Lambone

Right on, thanks jja...looks like it's worth a trip! How did the lower part of Synchro look?

Mods, Please move this to the Gear Critic. thanks

true nuff... I should have said, things that will make wall climbing more fun, safer, faster, more effecient, and greatly reduce the suck/suffer factor. The hardmen/women who climb superfast don't bring most of that shite. But don't kid yourself into thinking you'll be doing speed ascents on your first big wall. That plan has "bail" written all over it. Your first wall won't be fast, it also won't be "party style"...it will be seemingly endless work, pain, suffering, waiting for other newbies in front of you, and raceing to get to the top before you run out of water, constantly fighting the fear of exposure, commintment, and the urge to bail back to the bar. Only once you are familiar and comfortable with the realities of big wall climbing will it become a party. Go prepared for this and it might even be fun!

Here are the most obvious ones, that are easy to get to...I don't know all the names and shit, lots of the smaller lines don't have names. When you are hiking up the main trail, on the big wall where you turn to go up to th emummy climbs there are several "new"-since 2001 mixed lines, most put up by Pete Tapley. Some are on the far right and some on the far left. they can be TR'd and are moderate. Good mixed practice. G2 has a new line courtacy of Pete on the right side. Zack attack, Mummy 3, and the Big Sleep and Climb in Between in Flanders.. and loads of stuff on Unamed wall are some of the clasic nice mixed climbing in Hylaite. They are in the guide book. I have also heard of new mixed lines in East Hylaite in the Alpha-Omega cave, Palisade Falls, and near Champagne Cherbert. Winter Dance, Bull-Dog world, and Teenage Delinquant (cave under responsible family man) are some of the test peices that get done, put up by Alex and Pete. The bolts on Teenage Delinquant may be suspect, beware....equalized bolts in cobbles stuck in volcanic mud. Will Gad did the FA and called it M9-M10....very steep. Pine Creek has some good ones as well...Incubus and Succubus. Cooke City is the Vail of Montana, many new lines and many FA's waiting to be developed. And it has it's own version of the Fang. If you are going with mixed climbing in mind, give me a hollar and I will hook you up with Pete, he loves to share info and welcoms newcomers. Lambone

Yeah I meant the Met gloves. Any rollerblad kneepoad is fine, but I like the ones with the plastic cap. I saw a guy crush his kneecap on the South Face of the Column from a small fall...bad news. Forget two sets of BD nuts. 1 if that is plenty, spend your $ on offsets.

Other stuff you will need. -Helmet -Knee Pads and good leather gloves, (get the Metolius ones, they are worth it.) -Jumars -(I like Petzl) -Hauler - Pro-Traxion or Kong Block Roll -Ropes, 10.5-11 mil...Mamut Supersafe is the best wall rope. Haul line, I like the Sterling polyesther static chords. -Kong adjustable fifi -Aiders and daisies. I like regular daisies-get the longest ones, and when I replace my BD aiders some day I will get the Yates ladders.

This is true, adding tiny nuts and hooks to a hefty free rack (read: yours and your partners combined) will get you up most any of the intro trade routes. Fancy offset stuff makes things easier and quicker, but a good old set of TCU's is time tested.

edit: ok, you guys beeat me to it... TLG, Go with a set of HB Offset Nuts first, small brass through large aluminum. They are invaluable, I don't even carry regular nuts in Yosemite. Get a couple of cam hooks, mid size. They are cheap, and if you learn to trust them early, you will use them as much if not more than anything else. Aliens are what you want for small cams. Go with one set of regular and one set of offset to start. For big cams I go with 1 set of Camolots doubled with a lighter cam like Metolius or Wild Country. Don't forget some regular hooks, a Talon, Cliffhanger, and 1 big hook will get you by on most routes. Some routes you need doubles. Most Yosem Walls have at least some fixed heads. Take either some heads and a hammer or a good cheaterstick. Some other trinkets that can be usefull are Trango Ball-Nuts - the smaller ones, duck tape and Tie-off webbing. I might think of more stuff in a minute. Most importantly, go with the suggested rack in the supertacos book...they are almost allways spot on.

