dkemp

Dang. I can hardly wait to get up there. Thanks for the pics.

Ah, good stuff man. Boy I'd like to get up that thing. Good pics.

Oy! I'm away for a few days and just look what happens. Get well AlpineK!

Seems like a climbing magazine would show a picture of the route, not a generic picture of the mountain. I mean, the Wickersham Wall is awesome in the truest sense of the word, but the Orient Express is on the other side of the mountain. Its not like there aren't photos of OE - ya look right up at it from 14,2, right?

I am considering the Chinook Pass area for some snowcamping and drills practice. But I havent spent time there, just looking on the map. Was wondering if its a snowmobile place. Anybody know?

Went to Castle Rock with my pal Seth on Friday. Wow, great day at the crags. Nobody else was there, weather was perfect, and we pulled off both climbs we set out to do. We stepped right up for Canary. I led the first pitch, grovelled up onto the ledge. Sheesh, can a guy get some feet around here? Well, I didnt make it look good but I survived. Seth then led the second pitch with the infamous step across move - he did it! We then climbed Saber. Seth indulged me and let me lead all of it since he'd been there before. Set both my hexes, which I love to do, and got some really good nut placements. I'd visited Castle Rock only once before for Catapult / Midway combo. Really nice, I like it.

We have fifteen signed up and paid for so there is one spot left! Four day course, starts next Thursday, no prior experience necessary. Doxey

A skills refresher weekend for me. On Saturday I led a group from the club to Hyak for glacier skills refresher - team arrest, crevasse rescue, etc. On Sunday I got together with a fellow and practiced knots and munter/mule combinations, etc.

I dont see the pics

His website is here: Matera Photo Look under Contact. I'm sure he'd like to hear from you but I dont think he has another show in the works right now. BTW, Steve is one half of the instructor team for the Bushwhacker Outdoor Photography Course , the other half being the infamous Seth Pollack : Seth Pollack site

Fantastic turnout - probably 200 people there. Images were beautiful. Steve is a good friend of mine and I was proud to see him up there doing it - I know public speaking can be really hard. I thought the strongest part of the show was the beginning and the end, actually, when he played music for ten minutes and just showed slides. My 2 cents.

I dunno, neither of our instructors were British nor did I perceive either to be a dick. But I imagine that since they had a reservation and were expecting eleven students that they would defend their little ground from poaching. also, there were other groups at Sheep Pass. You might have moved in on some other group. Whatever, I hope you had a great trip to JT!

I dunno how long Steve will go, probably an hour and a half.

We are serving cookies and such at 6:30. He will start showing slides at 7:00. If I know Steve he'll probably start talking right about 7. Does that help?

Update: Its leafing out nicely! (taken Monday a.m.)

This show is a presentation of the Bushwhacker Climbing Club. Steve is Secretary of the club, and at a Board meeting we asked him to do this. Steve is a professional photographer, and will be featuring images from his trip to the Pickets, as well as Utah, Arizona, Alaska and elsewhere. Matera Photo site This show is free and open to the public. Tomorrow night, April 13, 6:30pm. Hope to see you there! Doxey

