fern

"It seems like marginal gear could be more dangerous than no gear at all if you're playing this game." sometimes otherwise marginal gear can be useful by taking off the weight of the rope while you pull a dicey move.

*crickets*

I have had 1 friend lose a finger because of weighting a cam placed behind a loose block, and another friend have as close a call as you can imagine when he fell on a cam and pulled off a block about 3 times his size and fell with it. Don't put gear behind loose flakes.

I have an english-language guidebook "The Alpine 4000ers by their Classic Routes" you are welcome to borrow. I've never been to the Alps so I don't know how good a guide it is.

I admire your good citizenship by asking for opinions before hauling the axe out ... but probably you shoulda just gone out on a rainy day and done the work anonymously relying on your own common sense and judgement. ... now no matter who chops a tree and how hacked up a job they do you will get the blame .

I'll try to be there

tiblocs shred ropes, even if you use a tibloc you should use a prussik or similar to back it up, so why not just use the prussik in the first place? and so what if pulleys reduce drag, it's a static system once you get it set up, it's not like a crevasse rescue or hauling or anything where the moving parts are the whole point of the exercise. people who have set these up give you advice on a simple low tech system and you discount it for one that requires more expensive fancy equipment. funny

put the nut tool at one end of the axle and hammer the thing parallel to the axle into a less restrictive spot. A rock makes a handy hammer, though more often I use a carabiner brass-knuckles style and punch the thing with aggression. Better to not let them get stuck.

nothing is shut down for falcons yet AFAIK. U Wall has never been part of those closures in the past and is unlikely to be affected this year. HOWEVER, last year the falcon closure included the Bellygood escape which means to exit U-Wall you had to either climb the Roman Chimneys to the summit or rap down from Dance Platform. you do know that U-Wall is not on the Lower Malemute though right

why don't you go climbing with him yourself and find out?

no I climb with Dru a lot I did a road-trip with a strange guy and over the course of 5 days we talked less and less to each other until we spent a couple of days exchanging bitter monosyllabic grunts. Then we had it out about what a horrible time we were each having and ended up eating a nice Thai dinner in J-Tree and watching LOTR#1 and getting along fine. Lots of interpersonal tension is just misunderstandings which can be easily resolved by actually telling others your concerns ... that's like Grade 10 Guidance and Life Skills class you learn that right? Climbing situations can have the additional challenge of people being not only socially sketchy but also safety sketchy ... that takes some finesse to deal with sometimes but can be a great learning experience for becoming self-reliant. My most disappointing group dynamic climbing experiences have not been with people I don't get along with, but rather with people whose company I enjoy greatly in the city but are just incompatible as climbing partners.

you just planning to boulder up there D32? or you maybe thinking of doing some routes? We should keep in touch

I suspect there was an error in units there, or perhap adrenalin fueled hyperbole. 20 feet of snowpack ripping out to ground sounds more reasonable. A few years ago I think the whole snow face of Mt Slalok above Joffre Lakes pulled out in one big springtime class 4/5 . I wouldn't be surprised if a few more of these big ones come down in weeks to come. Definitely be wary of glide cracks and warm temps.

if all these stories are 'best told over a few beers' then why start a thread about it at all . this topic had potential but has become a disappointing thread which I will only rate 1 star.

I think I can burn you Mind Bomb, if you can wait until I dig it outta storage ... a rather prescient album: "Islam is rising, the Christians mobilizing. The world is on its elbows and knees. It's forgotten the messages, now worships the creeds."

so when you are faced with a vertical crack and an Alien just cock your head over 90 degrees and voila! A horizontal crack

CASBC Bulletin - May 2003 updates on Lower Malemute closure, falcon closures, Horne Lake closure etc.

It's the Roman Chimneys The easier option above Bellygood is to finish up the Upper Black Dyke. adventure-bolted .10b I think. I haven't done any of it.

gate flutter maybe

second picture there yo, shiz is meant to be versatile and multi purpose. I'd never buy one but some people like FLASHy things ....

what about this thingmajig? link

yeah ... like half of BC. It's a holiday weekend here. Expect crowds.

"trad is simply much, much harder than sport" gimme a break. it's all climbing. if you are weak at some aspect of it maybe you should practice that more.

Ken Ussay Thatigin?

obviously if the 'holds' are far apart then having extra reach helps. But I think an advantage to being shorter on slabs is that there is less leverage between your points of contact and your centre of gravity, also smaller fingers and feet can use more intermediate holds to good effect. dunno ... I'm pretty short but I have found many slab cruxes fairly cruisy where my taller friends have struggled a bit.