Matt_Anderson

I use the 1, 2, & 3 ball nutz, a double set of aliens from blue on up and BD’s copper steel nuts (or whatever they are calling them these days). With that rack, there aren’t many thin crack crux’s I can’t safely protect. A lot of people are skittish about falling on ball nutz. I’ve done so multiple times, and I have yet to have one rip. The 1, 2 & 3 have twice the expansion range of a comparably sized cam (if a comparably sized cam exists . . . Wild Country smalles tzero is about the size of a number 3 ball nut with 2.5 X less expansion range). I don't own the larger ones, probably just because I'm used to aliens in those sizes and shy from change. Also, I don’t see as much of an expansion advantage. The placement will likely determine which you use. Matter o’ fact, their primary advantage is that their best placements are often in areas of the crack that are unusable for your fingers, other cams or nuts: On thin cracks, your conventional cam and wire placements are generally in the pin scars that you would rather cram your piggies into. The ball nutz fit best in parallel seams smaller than your fingers. It was pretty amazing when I first started using them – there are huge number of thin crack cruxes with @.5 cm parallel crack sections right in the middle of the business that just eat up the ball nuts. I’d never noticed them before b/c none of the cams or wired nuts would fit in them. Placing them is pretty simple and intuitive. A bunch of people complain about removing them. I don’t have much trouble. I would echo Tom Tom’s comments: To remove, first try to slide them out using the trigger, if that doesn’t work, tap the metal block with your nut tool (Any thin nut tool is as thin as a ball nut, so I seldom have trouble with placing them to far if the crack is parallel.).

Why's the second 11+ pitch on Cloud tower hard? steep? crack pinches down?

"Now that I know what you goal is is I would say that you would be better off climbing Freeway or Liberty Bell than the U-Wall. " Agreed. RNW on HD is mainly free and what aid exists is easy. Also practice for speed on town crier - Aid doesn't have to be the slow, clusterfuck that many people make it. Go combine Davis-Holland with Town crier, The diamond, Godzilla-slow children-etc. to get fast. Spend lots of days at Index making sure that you get at least ten pitches in. Practice french freeing to keep things going fast. Bottom line - Just do a lot of days with multipitches as fast as you can - the main difference is that belaying on a wall is not quite as restful as belaying at the base, leaning on a pack arranged "just so."

"Designed for use at rope clipping end of a quickdraw, this extremely light and strong biner works mechanically in your favour." When it comes to falling on less than bomber pro, I usually think of friction as my friend - it transfers the energy of the fall into heat and also onto other pieces. It seems like this biner would just transmit more energy to the piece holding the fall and increase the chances of failure. It also seems likely to transmit more force to the belayer. I'm no physicist (and also no speller . . .), so maybe I'm way off. Anybody have a comment on this?

Alrighty, then if you have done all that, there are other ways to preserve your hands. I had about a 1 1/2 year period where I had some bizarre dryskin problem that resulted in split tips, hang nails, split nail beads, etc . . .. Here are the things I did when I was getting truly desparate. Some are quite odd. Most are inconvenient, but they all help. Obviously, climbing less and not climbing to failure will help, but you are likely unwilling to do that . . . Showering with lukewarm water and washing hands with cold water (and infrequently) makes a huge difference. Putting rubber gloves on when doing the dishes (or, for that matter showering), or using any solvents, etc, also will help alot. If you're really desperate (and your honey won't immediately dump you), you can put on latex gloves before going to sleep (and after lotioning up). It helps heal quickly. Icing after climbing also speeds healing. 10 minutes in a bucket filled with ice and water is about right. It'll also help loads with swollen finger joints, recovering finger tendons, etc. matt

1) you need to climb regularly, coming back from a layoff almost always results in peeling skin for me. 2) Keeping extra flaps trimmed so they don't get caught and made worse helps. they will heal faster 3) Use GOOD lotion, and slap on some aloe afterwards. A bunch of people think it makes your skin to soft, and I imagine that you could do it to often, but doing it after you stop climbing and before you go to bed is not to much. When my hands are feeling it, I'll also do it in the morning. There is a difference in the quality of lotions. right now I'm using this Oil of Olay stuff my wife has on the counter. Kinda pricey (and easily made fun of), but it makes a difference. . . 4) blister? don't know what to tell you, I don't get them rock climbing. I could see getting them from repeated use of a tool (no pun intended), but I'm not doing any alpine these days, so what do I know.

