willstrickland

Hey at least you're looking for variety, maybe even some different mountains in year 2? Good luck on finding a jacket and if I stumble across a good deal on something I'll post it. You still suck

Americans are notorious for being slow wankers, that's what...I mean it musta took me 30, 40 minutes to wank yesterday Was I bragging about pissing in their tent? Maybe, but the point was they got less than they deserved. You tell me how you'd feel when you spend 3 hours teaching someone you've never met at their request only to have them pull some shit like cutting in line. If I didn't know I'd get thrown in the Yosemite clink I'd have grabbed that fucker by his hair and dragged his frenchie ass to the back of the line... call me a biggot if you want, I've partnered with French, Germans,Brits, Irish, Koreans, Japanese, and Swiss and had a ropegun frenchie drag my ass up some stuff I'd otherwise never even attempt. I don't care if you're from france, cameroon, or tatooine for that matter, but invading belays and other euro tactics are something akin to me going to the Saxony region of Germany where only soft pro (knotted slings etc) is used and pounding pins, or using white chalk where only colored is permitted, etc, it may be your "way" but it ain't "THE way".

Don't know of a web site, but where are you headed? I might be able to suggest a shop or something where you could try to partner. You could always try the board at The Front (one of the gyms).

Thanks Charlie and Jon! That music galaxy site is the ticket, no firewall issues, tons of music YEAH! Lovin this new 24x CDRW at work.

Larson, you suck...but I'll give you some beta anyway. Check Sierratradingpost.com, and campmor.com, they're blowing out TNF Nuptse jackets all the time, usually around $100 also sierra usually has some Marmot and others. You'd look great in some TNF, maybe pick up on the yuppster ladies after your 80th trip up the DC. I think Lambone? was trying to get rid of a FF down parka, look at Wallstein's portaledge for sale thread, it was in there if I remember. And remember, you suck, say it with me "Dan Larson sucks".

Caveman, I've heard that shaping the rear bail can help alot with that problem. Erik, you mean offset them as far as protrusion length? Like have the outside point shorter than the inside point?

I think we're about a huge difference between rock routes and apline/snow/ice routes. In addition to all the junk raining on you, a soloist in crampons with axes falling through your team would be ugly, with a rope-chopping possibility. A soloist on rock, however will probably still put a serious hurting on you if they fall into you, but you might get away clean. I had similar expereinces to Lambone on my first trip to the valley. We were behind a slow party on Serenity/Sons and a German/Austrian pair invaded our belay and started clipping into our gear. I promptly clipped the guy to my daisy and unclipped his shit from our gear and told him to clip into something other than our gear or downclimb his ass back to his last piece. I was pissed to say the least. On the other hand, I've had the same deal happen when we were the slow party, a team simuling clipping into a couple of our pieces and the belay...their leader yelled from about a pitch away and asked if they could climb through and clip our gear in the belay anchor. "Sure man, just let me hit the next stance and place a piece before you get to me". They were through us and gone in about 5 minutes. Taking a new partner up Arches, a soloist was coming through with my partner, a fairly new leader, on the shapr end. The guy asked if he could pass, and I just warned him that the guy leading was a novice and let him get to a comfy stance first...no problem. Funny you mention Koreans, what year was that? I did the Lost Arrow tip with a Korean guy and gal in the summer of 2000, and they definitely had that labor division thing going on. Their third member (not climbing with us, shooting pics from the rim) was on the Nose a couple of years before that...apparently with a sizeable team, he ended up sleeping in the haulbag for a couple of nights...guy owns a gym in the burbs of Seoul, is the Korean Prana rep, maybe it was his party you guys saw. They were amazingly friendly, fed me in camp for four or five nights, loaded me up with Soju (a Korean liquor, basically 40 proof vodka flavored with a little plum, it even comes in little juice box style containers for travel!), even sent me a gift when they returned to Korea. Now how's that for hospitality compared to the French guy/gal team that I spent three hours teaching to clean pendulums in camp only to have the assholes cut line on me at the deli and act like they'd never even seen me before...punk ass bitches, I bet that puddle of piss I left in their tent while they were gone the next day was a fun discovery.

