willstrickland

When I say "prefect" placement, I mean that the geometry, contact of the piece, etc were approaching ideal, the quality of the rock was the factor in them ripping. In the hard varnish I'd think they'd be bomber, typical wingate...iffy, Zion...take your chances. The ones I ripped were while bounce testing, and one or two while easing onto them without testing...because they wouldn't hold during a bounce and I didn't want to nail. The factor seems to be that the sandy cracks allow them to slide around instead of biting on the little flat end of the ball and causing the wedging action. I would have been suprised to see an alien track out of a similar placement, but on the same route that I repeatedly ripped a Red Ballnut, I ripped two TCUs in decent placements, and took one of those in the grill.

This is the best quote I've seen in trying to capture the "why" "Our imagination often conjures notions about places and things that reality frequently falls short of. But wall climbing is one of those rare things whose scope and immediacy goes beyond our dreams. On the high crag, we feel our life acutely. Though the sun and moon cut across the sky, time melts into a taut present tense as we encounter ourselves moment to moment. We feel our life, and our death. We are fully awake. The rest of our life is like driving in second gear." -Long

This is Will: RURP, you start climbing them big walls and the next thing you know you're smokin them doobies. Pretty soon, you'll be hangin with all them Cal-i-forn-e-a hippie climber wannabes over at the Center of the Universe, then the next thing you know you'll be chuggin cock...wait, you already do that, my mistake. Thanks for the quote Pope , uhh I mean RURP, and have a good holiday. And btw, the only terrorists might be mud falcon launchers on the Capt, but Caldwell, Rodden, Dickey, SMith might think otherwise when talking about ranges abroad. Will has spoken, now Will gets on the train and goes home, fixes his brakes and drives to Seattle to meet a bunch of cock chuggers, I mean dope smokers, to go bash some ice in Canyukada. [ 12-21-2001: Message edited by: willstrickland ]

For you Portlanders, Climb Max had a few pairs for $60 or $65, normally $90...I got a pair and they're pretty damn sweet, and I looked at ALOT of gloves. Another good deal is Granite Gear's Ice Sparring Gloves at Next Adventure for $60...look for the right ones though, one almost identical model is about a Benny. They are very nice too, the Lowes just seem like they've got better materials and burlier construction.

Sure man, I'll hold 'em as long as you're not coming back in like a year or something

Matt, can't comment on the larger ones other than I'd take a cam over one anytime it'd fit. I've ripped enough perfect looking red and blue ballnuts in sandstone to dick with them unless I need to. That being said, the red and blue are pretty sweet for LA sized cracks or even beat out blade cracks...makes stacked blades look pretty silly, they are a pretty potent addition to your arsenal if you're trying first clean ascents. Some cam hooks,regular hooks, brass offsets, alien hybrids, and ballnuts will get you up alot of stuff cleanly if you're willing to run it out a bit. I know Matt already knows all this, just spraying for others who might decide that going clean is the way.

Where's Freak Nic when you need him?Anyhow, the following videos for sale: Masters of Stone 1Masters of Stone 3Hard GritFree HuecoRampagePusher - Yank On Hits Retail about $30 each, the whole kit, shipped to your doorstep for $60. Wanna see the late Dan Osman free solo 5.12b? Sharma tick Scarface V14? Obe' doing Flying Marcel V10, Boone Speed cruising Ice Cream in Hell 5.14C, Sharma cruising Just Do It 5.14b and Necessary Evil 5.14c, Jason Campbell and Boone Speed doing Super Tweak 5.14b, and tons of other stuff. John Bachar soloing 5.12, Peter Croft climbing Excellent Adventure - the 5.13 crack finish to the Rostrum. The most twisted piece of climbing I've ever seen is on one of these tapes..Sharma doing some FA problem in Priest's Draw, AZ. Hard Grit is another story altogether...scary just to watch it...5.13x routes, 20footers onto RPs, Moffat and Moon, Seb Grieve and Neil Bentley, Fat-ass John Dunne climbing 5.14, and a young Leo Houlding headpointing 5.13. All the motivation you need for next season, and to keep your weak ass training like a maniac all winter. Get it at a bargain price, get it now, get it while it's hot, just get it!

quote: Originally posted by epb: Volvos arn't sports cars man. Dude, your nuts! Ever drive one of those Volvo 850 T5 Wagons? A WAGON with like 265 Hp, almost zero turbo dwell, it's more of a sportscar than most that label themselves as such. I think they made 850 T5's in the sedan too, now those would be quick. Even the old 740 Turbo Wagons would (and still do since they last forever) move. I'd take a Volvo over just about anything on the road (except a BMW or a baby blue '85 Ford cargo van) even if Ford owns them.

quote: Originally posted by epb: That's pretty wicked man. Trask where you get all your funny and fucked up pics from? (like that gangha yodi) [ 12-21-2001: Message edited by: epb ] Thoses are from ampland.com/humor

quote: Originally posted by epb: This one's for you Slappy. It is embarassing though. However, in my defense, what other crampons have front points shaped like chisels. So what's up with the methedology beyond there shape, why not make them proper points like the rest? None. And the reasoning is more resistance to shearing out in rotten ice or soft snow. You figure the very end of the picks on your all-mountain axes don't come to a sharp point and they penetrate fine...same deal. Also, the Sabertooth is designed to be a general set, not a steep ice tool (although they apparently work well in that capacity). And yes, we're all dumbasses.

