Matt_Anderson

Unlike Yosemite, where beer calms the nerves and serves as a performance enhancer, for the northwest punter, scotch deadens the nerves in your tips and fingers and serves as a performance enhancer. Yahoo! I finally used that damn beer dude. . . . [ 11-05-2001: Message edited by: Matt Anderson ]

Wish I was heading out. Instead I'll be heading downstairs to my garage gym tonight. Incidently, its the magnet crag for my ilk: "Northwest Punter." Matt

Obviously, grade inflation has occurred over the years. It seems to me that there are two or three legitimate rating systems that might deserve to be discussed - of course are called the YDS by their proponents: Trad Climbers, Early Sport Climbers, and Steep Sport Climbers. Each was formed during a different era and the touchstone for each is the magnet crag that defined that type of climbing's heyday or formative years. The first (and my preferred) is the YDS as interpretted by trad climber. Yosemite still seems to define it, but Index has always seemed spot on to me and pretty damn consistent in the grades. By anchoring your inner scale of what you think you can climb there, you can go just about anywhere (provided that you are sufficiently well rounded) and be able to figger our which trad climbs will be challenging, but possible. Smith Rock nurtured American Sport Climbing in its formative years. Sport climbers switched their focus to Smith and, because of the schism, divorced themselves from using Yosemite as their touchstone for ratings. A side effect of sport climbing was a need for many of its proponents to look good for the mags by climbing harder routes (as opposed to doing so by generating a reputation for sandbags or climbs regarding mental control). As a result (and counterintutively) when sport climbers specialized, grade inflation occurred. (Spurred on by the commercial members of the community wanting joe and jane six-pack to feel good about doing harder climbs). Anyway, for the same reason that I look to Yosemite (and by proxy, Index) to determine what I can climb trad-wise, I look to Smith for Sport: Both places served as the magnet for the nation's climbers during the point in time when ratings for their respective disciplines were formed. (As a side note, it seems to me that the ratings in the gorge are no harder than those on the tuft, provided you have an equal amount of experience on its primary style (trad vs. sport) and rock type (basalt vs. tuft). Of course, since then, a steeper style of sport climbing has won in popularity over the vertical crimpfests found at Smith. It seems to me that there has been another discrete grade inflation that occurred along with it. If my theory that the national magnet climbing area for a style of climbing should always serve as a touchstone for the grade's for such climbing, then Rifle would probably be it for that type of climbing. I wouldn't know, I've never been there. If it's Red Rocks - OH BOY! I'm monster strong! matt

Didn't he also post an automobile decal to his almost free route on el cap? matt

Yeah, what Johnny said. And never turn down any offer to go out, especially from someone more experienced. You're probably overestimating the difficulty being ablt to get on a route at an area that is "over your head." It's a very rare cliff/climbing area that won't have something that you can at least toprope at almost any level. Even if the person you are going with is so much stronger than you that you can't dream of getting on the climbs that s/he is interested in, that just means that setting up a top rope for you on a climb will be that much less effort for them (Certainly a fair trade for the time you'll spend belaying that person). Even the super hard areas often have climbs with easy climbing low on the pitches before the harder climbing up front. If the crux is far harder than what you can climb, just call the start of the crux the end of your short climb. Plus, getting on climbs that seem way to hard can be a mind expanding experience if you just let whatever happens happen. It's how you get strong. Furthermoe, look everywhere for climbing partners: climbing gyms, local gear store bulletin boards, on line, at climber slide shows, wherever. If you're that excited to get out, you should always be to find someone else who is interested. Be outgoing about it. I was afraid to ask people if they wanted to climb with me when I first started, thinking that they wouold think that it would be a drag for them to climb with a newby and that I would not have anything to add. These days, I recognize that the only two necessary qualities in a partner are desire and an ability to belay. Belaying can be easily taught and enthusiasm is the source of just about desire else. If you have both of those, you should just ask everyone you meet if they want to head out. If they don't, they can say no - no loss to you. `