I took a good look at these in the shop yesterday, and the front point flares are almost identical to the Rambo comps. Horizontal rails look cool, but they barely put the boot any closer to the ground than the Rambo comps...maybe a 1/4 inch if that much. That point, in addition to more resistance to balling are the selling points of the horizontal rails...since balling problems can be solved with anti-bot it's not much of a selling point IMO. They look like they'd be great ice/mixed/all around but I'd personally choose the rambo comp duals. The short points under mid-foot on the grivels makes the reverse oriented third points actually useful. I'll be ordering some Rambo comp duals this week. The only concern I have with the Grivels is that the replacement front points are crazy expensive...$55 bucks where I checked.

So after checking out tons of gloves (and picking up something very similar to the vinylove that I can trash) I went with the Lowe Gannt glove. Closed cell knuckle padding, reinforced pittard's leather palms and fingers with leather going past the end of the finger, wpb shell, removable fleece liners and additional insulation/lining in the shell itself, good gauntlets, idiot cords, retail $90, got 'em for $60.

Preuss would probably love the cable-car served, hut system, piton and bolt infested alpine climbing in the alps these days. I end up bitching in all these ethics slanted threads, but as a wall climber I could be called a hypocrite. Anyone who's been on Thanksgiving ledge on the Capt, or Camp VI for that matter (although I wouldn't know, still haven't finished the Nose) and seen the filth and garbage would argue that wall climbers' ethics need some improvement. That said, I had an interesting experience in Josh last spring. Having read in some R&I piece on Josh's bolt protected slab climbs that they "may be bolted, but aren't a sport climb" (paraphrased) we decided to do the climb in the accompanying photo. The route is Loose Lady on the Howser buttress. R&I captioned the photo with something to the effect of "Mary Jane's bolt relief will be short lived as it's a LONG way to that next bolt. I think the longest span between bolts ended up being about 12-15ft with a bolt close to each hard section. A thought provoking climb (as slab climbs can be), but runout? Hardly. Plenty of stuff on the GP Apron in the valley has much longer runouts, as do many of the dome routes in the meadows. It gave me an idea of the "standard" R&I considers when looking at climbs...they are pretty clearly coming from a sport climbing perspective (yeah, I know Eller et al climb trad too). So are we seeing a slippery slope? From free solo to hemp and pins to nylon and chocks and now 6ft bolt spacings and stick clips, bolted cracks, power drill rap grid bolting, hood ornaments as aid pieces, and piles of oxygen bottles and miles of fixed ropes in the Mtns. What next?

quote: Originally posted by Wallstein: Those big hooks are a waste of money..... I got a couple you want to buy them? I agree, so you're sending them to me for no charge right?

I generally train Mon and Thurs. I typically stretch, warm up with some traversing laps and then boulder interspersing traverse laps. This winter I'll likely be only bouldering one of those two days (Monday probably)and concentrating on vertical mileage for endurance the other day. If you want to run laps on TR on Thursdays we might be able to pair up. I'll forwarn you though, I like to run laps on the crack- climbing and downclimbing for as long as I can hang in there. I think leading in the gym is a waste of time unless you're new to leading, so I won't be...but if that's your scene I don't care what you're doing while I'm belaying.

Jon are you speculating or hooking me up?

I need to pick up some more LA's, sawed angles,couple of rurps, cinch rivet hangers, and some big hooks (3" dia)before I hit the road this spring. Anybody looking to pare down their pin rack?

Longshot, but what the hell. Anybody got a copy of the Warren G G-Funk Era/Regulate album that you can e-me as an mp3? My disc got some nasty scratches, I need my G-funk.

From R&I: Top American climber Tommy Caldwell, who in August freed the hardest line on the Diamond (the sheer East Face of Longs Peak in Colorado), was badly injured in a home-improvement accident at his Estes Park, Colorado house on November 29. Reportedly, Caldwell had been using a table saw to build a platform for his washer and drier when he inadvertently cut off his left index finger just above the middle knuckle. Beth Rodden was at home with Caldwell and helped find and ice the severed tip before getting him to the hospital. Caldwell’s finger has since been reattached with pins, and he is making good progress. He is expected to return home from the hospital on December 7. We wish him a full and speedy recovery

