willstrickland

Big Wall Climbers Arrested in Yosemite for 'Illegal Air Delivery' November 12, 2001 Two big wall climbers were arrested last week for tossing a haul bag off of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. According to the Park Service, on the afternoon of November 3rd, rangers received a report of a BASE jumper hitting the wall near the East Buttress of El Capitan. The reporting persons said that they had seen a white parachute and a person clad in a red jumpsuit hit the wall four times before disappearing from sight. Rangers investigated and just before nightfall were able to spot a white parachute attached to a red climbing haul bag stuck on a ledge on the cliff about 500 feet above the base of the wall. Park Rangers contacted two climbers at the base of the route who had just retreated off the wall. The climbers initially denied any knowledge of the incident, but one of them eventually admitted to throwing the haul bag with a parachute made from a porta-ledge rainfly before they rappelled off. One of the climbers was arrested for making a false report, illegal air delivery, and creating a hazardous condition. The other was cited for creating a hazardous condition and released to appear in court at a later date.

Looking to replace my old worn-out OR gloves with something new. I'm soliciting opinions, what do you like and why, what do you hate and why. I've looked at Granite gear's Ice Sparring gloves, and some other cheap stuff. They don't need to be G-tex, but inserts would be nice. On a related topic, I checked out Granite Gear's new alpine pack the "Alpine Light". It looks fairly well designed, about 2 1/2 lbs, tool sleeves and crampon patch/straps, frameless with removable bivy pad, top lid opens from either side, and it was pretty damn cheap. Anybody have experience with this thing?

quote: Originally posted by erik: matter of fact ti think that i will just go to (spray) yosemite today and be done with the lot. does anyone have anything down there i need to climb for them???? Yeah, go ahead and tick Stoner's Highway for me. I tried to get on that damn thing last year but I was always too high and drove right past it, Middle Cathedral's pretty easy to miss you know, especially with a "contact high", the bowl contacted my lips, the fungus contacted my stomach...and I was high. While your down there ticking STONERS do the WINDOWPANE flake pitch on Lurking Fear, get on PERUVIAN FLAKE, TANGERINE TRIP, MESCALITO...

Damn, I didn't know Snoop was on the scene. He's a bad-ass, a sport climber, but all that stuff in the Compton Cave down at Charleston is sick. Now he might be from Long Beach, but he down wid da CPT. Those routes Straight Outta Compton (FFA Dr Dre, Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg), and Cop Killa (@ American Fork FFA Ice T, second ascent Snoop Dogg) are hard. Mad props yo, keep cranking Snoop.

Maybe you guys should walk in with your harness on and third-tool holstered or your pack with both tools attached. You know those rednecks love tools, they'll probably strike up a conversation. If they get surly, just smash 'em with the hammer, or if there's a bunch of 'em just plug the first one with the pick...the spurting blood should keep the rest at bay.

In the words of Walt "There are only two kinds of women: Those who aren't worth the trouble and those who are nothing but trouble" Erik, it's easy to figure out why they compliment each other. She takes your mind off climbing for a while, provides a modicum of stability in your life, probably pampers you a little, and keeps you happier than you'd be flying solo. That in turn leads to mental health and the psycho-state is huge in determining how your body heals, recovers from training, etc. Of the few times in my life that I've had a good woman, plenty of climbing, and good partners all at the same time, great things came from it. Conversely, when I've been dirt poor, just ended a relationship, and am about to go over the brink psychologically, I accomplish some great things. The biggest difference is that I can maintain it indefinitely with the woman and all that in place, on the depressive-trip I can only maintain it for a very short time...flash and crash. Glad life is smiling on you, relish it!

quote: Originally posted by johnny: ...all this talk about partaking in the great outdoors and not a peep from our willing to compromise his ultralight hiking kit with a titanium pipe guy; Stone Cold Willy. Will, are you actually out climbing instead of bitching about other peoples habits?? GOOD FOR YOU!!!!! Actually, it was glass (that thar metal stuff is bad for ya). Yeah, I was trying to climb (aid soloing) since it was 65 and sunny, then tried my hand at surfing (that thar Pacific ocean's a cold one, and I'm a gumby on a surfstick). So all this cryin and moanin about puffing in the shack? I'd say a good 99% of the pot smokers I know, myself included, would have gladly moved outside if asked, finished the bowl (and probably another) and come back inside. No worries, it's a bitch to torch a bowl in the wind, but nothing any of us haven't done before...just like blazing on the chair lifts. Whoo wee, that Larson fellar sure is an excitable one ain't he? To paraphrase Dwayner "aloha and shalom ya'll" Can't we all just pack a bong?

