Terminal_Gravity

quote: Originally posted by ScottP: To dangle prepositions. LOL

Hey Dan M. Don't be put off by these guys. I'm with you man. I've never actually climbed anything before. I did run a mile once in High School in under ten minutes. Lets do a warm up climb first to see how we work together...maybe The Yokum on Mt. Hood. I'd like to try it in high Heels & a latex skirt just for fun. After that we can hang out at Muir and smoke up the place.

Happens Twice a day

Do you have any time lined out. I plan on doing the Grand Traverse in a single push probably in late July. I haven't decided if I want to try & solo it...probably not. Maybe we could hook-up.

trask...Fetishes that I may or may not have aren't an issue. "Perfect style" is without gear. Free solo is a higher style than hang dogin. Ben Nevis has been soloed nekked. Although the guy did use boots crampons and tools. Ruddersbox...I think that Wild Turkey might add to the challange but I prefer Maker's Mark CF...Gain on dude The rest of you pusses...Where's the spray when I guy need's it?

Anybody want to cross the Alvord Dry Lake Desert in south east Oregon this summer with me? I prefer to do it during a dust storm, naked and without water. I want a partner with a weak constitution so that I can add to my own personal struggle by draging you the last distance.

in sober retrospect, I'm sure that it was my soaking cloths that were the culprit. Evaporative cooling and all that. I'd rather freeze up than even think about cuddeling with the Mother-in-Law

I have not been doing my part on this thread lately. Yawn... but what the hell I think I'll come up with something clever, witty & original. Dan Larson Sucks

Thanks, Gimpy. And Yes, I am indeed very bored...see my "mother-in- law post" under the gear critic if you need proof.

First, the "Escaping the Mother-in-law" TR Friday evening. I get home from work at 6:30 after a long week. We brewed 9 times and on top of that I had more than the usual amount of arduous paper work to deal with... my administrative assistant (secretary in an earlier era) is on vacation. The last thing I was looking forward to was that my "lovely wife" (Willstricklands words) had invited her mom and my hyperactive niece for a sleep over. I decided to "get out" in more ways than one. I threw 2 ropes, a shovel, a picket, a dead man, slings, harness, 'biners, my Marmot Lithuim Bag, stove & pan, sleeping pad, snow shoes, head light, can of Copenhagen, GU, Ramen, Halva, water bottle, cloths, beef stick etc. etc. etc. ad nausium into my pack and headed out; hoping to rope solo some crazy little coliour thang with a cornice at dawn. I drove up on a local logging road until I got stuck, lowered the tire pressure, locked the hubs and put it 4WD low and drove another 1/2 mile until I got stuck again. It was then 8:15 and almost full dark. I post holed up through warm wet snow in the dark for a while, sweating in shorts and a tee-shirt until I gave up and put my snow shoes on. Then I post holed up about a thousand feet through dense trees and got hopelessly disoriented on the moonless night. My altimeter said I had only made 1500 out of the 3000 feet that I wanted. My spirit was broken. The stars had turned to clouds and a warm wind had picked up. I decided that I had better dig a snow cave. At 10:30 I put on my extra cloths and fired up the stove, melted snow and made ramen. One bite left me wanting, I dumped the rest into the melting snow and satisfied my gullet with a heaping plug of cope'. After squirming into my bag ( 0 degree, Marmot lithium 800 FP down, remember) wearing socks, shorts, Patigonia capiline tee-shirt, Patagonia R-1 hooded thing and a Patigonia proto-type puff ball vest (yes Patagonia gives me deals) I mummyed up and still spent a chilly night in the cave. At 4:30am I awoke with optimism that it had gotten cold during the night and my target was in shape only to find that it was 42 degrees and raining outside the cave. No climbing today! I packed up and made it home by 6:30 for my first margerita of the day. Thats the TR; but the real question is why was I not toasty warm all night long? I had a sleeping pad. Yes, in the cave, sheltered from the rain, but surrounded by snow, it might have been 32 degrees even though it was warmer out side, but certainly no colder. I was wearing what seemed like plenty of cloths inside the zero degree bag and yet I was a bit chilly. What's up with that? The bag did absorb some moisture from my wet clothes and the dripping cave during the night...but still, what gives? How do Manufactures really rate bags? Maybe I'm just a pontificating whimpy piece of shit climber. Maybe not. I have other bags of various ratings but I really like a lot of things about the Marmot. Compared to the others the ratings, it seem appropriate but clearly not accurate. After a night of heavy drinking at an outdoor party last December, I crashed in the snow in my Mountain Hardwear King Tut ( neg. 35 degree dryloft ) it was -12 degrees in the morning and I was fuckin' cold in the middle of the night. At the time, I blamed it on the fact that I was drunk and slept nekked...but I wonder, is it the ratings? Sorry about all the ramblings, but what are your experiences with bag ratings. Or, does anybody really know the criteria for manufactures giving a bag a rating? Maybe I just have a very low sleeping metabolism...that might explain the extra 20 pounds of insulation I carry around my gut.

