Matt_Anderson

Yeah! thanks everyone. Although, I'm on an apple, and the right click doesn't bring up a url, so I have to chose the "open in new window option" and then copy the url in the address line, which is an extra step and a bit of a pain. Am I missing something?

lets try this again here's hoping this is the small image size: here's hoping this is the large image size:

I don't see the letters that you typed, I just see the picture? thanks!

Can anybody take a lok at this and tell me what I'm doing wrong? I wanna do a trip report . . .

so i type text . . and get to put photos in like this

to bad about la sportivas fitting you well. my favorite all day trad shoe is the miura, the pair that has stretched enough to be ok on comfort.

And check out the fierce tuggin' on the mono! (congrats!)

Doubt if its actually limestone, dolomite tower doesn't appear to be. It's more similar to the the metamorphic stuff at Si, with a bit of marble thrown in at places . . . It'd be fun if it actually was limestone. I've heard rumors of new sport crags on the south side of the highway, though . . .

The downside of experience and knowledge is that by defining how good you are/difficult things are, people tend to self limit. The upside of being new (at least for some people) is that they don't know enough to self-limit. Once you've explained the physical difficulties of why an offwidth ain't like a face climb, any more energy spent convincing your friend that they really are horribly difficult will just self-limit him. Really, offwidth's are strenuous, but less so for those who get the technique and like wrasslin' with the rock. Mebbe he's one of those guys. Seems like a wonderful time to give him the opportunity to excel at a type of climbing that most people convince themselves is to hard before they ever try. That said, offwidth's are more strenous because of the following: On a normal face climb, the inability to do a move is either because you just can't support yourself on a particular hold or the next move just feels/is to difficult. You may over grip to compensate, but who the hell cares, it's just your forearms which don't require much blood. If you can't do the next move, it's likely more clear because the next hold is defined, you more or less get to it or you don't (I know, an over simplification). You don't spend time trying to hold on to the blank rock between the hold you're on and the hold you want to get to. In offwidth climbing however there are very few "holds" (or more accurately body squeezes) that you are just plain unable to use to hold yourself, at least for a very short period of time. But they are insecure, especially without the correct technique. Because of that, you overgrip, just like on face climbs, but you do so with your entire body, instead of just your forearms. Additionally, the best holds or body squeezes are ill-defined, and one tends to waste a fair amount of energy sqeezing in a less than effective manner. As a result, way more blood is used, and it is far easier to get physically exhausted. Additionally, you can almost always do "the next move," unfortunately, "the next move" that you can do when an offwidth gets difficult is probably just a thrutch a couple of inches up, which deposits you a) not very far from your last move, requiring a whole bunch of these extremely difficult moves and b) in exactly the same desperate position you were in a second ago. This compounds the overgripping with your entire body problem. Add to that the fact that the grovelly nature of the climbing is counterintuitive to many people and that abrasians quickly become disincentives to using the most effective technique and you have a strenous form of climing that many people fear and shun.

'Twas the day after New Years at Chanderson Crags Lily noticed my ass cheeks felt like great lumpy bags. "My husband is hung, but what do I care? His belly is big and covered with hair! I remember the day when that hair graced his head Now it creeps down his back while we snuggle in bed" "Piss off, My love - That's a big load of crap . . . And quit your damn whining - I need my nap!" Suddenly out in front there arose such a clatter, Lily kicked me off the couch to see what was the matter. My head hit the window, I puked in the sash. Apparently New Years, still had a backlash. The clatter was Kimmo pulling up in his car "It's climbing night, Matt, why do you smell like a cigar?" His conditioning was perfect! His deltoids did poke, Through the sides of his festive and warm winter cloak. I grumbled and stumbled, tottered and fell As I opened the gym and gave out a yell. "You Fucker! You asshole! You bastard, you bitch - I climb better than you, if its pitch after pitch!" He smiled so slyly, after glimpsing my belly, "That may well be, but your forearms are jelly!" He sprang on the walls, caressing each hold, A spectacle of joy and mastery to behold. Shocked by his power, dismayed by his grace, I fled to the house, to hide my disgrace. There I found Lily, feeding Daniel and Vance, She hoped to fat'n them, giving Matty a chance. "Off to the gym, and challenge my husband! He's not allowed back, 'till he's 10-pounds less rotund." They pushed and they prodded and rolled me out back Ignoring my pleas for just a little slack! I fought and I scraped, with vigor and piss Till reinforcements arrived - Todd, Nick and Chris! I sulked in the corner and they flew from the crimps, Like half crazed marmots or meth-addled chimps. But it seemed so much fun, my memory did jog, Of sun blessed climbing before the holiday fog. I swore to myself "I'll lose this fat!" And rejoined the group, feeding the rat. I tugged and I pawed till the cold air grew hot, But still could not send, even with a five person spot! The low point was reached just after Jeff was hailed - That one-shouldered freak sent the problem I failed! The posse did grow, Jim, Erich and Kasi, Were immediately joined by Siang, Randy and Jesse. They pushed and they groaned in particular Andreus But they'd've had more hope, if I'd been a bus The posse grew listless and began to disperse "That pathetic Matt should sleep in a hearse . . ." But a light on the horizon did suddenly appear Matt's shrewdest of partners was soon drawing near Rob Price in his Porshe, drove up with a roar, Ready to use his managerial lore Simple his solution - "Mention that Todd onsighted it, Fatty'll float the crux, not even notice it!" The challenge relayed, and Matty did send "I'll never be beaten by my skinniest friend!" Todd was a gentleman, which made it more fun, 'Till that pothead suggested the grade was V None! Now listen, you climbers, to the voice from the Height, Get your ass to the gym, save yourself from this plight!

