fern

I've flown many times with empty used MSR bottles and never had one confiscated, even after having one physically inspected and sniffed.

some guides give supercharger .11a though so does that still count as a sandbag? how is this for inconsistent: 1968 guide Exasperator p1=5.5, Banana Peel=5.6, Diedre=5.4, Crap Crags=5.6 1985 guide Exasperator p1=5.9, Banana Peel=5.7, Diedre=5.7+, Crap Crags=5.8+ 1999 guide Exasperator p1 = .10a, Banana Peel=5.8, Diedre=5.8, Crap Crags=5.7 who is sandbagging who I prefer a 2bit binary rating system where the first bit is I can climb it, and the second bit is I would climb it. Thus Banana Peel=11, Freeway=01, Wyoming Sheep Ranch=00 etc.

quote: Originally posted by icegirl: Not sure how well they would work in the alpine environ. Cold (batteries), wet (electronic), icy (slippery), big mittens (small buttons), etc... I have never used these thing, cannot corroborate ... but I know the guys who did the route 'Hoth' on South Tower of Paine Patagonia used radios and I don't think conditions get much more crap than what they had.

quote: Originally posted by Matt: Dru-- I'll tell you which big friend I want-- that one in the Patagonia "committed to the core" add where Royal Robins (or some old school Yosemite climber) is hanging out in J-Tree with a cam the size of a small umbrella. That is a cam I want. Allen Steck ... those cams look home-made, there's your cheap solution. Climb On Equipment in Squampton has a #6 friend in stock ... it's bigger than my head. I heard they're gonna come out with a #7 too, you could jack your car up with it!

#7 tricam

if the price of the WC Friends is acceptable to you (especially bigger rigid friends) then those would be my recommendation over the DMMs. I have had a few instances of DMMs getting kinda stuck, which I attribute to the aforementioned sucky expansion range. Plus the U cables get a little bent and mess the action. I dunno what you consider 'big' but they don't come bigger than a #4 which is barely bigger than fist sized.

quote: Originally posted by Dru: They dont bill us yet This is not 100% true, it depends whose helicopter picks you up and who called it. If it is an ambulance helicopter you might get a bill, mine was for $53. I thought about joining AAC for the recue insurance coverage prior to my trip to south america but decided that the $75/$5000 calculation was not value since $5000 won't go very far when helicopters are involved anyways.

says they'll you $250 to write an obituary ... man if I ever have to write an obituary I don't think I wanna get paid for it ... I guess that's standard magazine practice, but still morbid.

is it really improv when that's the designed function?

I'm surprised you didn't use a pin stack to break the spare tire chain

quote: Originally posted by moonchild: <snip a bunch of blah blah> An amusing post, eric. his name is erik, thanks for noticing

3 additional notes to mattp's handy summary quote: Originally posted by mattp: Pros: <snip> do not flutter (gate does not open due to vibrations during a fall) The typical causes of gate flutter are the rope running through the 'biner as the slack comes out of the system in a fall, and the spine of the biner getting struck on the rock as the 'draw gets flipped around by the rope (eg. pulling up slack to clip). But in addition really violent gate flutter can be caused by the stitches ripping out on a screamer ... bad time to have the gate open Another pro (in my experience) is that wiregates don't ice up badly. quote: Originally posted by mattp: Cons: aggressive hook on gatestock catches on things (e.g., not as convenient for racking stoppers) <snip> DMM makes a wiregate keylock biner (cheaper than BD neutrinos). Maybe other manufacturers as well. Maybe the prisoners will start making these too?

quote: Originally posted by Cpt.Caveman: What to do next Mt.Louis! don't forget your helmets

Hotwire Questions and Answers by Chris Harmston

I was hiking counterclockwise on a circuit trail most people hike clockwise and encountered a completely baffled looking person who said 'You're doing it backwards'. I overheard a guy enthusiastically telling his friends how the Split Pillar on the Grand Wall waves back and forth in the wind.

watch the landings ... there's no toilets nearby for the convenience of those 500 watersporters

imagine what that number would be if all his avatar posts got counted in too

tried one more peak in the Cordillera Blanca ... got to 200m from summit, not that close I guess, but the glacier was very broken and tedious and the ice that we brought screws for turned out to be snow that we didn´t have so many pickets for. No more snow and ice, I´m tired of being cold in the tropics. Bring on the rockclimbing. I´ll be home soon and probably give a little slideshow in Squamish mid=August so if anyone wants to see pictures PM me and I´ll let you know details ... maybe I will even invite Dru

have fun on Queen Bess, hope the weather is good. See ya when we both get back!

it´s not Alpamayo, it´s Chopicalqui, mas facile, mas grande y menos peligroso. just got back from 2 weeks in the Huayhuash. Crap weather, many storm days spent baking donuts and making Jello, got halfway up a small mountain before getting avalanched so went trekking instead. 2 more weeks in Huaraz ... maybe rockclimbing will be more fun, snow and ice conditions are not so great.

hello from peru! last week I climbed this mountain: next week who knows?

quote: Originally posted by hollyclimber: (and I will leave Cavey out of this so that no other chicks complain to me as they have before) Caveman showed me his alpine belly when I met him first time ... it's almost as big as mine.

you might have trouble attracting a mountain hardwoman with threats of child-abuse ... yeah yeah it's all a joke ... hah hah funny

quote: Originally posted by Dru: S Mid latitude temperate glaciers (including all in the Lower 48)are projected to vanish in the next 50 years or so due to global warming.... really? good thing they keep finding new ones in Montana ... didn't they find 50 brand new glaciers last year?

I'd like to visit da valley (and Palisades) in Sept. for a bit too, esp. if I can find peeps to drive with.