glen

Yay or Nay? Anyone ever heard of acme cams? They're super-cheap and UIAA certified. 28bucks for a 70mm cam is cheap enough I might order one just out of curiosity. Anyways if anyone knows if they are good or the equivalent of folded beer cans I'd be curious to hear. See them at: Acme Climbing

Seems like a good way to reduce logging and mining is to conusme fewer products. If it isn't grown, it comes from a mine. Is there any type of agency recording 'Nays' on the fee demo, or is the count based on only a tallying of 'Yays'?

Dennis, Sir: of course climbing is dangerous. To ignore that simple fact is dangerous in itself. My point is simply that a lot of people are just plain sloppy when it comes to belaying, etc. There have been a number of threads on this page talking (often spraying ) about how to talk to sloppy people and suggest that they belay differently, etc. That was not the point. I was simply reflecting on the way I've seen people behave and the difference between being casual and belaying correctly and being sloppy. In light of risk mitigation (climbers spend a lot of time and money mitigating risk), I would simply ask this one, simple question: why increase the risk by being sloppy? It is obvious that we need to be more focussed when light is failing, ice is bad, etc, but that doesn't mean that we should be sloppy when conditions aren't bad. Of course what is considered sloppy and dangerous to one is quite bomber to another. Just remember the long thread about hip belaying on rock routes a while ago. I think we would all agree that taking your hand off the brake rope often while the other person is leading is not the best approach. There is certainly gray area. Just make sure it works and keep an open mind when you see something new or someone makes a suggestion. They may totally wrong and out in let field (hell, that might be me right now), but then again they might be right too.

I was perusing supertopo and came across the linked thread on a recent fatal climbing accident in Zion. Presumably, the accident occured as a result of a figure 8 rolling over itself (ie a loop of the knot folding up towards the tails) causing total knot and system failure. The climbers were not exhausted and were being careful. Reading the thread made me think about all of the ways I've seen people tie of double rope rappels, the amount of razzing I've recieved for putting 18" tails on knots and making sure they are well dressed, and the overall casual attitude that I've seen many climbers take towards rappels and belaying. The natural inclination is to become casual about things we are comfortable with. That's fine. That characteristic of adaptation allows us to move on and devote our mental energies towards keeping a cool head on long runouts and difficult terrain. On the other hand, it is also good to make sure that we occasionally recheck ourselves to be diligent about checking our knots and belaying technique. To me, safely casual means that doing it right is second nature, not trusting that you will be able to catch a fall with a single finger holding the breaking end of the rope. Sorry this turned into a bit of an editorial. I'll step away from the soap box out there. Climb safe. Climb hard. Here's a link to the thread: Accident in Zion

Since this seemed a sincere question, make sure to bring some small nuts with you. Slide the head down, slide the exposed loop of cable over the bolt and cinch the head back up to secure it on the bolt. Not as trusty as a hanger, but trusty enough. I'm sure there are much worse situations to get into than a hangerless bolt.

awesome. I know where I'm headed!

Nice letter. Perhaps there should be a form letter that people can send in with their ticket. Organized non-compliance. I nominate Tod's letter.

Check the universal life church. They've already fought the court battles and it is pretty easy to set up a congregation. The mountains are a spiritual place, with references from many a religion (Moses to the mountain, etc...). Why not set up a congregation, tuesday meetings (read: Pub Club), and religious outings to commune with the spiritual world? If you're registered, it's certainly more credible. I am not a part of any organized religion, but all of my most spiritual moments have certainly been in the mountains. Of course, with Bush (aka, dumb as whaleshit) in office, if it doesn't sound like a one-nation-under-god organization, it might run into trouble.

I think what says it all is: "Atop the clouds and beautiful surroundings, we made phone calls to our parents and girlfriends (actually we only wish we had girlfriends)"

Once you get away from tioga lake, it is a pretty nice hike. The walk across the dana plateau is pretty enjoyable with sweet views. If you look to te NW from the pillar, there looks to be a wall with some pretty splitter cracks running up it. Probably some nice lines in there somewhere for someone who wants a FA. There are some faults running through the area so the rock quality can go from perfect to perfectly chossy in a very short distance as you move away from the Pillar.