I'd be down with a camps board set up being put in teh gym - let's talk

If your talking hang board, not so sure I'm interested. If your talking system board, I'm planning to set one up on the home gym shortly, but I have not yet done so. . . .

Uhhh, commas and decimal points matter when reading numbers. $6,500.00 doesn't mean $650,000.00

"I printed out maps, paid for permits, led pitches, and brought most of the gear we used" If leading pitches is somehow relevant to paying for permits and providing gear, how about I lead and use my gear b/c I prefer it. You can pay me for leading on a per pitch basis. If we reach 10 pitches, I'll throw in a the gas money and a sticker that says "you're a star" for free.

Disagree with the guy who doen't trust them. They're great for free climbing, and I'm yet to have one rip during a fall, despite many falls, some long. Agree, that direction is important. Also agree - it makes no difference which brand, they are all the same. Longer missive on ball nuts here: http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/threadz/s...=true#Post35947

Partner found (whew!).

Conditions will probably be better at Index on Saturday than they have been all year - Upper 50's to low 60's, clear! Anybody up for the long free routes on Upper Town (Sisu mebbe?). Would love to leave early and get a full day in. . . .

Re: the ring finger. If the ring finger is sore where you're describing it, you have likely strained tendons or ligaments. Most likely the thing that is called a pulley tendon - it stops the tendons that bend your finger from bowstringing. It is a very common injury for climbers. Welcome to the club. treatment is varying levels of tape, rest, ice and decreased intensity of climbing. Here are some links: http://www.climbinginjuries.com/Finger.htm http://www.wemjournal.org/wmsonline/?req...2&page=0094 http://www.turntillburn.ch/research/ The turntillburn article gives advice on how to tape. Regarding the other soreness: Sounds like you're crimping a lot and the pain just tells you your body hasn't recovered. I've felt the same thing at various stages. Never heard of any serious injuries occurring in the last joint of the fingers, but I'm sure it's happened. Once you've resolved the issues with your ring finger, the main thing to think about is balancing chance of injury to the last joint (relatively low), how much the pain stops you from pulling/stops you from enjoying pulling, and how much your improving despite the pain. Realistically most improvement is gonna happen through technique anyway, so you may as well just keep climbing, eventually your body will adjust. Most important thing is to try openhanding as much as you can. It's less prone to injury, doesn't stress the last joint in your finger at all and is ultimately healthier for your climbing. If you haven't been open handing things, there will be a learning curve and you'll feel weaker at first. If you start now, however, you'll be happy you did. If you wait till later to develop open hand strength, you'll just feel like you're back tracking because you have so much invested in crimp strength.

Re: your fingerflexion - what you're describing for a crimp position is normal - most people's fingers extend like that. Re: your pain - not enough info to tell. Certainly you aren't climbing so much that overuse is likely to be a problem. Of course, crimping is harder on your fingers than open hand, so it's always good to consciously try to open hand holds as much as possible. To get better feed back re: pain, post exactly where the pain comes from, what triggers it (as specifically as possible) and describe the pain itself as completely as possible. The general advice is not to climb if there's pain. Of course that advice, if obeyed on a literal level, will stop you from getting particularly strong. You could just do easy-for-you problems until the pain goes away. At this stage in the game, technique gains will get you further than strenght gains anyway.

Mike who?