Record for two-armed Chins: Peking phone book Record for one-armed Chins: Chinese amputee directory

quote: Originally posted by dizzyme456: If it were not for companies like TNF you people wouldnt have half the gear you own. The North Face pioneered this sport. If you really wanna blame someone blame yourself, the consumer. Oh by the way, go look through your closet, I bet there is some nice North Face gear in there. Let's see here, there's two pieces of TNF gear in my closet...and that's where they generally stay because they're subpar. I got both on closeout/blowout...a windstopper fleece jacket and a down jacket, I paid a total of $55 for both. Both of them , as well as my Marmot, Patagonia, and Moonstone gear have the logos covered. I've ranted this rant before, consumerism is bad, so kindly stick it up your ass kid. Pioneered the sport? What the sport of extreme yuppie mall shopping? You fucked any credibility you might have had with that asinine remark. I think it's clear who's got the closet full of TNF.

Sorry you missed out, the beer was goin down smooth. Termial G, Texplorer, Anne, Wes, Dave, and myself rallied our collective intellect to determine the following: 1. We should all be climbing ice in China and Mexico with mitts containing picks...no more ice tools 2. Terminal's Barley Wine will put hair on your chest...and then knock you on your ass 3. Tex is a punk because he's leaving on a roadtrip and we're stuck here 4. You should only run in crampons on the Telepherique stairs if you're naked and intend to do backflips off the top of Mount Blanc 5. A hip belay really hurts when catching a 40 footer.

Check it out: No longer made, this piece has NEVER BEEN WORN!It's exp wt capilene in the top and powerstretch fleece in the bottom with the "superfly" system (crotch zips through instead of a rainbow drop seat which can flop your "pile suit" into your "pile o shit"). These one piece deals are the shiznit for ice climbing or winter mountaineering. Low bulk, no overlap, and super warm...what else could you ask for? SIZE Medium, $150.

Red and Yellow Marmot shell with the logo covered with green fabric tape, blue baseball hat. See you around 7:00, I was there last night and the Porter was on nitro mmm mmm good!

quote: Originally posted by Wallstein: If you have a 100lb pig to go do moonlight you have alot more to worry about than the river. I crossed it the middle of december without a problem. Just bring and extra pair of socks or tevas. Yeah, he's right, but soloing Prodigal I had at least 100lbs in the bag crossing the river. 3 ropes at 8lb each, 8lb haul bag, 10lb ledge, 2 gallons of water and food, and you're already up to near 60lbs and that's without the rack, sleeping bag, bong, 1.75L Tequila.... Also there can be a big difference in the water levels between December and March. Take heed on suggestions to go light on Moonlight, a couple of the pitches suck ass to haul. Rigging the haul to extend below any lips or edges will solve some of these, and I think Pieper has some hauling beta in one of his TR's...basically you don't have to haul every pitch, like you might be able to haul from 3 to 5 etc.

Works for me, TG? Rob? Tex? Buhler?

I'm down, when and where? Lucky Lab?

Just stay WAY left for the first real pitch. This is the thing that I think he's talking about. It's easy to get suckered into this manky sort of crack system that looks better than the ramp thingy out left. Climb the ramp, otherwise you'll be pulling sandy face moves. It's not as complicated route finding as it sounds. Other stuff I'd recommend for easy aid is: Clean: Prodigal, Touchstone, Spaceshot, Lunar Ecstasy. All easy, and also all crowded. T-stone goes in an easy day, lots of fixed gear low and lots of free climbing after pitch 2. Prodigal is tons o fun (my first wall, solo) and the first two pitches link easily with a 60m. Take extra small nuts for Prodigal (shouldn't be a problem for you ehh Cavey!) Lunar X is right next to Moonlight and not usually as crowded. If it's cold, Touchstone faces south...everything else won't see much sun in March. Something you might consider is that Spaceshot, Touchstone, etc are on the east-side of the canyon and you won't have to ford the river on the approach (that fucker's cold in March), for Moonlight, Prodigal, Lunar X, etc you'll be wading that thing...not bad when the water's low, but add 100lb pig and some current and see how you feel. Take offset nuts, ballnuts, small tri-cams, and aliens (hybrids if ya got 'em) or these will feel harder than the ratings...particularly without the HB brass offsets.