KeithKSchultz

I was there for the first time so I didn't pay for any beer. How long do I get that? It was good to see some of the faces I wondered about. Hopefully we'll meet on the rock and you can buy me more beer. That was great!

Alpine on Snow creek wall? OK. Orbit and OuterSpace were good but I really liked MaryJane Dihedral. It reminded me of the South Face of Flathead. My all time favorite is the combination of routes that take you from the very bottom of the west face of Dragontail to the very top. You can do the ledge traverse if your partner is dragging or the fin if you are cruisin. Either way, you get 2200 ft of climbing in. North Ridge of Stuart is good too. I've never understood the draw to Serpentine Arete. But South face of Prussick is way up there. From there I go back to Montana again and for that tour you'll need more time.

Dear boys and girls from Never Never Land. The boogie man does exist. He will destroy Castleton Tower if there is a profit involved. If you think you are going to stop the boogieman by holding bake sales and gathering a bunch of hippies on the street yelling reeeeeaaaaaallyy cool slogans then you are a dumbshit and Castlteton tower is doomed. It will be by political force that Castleton tower is saved. In other words, money talks. If everyone who has posted on this site were every ecohippie in the world then what percentage of ecohippies vote? Send letters to Congress? Are politically active in any piddlyass way? My guess is that it is a pretty pathetic percentage. Without the money eco groups get from dastardly corporations like North Face and Patagonia, the public who actually vote and actually get involved in political movements would probably never hear about the political movements in the first place. Pop quiz: Who represents you in congress? (Hint; Senator xxx, Congress person xxx).

Seems like everytime I climbed at Pinnacles I came home with pockets full of choss. For an extra hour of driving you could be in the valley. I guess if you live in the southern end of the Bay Area it would be better. I lived in beautiful downtown San Mateao and really prefferred driving to the paradise of granite. I can't imagine going to Pinnacles over Yosemite if you live anywhere on the east side of the Bay.

afabcaae

Hi Nadia. If you are not running for your life, send me a PM. I have been trad climbing for many years and would be happy to go out for an afternoon or two. I have all the gear and have taught lots of people. My focus is on having fun and being safe.

Yeah. Nice weather until Friday night. A lenticular formed about 9PM and was followed by a little snow. Not bad up to 11000 but it would have been white out conditions above. There was probably some serious cross loading above the chute. But I saw it all from below so I don't know jack.

How deep are the crevasses? Do you want to fall that far? Definately rope up on a glacier.

hmmmmmmmm. If you are not clipped in while belaying me, I will drag your skinny butt UP the rock at a high rate of speed. If you are not wearing a helmet, your head will get smashed on something and you will die and I will fall to the ground or at least to the end of the rope. This happened to a husband wife team at Smith rock about ten years ago. Both died. If you are wearing a helmet, you will break your neck on some overhang and die and I will etc. etc. This happened to a two man party in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison about 5-9 years ago. The belayer should be clipped in so as not to get jerked into anything uncomfortable. If a dynamic rope (any standard perlon climbing rope) does not provide enough cushion for you (it has always been enough for me), then clip your belayer in with a little slack and make sure you know where he/she is going to end up when they are snapped to the end of their tether. As far as the slack thing goes, you will get it with experience and a patient leader/teacher. Not too much not too little. Feed it out when the leader needs it. Reel it in when the leader backs off. You have to watch the leader constantly to learn his/her movements and patterns at placements. After awhile you will be able to second guess them. Wow. You sound responsible. Will you belay me?

Don't panic! One spring I was fatter than usual and went to Yosemite to work back into shape. I found a guy who lead 5.12 who was looking for a partner. We discussed my disgust and elected to do Angeline or something like that - a 15 pitch 5.8 slab route on the apron. We got up about 5 pitches and the route was a waterfall. There were old rusty 1/4 inch bolts out to the right so we followed those. They got spaced out and into harder climbing where I learned how to deal with "falling" on granite slabs and it should work on just about anything. Keep your head. Keep your balance. Stay in position and beleive that you will stop. Walk your hands down and even your feet if you have have have to. But if you move your feet, your position all of a sudden sucks. We each took some slides. Some for as far as 15 ft. But neither of us ever had to be caught by a rusty old 1/4" bolt. It was a very warm fuzzy feeling of freedom to realize that this could be done. We ended up doing some really hard friction climbing while feeling relaxed. I have a friend who once slid 150' to the ground on a hard slab problem. He hit the ground at a slow walk with a big smile on his face. He had to resole his shoes though. That was almost the first ascent of Pink Poodle Buttress in Roaring Lion Creek in the Bitterroots. We went home to get a bolt kit.