I have no clue about the Rambos, but the Pulsars hold an appeal because the "evolution model" has interchangable shafts. Want a regular ice tool-no prob, bent shaft-no prob, walking axe-again no prob. I took one of these at the local shop, inserted the shaft into a step on the deck and hung off the thing bouncing on it trying to make the shaft become loose. Solid. You'd really only need one of the tools to be interchangable anyway. Using two tools, you could have a non-changeable bent-shaft hammer and configure the adze however you want (the adze because you'd be plunging it and therefore want to be able to switch it to a straight shaft. Only thing I don't like about them is the head is not very comfortable if you're going to be plunging alot. Hell, I shouldn't even be talking about them, I just bought Lammy's Shrikes so maybe that says something about my preference.

quote: Originally posted by Terminal Gravity: The real question is how warm can the liquid fuel be before its vapor pressure reaches the max design pressure of the canister. I have not looked at butane charts nor do I know what those canisters can hold, but I would bet ( my life) that it is way, way above the temperature that you will get from the wire trick. Another factor will be altitude. With lower atmospeheric pressure a canister at the same temperature will have a greater differential pressure. I also don't feel this is a concern. The concern is from the canister exploding, and while we don't know the design strength of the canister I feel confident that it won't fail in an exploding mode. This is why: 1. When the canister is being heated, it is also expelling gas (the stove is burning) which causes it to cool. This offsets the heating a bit. 2. Since the valve is open and the canister is expelling gas, the higher pressure in the cansiter will mean a higher pressure of the expelled gas (this is why you're heating it to begin with) and this would indicate that the failure mode might be at the valve of the canister. Or perhaps the valve is such that the excess pressure would simply leak through the valve system. It would seem that as long as the stove was burning there wouldn't be a realistic way to make the canister build enough pressure, it would just reach some equilibrium and blow off enough excess through the valve to keep it from being dangerous. I would think that the weak link of the canister would be the valve or the seam at one of the ends. Either way a violent explosion of the cansiter itself is unlikely. The concern in this mode of failure would be ignition of the fuel being expelled. Where's an ME when you need one? As a CE structural analysis was never my strong point. Give me a dirty environment, or some fluids...then I'm your man.

Supercrack is the 5.12 OW out a roof? I'm also interested to know if it ever got repeated (looks like a awesome trainer for the Owl Roof and those nasty OW pitches on Excaliber). Anybody know what size (hand/fist stack, knee, etc)

quote: Originally posted by nolanr: Of course Fred has been pretty much everywhere. He's more omnipresent than Will Strickland. Yeah, but that crusty old fart is like 108 years old, I'm only 28...give me a few years. You know that Tim Toula "Rock and Road" book? Well I'm on a mission to hit every area in it, and oh yeah...you misspelled omniscient

quote: Originally posted by Bronco: Damn will, your mojo must've kicked in and led you to the heart windows prior to my reply. I assume you already have the 1000w amp and house speakers with purple fuzz decor? Great minds and all that. I'm saving some loot to get the sound system up to snuff. So when you hear the bumpin soundz I'll be comin aroundz straight bumpin the Snoop I'll swoop in my coupe for a trip to crag here's a blunt take a drag yo

quote: Originally posted by Cpt.Caveman: Hood ornaments are cool! I'm thinking a Hula-girl super-glued on for a hood ornament? Probably get stolen though.

quote: Originally posted by plexus: Get off the numbers kick! Read the thread topic!

I'm on the 8-ball shift lever (even if it'll be sitting on the end of an automatic shift lever). I'm also currently looking for some (here's your cue Dru) hot-purple dangly balls to go around the interior. The back windows and the one side window (no side windows except the 3 in the doors)are tinted, but not the front ones yet. It was a toss-up between chain-link and leopard-fur, at $4.99 leopard fur got the nod (plus it's getting cool out, chain-link is cold). For bumper stickers I'm looking for a "Benevolent Frateral Oder of Police" bribery system sticker to go next to the "Grass, gas, or ass..nobody rides for free" sticker. If I got the mullet-barbarian mural I'd have to get those heart or spade shaped bubble windows installed back by the rear corners, and probably would be entering an entirely higher level of pimp-style, I'm not that cool yet (need another six months to grow out the hair so I can mullet it). Hey, anybody got some Kid Rock on 8 track?

