backcountrydog

berdinka im in need of there phone #, address, or email as well. if you find any of those could u please pass it on? i have a blue alien that i want to send back due to the trigger coming apart from the metal sheath that covers the stem, thus rendering the cams useless. im hoping i can send it to them and they will just replace it if not fix it.

i agree w/ thinker, will, and everyone else that says screw what other people think and just have fun climbing. however, after looking at where the votes are on the poll, it appears as if this conclusion could be drawn by the 74% group--if your leading a crack, placing gear as you go, but you clip the slung chockstone (or fixed pin, or slung tree) then its not a trad climb? that doesnt really fit in w/ what has always seemed to be called trad climbing (to me). but having fun is more fun than caring what other people climb.

good stove. if your using a titanium pot they dont recommend those however as it's flame concentration is very small and very hot. i used one on my Ti pot for about 3 mins and it burned a spot on the inside of the pot. i have a superfly now which is also very light but has a wider flame.

i was wandering around inbetween the top of the country and the blues cliff today and found a stuff sack that had a beanie and a jacket in it. it looked like it fell down from the blues cliff area. it didnt look like it had been there for THAT long, as they are still in good shape. lemme know

warm dry rock in the icicle today. only saw a few other parties, and no one in our vicinity, except a small herd of mule deer. like tele said, the higher u hike the dryer the rock.

its funny how so many people see that chain links wear from lowering off of them yet when people put in anchors, they fail to arrange the chains in a manner that can make maintaining the anchor so much simpler. there are basically 3 types of link that can make up a chain anchor. 1)the chain itself (closed links) 2)open links (which look like a link of chain that overlaps and needs to be beatin closed after linking the chain or bolt or both to it) 3)steel links that screw open when i put an anchor in i always arrange it this way bolt hanger--open link--length of chain--screw link doing it this way allows for a very easy replacement of the business end of the anchor. people will always get lowered or tr directly off the chains (it seems) thus causing the dangerous wear of the lower link. having the screwgate link in the bottom allows whoever the ease of just unscrewing the bottom link and replacing it w a new one instead of having to bring bolt cutters up to cut off the bottom chain link that so many people seem to have as the 'business' link. plus u can put a larger screw link into the chains so if u want to put a 7/16 screw link into your 3/8 chains it will last that much longer. even w this setup i still never tr off the anchor. they werent meant for climbing, oxidize your rope in a nasty way, and all u have to do is clip 1 biner into the system ABOVE the bottome links and u can TR off that and still have your ropes threaded thru the chain, thus relieving the last person on the climb from 'thread duty'

my bad. they r scarpas

anyone have any experience w these boots? im replacing my Nepal Extremes and looking for something comparable on the warmth scale. my nepals ate my heals too many times. thnks

were 5/16 used instead of 3/8 cause it was bolted on lead?

if your doing anything where u thought u might fall,(rock rts, forbidden etc) just double up the rope and u've got 2 strands. and still only have the weight of 1 double rope. this method has worked for me lots. actually thats what we used on w. ridge of forbidden now that i think of it.

good route imo. seemed pretty 11c-ish to me. did the FA'er run outta cash for hangers or more index hanger ganking?

my opinion is that the fixed pins are in the right place for good and well accepted (how many yrs..?) reasons. the number of yrs the pins have lasted should be a testiment to the longevity of pitons and there working life. that being said, i think that pulling them and replacing them often can create an unsightly and unnecessary scar. the pin puller should have been in a position to replace them the same day he pulled them, OR not have pulled them at all (at this point i side w/ the latter. i keep reminding myself while reading this thread that the reason they are gone is still unknown. i dont think any part of that climb needs a bolt though. peace

"it is too bad the pins were stolen. Especially the lower two." the 2 lower pins on the route are still there DC. and i personally think that the 2 upper pins will be in place again for this climbing season. as it was stated the lower upper pin was cracked. the upper upper pin was pretty rusty too. sounds like a good reason to replace them both to me

confirmed:)

not trying to flame u Rumr cause at times i think that approach works...however on iron horse, that pin has been there and used for years. it wasnt a public disgrace (to my knowledge), it was there for a reason. if the looter has never free climbed iron horse and/or was just taking it to get a free pin, i think the 'just do it quietly' approach doesnt work. plus, the pin MAY have been replaced and yanked again. its been there for many years and served a good purpose and 1 person decided they didnt want it there pulled it. did this person free it and wanted less metal in the crack? i can buy that if so. but if the person has climbed iron horse a thousand times and doesnt even have to place gear from the stance to the anchors, im not sure that the removal was for the greater good. or if the person doesnt even do the climb free, but can do C1, i dont think its for the greater good...my 2 cents

dont forget to bring money to pay for camping. thanks to the new climbing ranger from washington, the great history of free camping in jtree is over.