See?

Personally, I find rapelling repelling. To put all that trust in a rope some stranger made and then lower yourself over a jagged edge to God only knows where...........What if you fall off the end of the rope? Or your spike thing comes out of the rock? Or my alltime favorite from a nice old lady in a Winnebago parked at the cattle guard below SuperCrack -"There is no climbing here. The rock is too unstable. My Son knows. He reeppels." OK. To be informitive, I use twin 9mm 50m ropes for my serious climbing. Since ropes continue to get stronger I will buy 8.5mm ropes next time. I have a 7mm 60m half rope for soloing on less technical routes such as North Index Spire. I double it for leading short steep sections and for rapelling off. I pack it up and carry it for unroped scrambling. I usually do big walls in alpine settings. This means that I am way up in the mountains where nobody goes so there can be lots of loose rock to fall off and smash one of my ropes. If that happens I cuss and swear at my belay partner for not being quick enough to move the damn thing but we are both still alive as we go our separate ways. I prefer 50m ropes to 60m ropes because they are lighter and there is less rope to pile and sort on ledges. I have never run out of rope with a 50m. Also, the more rope you have, the more pieces of protection you tend to carry. I like to go very light taking 15 or 20 pieces including small wired stoppers. With a 50m rope that is a piece every 10 feet or less. With a 60m rope that is a piece every ten feet or more. When I am about to do moves through a very dificult section I am likely to put in two or three pieces in one place as extra safety and less mind f__k. I know if I fall, there is enough protection at that spot to hang a truck and I have TWO ropes going through that part so there is no way my safety system is going to fail. Unless my belayer is stoned. But that's a different lecture. I'm sure there are a couple of guys on line that can help you with that.

I bought a Parbat a couple months ago and sent it back. It is sewn through. No baffles. For a little more money you can get a much better coat. I ended up finding a Mountain Hardware sub zero for $250. Just be patient and persistant. This web site is how I found mine. Goose luck.

Yeah. Fall. But make sure your pro is good first. How will you know? Fall on it and live? Hmmmmmm. The chicken or the egg? Or try doing some aiding with your trad gear. Every placement is tested right at your face. Get enough in that something's gotta hold. It isn't glamorous but your alternatives are much more dangerous. Until you are really f%#$ing good at placements your fear is justified. I've seen lots of placements pull. It's almost always a bummer. One guy I was belaying ran out past a piece then got gripped putting in the next one. It wasn't any good and by the time he thought it was, he was too pumped to climb. When he pealed, I reeled. His face ended up about three inches from the dirt. Bad placement. There is no substitute for repetition.

Years ago I read an article about webbing strengths after sun bleaching etc. They took a bunch of old totally bleached out webbing from anchors in Yosimite and tested it. When it had no cuts or holes it tested out at 50% of it's original strength. I always make sure old webbing is at least doubled. If it is, I'm happy. If you shop at the hardware store, take lots of epoxy to weatherproof anything that might rust.

I have the old BD hammer before they put the hole in it. I'll sell it for $40. While you're at, buy some pins too. 1 BD rurp, 1 CMI 21 rurp, 1 peck, 2 KB, 2 LA, 1 baby angle, 3 angles. Some scratches. Nothing major. $7 apiece OBO.

This is kind of a different subject but I have a bricklayer hammer that I cut both ends of the head off of. I use it for cleaning those hard to floss wires. It isn't quite heavy enough to sink a pin but I don't use it for that. Sometimes I like to give my stacked wires a little love tap with the help of a stiff cleaning tool. I find that it makes a lot of "clean" pieces just a little bit more family friendly.

I already gave up climbing for TV. Except when Bay Watch isn't on. Then I get online and tell lies like everybody else.