Trip report: Red Rocks. Should probably be merged with the "Who Did What this Weekend", "Top Ten Tick List" and "It's gone to far" threads. Todd and I hooked up this weekend for a free attempt on the Rainbow Wall. We've been dreaming about this wall for years. We were fully prepared. I showed up with gourmet Salami and TEN HANDWARMERS (It's gone to far - But Todd is 5'11" and only weighs @140 lbs - keeping that boy warm is a priority for me.) expecting cold weather and a need for salt. As it turned out the weather in Vegas was 85 and the weather on the wall (@4000 feet higher and north facing) was absolutely primo. We climbed in thin pants and a long sleeved shirts both days, sharing a belay jacket. For anyone hoping to do Rainbow wall, 80 - 85 in Vegas makes for perfect climbing weather on The Rainbow Wall. The Salami, of course, made for a pleasant wall diet. We flew in to Vegas, arriving at about 1:30 on Thursday afternoon. Glacier (from this BB), who was on a month long trip, picked us up, drove our lame asses out to the trail head and actually HIKED TO THE WALL carrying 2/3 of our water (Todd and I do not deserve our friends. . .). The guide book says 3-6 hours for the approach. It took us 2, thanks to glacier. The approach is very straightforward, just steep. An hour before dark, Glacier bid us goodby, electing not to bivy at the base. There are a number of bivy's at the base. We chose the first one we saw, a choice spot just before the last ramp; surrounding oak trees made for a quite and intimate setting. A nice spot, but missed the best one, which is a short scramble up and right from the base of the route. If you choose to bivy at the base, search around for that one. It's big enough for two, has a beautiful view of Vegas and sits 20 feet above the surrounding ground on varnished sandstone. A leisurely wake up the next morning and we started climbing the slabs before the start of the climb. Whoops! What should have been an 80 foot approach pitch of 5.6, turned out to be about 2-300 feet, a good amount of it unprotected. We figured out our gumby mistake, Todd downclimbed and we hiked up and right, then up and left a second class ramps that deposited us at the now obvious base of the route. What was already a leisurely approach got us actually climbing on the route at 10:30! The proper approach slab was done and Todd avoided the horrendous looking .12b direct variation for the variation out left. The direct variation looked sick. Iron glazed sandstone with nary a hold in dihedral. The .11d variation out left was far more moderate, with good protection when you needed it. Todd onsighted it despite a fair amount of intimidation he was surely feeling at having to pull that hard on the first pitch of his (to date . . .) hardest long climb. I followed and headed up the second pitch. It was beautiful: It started with a layback up a 10 inch crack, a number three camalot sized camming unit protected at its top the hard laybacking on thin gear and maybe a bolt. I got to a section with no feet and tempting face holds out right. I tried the face holds but felt like I needed to get back into the crack after the pendulum got to long for me. Back in the crack, the feet were nonexistent, the rock varnished and the side clings somewhat miserly. Falling! Rats. After clipping a fixed cam hook (yikes!) I got through the section and finished out the pitch. Todd made me feel better by popping off at the same spot. Pitch three was beautiful, steep climbing on good gear. Same for pitch four. Both seemed way overrated, difficulty wise. That was the end of the "hard" climbing for the day. Todd combined the next two pitches. They were beautiful: a gorgeous 5.10 layback with holds everywhere, followed by a 5.8 pitch with a move that both of us thought was 5.10. Combing the two pitches made for an easy, primarily overhanging haul. Low fifth-class pitches led to the over the rainbow ledge. Hauling on these pitches turned out to be the crux of the climb for Todd. At his listed weight, he despises wrestling with the pig even more than unprotected chimneys. For both pitches, the second belayed himself on a gri gri, helping the pig along as the leader hauled. Over the rainbow ledge is gorgeous. As the guide book says - 70 feet long, 7 feet wide and sleeps three comfortably (actually - luxuriously). It would also sleep 15 in a pinch. Smoked mussels, pepper and garlic salami, 15 year old Tamnavulin single malt, cheese and trail mix made for a luxurious evening watching the lights of Las Vegas. The last Bivy Todd and I shared was on Slesse's NE Buttress. This was obviously not a wilderness experience like that one, but still very, very nice. It (and our own weakness/cowardice) was the main reason we didn't try to bust out the route in a day and was well worth it. The light pollution from Las Vegas was astounding. Even without any direct moonlight, you could actually climb sans headlamp. As this was so far from a wilderness experience, I embraced the urban nature of the ascent and called my honey on the cell. A bit surreal, but quite nice. The next day started with a 5.7 approach pitch for the red dihedral. The next pitch, rated .11d, was humbling. The crux was 20 feet off the belay and limited you to iron varnished rock with no hand holds. After a bit of levitation, I imagine you would then grab the most miserly of holds, lock off at your knee in hope of grabbing a decent hold at the end of the sequence. I imagine this because neither Todd nor I were able to pull the sequence. Both stuck our foot in a sling and yarded past. While the falls on the second pitch obviously tarnished the style, this sequence stopped us actually being able to free the route. It was astounding that anyone would climb that thing and think that it was .11d. The rest of the pitch followed brilliant climbing on great protection. The second pitch of the red dihedral was beautiful. It starts with a chimney move in the dihedral (No hand holds and only one foot hold at chest level - A bit of stretching enabled one to get the foot up. Shimmying your ass up the opposing wall of the 90 degree dihedral allowed you to stand on it.) From there, sustained laybacking and stemming on perfect rock finished out the dihedral. I missed a knob for a stem that would have enabled a less strenous placement and had to slump onto my piece, exhuasted. After exiting the red dihedral, the pitch ascended less varnished rock on sparser protection with thought provoking moves. A gorgeous pitch. Todd fired it after me - no falls. He was so on. The last hard pitch allowed a second choice between .12b and .11d. We chose the easier of the two. Brilliant climbing through a series of roofs. Todd had no problems with the pitch and it seemed soft to me as well. After that, overhanging jams took us out the belay cave and fourth class terrain deposited us on the summit. Not a soul on the wall the whole weekend. The summit regster didn't have an entry since April. One of the entries was Jared Ogden onsighting the route car to car in a day. Oh my. We rapped the route on a single 60 meter line (our haul line was 7 mil and we decided to stick with the fat one). It took 2.5 hourss and seemed slow at the time, but the short rope probably saved us a lot of grief. Somebody installed a very nice rap route, but our rope got stuck two times. We got lucky both times, once it stuck only about 10 feet above us, so we were easily able to get it. The second time, we were able to rip it out of the crack with a concerted effort and a great deal of body weight. As we were climbing the first day, we cleared a portion of a rope that appeared to have been cut by a different party rappelling the route. The culprit pitches appear to be three and four, so beware. We hiked out, I turned my ankle and we got back to the parking lot at 7:00. Vance picked us up at 7:30 and we stayed at a mutual friend's place who lived in Vegas. Sport climbing on Sunday provided a leisurely way to spend the day with friends. We arrived home at about 12:15 this morning and I'm now to tired to do much at work, hence the trip report. Re gear: The guides we looked at said that you should bring cams up to 3.5 inches or a #4 camalot. We left the big stuff at home and never really needed it. I'd suggest micro nuts, 12 draws/slings, a double set of cams from as small as you got up to a .75 camalot, and singles on the #1, 2 and 3 camalots.) Re ratings. The ratings seemed all over the board on this climb - almost meaningless. We climbed .11d's and .11c's that felt like hard .10/easy .11. On the other hand, we couldn't even pull the move on the first part of the red dihedral. Apart from that move, the hardest pitch was probably the second pitch of the red dihedral and seemed like honest .12a (sustained hard .11 moves). By and large, the pro is bomber, the rock exquisite and the moves fantastic. There is a huge amount of enjoyable .11 climbing for the price of one pull on a draw. If anyone has ever climbed the sequence that stumped us, please respond and give me the beta!