ehmmic the pin i was referring to would actually be the 3rd pin, as there are 2 fixed pins within a ft or so of each other about 25ft off the ground. those 2 protect the 1st crux below the roofish type feature that has a horizontal crack above it which runs right to the 1st Sag. anchor. the pin that seems to come and go in the last year or so is the one above the hand to finger crack Above this, which is at the beggining of the V slot (and 2nd crux) which is about 15ft or so below the anchor. im not sure how that pin missing could lead to a ground fall though as the gear below it is bomber. However the pin missing has remained there because once u get to where u would have clipped it, its pumpy as hell and placing gear off that hold (and above it) probably adds more of a crux than without. which is why i think it WASNT pulled for free climbing purposes... hope this answers your question

ya i saw that the pin up high was removed. my Guess is that it was removed by someone aid climbing because if u are AIDING it doesnt necessarily have to be there. However, for free climbing, i think it belonged there. it kinda sucks that it was removed because putting it back in (and the pin looters removing it) will only further scar the rock. If whoever removed it is reading this, please leave the pin if and when its replaced. ya it might take a C1 placement out of the aid climb, but what the hell, its only C1 anyway. i see this trend at index on other climbs too which brings up the old 'aid vs free' debate which is as played out as bolt bashing on this sight. im not talking about AID climbs here im talking about FREE climbs that people still aid. pls leave pins in rts that were 'originally' there for the sake of protection for free climbing. (notice originally is in " ")

are u referring to the 2 fixed pins closest to the ground? i hope that those were replaced and not just yanked as they were pretty ineffective for free climbing due to being pounded too far in and every time a sling was left it was usually pulled too (which made clipping them while attempting to free it a real pain). every time i attempted to free it and the slings were taken off the pins i would have to hang on a nut below them and use a nut tool to push a sling in to tie to. i plan on replacing them this spring. i just hope no one takes it upon themselves to steal the new pins once in place

i have heard that there is some climbing there but thats all ive heard...sorry btw. was there any ice up there? theres a lot of falls in the summer and ive seen pictures of that big one back there all frozen up??

i see your point onandon but as w most things, diff opinions can be derived by how u look at it to begin w...im not telling people to not bring there dogs on trails and im not pulling anchors. and the other hand, i dont support people OR their dogs trashing the trails or climbers putting bolts all over the place. all that being said...i think that there is a method to my madness--dont render an anchor useless and if someone is hiking w there dog and its not being a nuisance (your problems w dogs in general DOESNT count as a nuisance) then just leave it alone. so i dont see it as a double standard. i might not like dogs but that doesnt give me a right to say that a dog thats not hurting anything cant hike on the same trail as me. i might not like webbing or chains but that doesnt give me the right to pull them off of routes that we all climb. hows that? and i might be an asshole but none of my friends think so. maybe there assholes too though, but i think not

Does anyone have any idea why that guy keeps cutting out the rap rings and webbing? Stations don't last a week up there. Someone’s got a freakin’ trunk full of webbing, rap rings and ratty old biners. Is there some “ethic” that’s being enforced here or what? uh ya...its called 'look at me, im a TRAD climber' syndrome. why leave anchors that are usable and make sense when u SHOULD just be doing it the way Mr Beacon thinks it should be done. spare the tree?? are u kidding? unlike rock, trees can be trashed by using them for anchors and we can kill them after a relatively short time. the rocks been there and going to be there for hundreds/thousands of yrs. so of course strip the anchors of usable gear and KILL THAT TREE. we all know the consequences of 2 bolts and slings/chains (or whtvr) at the top of a pitch...the end of the world. and seeing as how the rest of the climbing community in this country looks to beacon rock for the standards in "ethics", stripping permanent anchors of usable gear is the ONLY right thing to do. which is why im going to 'clean' every anchor at index, leaving only 2 bolts behind. REAL climbers can figure out how to get down w/out webbing or chains or biners left behind. after all, shouldnt the ethics be decided by those w the 'balls' to chop whatever they feel??

i like most dogs better than most people... so if u dont like my dog on the trail, go hang out someplace where someone is always watching to make sure no one breaks the rules and stay off the trails so me and my dog dont bite you

if u did do it in the winter...would it be the first winter ascent?? just wondering if it has been sent yet. a few yrs ago i was under the impression it had not seen a 'first winter ascent'. anyone know?

ya what gives peepee? the article sounds about right to me. good advice on how not to botch a bolt job. or is this another "chop em all", anti-climbing troll??