1, Yes, 2, yes, 3, pink if its gear, don't differentiate between pink and red on sport). For me onsighting is about taking what nature gave you, using it to your best advantage, and figuring out how to climb a route without using aid. Beta from others has nothing to do with what nature gave you, so it is is aid. Using binoculars to look at a particular hold is also aid, because you are using mechanical (or something) means to enhance your sight. Rappelling to inspect the holds (or sneaking a peak as you lower off a nearby route) also gives you knowledge that you wouldn’t have unless the rope was holding you. A fall ruins an onsight not so much because you fell, but rather because you used the rope as aid to allow you to rest so that you could pull the move on your eventual ascent (So yes, if you skittered off the hard low angle moves at the first set of anchors on thing fingers, landed on the big ledge there, but didn't weight the rope, you could still get the onsight). Likewise, I think that if you can walk up the backside and look at holds from the top, it's still an onsight - you’re just being crafty. If you do the neighboring route, look at a particular hold, downclimb without weighting the rope, you are only using what nature gave you (and, again, being crafty). Similarly if you climb 3/4 of a route, feel a hold, downclimb all the way to the deep south, take a nap, and return later to climb the whole thing without weighting the rope or getting beta from others, it's still an onsight. (Bizarre, behavior, but still an onsight.). For me, saying that the ground is “too good” of a no-hands rest is a contrivance (granted, all of these discussions are about contrivances . . . ) similar to declaring certain holds “off limit” outside. The rock gives you what it gives you. (Yes, I also think that if someone bolts a 5.14 sequence four feet away from a 5.6 and says that you need to ignore the holds on the 5.6, he has just created a second (shoddy) bolt job for the 5.6, not an independent 5.14). This construct does work pretty well for roped climbing. It doesn’t work for bouldering and soloing, where falling just deposits you on the ground, but, I don’t boulder much and I stopped soloing so I’m fine with that.

For some reason, you want to impose international standards on a local discussion: It's not exactly a big surprise that the difficulty of long free climbs in the cascades lag well behind international, or even national standards. Since this is a discussion of what's hard in the cascades, however, it'd be pretty boring to only talk about only those climbs that are hard enough to make it into whatever mags you read. We live in a small pond and the fish aren't as big as elsewhere. The simple fact that the ocean has whales doesn't make it any less interesting to talk about the size of the fish in our pond. At least not for me - I don't hang out with international standard setters much.

With regard to long free climbs, it seems that it makes some sense to separate them into climbs that are easily worked. i.e. roadside and those that would be logistically difficult to project: Roadside: Lib Crack on Liberty Bell (roadside - two pitches of low .11 and the third pitch of .13b - easily "worked" for redpoint). Not sure how good/bad the gear is on the crux pitch. The only person to do it used fixed stuff? The Passenger on Early winters – roadside: business is 5 or 6 pitches of sustained low - mid .11 trad (straightforward gear) with a single .12a sport move/pitch thrown in). The Independence Route on Liberty Crack – all trad - a pitch of .12 and 4 or so pitches of low to mid .11. The gear is very challenging at a couple of hard spots. The gear alone would make it tougher than the passenger. Just the same, there are a bunch of climbs at Index (forget the names, but upper town wall long free routes) and Squamish (the calling, U-wall/the shadow) that are easily harder than either the Passenger or Ind. Route. and may compete with Lib. Crack, not because their hardest moves are as bad as the crux on LC, but that their sustained nature makes a free ascent (onsight or redpoint) equally as chancy. Logistically difficult: These may be much easier from a free climbing perspective, but other difficulties give them a leg up. Girth Pillar on Stuart – (seems like mainly a mountaineering challenge, with one or two pitches of high .11 or low .12? The skills needed for the icefall keep a bunch of people (me, included) away. Colchuck balanced rock – A step down from the girth pillar – the logistics are far easier. The Doorish route on Bear Mountain – haven’t looked at the description in a long time – how hard is the free climbing? Was it a free climb? The approach looks like a grunt and requiring some skill. Vanishing Point on Mt. Baring – it’ll take 2 – 3 days, but just the same you can walk to the top in summer and camp in luxury, spending weeks rapping down and working the route, so it might be a bit of a crossover between the two groups. Anyway, it’s harder, than the other logistically difficult routes, but the hard moves are nowhere near as difficult as LC is supposed to be. It’s more like a sporty Northern lights: If you link pitches with a 70 meter, it can be done in about 9 or 10 pitches [+ 1500 feet of vertical dirt and trees]. Given the 70-meter, the business contains two low .12 pitches, about 4 mid-hard.11 pitches. Only one significant trad pitch – straightforward gear at mid .11. BTW - Even after the rockfall, the first few pitches are still only about 5.7.

