genepires

sweet!

sweet! thick rope is hard to find. thanks!

in this guys case a leash to his waist makes sense. If he falls, he is dead with or without the leashes. If he falls, the leash "may" catch him. if he loses a axe, he may die.

where did you hear about freezy nuts? That is one that sounded good to do but I don't know any of the specifics. my calves still argue with me when I think of the 50 degree ice on mini moonflower. Unbelievable. Maybe it is the slightly hunched over position which causes a over stretching of the calves with locked knees.(vs normal WI you are more vertical with slightly bent knees) When you train for AK and you are looking at that kind of ice, I would suggest you somehow training for that trouble. Extensive use of 3 oclock position for feet didn't solve my problem and it has too hard (and cold) for lots of low daggering. so piolet anchoring it was and then the sore calves. Maybe I just suck. ou got me thinking again bout AK. Thanks and good luck.

Yeah John, my ceiling is about 10 feet. I got rock rings hanging from it (as high as possible) and my feet are still on the ground. I got some barbell stuff, a couple light KB's, a couple sandbags, DB's, a car tire sled setup and recently got a big ass tractor tire and sledgehammer. Good fun especially when the neighbors look from behind curtains. I love that long list and will pick some stuff for sure. I have been trying the 1 legged squat every once in a while and can only do it off of a box. I like the one legged deadlift though.

ham and eggs. go in late april i think you would have more options in the ruth. Stuff not in guidebooks but I hear about cool lines there. maybe someone with intimate knowledge will chime in? If you haven't climbed in the range, maybe you should tone down your goals to get experience with AK climbing which is a whole new big ass bag of kick ass. some good "get familiar" suggestions: sw ridge of frances (mostly rock and snow) japanese couloir of barill kahiltna dome and pt farine (non technical) crosson (overnighter) getting a feel for the range (and the needed suffering skills) is more important than having the WI skills. In my opinion. and 6 pitches of 50 degree ice is a lot harder than you would think. a lot.

jim was stoned when he said that

that is dedication, getting in there without floatation. weak men would have bailed.

j tree. lots of non climbing walking about like the biggest joshua tree (which is outside the park but damn big) and the climbing of course. red rocks climbing and an occasional forray into the town for some good kid fun (like g rated shows. blue man group for example) whatever place has a variety of things to do besides climbing

and be the laugh of the entire french nation? no way. If frenchie says do this way, then I must obey the frenchie master. your friend and his skin problem sounds like something I would do.

The bigger issue is if the offending company has enough capital to realistically take away in a law suit. (without hurting the music industry public image too much) The industry cold sue Blake for using thier music but what would it get them? Not a single thing except that the "MAN" is putting down the small man. Maybe patagonia doesn't have the capital to make it worth getting after them. GM does though. I suppose the MAN could sue Blake for $50.

The best length depends more on your other physical dimensions other than height. (like arm length) But the good thing it is real easy to give you 2 responsible answers fitting for a person with thier first post to cc.com. (so that means I will be nice but expect crap from others possibly) response 1- you need the length of webbing to be long enough so you can stretch your arm all the way out without having lots of extra slack. (trip hazard) So imagine that you are on a 45 degree slope and trying to stuff the axe in vertically. That would be the longest that the axe will be away from you. that is what you need plus a inch plus the length of knots. You won't be using commercial leashes for this as most are too short. You will need to experiment and shorten probably as you climb more. response 2- the best length for a waist leash is 0 inches. in my opinion, don't use it. There are specific times to use it like climbing the fixed lines on denali (where you gotta free your hand for moving the ascender around fixed pro so losing the axe is a likely probability) but most of the time it is just a liability. In my 20+ years of climbing I have never dropped my ice axe. There is a natural tendancy to hang on to it. (maybe if you have serious "butter fingers" dropping habit then maybe you should disregard this) The reaL problem with waist leashes is if you fall. Then there is no guarantee that you will keep control of the axe. If you got the axe in control, then no problem. If you lose control while sliding down the hill, then this sharp implement if flopping around, usually at head level. Near your eyes. and your head. which you need. For the whole ride down. You will not be able to grab it either unless it is stuck in your neck in which case you can't take it out till at the hospital anyway. Point is that is a serious hazard that I think the benefits don't outweight. It is a personal choice though and you gotta decide for yourself the pros and cons. I never thought the reason that the waist leashes could save you if you slip (with the axe vertically shoved in the snow) as a likely event. The scenerio I heard was that you r axe is vertically stabbed in. Your feet slip out and you let go of your axe, then the waist leash holds you. I think it is very unlikely that both happen and that slips usually happen on the descent where you are not plunging the tool anyway. Anyway, I hope I answered your question and gave you something to think about. Be safe brother.

can we assume he was french? If so, he lives up to the french stereotype.

Yes I should specify my goals and they are more alpine rock stuff. cragging at 5.10 is good for me. My concern is more for staying in shape as I get older as well as being able to keep getting up the 5.10's. Not really interested in sending really hard stuff so the hangboard time is of less use to me. But, I hope that this discussion will be of use to many people so if you have sport specific advice, please feel free to add it. How about any of the barbell stuff like deadlifts or clean and presses? How about the kettlebells?

anyone have a good idea if the ice in icicle canyon is still there? Did it all melt away? thanks gene

my garage is not tall enough. I can reach up and touch the ceiling. so even with a sit down start (which is silly) I would get 2 or 3 moves in. A artif. wall in my garage would sit unused and just cost a lot on $$$. I like the idea of just going outside more. If I could only convince my wife that a weekly day to the crags was good for my health. I need to make my little 3yo boy a rock monkey so I got that excuse.

I was hoping for some of your favorite circuit style exercises that have good benefits for climbing. I don't have access to a rock gym so no need to go there. Obviously, a rock gym is best but how about stuff to do in a garage that has benefit? Or even circuit ideas for general conditioning too? Some that I can think of Pull ups (obvious) (on rock rings?) dips (balance the pullups) get ups (core strength) burpees and jump ropes (overall heavy breathing) body weight squats (leg strength) maybe dowel pull ups for winter time any other great circuit training ideas?

I started out climbing by wandering around the white mtns of NH. I ended up doing many different angles of snow by just getting around. You could just spend time exploring the different nooks and crannies of snoq pass and you will end up climbing many different snow angles and types. I remember going up some gulley off the basin below the tooth that was steep and soloable. With a solid and safe snowpack, you could just wander around, exploring the many areas near your house. also the mclellans butte area has some steep snow.

maybe PLB, FULL survival gear, weeks supply of rations, 100 sherpas, and fixed lines to the car should be mandated by law for any outdoor recreationalist.

that is some serious bend on the orange petzl tool. Makes the quark look like a straight shaft. If the trend in bends keeps going, you can stick the tool by swinging backwards soon.

BTW all, he is doing the west buttress route. Not the NW buttress route.

you don't like my post yet you want a fun team. I bet it will be a "fun" time.

sweet looking elevator shaft in that mtn photo.

I took a good sized fall and broke my back. It was just a chipped part and I was able to walk out of the hospital. It is possible to fuck it up and still walk around and eventually heal. It is reasonable that repeated jarring motions like you mention could cause small traumas that accumilate to a full blown problem. Best to steer clear of such nonsense. You don't have this problem do you? Hope not

ptarmigan traverse for n cascades the hoh valley to mt olympus I haven't been on either but I hear they are great and fill your requirements.