fern

I had elbow pains this winter while ice climbing and Bob poked them and told me some stretching and strengthening exercises to do, which I have done and had no elbow troubles since. That $5 clinic at Vertical World (Monday March 29th 7:30pm) sounds like a pretty good deal

did you try on the next smallest size and they did crush your toes though? Was it just the liner that crushed the toes or the shell was truly too short. Try the shell on without the liner to get an idea of how much room the liner needs to occupy. Idiosyncracies of shell volumes can sometimes be offset by custom-fit liners but I think in those cases the wisdom is to choose the smaller shell option.

they sound too big too me. but I am no expert. Liner always pack out so if they aren't tight with the buckles cranked you've got no way of cranking them further when the liners get sloppy. I don't think fitting them for walking comfort is necessarily the best approach either. I usually walk or tour with my buckles completely undone. They are SKI boots, walking comfort should be the compromise. I bet you could get some better beta with a lil search on telemarktips.com

I posted scans of Lillooet News article about this shindig. Look in the gallery.

why don't you list some more of the routes in Alpine Select that appeal to you. sounds like maybe the full N Ridge on Wedge might fit your criteria.

how do you know nobody does it?

if you get a haul line longer than your lead line then maybe sometimes you won't need a separate lower-out line ... or there are other hypothetical reasons too. But whatever, as with all gear there are pros and cons that you have to measure against your own objectives. You should be able to buy static line off a spool in any length you want though. MEC sells it ... probably some online dealers too ...

so is the broken rock spot visible in any of these pictures? I have climbed this route once but my memory is incomplete. I think it was scary though ... and infested with wasps. I like the smoot picture, thank goodness modern harnesses do a better job of holding up trousers, no more embarrassing photos flashing the waistband of yer tightywhiteys!

a mirror doesn't reverse anything. it reflects.

maybe someone will want to with me about this advice, but if money is an object you should spend it in this order: 1st: plabbest boots that fit your feet and your needs, 2nd: Bindings that fit your boots, 3rd: Skis. my first ski setup budget was: $500 boots, $100 bindings, $4 skis

I went cragging again. Saturday afternoon climbed at base of grand wall. The Arrowroot and Rutabaga climbs are quite filthy, perhaps from loose dirt washing down from the Millenium Falcon during the winter. Recommend a wirebrush. Somebody has been scrubbing away in the Smoke Bluffs, the far right end of Bughouse Heights or whatever that is called above the old parking lot where the trail to Pixie Corner splits left from the road below Penny Lane. Some short sport routes and cracks, I did a couple and they were quality climbing. Also someone has re-scrubbed Tools of Moss Destruction (for like the millionth time), and it was fun and challenging ... thanks to Mer for the patient belay - so hop on that sandbag now because it'll be a moss carpet again by August

will you have a car?

watch sharp edges on roofs if you are jugging too! Will's 'not bright idea' is also sometimes workable with cams, you pull yourself in towards the cam and at the apex of your swing you pop the trigger and pull the cam and swing away.

you're funny matt

unless your name is Dwayner and you are overzealous about bolting?

carry whatever you can carry lots of and double or triple up on your threads. I don't think any theoretical incremental advantage between cord or webbing measures up to the advantage of backing up your anchors.

irresponsible celebrity parenting showdown! red corner: successful music and film career, questionable public sobriety and erratic behaviour, legal skirmishes. public affection for child left in care of non-celebrity relatives blue corner: former successful music career but complete lack of involvement in child's life due to fact of blowing own head off with shotgun a decade ago advantage: Love

this thread has been trimmed. trimming is an inexact art. if you feel that super important content was removed feel free to re-enter it. please keep your discussions on topic. the topic is TENTS. if you want to complain about something other than TENTS do it elsewhere. thank you, please continue.

it seems like the idea is that "SPURS ARE AID" only if you bother to hang off them like a bat. But for climbing daggers and stuff where you might wanna wrap a leg around or whatever they still seem like they might be useful and no more aid than frontpoints are. I'd like to see someone climb one of those dry tool routes inverted and handsfree using just their spurs ... that'd be like A0 right?

SAY WHAT?? I can't TAKE anymore of this driving miss daisy shit...

ya I did. it's 5.8 ... like all the others

quit talking about yourself jerky! this is a thread about me!