Interesting. Here's the ingredient list for clifshot: Brown rice syrup, cocoa powder, chocolate liquor, natural flavors, sea salt, potassium citrate, magnesium oxide. Perhaps a chocolate recipie to try is: brown rice syrup hot cocoa powder hershey's syrup a touch of salt, some ground up vitamins for their 'razz sorbet' they just put in raspberry puree (read: jam). Like most people, I like chocolate. When I'm working hard, it is a bit difficult to ave a lot of it though. Thoughts on other flavors to try? Iain: how cost effective does brs end up being compared to Gu?

My cheapo connection to Gu is drying up (ie quitting) so I need to find another way to get my fructose kick. I heard a while back that brown rice syrup, available at hippy-trippy health food shops, is a good substitute. Add your favorite flavoring and you've got generic Gu. Have any of you actually tried this, or know enough about foods/nutrition to say if it is BS? G

Third pillar is awesome and supposedly committing on solid 5.9 with sparse pro. Be bold. Definitely classic with views of Mono Lake. The approach passes within 5 minutes easy walk of the top of the climb. Do yourself a favor and leave a couple of malted beverage treats at the top of the climb for when you finish. erik, check a map and the waypoints will make sense. The kuna crest is a long slog (with Gibbs about 18 miles RT). If you inlcude penner satellite points as summits, you can get seven in a day though. Glen

erik and gapertimmy, you should consider a traverse of the Kuna Crest starting at Dana Meadows and dropping down from peak 12,458 (or something like that) to Helen Lake and back out. If you have time, you can get Gibbs on the way out. Lot's of nice views, almost no trails and lot's of killer views. Another one I havn't done yet is to start at Tioga and follow the range crest north as far as daylight permits (probably Conness if speedy) and out at Saddlebag. Awesome territory. Don't even get me started on the joys of Tenaya Canyon!

I'll be in TM mid august to early september. Granite is good!

How can you guys be neglecting the big R? Rainier. I mean, come on. It even has a pic of the mountain to plan your next route on (especially when in deep drunk-spray mode).

This is internet sourced so details are obviously sketchy, but still seems bad. el cap rescue?

How could that many alcoholic climbers on one piece of rock not be a cluster f*(k? How about Saturday? I'll contribute a 24 of Rainier to the Cause.

Proposal: Take a mini-hibachi and some grillables up on the tooth summit and have a little BBQ. Bring a cold pack of the canned essentials. Nice ledges and a decent view. We also have the opportunity to take over the tooth on a day the Mounties are up there for a change. Do you think the trip leaders would mind if we shared, or would that be setting a bad example?

So far, the best tool I've come across for pulling bolts is a ball joint adjuster and a hammer. Looks like a tuning fork, but wedged at the end of the tongs. Waaaay better than a crowbar. No bolt can resist. They are also a lot more friendly when hanging off your harness. Don't forget glue and grit for the old holes. If anyone has questions on the ethics of that, jst go back to the Beckey guides. I don't have them in front of me so I'll paraphrase: If you aren't up to the challenge, get your skills up and come back later. Translation: bolted cracks suck.

I think 1. is probably the closest to the mark

Can you use it to make big sausages?

Shrub-ya, for sure. Rumsfeld, Cheney, etc...

So, we can tell how many posts an avatar has made, we can tell how many replies a topic has gotten, and we can tell how many hits a topic has gotten. But! there is one thign missing. For total number chasing, it might be nice to be able to tell how many replies a person has garnered. A prime example would be the Muir on Saturday thread. Kind of an rbi for an avatar. Can they come up with good topics? This one is not likely to get a lot of rbi's, but the idea is out there.

SEATTLE, WA A recent study of workplace effectiveness has shown a marked decrease in worker productivity inversely proportional to sunlight intensity. Apparently, workers have an increased occurence of staring out the window or daydreaming on sunny days. Many are often seen making plans to go outdoors, or call in sick when many rain-free days are predicted in a row. "This climbing thing is like some kind of plague." said the author of the study, who preferred to remain anonymous. He continued to say, "I hope it's not contagious."