In an attempt to get people to talk about something vaguely related to climbing (as opposed to books, Sexy's gender or access (allright, access IS related to climbing, and Is really important, but is still really boring . . . ) and because I believe that one's dreams are 1) the foundation of who we are and 2) some of the most interesting parts of us, I propose this question: What is at the top of your to do list outside of the discipline that you commonly do? Most of us don't spread ourselves equally among the different discplines of climbing. Nonetheless, I'm sure many of us have some climb that totally capturess our imagination, but we are unliely to do it unless we changed our current habits and gain more experience in that venue. Or maybe its just a climb that you think you could do, if some experienced partner in another discipline was desparate for a belay and wanted to team up with you on it. Maybe some sporto really wants to get on the NE Buttress of Slesse. Maybe a boulderer carries a yen for K2. Maybe Terminal Gravity carries a torch for some bolted tufa route at Mt. Potosi (the chipping capital of the world) that clocks in at 5.blah blah. Maybe Dru actually wants to get out and climb on the weekend instead of resting from the feverish pace of his posts during the week. And tell us why, that's what makes it interesting. Me - I'm rock climber. I avoid Sloggin whenever I can. Do even less ice. Don't even own crampons. What ice I do get to do is frowned on by my fiance. So it's always easier to go do something else. I wanna go climb Drury falls. It's freakin' beautiful. Its got a boat ride. Plus, I've been ice climbing exactly twice. What was it Like? A romp. Just about the most fun I've ever had. Ice climbing is exactly what every five year old boy wants to do: Swing big sharp things into ice and then pull up on them. It's like climbing 5.6, cause the holds are always huge (tools), but instead of using your fingers, you get to swing things more commonly found in gladiator movies. Not only that, but Drury is local, so I'll be available anytime some ice climber is desparate enough to want to climb it with me. And I think I'll be good at it. A natural (come-on, it my dream, no reason to imagine myself as shitty). All my time doing hard multipitch rock climbs will pay off and I won't have to do an apprenticeship and actually gain the skills I need the hard way. It's beautiful, its long, its hard, its close, it seems like more fun than a barrel of Monkeys. If it forms and you're desparate for a partner, call me. If you convince me that you somehow have the perfect mix of lack of judgement (want to climb with me) and judgement (can keep us alive on the climb - I've set exactly four ice screws in my life), I'm there. matt