warning: excessively banal detail, chestbeating, boring cragging report for day trip to gaper crag ------------------------------------------------------- climbing by myself by fern On Saturday I drove up to Squamish by myself to do some rock cragging for the first time since November. It's easy to toprope in the Smoke Bluffs so I wasn't concerned about not having a partner for the day. Even though I didn't get there until almost 11am I was surprised how few people there were around. I hiked up towards Neat and Cool which is deservedly a popular crag because it's convenient and there are lots of great 5.8 routes. On the hike I saw couple of people I know, John and Ann-Marie who were also headed up for their first day of the season, they continued up to Pixie Corner while I scrambled up to the top of Neat and Cool past a couple of people I know, Sandra and Scott. Once I got to the top I looked down and still there were very few people at the base, only a couple of people that I sort of know, Grahame and Helen were racking up to do Corner Crack and a few people that I don't know were over on Cat Crack. So I dropped my rope down Lieback Flake (a nice 5.8) and rappelled down to the base. I put my shoes on an set myself to climb back up again. Then sun was starting to come around the corner and shine on the cliff and more people were arriving. A party of 5 dispatched 2 ropes to the top to set up on Cornflakes and Flying Circus, which are both pretty good 5.8s. I started up Lieback Flake, belaying myself. I use an awkward system which doesn't self-feed very well, but that's OK because it forces me to find rests as I am going. I was about halfway up when the guy rappelling to my left got agitated about some tangles in his rope, so I swung over and cleared them. I finished up my route and rappelled back down to the bottom. By now there werew quite a few ropes hanging around and I thought for a bit about what to do next. The easiest thing of course would be to chat up all the people around and see if they would mind sharing TRs, but that means starting a conversation with a stranger ... not something I do very well. Luckily the fellow with the tangled rope was Australian and lacking my social inhibitions. So Todd offered me a belay up Flying Circus and I passed my rope off to their party to have a go on Lieback Flake. Flying Circus is a very fun 5.8, though it is quite polished in spots from the amount of traffic it gets, I wish it was a little bit longer though. After climbing my turn I belayed a few times for Todd and his friends who apparently all know each other from the Cliffhanger climbing gym. One girl, Celia, said she had met me last year climbing by myself at Octopus's Garden but I don't think it was me ... she might have been thinking of thelawgoddess though, an easy mistake because Kaia and I are seriously like twins, both being 5'11" and blonde. Graham and Helen had finished up with Corner Crack so I racked up and borrowed a rope to give that route a go. It is a little awkward, but a very secure handcrack and I've done it a couple of times before, so I finished it off quite quickly and took another turn belaying Todd up it. He seemed to really enjoy it, raving about it to his friends, well it is always nice to see someone enthusiastic ... although I wouldn't say that it is a squamish classic. In the meantime another group of 5 people I think from the same gym had arrived, though they seemed to only have one rope which they set up on Neat and Cool. I've never actually done that 5.8, it a bit overhanging and reachy so I find it quite intimidating. But they seemed to be having fun. They looked like quite the characters too: The bearded bulging blonde viking guy leading the group, the dreadlock-and-rasta-knit cap french-canadian guy, the chain smoking prana girl, the crags are so much more entertaining than TV. I took one more run up Lieback Flake before we dropped our rope so another party could set up on it. It was much more fluid this time without having to belay myself and at the top I took the trickier direct path up the slab to the anchor. Then I took a bit of a break because everyone around me seemed to be eating lunch, but as soon as I could snag Todd to belay me again I scrambled over to Cat Crack. A group of Climber's Access Society directors were over there doing some social climbing, so I chatted for a little bit with Anders who taught me to lead on these same routes however many years ago it was that I started climbing. He had a sprained ankle at the time, so mostly he just looked at my gear placements from the ground and said 'yeah looks good'. Well Cat Crack is a route that actually needs a few foot-jams and my toes were feeling the punishment of the first day in soft shoes. I wasn't sure what to do next since my rope and anchor gear was involved in various routes for these friendly people, but I looked over and saw my friend Jasmin on Geritol. So after belaying Todd up Cat Crack I headed over to say hi. Jasmin and her friend Kelly generously offered me a turn on their rope, so I headed up Geritol which is a climb I really like with a mix of finger crack, and face climbing. For the first time ever I climbed it clean which made me pretty happy. I belayed Kelly up the same route. While Jasmin moved over to get in line for Kangaroo Corner, which the Viking fellow was just finishing with. It was starting to be very busy at this cliff with perhaps 20 people milling around and a few climbing, I guess it was the start of the season for many people. A very good climber was trying a new direct variation to Neat and Cool, but wasn't feeling up for the lead so took a deliberate whipper to a round of applause from the gapers. He continued to make toprope attempts though, punctuating the afternoon with shrieks and grunts, each of which was met with another round of applause. Some more friends Lena and Elise and a different Celia (with her 6week baby Dylan) arrived and took over on Geritol while I belayed Jasmin on Kangaroo Corner. It's a pretty good 5.8, short and steep. Jasmin sewed it up well and only took one hang at the hardest move where the crack get too small for fingers. She lowered off and Kelly took a turn but I got him to leave the gear in since I was contemplating giving it a try on lead myself. It's a bit harder than anything I've tried leading in the past, and although I'd tr'ed it maybe 3 times before over the years I'd never got up it cleanly. But since the gear was already in I decided I may as well try. So after a few minutes psyching up I tightened up my shoes and tied in. The friction was super since it is still early season and people haven't sweated all over the rock, I moved up and clipped a few pieces then removed one cam since I figured I could use the slot better for my fingers. I set up for the one hard sidepull and high foot stem but ... my fingers slipped and I sagged onto the rope, oh well. After a short shake out I pulled back into the corner, clipped the last cam and grabbed the thank-god jug ... wooT! What a fun route that is, hard to top for the first day of the season. So I lowered off and spent the rest of the afternoon belaying and chatting with my friends.

I am going to squamish tomorrow to climb rock. If you want to climb rock with me you should send a pm. Otherwise I will climb by myself.