Lambone

Not too much shit on your belay loop. two daisies and a gri-gri...vs two daisies and a biner w/backup knots. Yes once the loop of rope gets heavy enough it feeds automatically, at first you have to pull it through... one drawback is that you have to sort of uncam your bottom jug a little to push it up sometimes, which isn't so bad once you get use to it.

not sold on the Metolius Easy Aider. I haven't tried it, but it looks like a clusterfuck waiting to happen. I prefer the standard 2jumar/2aider method. I believe most speed climbers use this tried and true method. My aiders have elastic to keep my feet in the loop, but I have also had sucess with a big fat rubber band (like the kind that holds broccli together in the grocery store). I typically have my Gri-Gri on the rope as well in lue of tying redundant back-up knots, and I stay tied into the rope. Sometimes I'll use the 1jumar/1 gri-gri method. mostly on traversing pitches with lower-outs. I have heard good things about the Frog system if you are Jugging 1 loooong overhanging line. Cavers use it...but in wall climbing it is probably less efficient in most applications. plus it requires extra gear.

I Tent, of course!

Kane, I had a Tempest before my I-Tent (that I am nowselling). I sold the Tempest because it was too heavy. It is almost a 3 person tent, and with 2 vestibules that add a lot of weight. It's comfy, but not a "light and fast" sort of tent. It also is harder to fit in small bivi spots on a climb. I'd say is more of a basecamp tent, while the I-Tent is for on the route. My wife loved the Tempest, but then again she never had to carry it...

nothing like having a partner bail 5 pitches up El Cap....your right, fuck 'em!

well, catbird... the granite at Castle was never glaciated, and it is a realatively "young" formation in geologic terms. so it is still exfoliating. Much of the big towers are covered in questionable flakes.The cracks can be flairing, and the faces have oinion skin flakes that peel off sometimes. options for pro are sometimes limited and that was probly Fred's main complaint. It is not that it's chossy, it's just that the lines and features tend to be discontinous, hard to pick out from the ground, reqiuring a mix of face climbing between sparse pro. power drilling is illegal there, and shunned by the local hardcores in Shasta, so bolts are few and leads can be spicy. climbing at your limit in CC can be an eye opening experience. there are quaility moderate lines that are solid rock, lots of hard and heady lines and acres of granite that has never been touched. %99 of people going into the Crags just do Cosmic wall and maybe 6 Toe crack. But there are many other gems to be had. I have heard that the East Face of Castle dome (i.e. the Dyke Route), is the best line up there but goes at a heady 10c or so. Stop by the "Shasta Base Camp" in Shasta to get the guide book or gleen beta from a bunch of great guys who work there. They are putting up new lines every season and there is a ton of stuff that is unpublished.

dude, it is still a stupid question. no offense... no, it is plainly not AS safe, but safety is all realative, as well as "remoteness."

Pulling someone out of a crevase by yourself is hard as hell. Try it, then decide for yourself.

And so BD continues their legacy of factory recalls!

Trey!

I'd say the most important opinion is the First Ascensionist. Ask them if they'd mind another bolt. Maybe the reason there isn't one is simply because they ran out or were cheap, and couldn't care less if there was another one or not. Still a little 5.10 runout on a 11c route is pretty common. If you don't like it you could TR the route.

I love chicken bolts!

Bob you should post this over at Routesetter.com (yes there is a blog for everything these days!)

Most gym owners instruct their employees to call 911 if the injured climber can't make it out of the gym under their own power. We have had climbers with hurt ankles who've had their friend/partner carry tem out and drive them to the ER. maybe this woman was alone at the gym. suxor

I don't have kids yet, but I coach a climbing team of 10 of them and they inspire me everyday we train together...in the gym and outside. One went to Nationals this Year. Sorry no digital images on file.

Turner - Flux

DMM is coming out with the Alloy ones soon apparently.

other then the obvious comment of "it depends on the weather." be aware that some routes can be affected by spring runoff. so if you are going for a particular route you may be dissapointed to find out it's wet. so keep your options open. could be sunny and warm, could be wet and miserable, in the same day. or not...

Get Well olyclimber!

Last weekend at the Holiday Inn Reardon gets up from the bar and starts soloing this huge brick pillar in the lobby. He made it all the way up into the rafters, about 50+ft (five stories or so), and the bartender came out and freaked on him! So he came down and got another beer. Interesting fella. I enjoyed bullisting with him because it was he couldn't care less that I was just a nobody climber in a big room full a sombody climbers. And that was pretty cool. Talks about himself alot though, that's for sure.

no it's not dru click that Momentum link, there is some sick outdoor climbing at Indian Creek, Joes Valley, Southern Illinois, and more... podclimber is just people in a gym. but it was anything but boring.

it'd be cool for the one or two weeks a yer that it is coold enough for good ice...

Momentum.com ABS Nationals coverage coming soon. Nats footage up now on: Podclimber.com I was there folks and I can tell you that it was off the hook. The climbers were just too good....

shameless bump!

I thought this thread said "Fuck Texas".... oh, well...maybe I should start my own thread.