Skiing with the Hamburglar. That sounds like alot of fun. Way more fun than sking with Snuffleupugus of Big Bird. The Hamburlar is always dressed so snazzy. Plus, he always seems to have, well . . . a lot of hamburgers. Now if I could figure out a way to go climb drury with the beerburglar . . . beersickles . . . nummy!

and ehmic. ehmic gets it too. Those peaks look soooo sweet!

Allright sexy, get your own topic about bouldering. And everyone else, except lambone (although his post didn't tell us a damn thing about why he wants to) and Strickland, missed the point. Dru - "I want to ski" doesn't do it. Isn't there some bad ass coloir you want to descend? Or some 15 billion mile long powder snow field that seems like it would be a blast to spend the day schussing down? What makes it seem so cool? Pencil Pusher - "I want to do a route similar to the one's I'm doing now, but harder and longer and farther away" also doesn't do it. (although, I might be wrong about this one. Maybe you just started single pitch ice climbing and primarily do other stuff . . .) Mike Adam "Your dream is harder than you think, ice climbing is actually difficult - maybe even feels like 5.11, but if you want you can learn to climb 5.11 ice with me in Lillooet sp?" A generous offer, but for cryin' out loud, No shit I think it might actually be hard and require some experience, that's why I haven't done it yet. Half of what might make the responses interesting is hearing the mistaken impressions that inspire someone who's never or rarely done your own disipline wnat to do one of its particularly inspiring or difficult lines. Lambone - is jumping off just a lazyiness thing (also one of my ambitions and that is its motivation) or is there something else you're hoping for from it? matt

I heard the cheering, but did not see or belay the ascent. It happened at least a couple of summers ago. Matt And thanks, Semyass talkalot, I also like the name my parents gave me.

In response to the questoin about the total overkill stainless steel anchor set ups on a bunch of the trade routs at Lower Town. Justin (I can't think of his last name - he moved to Colorado a while back) put them up. He said some guy traded them to him for the token price of some old leaver biners that Justin had with the understanding that Justin would put them up on some anchors where they would be used. The ones up and right of Amandala were probably there because he used to bring friends out to belay him on Amandala. The usual deal is that he would lead Sagitarius and let them top rope it as long as they belayed him on Amandala.

Well . . . Yes and no. I usually just look at the "Today's Posts" screen to see what's going on with a particular post that I know was on that day. When I did it on my "cooler than anyone else" thread, it wasn't there. It is, now that I have run the test. So it seems that a post doesn't get on the "Today's Posts" screen unless it has been responded to. Mine simply wasn't there because no one had replied to it. So I figured out why I thought it was deleted, when it wasn't. But this just inspired a second question. My test reply (and your reply, caveman) never made it onto the "Today's Active Posts" screen of the Cascade Climber's main page the other place that I would have expected to see an post that was not, in fact, deleted. I saw posts show up on "Today's Active Posts" that were posted both before and after my test, but I never saw it on that screen. Is there a minimum number of posts before it is considered Active? I always thought it just included the most recent posts for the day. Next time I accuse that testy little foulmouth jon of deleting my posts (he's one of the administrator's right?), I wanna be right. matt

Just testing something . . .

Once again, a post of mine was deleted from this board. This makes two this morning. Here's a recap: Deleted Post 1: I reported on a topic of universal interest - the Moondance. I saw it. It was beautiful. I was in tears. This post was deleted with no explanation. Deleted Post 2: I sent out an inquiry asking why the original post was deleted. Someone replied to that post asking about the Moondance (confirming that it is a matter of intense curiousity for the people who read this site.). Nonetheless, that was not the subject of the post. I simply wanted to know why it was deleted. This post was also deleted without explanation. I recognize that the Moondance is a powerful even electrifying work of art. Surely, however, the personalities of those who post on this site are not so delicate that they cannot survive exposure to a post only tangentially related it. What's next? Deleting all posts with the words moon or dance? This would severely limit the quality of discussion on this site. Surely discussions of night climbing would suffer without mention of the moon? If someone broke out into dance due to the joy of having a completed a particularly beautiful or difficult climb, should that person be prevented from sharing that joy with an accurate trip report? I suggest that those who disagree with this heavy handed censorship protest by inserting the word moondance into every post they write. It can be done creatively: "Gee, I think your bolting controversy is boring, but as I was moondancing last night, I had a vision! The whole contrversy can be solved by . . ." It can be done without much effort: "So that concludes my trip report on climbing 5.18 at 14,000 feet in the Saharan Desert last summer. Moondance." It could merely be included in your signature: "Sincerely, Matt Anderson, President of the Moondance Mafioso" But it most be done. Register your objections to censorship absent self-restraint or accountability! Matt Anderson President The Moondance Mafioso Matt