I used to climb ice a lot. What a great way to get off when the weather won't let you climb rock. Then I got married which really didn't change my inner calm much since she was an adult (I swear) and knew she was marrying a climber. But then she got pregnant (I still assume I am the father) and my world of ice came crumbling down around my ears. The inherent danger was only too true when I had to face children of climbers who died. Climbers I knew and trusted. In December of 1977 I had just completed a traverse of the Bob Marshall Wilderness on skis. We took our ice tools. We climbed everything we could find. Two of us were standing on the rim of the gorge of the North Fork of the Blackfoot falls scoping out lines when the unimaginable happened. The entire 100 foot 25 foot diameter column of ice cracked, snapped, and collapsed into the pool below. The sound was deafening and the carnage was just incredible. The pool was mostly frozen over and the chunks of ice that pelted the walls on all sides dislodged large rocks and soaked everything in a matter of 4 or 5 seconds. Twenty minutes later we would have been on it. So much for that first ascent. Sure it's safer now. But you'll be just as dead when your luck sucks.

specialed, Yes, I've done some other routes in the Bitterroot. I grew up in Missoula and went to college there. If it weren't for the Bitterroots I probably would have gone to Boulder or Arizona state. It was a great time to be a climber in Missoula. It was a wide open area with only the most obvious lines having been done. We used to go out half the time and just wander up to a good looking line and give it a try. When Wild Country friends came out it was an ongoing party. Lots more lines started getting done. Bruce Anderson and I did the first ascent of Modern Home Environment on Nez Pierce spire up Blodgett but used aid in several places. I would like to see someone do the blank wall off the tower below the bivy ledge. Being the first one out through the upper roof was a rush. Bruce and I were the first to do the Red Tower too. Bruce was really serious. Be careful on the routes with his name on them. Mike Scott and I did the only complete route I know of on the Bear Creek wall. Morning Thunder. There were always people doing new crags. There are several other canyons out there that are full of crags that no one puts in the guide books because you have to hike a mile or two. Then the Lolo domes were found and the Bitterroots kind of got left to a few of us trad climbers. What did you do in the Bitterrots? If you know of North Trapper you must have gotten out a bit.

Liberty Ridge or Direct North Ridge of Stuart or the Nose or North Face of North Trapper. Alex Lowe or Mallory. Cassin Ridge, Direct NW Face of Half Dome.

I've done it both ways. The traverse descent is easier because you are so much closer to the pavement that way. But I love spending time on Liberty Ridge and with skiis the descent is a blast. Watch for hard ice on the ridge and gapers on the Carbon. I give it a 50/50.

I once had a pair of Fire's that lasted trough 5 girl friends. If the shoe fits......... The fifth one abscounded with them. No sense of environmental ethics.

OK. It sucks but I am the "finest". June 1978, The Valley, 5.8 offwidth variation on Royal Arches Direct. Placed pro up to 25' and ran out of big pieces. Looking up, I spotted the 10 hex hammered in 30' up. "No problem". Boogied right up and was pulling off a sling when I popped. I slipped down a ways, spun around just in time to slam against the 80 degree section and take 2" swathes of skin off both forearms. Bounced out away from the wall and saw a bush/tree coming at me at a high rate of spead. Remembered the "SRA Readers" from grade school and a story in there about a young sailor who fell from the rigging of a tall ship. As He fell he remembered being told a story about an old salt who did the same stupid stunt and went limp (whole body) right before he hit the deck. Walked away. Walked away. Walked away. I also layed out flat as I went through the bush/tree and had an "out of body" experience as I watched myself come down through the foliage. When I came back to conciousness, I was coming down from the bounce and heading off the ledge. I reached up and grabbed the rope with both hands and stopped myself from rasping over the rounded edge. There was a four foot loop of rope hanging below me. All told, I had two nasty rasberries on my forearms, four blisters on my fingers where I grabbed the rope, and one short gash (the only scar) on my knee from hitting the rasp when I stopped. My belayer was in shock. I landed right in front of him where he was sitting and bounced higher than his head. And the Moral of the story is.................

Early one December morning in Hidden Rock Campground, a nice little old lady was walking around the loop in search of her pet 'Fifi' who one must assume was a poodle. Apparently not realizing the nature of her National Monument experience, she was rather voiciferously calling for 'Fifi' and enticing her with all mention of poodle delights to no avail.From what I heard, I can only ussume that it was a climber whose name I will not mention, who finally responded with a tender FYI."Your F---ING dog got eaten by coyotes lady. Now will you shut up and let us sleep?!" Winter mornings can be very quiet in Joshua Tree.