The woman at the car rental place said "oh, we upgraded you to a midsize, no extra charge." We said Great! So we get out there and and its this thing: We kept it and did the pimp crawl around JT all week. But being "upgraded" is now a derogatory term. "Dude, you got upgraded" "I know man, it sucks..." The TRSM instructors names were Todd and Alan. Alan's guide tricks site can be found here: Guide Tricks for Climbers His other site is here: ACI So, re guide tricks he showed us, I'll give you a couple examples. I wont try to be a TRSM instructor though - I suggest the TRSM course if you have questions. And, in advance, yes - there are lots of ways to do these things. Lets say you are running a top-based TR, like a seacliff or something. You want to lower your client to the base of the climb. You can rig your belay device on the anchor, then add another carabiner behind it. The rope goes through the belay device, around the other carabiner, then up to you. See photo here: ACI homepage (In photo, left hand strand goes to the guide, right hand strand is tied to the client.) Now the guide can stand (tethered) on the edge, watching the client, lowering them down to the base of the climb. This system gives a nice smooth lower and allows you to stand on the edge so you can see. Here's another one. Lets say you're going to run a base-managed TR site. You walk around to the top of the crag, set up anchors, connect the climbing rope. Now, how do you get down? You could walk back down, but what if its a long way or something? You could rappel down, but your anchor master point is hanging over the edge requring sketchy batman manuever to get on rappel. Answer? Pull the climbing rope up away from the edge and set up your rappel. Use an autoblock backup. Now - here comes the tricky part - attach one end of a cord to the anchor line (friction hitch) and bring the other end to a carabiner on your belay loop. Now connect the cord to the carabiner with a munter. Now, using the munter, lower yourself down, over the edge, onto your ready-to-use rappel setup. The rappel will already be braked by the autoblock, so lower right down onto it. Once the rappel has your weight, you can undo the munter. Toss the end of the cord up onto the clifftop so the clients dont mess with it. Now rappel to the ground. Whew! Hard to follow that? Take the course.

Ya sure, you bet. Hmmm, I'm about to "clock out". Tomorrow, eh?

Wow, well Joshua Tree just blew me away. I think that place is very beautiful. Those trees are trippy and the landscape surreal. We left April 1 and returned last night, April 9. We flew into and out of Ontario - I think I would use Palm Springs next time to avoid LA traffic. My buddy and I did a four day AMGA course called Top Rope Site Manager, put on by SMC . I know it seems odd to give top roping four days, but believe me, they filled it! Basically they taught us a bunch of guide tricks and dispelled some myths. Recommended! We then pursued our chosen sport, all at 5.6 or .7 grades. Hemmingway Wall, Thin Wall, The Sentinal, Wonderland of Rocks... The rock is sharp, the grades are stout, and sometimes the pro kinda sketchy. Definitely some of the walkoffs were, er, uncomfortable. But we climbed all the routes we attempted and never bailed off anything. The weather was really variable, and mostly featured wind. During the course we got snowed on! Well, flurries. We got hail and thunder, and that night a hard rain. But the last few days were bluebird, and not windy. Temps were very comfortable, esp in the shade. After all that time in the desert, the Sizzler in Yucca Valley satisfies Anyway, wow, Joshua Tree is fantastic and this is a fine time of the year to go.

We had a great time - thanks for asking.

Off topic, sorry, but did you know that its not pronouced for-tay? It rhymes with port. My brother corrected me at Christmas - I didnt believe him, looked it up - had to admit he was right. From dictionary.com: for·te Pronunciation Key (fôrt, fôrt, frt) n. 1. Something in which a person excels. 2. The strong part of a sword blade, between the middle and the hilt. Sorry, back to your thread. And, um, no I dont have a forte in climbing. Maybe teaching, does that count? I dunno. Dox

Yet another pack-strap optical illusion! Damn I look good in that picture.

Couple spots left!

Hello folks. The Bushwhacker Climbing Club is sponsoring a Wilderness Advanced First Aid course, Thursday - Friday, April 27-30. Cost is $400, and this includes bunk lodging, breakfasts and lunches. The course will be held at Rescue Specialists near Leavenworth. Its a modern ranch style facility with a large classroom, as well as bunks and showers. They have a lawn in the back where some scenario's are held, and some woods beyond that where more scenario's are done. This WAFA course was developed by the same people that created WFR, and this course does count as a WFR recert. The course will be taught by the professionals at Rescue Specialists. These folks teach WFR and WEMT so they are imminently qualified for teaching WAFA. The club has twelve members signed up and paid for, so we have met the minimum number and the course is a definite. Max group size is sixteen, and after giving the club members ample opportunity, I am posting this here in hopes of filling it up. If you wish to participate, please email me at information@bushwhackerclimbingclub.org. Doxey