I posted on a matter of (apparent) common interest: That I witnessed the moondance. Someone deleted it. Why? The post was accurate and true. It cetainly was not pornographic. A desire for accurate information about the moondance seems a topic of universal curiousity. Why????? Censorship without reason and accountability to the public is an ugly thing! matt

Because I saw the moondance. First Sexual Chocolate's wife gave a stirring rendition. Then the master himself. The footwork, the joy, Oh my. (someone could hurt themselves!).

Shortly after I started climbing, I went to an aid clibing seminar put on by Dan Cauthorn at the old Vertical World on Elliot (It was the Vertical Club then). I learned that aid climbing was not about rescuing other people (aiding (helping others) + climbing: get it?). Who'd a thunk it? That information was very helpful and saved me from a lot of confusion the following summer on Town Crier, Liberty Bell and Half Dome. matt

Hmmm. . . Dru and I should not aid together . . .

Two aiders, unless your climb is consistently overhanging. Extra aiders make you lazy and slow. They get in the way. Bringing the extra aiders encourages you to hang out in the aiders, making your poor belayer endure your lead far longer than he should. matt

Knew a guy who climbed on a 9 mil (or smaller) rope he found left on the descent off liberty bell. Looked like it got cought when someone rapped. This was definitely not a single rope (i.e. the knew 9.4s), just an ordinary double rope produced at least seven or so years ago. He used it as his main rope for a year or two, until I talked him out of it. Took many, many falls on it. Course, he was pretty damn light - 135-140 lbs. Not suggesting it, just putting the info out there . . . .

The Tika bateries do seem to last forever. The seem to get a good deal less powerful after 10 - 20 hours, but are still usable for most things. With new batteries, the Tikka is fine for free climbing - I've climbed gear pitches near my limit in one. Of course, the pitches were in a dihedral, route finding with a tika would probably bite. matt

Ditto all of the above advice, especially reading and rereading John Long - Climbing Anchors. Realize that there seem to be two types of trad climbers (and climbers in general, for that matter, but the difference is more pronounced in trad): 1) Those who climb above gear because they know they will not fall; and 2) Those who climb above gear because they have confidence in their gear and know that it will hold them on both a rational and emotional level. Often people are in the situation 1) because, allthough they know on a rational level that the gear is good is good, they have not actually trusted it by falling on it on a regular basis. If you just want to climb gear because of aesthetics, ethical superiority, or other reasons, the only real difference is that 1) seems like a scary life (and could be more dangerous if you turn out to be incompetent). If you want to be able to push yourself on gear, however, you should try to get yourself to 2). While hanging from gear (clean aiding, as discussed above) will get you to understand rationally that your pieces are good, Regularly falling on gear (combined with mileage and competent placement) is the only way I know to really understand it on an emotional level. Falling on gear desensitizes you to the irrational fear that makes you overgrip and ensures that your trad climbing level will never catch up to your sport climbing level (of course, rational fear like "my last three pieces are crap and there's a ledge below me" is another matter. . . ). Few, if any responsible climbers will tell you to start falling on your gear from the get go. While placing gear is not brain surgery (I'm a huge believer that common sense gets you through the vast majority of gear placing decisions) there are subtleties to placing gear and you would need a good amount of dumb luck in addition to common sense to survive if you decided to start trusting your gear without the experience to know if it is any good. Nonetheless, there are several ways to start leaning to trast your gear, the most foolproof of which is a top rope belay while gear and falling on it. Obviously, this isn't going to ge the first thing you do when you start learning gear. Just understand that if pushing yourself physically on lead is one of the things that you enjoyed about sport climbing, the only reason that your gear leading ability should lag behind your sport leading ability on a permanent basis is that you just like sport climbing better. Its bullshit to expect that you can't climb as hard just because you are above a nut. matt

Tried to respond to your email regarding Liberty Crack variation, but got a system administrator response - undeliverable. I have m_schaefera5@nospam.hotmail.com for your email. Is that right? Do you have another email? matt

Are y'all high? Snow sucks. Made me bail off a free variation to Liberty Crack on Sunday.