Errr. . . if that's supposed to be you on overboard, it's actually you on magic light.

With the exception of climbs where the effort required on the approach far outweighs the difficult of the climbing, I always rack my draws on an individual biner. I use a misty mountain harness (the cadilac) that has six loops (four up, two down)and store the cams/nuts on top, where they can be seen, and the draws/slings on the bottom as they are more fungible and can be grabbed blindly. Unless there's rope drag issues or the crack is such that walking is extremely likely, I don't use draws on my cams - just the factory sling. Walking is rarely a problem. I can bring fewer draws/slings as a result. This is lighter than your solution (draws) on each cam, heavier than the traditional multiple cams on a single biner, but much faster/easier.

So Lily and I exchanged stockings last night because we're leaving town tonight. Each year, Santa brings me a climbing widget. The best part about the widget is that I get to imagine Lily buying the gift: Lily sure don't dig climbing (did it for a while to appease me) but every year tramps on down to Jim Nelson's shop to find something that I will be excited about. Anyway, she walks in and talks to Jim, describes me and asks his advice on what to give. Jim may seem like one of the quietest guys around, but that doesn’t stop her from chatting him up, asking about his Christmas plans and what not. Each time she does it, she dutifully checks out the various pieces that Jim suggests and manipulates the gear. (It also has to live up to her definition of cool.). She asks a couple of questions about it, trying intently to mangle a couple of key climbing terms and then selects this year’s present. Past years have resulted in my rack being supplemented with Loweballs (to which I am now addicted), Micro Camalots, and the like. This year, she bought the second smallest zero cam from wild country. She refused to buy the smallest, insisting that she would never allow me to rely on something that small. Of course, I hardly ever aid climb anymore, so relying on the second smallest would also likely be catastrophic (it’s strength rating is somewhere around 4 kilonewtons – not rated for free climbing). Jim recognizes the chance that something she gets may not actually be what I need, so he lets her know that we can take it back if its off base. This may be the first year that that may happen. Lily swears that next year, she’s just gonna grab my rack and show it to Jim in order to give him more to go on. . . . Lily always returns and tells me how much she likes talking to Jim. I always picture a bemused expression on Jim’s face. Apparently the tradition has been going on long enough that Jim is starting to recognize her. Anyway, Jim Nelson deserves all the business he gets and I love my wife. . . .

I believe in rappell systems that take less time to set up than it takes to actually descend the pitch. bpththtppth!

Was also a refugee from the SG comp prep situation. It looks like VW problems seem to favor crimps more than slopers (relative to SG) and that the people there seems to have adapted. Found that I bouldered roughly two V grades harder on sloper problems than the crimp problems whle I was at VW.