If anyone wants info on easy mixed routes in Hyalite, let me know and I'll send it to ya. There are alot of new bolted lines from M4-M7.

Trundle, Lummox knows exactly why he was edited. We are nnot going to go there again. I will not let every good thread about mixed climbing turn into a bolt debate. If you have nothing but crap to contribute, expect you crap to end up in the garbage can, simple as that. Some people are actualy interested in mixed climbing, and would like to read a positive thread on it once in a while.

Yeah, I saw that BC mag photo in the Calgary airport...its of the smears right of Carlsberg in Lilooet. Nice photos dale, hard to say who looks more badass, you or Kristie! Seagull looks gnar!

Dude, good idea! Steal them off of the REI doors and sell em on ebay as "vintage!"

Since it came up...here is our little boat. Catalina Capri 22 hull 1033. She still needs a name... We plan on club racing her once we are not so suck and get a spiniker.

whoa! crazy photo

Will, you're highjacking my thread! Ray, I'll give you more than what Will offers, or I'll trade ya a pair of BD Bionics. Oh, forgot...you hate BD.

You guys ever look at the "vintage" ice axes on ebay? Some of them go for like 300-400 dollars! Crazy I'm thinking of going to some old Euro ski lodges and stealing them off the walls!

Will, After being on the other end of that stick for almost three years, I can say that it is no fun for either party. You want to hook up climbing bros as much as you can, cause they are just fellow dirbags looking for a good pump. But then you have this thing called a boss who actually wants you to charge money and shit...what to do? As far as all the logistical shit like belay tests and waivers, just get over it and sign the damn thing. Gyms have rules for reasons, so that people who tend to do stupid things and get themselves and others hurt, maybe won't...but they do anyway. Do you really expect that Gyms allow non-proffesional instructors to teach in their facility? One minute you've giot guides trying to get their clients ready for Rainier, the next minute you have some meathead trying to get his hot date ready for the belay test. Sure there are circumstances when it might be ok, probly in your case...but you can't pick and choose...ya got to make a rule and stick to it. Otherwise it is not a fair policy. If ya wan't respect as a proffesional ya gotta stick to it...othersise they start calling you Stoner Gardens... At least you have a good gym to go to...you should check out the Medford rock gym sometime! Every hold is one of three different types of metolious jug, and the routes are set by 10 year old girls. The gym has potential but the holds and routes just fail to get me psyched...I'm either going to need to go in and set my own, or build a garage gym, probably the later....so fuckin hard to keep in shape in the winter...

I think they are pretty similar. Try the Megas on... Cracked, ditto.

Diarreha is pretty annoying...in some circumstance it kills. But constipation hurts like a motherfucker. Thats what I get for smoking for a week and quiting cold turkey...

yeah, Pear Izumi makes some nice stuff actually, kind of overlooked by climbers, I baught a pair of insulated climbing gloves this fall that I used iceclimbing in Canada, worked just as good as any BD glove.

Banff, ate Turkey with 28 family members in Tahoe, skied ice at Kirkwood with me wifey. She has pretty new skis with flowers on them and thinks she can ski twice as good now...whatever works I guess!

Hey guys...(marylou, beck, cracked, joshk, etc...) Allthough your spray is good natured...which is a nice change, it does not belong in the gear critic forum. I am going to continue to keep this forum on topic and gear related, so save us both the trouble and keyboard time and move your personal discussions to the chat room or Spray or something. Thanks much, Bone BTW- some good info in this thread, keep it up! Sure it's only nylon were talking about but gearheads don't discriminate!

PARTY

sweet thanks Scottp, for some reason that didn't turn up in my search earlier. I'm going to try for those...

I have the Tempest. It is the cheapest Bibler, it comes with two built in vestibules and has room for 2+ maybe even 3. It weighs about 1lb more than an Eldorado with a vestibule, but has more room and 4 poles for strength. It is not an ultralight tent for tiny alpine bivi ledges, but it is awsome for just about everything else.