It's hard to tell from the shadows, but is that one of them old school "grease gun" rifles homeboy is holding? Looks too short to be std issue grunt weapon -16 or whatever they've got thse days, although in '93 I'm guessing still the 16 and/or a M9 sidearm (that's a Beretta 9mm semi-auto pistol to you uninitiated types).

I've seen Tricks rated from 13b to 13c/d, but probably so few people have actually climbed it that it's unimportant...it's way hard and WAY long, much longer than Ruby's Cafe or Disco Macine Gun. Ruby's is tips for maybe 80', Tricks is a funky finger stack/very thin hands size for like 130'. Here's Nitro on something (not tricks obviously)

Just say "What a tool!" and you've covered it. My favorite big wall in the Olympics is the one the marathoners hit at about 21 miles, it's cool watching them suffer, reminds me of alpine climbing

quote: Originally posted by epb: God damnit. How the hell can a flat head screwdriver head be sharp...there is no point to be sharp??? I gotta be missing something here. Rat was right..I must be a dumbshit. Man, SHARP, not "pointy". The edge of your knife is sharp, not pointy (although the end may be pointy) a chisel is sharp, not pointy...see what I mean?

Well, the alcohol, coke, and probably the shrooms will clear the system in 48hrs or less...you survived though, musta been a Volvo and not a Saab.

Steve "Nitro" Petro, guy is just HUGE...looks like Sgt Slaughter! He is a genuine hard-ass, hard FAs and early repeats of many high end desert cracks. I think he was on the FFA of Tricks are for Kids 5.13+ Indian Creek. Good buddies with the Piana/Skinner/et al Lander crew.

SOLD

Same deal on Moonlight, guide says crux is .13 onsight, .12d if worked. I never said Suzuki onsighted it (I guess someone else did though) only that he has climbed it several times, yearly at one point, placing the gear on lead.

Now maybe it's just me, but don't you guys wanna know why the 5.0 is hot on his tail before you advise him to c'mon up to Index. NEWS BULLETIN: The Climbing Killer strikes againDecember 20, 2001 - Table Rock, NCLocal law enforcement reports that the climbing killer has struck again. This time the victim, the third in four months, was leading Superjingusagogo, a 5.2d splitter crack on the southeast buttress. The killer reportedly appeared out of a deep chimney and swinging a improvised bolo made from slings and BD Talon hooks managed to hook the climber under the carotid artery, spilling blood onto several nearby routes. Other climbers at the base reported hearing a shriek and then feeling something that was initally though to be rain. The blood splattered lookers-on were visibly shaken by the ordeal. A suspect was being questioned although he is nowhere to be found today, police will only say that his residence is cleaned out and only a pair of lederhosen and two packs of Bratwurst were found in the place. This leads police to believe the killer is either Bavarian, or trying to fit into a mock-up village in either Helen, GA or Leavenworth, WA.

quote: Originally posted by Terminal Gravity: Hey CC; lets try to convince Will to drag us up the El Cap Nose next summer, I know he wants to do it. That's a big wall. I failed on it once already. Good practice, huh? You and I can be the best support troup that he could ever imagine and while he's leading the aid pitches we can compare gut size. Waddaya say? You only failed once, I still haven't finished it after three tries It's on the list for this coming year, but nowwhere near the top of that list. I still can't fathom climbing that thing in 4 hours.

You know he gave up on the re-attachment right? Tommy's gotta be at an all-time low, but I guess we'll see what happens in the end. Maybe he's still able to climb super hard, or maybe be becomes the pimp ice climber or aidclimber or something.

From R&I:Rodden Solves Sphinx Crack (5.13c) December 6, 2001 Beth Rodden, a former queen of indoor competitions, has to be considered one of the country’s top crack climbers after her recent send of Sphinx Crack, a burly splitter in Colorado’s South Platte. Rodden has climbed 5.13 in Yosemite, but says that this is the hardest “pure crack” she’s been on. “It’s pretty rugged inside that thing,” Rodden shudders. “I got only two tries a day.” After four days of pain-tolerance testing, Rodden snagged the pinkpoint. Gear was placed beforehand, from rappel, which most leaders have found necessary. Rodden said she’d consider coming back to place gear on the lead: “Someday — but it’s not a big goal.” The other thing she found “a bit weird” is that the route is entirely man-made: The Colorado School of Mines created the crack in the '70s with massive charges of dynamite. -END R&I excerpt- Now riddle me this: Hidetaka Suzuki, quite possibly the best crack climber to set foot on US soil (with the possible exception of Nitro or Hong) used to have a ritual of climbing this route once per year or something like that, and to the best of my knowledge he always placed his gear on lead. If anyone's seen the Master's of Stone 2 or 3 I think it is, there's footage of him just cruising the Phoenix... a 5.13 valley crack, so is this just more "sponsored climber needs to be in the media" stuff, or is it really "newsworthy"? I didn't see anything in there about "first female ascent" or "onsight, placing all gear on lead" or anything else to indicate that it was newsworthy. Don't get me wrong, I doubt I'll ever be climbing 5.13 cracks and it is impressive, but I gotta wonder... [ 12-20-2001: Message edited by: willstrickland ]

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Cool Carolyn, Now if you can just keep your friends' dogs away from your liners...

quote: Originally posted by Cpt.Caveman: Will, I noticed you never made it to Index Only got to drool while scoping it from the road on the way by, I'll get up there, probably in the Spring, if not in the late summer. It looks too good not to put some days in.