Gettin' it from both sides . . . Partner and I headed to Boulder, wanted to sleep near the border of one of the Dakota's and Wyoming. Pulled off and found a little park on a lake with a boat launch and picnic table. Fell asleep quickly. The high school kids decide that this is where the kegger will be and about 100 or so pull up. Unlike my high school parties where the music was loud and the talking quiet, they started some native american chants. No way to sleep. We left and drove down the road. The next likely place we find is a park commemorating Custer's last stand. We again fall asleep quickly. 5:30 in the morning rolls around and a bunch of busses pull up with what appear to be military school cadets. A speach on the battle with loudspeakers once again prevented sleep. We left.

right. Although it only adds time relative to racking on a sling. Personally, I rack on my harness and hate racking on a sling. This thread is the only place I've ever heard of somone believing that how one racks the gear when one is leading is anything other than a personal decision. Of course, the speed of the team is one factor, but, given: 1) the marginal amount of time lost when trading over the rack, 2) the efficiency I get from being able to grab exactly what I want from its designated place on my harness, and 3) the fact that its my ass that will be airborne should I spend to much time fumbling on a rack for a certain piece, I invariably err on the side of racking on the harness. The only time I rack on a sling is when I'm aid climbing with a gigantic rack. Even then, my harness has six loopsl, so l still primarily rack on it. matt

This seems to increase risk for no good reason. When I rappell on a fat and a skinny cord, I always stick both cords through the device, regardless of how well jammed the knot may be. Here's why: 1) It doesn't make things any more difficult; 2) It gives you a bit more friction (which is generally a nice thing when rappelling on only one line) 3) It decreases the likelihood of the light line getting blown and tangled and ensures that you have a hold of hte line that you need to pull on when you get to the end of the rappell; and 4) If the knot does slip, you aren't dead. That said, two skinny doubles are really nice for long ropes - use those if you can afford them. matt

I'm flying out to Spokane in a friend's small plane and have some time to climb. Possibly a couple of half-days. What suggestions do you have for good places to climb if it's hot? My transportation options are either borrowing the in-laws car or taking my friend's plane to a nearby airport and finding some way to get from the airport to the crag (Like, if we went to Metaline, we'd probably fly into Spokane, drop of my honey to see her parents, fly to metaline and see if we could find a loaner car to get to the crag). Where's the shady/cool/high altitude climbing? Sport is probably best, for gear and weight considerations (on the plane). thanks matt

Three friends and I will fly there late this month/early next month for climbing and don't know shit. Anybody have beta? Good crags? good long routes? good faces waiting for ascents? Good camping?We won't have a car unless there is a loaner at the airport. (good ways to get a car?) thanks, matt

So I'm building a garage that will be almost totally dedicated to a climbing wall. I'm getting down to the nitty gritty and I'm looking for opinions: General background - It'll be about 20 feet deep by about 21 or 22 feet wide with 12 foot ceilings. That’s as big as zoning will allow. Presently I'm planning to have climbing on the left wall (30 degrees past vertical), rear wall (20 degrees past vertical) and right wall 45 degrees past vertical). The 20-degree wall will have the least climbing space because the 30 and 45 degree walls will cut into it. The 30 and 45-degree walls will be the primary walls. 1) Room between the walls: I’m second guessing the angles on the primary walls because the 30 and 45 degree walls will come together only about two feet apart. This is a problem for two reasons – First, I don’t want to worry about hitting the 30-degree wall if I miss a lunge to the top of the 45-degree wall (and vice versa). Second, the 20-degree wall will not be much fun except for traversing because the top will be so small. Anybody have any experience with walls that come together at the top like this? I’d be interested in what their angles were, what their how far apart the tops were and whether worry about hitting the opposing wall was a concern when climbing. 2) Kick boards – At what angle do you think that a kickboard becomes a good use of space – I presently intend to intent to put a 1 ½ foot kickboard on the 45-degree wall, but probably not on the 30 degree and definitely not on the 20. I’ll have old mattresses with a carpet cover for padding, starting a little bit back from the start of the wall. Since the wall angles may change I’m not just interested in the 3 angles I listed only, but also the cut off for degree that means you start putting a kickboard in. I may wind up having the walls be 40, 15, and 25 from left to right. 3) Anybody know what the exact angle is on the bouldering wall on the left as you enter the bouldering area at the Vertical World near fisherman’s terminal? It looks about 30, but I’m curious if you think/know if it is a bit more or less). thanks, matt

Eric - Yes, a rack to three inches is enough. The pack was nice to have, but not necessary, we brought along poles, which helped on the descent (they caught me a few times.) and would have been a pain to bring otherwise. It is a cold face until it gets in the sun, and the pack allows you to bring along some down.