So this weekend I started the quest to customize my new (old) van in a period style known as "nuveau pimp". In it's previous life it was an '85 Ford E250 wheelchair cargo van. It has started down the road to full-tilt g-ride. I started by removing the rear seats, added gray fur seat covers on the front seats, purple fur covering the dash, the windshield trim, and the console. Added a $0.49 cup holder to the door and a leopard print fur steering wheel cover. Also a fisheye mirror disc for the passenger side. New oil, filters, some Duralube, plugs, and carb cleaner...yeah. Next up the wheelchair lift comes out and the shaggin' station (bed) goes in. Bed will be on a hinged deck that will fold flat onto itself to open the rear carge area to it's full 6'2" clearance height (wheelchair van with raised roof). Under deck will be 4'x4'x4' storage. More purple fur for the door panels, and a battery-powered mini-disco ball for the rear. Eventual plans include a propane catalytic heater and stove in a cabinet, a steel lockbox bolted to the floor and turned into a bench seat, and a sink with a gravity feed water supply. The final touches...a mural or painting for the side...something along the lines of "Hung Far Low Delivery".

Fair enough, originally given 5.8 I might be confused, but I'd swear I've seen that given 5.9 somewhere. There's really only five or six ratings anyway: 5.easy, 5.hard, 5.awkward, 5.fun, 5.dirty, 5.scary....

So Cavey, How many times did you climb Damnation before it went from 5.9 to 5.8?

Dru and Charlie both make really good points. I think three or four things determine how an areas ratings compare. 1. Era when most of the routes were established (climbing some pre-1970 5.9s will confirm this one)2. The type of climbing as compared to your "home area". I learned on the steep, short, sandpaper friction of southeastern sandstone with positive crimpers and open handed slopers...my first tangles with smeary granite slabs were desperate, likewise with basalt stem-jobs and endless parallel desert cracks. 3. The nature of the routes (sport/trad/mixed). Most folks would agree that a 5.8 Valley crack is likely to feel harder than a 5.8 Vantage clip-up. 4. The strengths of the local climbers. A load of well traveled locals seems to help zero in on a proper grading. I've been on stuff that kicked my ass and then romped up something rated much harder simply because I wasn't good at the style required. If I'd been putting it up as a FA, I'd undoubtely have rated it harder than it should have been. That being said, I think it's a no-brainer as to where the best ratings are. Two places: A. Wherever you're lucky enough to be climbing at the time B. YDS = Yosemite Decimal System, enough said.

quote: Originally posted by BIGONES: This is for Mr. Will Strickland: What is this sport "posing" that you are always referring to? You must be good at it since you bring it up often and seem to know where it's happening. Those "posers" in Boulder you mentioned must be people like Mark Wilford, Roger Briggs and John Sherman who, I seem to recall, attended CU. Gosh, I wish I could be a polymath like you (or it is a maxipad? .. or whatever you call a font-of-all-wisdom up there in Seattle). Nice troll. Never said there weren't good climbers and climbing there, just need a set of hip waders to get through all the trustafarian and yuppie bullshit and a truckload of money to afford the cost of living. And when you troll, you might want to get your facts straight...those Seattlites wouldn't claim me even if I did live there.

Well, I can't speak to this particular model pack, but I do own three Dana packs (all made before he sold the company to K2). The terraplane is the best pack I've ever seen for general backpacking/load carrying. I carried it for 400 miles in '97, then 1000 miles on the AT in '98 before switching to a small daypack. I used it while working hoods-in-the-woods for as year and have carried it on plenty of climbing trips. Just plain bomber...it doesn't even look too bad yet and I regularly throw it around, sit on it in the dirt, etc. They made (don't know if they still do) "overkill" versions of some models that used the heavy-duty cordura that covers the bottom on the whole pack. So I'm curious, why not replace the CCW with another CCW? Any drawbacks to speak of?

Just a heads up... The Moonstone Profusion full-zip and half-zip windshirts are on sale at REI-Outlet.com for about $40 (msrp $100-140). I've got one of these and it's virtually the same piece as the Marmot winshirts...ripstop superlight nylon shell and a thin wicking/brushed synthetic lining. Sizes only up through mediums though...I'm 5'8", 140lb, 40" chest and the med fits me perfectly.

Jon, just wanted to report a peculiarity with the PM stuff. Some of the stuff in my inbox disappeared when I replied to the messages. Others stayed put. Nothing to indicate that any of them were different from others or any correlation between the ones that disappeared and specific action(s) from my end. Thanks for your work, makes my work day more enjoyable for sure.

I've been considering these as a replacement for all around stuff. The question I have is this: Has anyone seen the frontpoints of these in person? They are vertically oriented and changable between duals and monos, but the back-end (nearest your toes) of the points looks flared out toward a horizontal orientation. I'm assuming this is for better support in softer snow/rotten ice...and I'm asking because this feature is the biggest reason I'm considering these. Are the points flared enough and constructed in such a way (preferably with a flat surface on the bottom) as to provide some additional support compared to regular vertical frontpoints? I don't worry about the flare inhibiting penetration in hard ice, it looks far enough back on the point that it wouldn't be an issue. Anybody got the knowledge?

Enlighten me, what are these taxes you refer to? And how can I get around them?