Paul_C

Does the fact that no one answered my question about protecting traverses mean that no one likes me (snif) or does no one know the answer? Paul

I think, not that I have used a reverso in this situation, so someone else may have a different experience, that if you put the reverso on the anchor and are belaying a second on a traverse that the autolock feature may not work?? I have only used the reverso in a gym, so I may be wrong. Paul

I think that the best quote that I have seen on this topic goes something like this. "Carpet bombing Afganistan to eliminate terrorists will be about as effective as bombing LA to try to kill off street gangs." There is a opinion piece at www.iranian.com by an iranian filmmaker that I think should be required reading for anyone commenting on the situation in Afganistan. Hell probably 90% of Americans, don't even know where Afganistan is in the world. While I think justice needs to be served, killing thousands (more) innocent people is not the answer. On a plus note the PLO and Israel have just agreed to a cease-fire (again). Paul (no offence, but glad to be a Canadian in this mess)

Just do me a favour and don't be coming up here to CA and doing the same thing. While I agree with the idea that trad routes should be left as such, up here the group consensus is that whoever puts up the route gets to decide if it is sport or trad. Pretty much any route that can be protected with gear is left that way and anything that can be done as a sport+ is left that way. While I see your side of things, I think that chopping is very extreme way of dealing with this issue and will most likely lead to bad blood like other areas that have had the same discussion. Paul

Gerg; Hope things are healing up well. Have you considered submitting this story to Accidents in N. American Mountaineering??? Just curious. Paul C

third, that. I have a BW pen cause the store is right around the corner and they are cheap, but if they aren't convenient then Sharpies are all fine. Paul C

I think for once I have to agree with the Capt'n. DMM cams are sweet!!! Have a set of 4CU and 3CU with metolius for the small size. Just great, light weight and good value for money, the only issue that I had with them is that the trigger bar can slid down the trigger wires towards the cam making it a pain in the ass to drop gear in quick if it happens to the piece that you need right now. Now to get around that I just put a little bit of tape aroung the bar to stop it sliding towards the cams and presto, all fixed. DMM gear rocks. I don't really go shopping with the idea of getting DMM exclusivly, but some how end up with more DMM gear than any other. Paul

I would say Aliens first and then Metolius. I don't really like the BD triggers either, but if you are comfortable with them then they may be your best bet.

Thumbs down on the necklace idea. I'm not fond of excess cordage that will enivitable get tangled with something at the very worst possible time, doubly so when the cord in question is strung aroung my neck. The only issue that I can see with the Remote release is the possibility of it autodetaching during a fall. The only issue that I have with the snap-it is that the internal area and gate opening of the attachment thing don't work on a standard biner, you have to use a small non-load bearing biner and I like to be able to use things for more than one purpose, having a spare biner can be a life saver at times. Paul

Hey all; Perhaps I'm missing something, or perhaps about to shift this into the Spray catagory. What is the problem between sport and trad (if I'm still allowed to say that) climbers that causes such angst?? Would you really say the things that you say here online to someone in real life?? Some people like one thing. Some people like another. Yes grid bolting is bad, but there are alot worse things to complain about than $6 worth of metal bolted to the rock. Like Bush's environmental policy (or lack thereof) as it is probably doing more damage to the areas that you are trying to save from humanity. Not that I'm stirring the pot or anything. Paul

I always carry a knife (not just when climbing but always). You never know when you will need to cut the cheese (not that kind...), cut bread, or any other food item, cut webbing for raps, remove old webbing, use it as a tool to fix a broken cam... Te uses are endless. I just tend to find that if I don't have a knife on me then I usually wish I had one. Most of what I do is rock so having a "BELAY" knife isn't really a consideration. Thanks Paul

Does anyone have any opinions on the use of Spyderco snap-it or remote release for climbing? I'm mostly concerned with the attachment mechanism. Thanks for any input. Thanks Paul

Here is some more info on Victoria bouldering. http://www.mountaineers.net/BaseCamp/McKinley/victoriaclimbing/ Thanks Paul

Are you in WA, and is that cost US? Will you cover delivery? Paul C

Howdy; As a Vancouver local I think I can probably shed some light on this. In Victoria; Go to Flemming Beach, across Johnstone St, bridge away from DT, L on Lampson St (towards water), R on Munro and park. Lots of bouldering, on Fishermans wall, the Overhang and a great little area 5 min down the dog walkers trail. You will need to get a registration ($10 per week for casual use, or face a $100 to $2000 fine, and also be seriously uncool as this is very public territory and if we want to keep climbing there then we need to keep on the good side of the local government). You can get your reg at the Esquimalt Rec Center, 517 Fraser St) Not much other bouldering areas but you can pick up a small guide (green cover) at a couple of the mountain stores, and probably at Crag X the local climbing gym (very good), most of the stores are in the downtown areas. There are a bunch of other climbing areas but they don't have much in the way of bouldering. Like sp said, Horne Lake is closed, bummer. As for SSI, there is some climbing there, and if you are interested then I can let you know more info, but it is a very sentitive area due to the logging activity, and so climbing needs to be kept very low key to ensure that people don't over-react and try to stop all climbing on SSI. I don't know of any bouldering there, just routes, a mix of Trad and sport. I will check to see if there is any bouldering there, and post back but I don't think so. There are some great hikes that if you are interested in I could let you know about, but I need to go do some work so let me know and I will post back with anything more that I find out about bouldering on SSI. PS I know what you mean about non-climbing vacations, I just took one with my GF to Yos. Talk about tempting.... Thanks Paul C