(or how graemlins can make up for lazy writing) Supposed to leave at 2:30, but got held up at work and didn't get in the car until 3:30. Picked up Todd in Redmond at the MS campus and immediately hit traffic. Talking along the way, we realized that I left the 7 mil (haul line for the small pig) at home. A call to the Leavenworth mountain shop (or something like that) resulted in a very nice dude who worked there leaving a new one hidden for us to pick up since we wouldn't arrive until after the store closed. Drove up to the Colchuck lake trail head and started hiking, it got dark right as we arrived at the lake and bivied on top of a sweet boulder over looking the lake. Light snow added ambiance. Woke up by the sun around 8:00, but it was freaking chilly. Both Todd and I were feeling tentative. But, everything looks better after a morning constitutional, so we started heading up to the route. When the entrance gully split, we took the wrong side (I'm an idiot) so we had some extra hiking. We arrive at the base of the route and started climbing around 11:00. On top of forgetting the haul line, I “accidentally” knocked the tape off the ledge after I finished taping my hands (Todd is strong, I need to handicap him) . Todd got me back by not noticing the cordelette and locker that I left for him at the start of the pitch. We didn’t realize it until about three pitches up. One new Petzl Attache down the tubes. The first pitch is nice, but I got off route and did some kind of variation to the second. First some chimney, then a beautiful vertical straight in crack, then a face traverse over to nice stance (very nice 5.9 climbing – it was to the left of the actual route. Todd lead up the chimney above, which ended us at the ledges beneath the long pitch underneath the chimney (5.8 or 5.9). Aside from rope drag issues, there really is no reason to do the first four pitches in more than two. For these two pitches, little chunks of snow kept coming down on us. It definitely was not snowing. It seemed more like there was some snowfield that was calving really tiny little chunks. I was happy to get back to the route and be protected by the roofs above. Another party came up the gully and set up camp for an attempt the next day. I forgot to leave them my number about the cordelette – if you guys see this, email me and I’ll trade you a beer for stories and the cordelette ). The pitch under the big roof is looong and steeeep. The tag line hung free about 5 - 6 feet from the belay when I was done. Perfect jams and laybacks, but not much in the way of rests. The last 20 feet were wet, but the jams so solid it didn't matter. Altitude and over 100 feet of overhanging jams and laybacks (no matter how positive) made for a beautiful, but pumpy pitch. One of the finest I've been on. We had been thinking of combining the roof pitch with the pitch below, but it was sopping wet and I was pumped. I belayed in the shadow of the roof. That thing is freaking huge! Like twenty feet to its lip and 25 feet wide. Two 5-foot sections of wetness made the climbing less than pleasant. Todd pulled all of the moves, but by the time he was done, I was cold and timid. Yarding on the gear made it doable. Warming up the tips on Todd’s neck was the only way I could lead the next pitch. The next pitch was sweet. Again, a long, right-facing dihedral. Definitely felt stiff for the grade. The hard moves at the end of the pitch were rated appropriately (maybe even a bit soft) and really well protected – after placing a cam, there were two fixed nuts left from previous ascents. The crux was very short, I hung but Todd raced through it. A final 80 – 100 foot 5.9 chimney with good protection spit us out on ledges leading to the summit. We opted out of the summit and shimmied over to the descent (we only had an hour of day light left ). The descent is extremely straight forward, descending gravel and snow to the notch at the top of the approach gully. It was almost entirely snow covered. The snow had softened up considerably from the morning and we made it from the top of the peak to the bivy at the south end of Colchuck in an hour’s time, just as it got dark . Back at the car at 12:30, home by 3:45. Slept in till the dog woke me up at 8:30. My wife informed me that I should deal with the dog, since she was undoubtedly be more tired than me because she had “tossed and turned all night.” Right . . .how selfish of me for not thinking of that my self. matt

back on top . . .

back on top . . .

Anybody go up this weekend? what was it like? got pics?