To claim on-sight you clearly can never have laid hands on that particular piece of rock before. But, I have read definitions calling for "no prior knowledge". If taken literally that seems to me that if you have even heard that the climb exists you are no longer eligible to on-sight it. So, do you have to acctually be driving down the road or hiking down the trail and see something and say to yourself "gee!, I think I'll climb that" and do so? Or, can you know that it has been climbed? What if you are doing that and see chalk marks or moss stripped off? No more on-sight? Can you know the rating? Can you have read a guide book but never seen it before. Can you look at it from a distance and at a future date walk to the base and climb it after reading a publicly availible guide. Can you talk to some one that has climbed it and said it was fun but didn't tell you where the difficulties were or what pro to take? What happens if some one that you know happens to mention that they climbed it and you happen to know their approximate ability; are you then not able to claim on-sight status when you climb it? Maybe it sounds like I am just playing word games or being a geek or stroking my own ego. The fact is; I am very careful about making claims of my successes that are not true and it seems that if one follows the definition to the letter of an on-sight climb, it is virtually impossible to do so, unless you live in a cave (without internet access). Your opinions, words of wisdom or attacks of spray?

Practicing smoking doob's and picking your nose at the same time. Very talented.

Does anybody know what the specific criteria are that is used to determine weather or not a permit to solo is granted. Or does anybody have any tricks to help get one. Also, how early are Furher Finger conditions most likely to be favorable. Thanks in advance

Thanks

"GET HIGH HERE" Graffiti chisled into the stucco of the back wall of the gym at my highschool in south Los Angeles where the surfers hung out. The irony was that it was right next to an adjoining pillar that formed a wide fist crack that led 15' up to a six inch ledge. Manteling on to that you could reach a solid pipe drain. A couple of quick lie back moves allowed you to reach a shallow finger crack from which you could pull to a vent pipe and reach the roof about 35 feet up. The surfers never climbed it but after spending afternoons at Stony Point and weekends at Suicide & Taquitz I finally soloed it in my junior year. To think that I didn't really understand what they were talking about until college at Humboldt State.

I am going to have to be the contrarian here. Good advise above, particularly about drinking water. 4 liters a day minimum on rest days above 14k + more on movement days. Mr Happy is right on about Diamox. I think that unless you absolutly know how you perform at this altitude; 17 days is the absolute minimum. That being said; altitude can even bite someone in the butt that did fine at similar hights on a prior trip. Here is my rational: States to Lima - day 1 Lima to Huarez ( 10,500) - day 2 2 days in Huarez ( and yes it is a fun town, but you need that much time to acclimate and get the logistics taken care of) - day 4 1000 ft a day to high camp ( I like 3000 ft in one day and rest 2, this seems to let me skip the extra rest day) even this schedule may be too fast but you almost certainly can't go faster. - that puts you to day 12 one rest day at High camp - day 13 summit day - day 14 two days to get back to Huarez - day 16 one day to Lima and catch a red eye back to the states - day 17 (more likely 18 'cause I doubt you'll find a red eye) I think this is a very optomistic schedule for some one coming from sea level and does not allow any room for any problems, conditions, weather, aclimitization or logistics. It also assumes that every member of the party is able to acclimitize fast. The Cordillara Blanca are wonderful mountains. I spent 5 1/2 weeks on my trip to them, climbed several peaks and wished I had more time. I think it would be a shame to rush a trip and most likely fail because you left no margin for error. I do recommend having Dexamethazone (4mg pills) in your kit, and I would consider taking 200mg diamox before bed from Huarez on. And absolutely know how to recognize early HAPE & HACE symptoms. When in doubt go down, even at night draging your sick buddy if that's what it takes.

