did you get a name and phone number? If not, you blew it.

A true pocket camera: SiPix Blink (http://www.sipixdigital.com/). It's 2X2" and 1/2 inch thick and costs about $40. Practically an impulse buy.

try Mad Shark: http://spiritonin.com/interactive/games/sharkgame.swf

There's more to life than climbing. In my spare time, I'm currently trying "to send" the making of the perfect Dirty Martini. Garnish with blue-cheese, or jalepeno, stuffed green olives?

Which is scarier, a Postal worker with an assault rifle or a Forestry worker with a box of matches?

Learn to read, sisu suomi. The complainer, jobe, never used the words "ass hole". He stated that he felt that he was treated like "crap". And from Geeting's sarcastic response, that's not implausible. "DG" should have ended his response letter after the fifth sentence, IMHO. Caveat Emptor? Or, the customer is always right? DG: "Do you have any idea where I make my money? It an't from climbers." It's from paying customers. [ 07-01-2002, 09:17 AM: Message edited by: freeclimb9 ]

with July 1st so close, how do Canadians spell "Canada"? C eh? N eh? D eh?

quote: Originally posted by JayB: FWIW, I've had the misfortune of ascending stuck ropes* *Any official protocol to follow when this happens? I'd be interested in hearing about any other means of getting oneself out of this situation... I wouldn't claim to know any "official protocol". I have unstuck ropes by leading up to the problem by shuffling a prussik (actually a hedden) along while placing gear. The rope in our grasp was anchored. After freeing the rope, I tied in, downclimbed and cleaned the gear while my partner started to belay me down. This has happened to me a few times, and always while rapping less-than-vertical knobby rock. If you get a rope stuck on rock that you can't climb, you'll have to improvise something else.

let the sufferfest continue, eh? I spent the last week sipping cold beer and frozen rum beverages under a tropical sun. There wasn't any slush except for in the glass. Oh well. Chatatcha later.

You should know that the best presents come in small packages. A small pulley and a Tibloc (or two tiblocs to make a z system) would fit in your pocket. Unless you're gonna haul hundreds of pounds of stuff. (Note: I think the Tiblocs can be pretty hard on a rope's sheath. But they're pretty cool.)

more stuff=more stuff. While leading on a wall, you'd probably want to carry ascenders anyways (especially if the route is overhanging), so why carry something that weighs much more than a pulley? You don't need a bunch of disco crap to climb walls.

It's all a cluster fuck. The Arctic ocean is predicted to be ice-free for part of the year within 50 years. Alaska has an average temperature that has increased seven degrees in the last 30 years. The largest forest kill by beetles has occured reportedly because of this warming (it's on the Kenai, and fire insurance can't be had there anymore). Songbirds and mosquitoes are in parts of Nunavat where no one has seen them before. The days of iceworms are numbered.

Go early in the day to stay dry.

Get shoes that fit your feet. The performance is up to you. Boreal goes with an anatomically "perfect" last that has the big toe longest. The other 40% of us with Morton's toe (second toe longest) have to live with a dead space in Boreal shoes. (I still dig Aces, and have had a pair in my quiver for 14 years). La Sportiva has a more nuetrally shaped last that fits more people. For me, La Sportivas are ready to go out of the box. With regard to slip, or board lasted, that's up to you too. Lynn Hill used to send wearing Le Menestrals (VERY stiff board lasted shoe. Like a Buster Brown with sticky rubber), and Steve Schneider does offwidths in slippers.

A couple just got a new house. The husband turned to his wife and ask her to go to the hardware store and get a door hinge for him. She kindly agreed and left. When she got to the hardware store, got the hinge, and put it on the counter in fornt of the clerk. He noticed that she didn't have any screws for it, so he asked her ''Do you want a screw for that hinge?'' She looked back at him and said ''No, but I'll blow you for that toaster in the window.''

quote: Originally posted by sk: satin spawn ???WTF??? You're oversharing. Details of your lovenest are too much, IMHO.

I've had double ropes of 50, 55, and 60m. IMO, the 55s were the best compromise between length and weight. Whatever you get, go BlueWater. The Icefloss are beautifully handling ropes.

twisted game: http://spiritonin.com/interactive/games/sharkgame.swf

Grandstaff's funeral was last Monday with a memorial service in the evening at Calico Basin. From the Las Vegas Review Journal, "Grandstaff's brother-in-law, former Clark County Fire Department spokesman Steve La-Sky, said Saturday that investigators have determined the accident was caused by an equipment failure known to climbers as a 'catastrophic anchor failure.'" His obitiuary in the paper follows: Randal Grandstaff, 44, died Wednesday. He was born Sept. 24, 1957, in Las Vegas. A climbing instructor, he was a member of American Mountain Guides Association, Union Internacionales Des Associations De Guides De Montagne, Boy Scouts of America and a lifetime resident of Las Vegas. He is survived by his wife, Laura; stepdaughters, Stephanie Sanders and Whitney Sanders; mother, Carmella Chris; brother, Sam; and sisters, Darla La-Sky, all of Las Vegas, and Carla Jones of Houston. Services will be 2 p.m. Monday at Palm Mortuary-Downtown. Palm Mortuary-Cheyenne handled the arrangements. The family requests memorial donations be made to Friends of the Nevada Wilderness, 1700 E. Desert Inn Road, Las Vegas NV.