genepires

all right then, who do we have to shmooze with to get funding to fix THAT? make calls early and often.

Knifeblades (KB) are usually thin crack pitons, smaller than small nut sizes. bugaboos are longer version of kbs. Knifeblades will be your pins for aid as the bugaboos will be more likely to bottom out. Lost arrows are thicker metal for slightly bigger cracks than KB, more durable and heavier. Not really a alpine tool but standard tool for hard aid. I think that offsets would work in many places that a lost arrow may be needed. There is a world of pin craft that is being lost for good or bad. (not that I ever was good at it. The half of the handful I placed all bottomed out. (alpine) Good for you for wanting the learn the craft and get on big projects. Just keep the hammer away from "clean aid" lines

-70 meter single rope? yes but 60m is fine too. -long slings? yes -pitons? doubt it but bring small rock rack -temps? usually very pleasant, in upper 20's -Partner hook ups if my wife wants to shop? Look for AAI guides who frequently work there -Do I need to buy chains for the crappy little rental car I'll get? doubt it as the roads are plowed very good. Unless you want to go to silverton -Are large groups territorial? most people have been friendly and there is always open ice to climb. (non festival days) -Are guides that I can climb much harder than territorial? don't understand question -Which hot springs do you like? there is a large public pool. cheap and some hotels give coupons to customers. -Belay from above or below? both -Guidebooks necessary? not really for the park. just walk around and find what looks good. The best stuff is easily walked from car. Might need book for mixed climbs. -Any other beta? 8 days is a lot of time for the park. You will prolly feel the urge to get out of the park. seems like 4 days is the max but I never got into the mixed game. Silverton is really nice, not hardcore but scenic and natural ice. (which is a term that is hard to explain) Then there are the other usual suspects but you may need a more snow worthy car. Sweet. have a good time. prepare to hook more than swing.

Only met you once on the trail, but wouldn't you be a twig at 170? Aren't you 5'10" or something? I would be very happy at 185. Not even sure if it is possible, short of cutting off a arm

you are putting words into someone else's mouth. You don't know what said clerk would say or not say. If this clerk wouldn't sell pins to someone for the sake of rock preservation, how does that automatically prove he is a bolt lover? You make good arguments but now you are being a dick. And you are doing your cleanest climbing message a disservice.

2 sides to every story. Would like to hear from the clerk side. It may have been a good little education that got taken the wrong way. If someone told me they were going to pound metal into index, especially the LTW, I might speak up. (in a nice way) The fact that this person may have lost sales due to moral standing on piton scarring should stand for something.

bump. weather looks really good thursday. anyone want to get out to snoq pass, maybe some rock climbing craggin?

I felt that solitude was standard fare for even 3 oclock rock. (when compared to the other usual suspect climbing areas) Now it will be practically deserted and become another static point. Road to spring mtn has issues too. Road to squire is unknown also. Could be a long walk to anything with slabs for a while.

Scary.

Well D, he is held to a different standard maybe because history has a way of repeating itself. As you said earlier, it is unlikely that he will be able to pull off the ascent as he described it. (weather windows) Therefore, the assumption is that he will need to resort to the same BS as last year in order to create his route and appease the sponsors. My opinion really means nothing and I doubt that I ever had or while have the skill base to climb in patagonia. But I like to think that there are places in the world where real men (and women) can climb a mountain on the mountains terms, without any more man-made aid than what they bring to ascent. Pure man vs mountain. These places can stand as a model of pure adventure that lesser men can strive towards at their own home mountain ranges. When Cerro torre becomes a place where sport climbers go to get their groove on, where else can one look at for that purity? (not that Lama is creating pure sport route, but is pushing it in that direction) there are no pure ranges left in the world. It is not about norms and accepted practices of the climbing world.

I AM BROKE BUT I GOT ENOUGH TO WRITE IN all caps. Quit yelling at me.

Except that what is acceptable in one part of the world may not be acceptable in other parts of the world. It is all about local ethics. If the local ethic (which may be the ethics not of actual locals only but locals and the foreign climbers who visit there) states that there is a certain way of doing things, then as a community, others should respect those ethics. I would assume that Rolando is a good representative of the local ethics. If your thinking were true, then I could go to that eastern bloc climbing area that doesn't allow chalk or metal protection, (I forget the name) and do as I want and claim a moral superiority due to the ethics of yosemite and the rest of the climbing world.

that is what god created the internet for!

sounds like rather typical pandome conditions. Pure terror.

Portabands cut through all kinds of metal. It would give a straight cut but you might be able to make a couple cuts to make is kinda round. No clue about temperature though. Dane has more knowledge about metals.

not about owning the mountain but rather respecting the mountain, the sport, and the other members of the climbing culture. I think that sport climbing does not have to exist on every rock face. There should be places where adventure rules. (even if most of us have no possibility of getting up it)

got those days free and looking to get out in the alpine in snoq pass. maybe tooth or chair for a rad "winter" ascent. Should be very spring like. or rock climbing for that matter.

comparing cerro torre to garfield? While I am not an expert on this whole problem in either torre or garfield, it seems the major problem with the cerro torre bolting issue is that the bolting is going on near cracks. While there are a few places that natural gear could have gone into infinite bliss, this place is fairly devoid of natural protection.

great trip! thanks for the granite stoke.

I know somewhere on this site shows how to post photos. Maybe the newbie section?

nice looking snow conditions. thanks for the TR. there must be an easy way to post the pictures from another website like you tried. Prolly just a couple of commands needed. I usually download to the photo library.

I was with Alex when he activated the screamer. He wasn't very far above the screamer, maybe a couple of feet. It was weird that the screamer was fully activated. All the stitching was pulled. Makes me wonder about the utility of a screamer. Seems like a couple of stitches should have pulled but not them all. If this is how they usually work, then any fall over 5 feet would always rip all the stitching and land full onto the extended webbing. My vision of a screamer was that on a big fall, stitching pulls limiting the force over the course of the fall. There would be a couple stitches left and the full peak force of a fall would never be felt by the ice screw. Am I wrong with this concept?

depends how many you have. If you only got a couple then you should place them on the suspect pieces. If you got 10, then put them everywhere. The screamers are not that expensive though, so it would be a good idea to load up on them load limiters.

If you are 100 feet up at a belay. Leader goes out 10 feet from belay with no gear in between him and the anchor, falls, then you got a fall factor 2. If the ground is steep enough and the belayer does not let go of the rope, you will walk away.

sorry, it was just a hypothesis that most likely is wrong like most hypothesises. No research was done before my proposition.