Alright, so I got home and took a better look at the guides. Looks like I always had Narrow Arrow Overhang and Narrow Arrrow Direct mixed up. Direct is on the right. So I suppose that I was asking about Narrow Arrow Direct, not Narrow overhang. Soooo . . . Narrow Arrow Direct: The Cummings, Cramer and Smoot guides all seem to say that direct hasn't been freed, apparently the last 5 foot section to the ledge has had people yank on a piece (pin, I suppose, I don't remember much in the way of gear there . . .). Seems odd - it's hard but doesn't seem impossible. Rudy - did you think Moroles did this or overhang?. Narrow Arrow Overhang (on the left) - As long as were talking about it, looks like the guides also agree that the section leading to the roof on this route has not been freed (very shallow, relatively long left facing corner with a tiny little seam in it). Haven't been on it, so I guess it doesn't seem as odd to me. Was this the one you think was freed by Moroles?

A recent read of the Sky Valley book seems to indicate that no one has actually freed all of narrow arrow overhang? Is that right? I always thought the that the last moves to the anchor throught the shallow left facing corner above a small roof) (the anchors that you traverse to when climbing buried treasure/shirley) went free by one or two guys at .12a or so. The climbing below them is difficult, but definitely easier, so that's the only section that I could see not being free climbed. The way I read sky valley last night, it seems to imply that the moves I described have been freed by themselves, but whoever did it faied to free the moves before? That doesn't make any sense to me. What's the deal?

Climbed the connection pitch up and right from Godzilla's 1st anchors that ends b/f the traverse to salad fingers(someone called it cidiot? I'm not sure if that's the name or someone was slagging on inacan, regardless, no offense meant). Intended to go on, but forgot about the traverse and got confused/lazy, TR'D deal with it ranger and the bolted variation at the top instead. THE CONNECTION PITCH has got fun/creative moves, and is worth the time, but beware, there's a 20-30 foot section with two possible placements (that I saw). The rock is fine, but the placements are sections where a flare pinches down and any jiggling on the rope will likely cause them to walk out in the blink of an eye: the outer lobe of a camalot sits right on the edge of the placement. If the cam moves up, down or sidewise the placement would be seriously compromised. I put full length runners on the end of the cam's sling to prevent this, and I normally don't even put a draw on cam's except for rope drag. Regardless, it's not like the protection will be a surprise - the flaring nature of the cracks above is very apparent as soon as you step past the first bolt off the Godzilla ledge. Also there's some very loose rock that endangers those below near one of the later bolts on the pitch. It can be avoided, but is a tempting foot hold for those who forget what it looked like when they were lower on the route. It'd be a favor to have your second knock that stuff off if no one is below. (we should have, but didn't . . .). All in all, a nice climb, but beware if it is at your limit (probably an Index low .10 for technical difficulty). THE BOTTOM OF DEAL WITH IT RANGER AND NARROW ARROW DIRECT are still pretty dirty. It doesn't appear that the rain gets in there to clean it. This was my first time on deal w/it, so I don't know how much dirt was there before. The guide book said something about placing a very tiny RP low on the route. The first placement that I saw was a medium sized nut followed by a yellow alien sized placement a couple of feet higher (at about 40 feet or so). Mebbe the dirt obscured the RP placement - usually, I'm pretty keyed into such things. Anybody know if inacan actually went back and attempted to clean off the lower ledges of deal w/it up to around the first bolt? Maybe I'll have to go inspire ire just like he did to get it clean (it's climbable, but there a lot of dirt over some 30 foot ground falls, as far as I can tell.). It doesn't look like leading it would be much fun until it got cleaned. (but maybe I'm just a prima donna for clean rock).

Injuries, relationships, moves and life have taken a toll on my group of climbing partners with the same goals. Most of my remaining partners are more stoked about sport routes, but there's still good weather left to go get on the longer stuff. Give me a call if you're interested, I'd like to spend time this fall on the routes on Upper Wall at Index. Longer trips to Squish, etc. would be nice if we mesh. If it's a stretch for you, that's cool, super motivated usually makes up for just about everything else. edit - Oh yeah, I'm a 9-5'er, so it's mostly weekends for me.

As I recall, its called freedom or death. I think it starts a bit to the left of Thin Red Line. I climbed the first pitch or two and got snowed off a few years ago. It's three or four pitches, something like a pitch of hard .10, a pitch or two of hard .11/easy .12, and then a travers pitch of low .11 that links up w/ LC above the lip. {The parts I was on were quite nice. You need some gear, but it is primarily bolts.