This is a bit anectidotal but about 20 years ago I had a a little run in with a Yosimite rescue dude. As a joke a friend of mine had some cheap shirt made that said Yosimite rescue team printed in big letters on the back. I'm not one to turn down a free shirt. I was on Beacon rock a few years back and was behind some slow but reasonably competant climbers. I did my normal thing of trying to climb extremely fast and smooth when approaching a slower party. I timed it perfectly and blazed up to the second about fifteen feet below the first belay ledge and chatted friendly like and without pressure to the ledge at which point I said we would like to pass if they didn't mind. They were reluctant at first but made a complete 180 all of a sudden and invited us to pass. My partner and I simulclimbed a little way to get out of their way and I belayed him past them before they had a chance to get slowed up. From above I heard them saying something like, whoa that guy is from Yosimite. I was wearing that tired old shirt. Apparently they had read the shirt at the ledge and that (for some reason) convinced them to let me pass. Maybe we should all get "speed climbing champion" printed on some shirts?! Seriously, I am a smooth leader but not really all that fast, but have had to pass plenty of parties through the years. I have had very good luck with the tecnique of holding back a bit and then blazing up to them just before a belay, being friendly but telling them that I am " going to pass, if they don't mind". This is better than a yes or no question like "Can I pass?". Last August I climbed Exum on the Grand Teton and passed 19 people with no problems or hurt feelings using this method. [ 04-10-2002: Message edited by: Terminal Gravity ]

Yeah, I did talk to Cascade and they were cool, and they plan to talk to the retailer. My best guess is that if I talk to the retailer I will just get into a un-satisfing pissing match. They don't have an 800 number, nor am I in Hood River very often. I suppose that talking to them is the ethical thing to do but I just don't have the inclination to spend more of my time or money with some piece of shit manager over what amounts to a trivial matter. I will never shop there again and chalk it up to a "buyer beware" learning experience. That being said; I think that, like WillStrickland's post about good experiences, it is worth while for us to share experinces so that we can learn from each other and hopefully not repeat errors.

For what it's worth...I purchased a thermarest (3/4 ultralight) from Second Wind Sports in Hood River. I paid just $1.50 less than full MSRP and it turned out to be an "irregular" after I unpacked it on a climb. They had not represented it as such. Cascade designs says that it is only cosmetic and is still covered by warranty; so it really is no big thang. But I thought I would atleast report the sleazy practice of this particular retailer. cheers - TG [ 04-10-2002: Message edited by: Terminal Gravity ]

oops! How do you import a photo

quote: Originally posted by Dru: so TG, how big is Aconcagua?? I'm not really sure how big Aconcagua is. Or how to even quantify it's size. That being said, I bet I'm bigger than a certain well know poster. See photo below of me at high camp.....eat your heart out Caveman [ 03-05-2002: Message edited by: Terminal Gravity ]

We are all familiar with politicians, sales people and business moguls using incomplete, mis-qouted, ill concieved and/or eronious statistics to convince people all sorts of things. It is a sad day when climbers & psudo-climbers start doing the same.

Pigs in Yosimite!? There are to many there allready. Be especially wary of the pigs riding horses. But Tex, I bet you could find a nice boyfriend for your pig if yours is a sow. [ 02-19-2002: Message edited by: Terminal Gravity ]

quote: Originally posted by freeclimb9: It's dark meat, in case you were wondering. Supposed to be a potent aphrodisiac. Thanks FC9; I hadn't made the connection. Last time I ate dog...I loved it. A soup with chili, celantro & lime in a coconut base. Just joking [ 02-19-2002: Message edited by: Terminal Gravity ]

quote: Originally posted by bobinc: I haven't seen much of a ranger presence at JTree, For what it's worth...In the eighties I was hasseled & ticketed by the man in JT several times for (IMO) minor infractions and slight deviations. That being said enforcment seemed sporadic. Maybe they just do occasional sweeps and have quotas and maybe it is looser now. Yeah right! [ 02-18-2002: Message edited by: Terminal Gravity ]