MATT_B

Are you planning on doing it in 4 days (16-19)? If you have never done a wall and have limited aid experience I would highly recomend planning on taking longer than that unless you find a good rope gun. I'm not saying you can't do it in 4 days but most people end up taking longer than expected. My first wall was the nose. My partner had done several walls before including the nose. we thougth it would take 4 days. We where off late on day 5. Wish I had the time, I would love to get back to the valley. Have fun!

Nice! "no experience necessary" but you get to carry a cool ice axe just lik dem real mountn' climers!

I’m board and have some time to type so here is my $0.02. At one time or another I have had a membership for three gyms in Portland and worked at the gym in Corvallis (no, not all at the same time). It has been probably 4 years sence I have had a membership at a gym so take this for what it is worth. Unfortunetly there where a lot of things I didn’t like. The routes didn’t get changed enough. It felt like months could go by and I would only see a couple of new routes. I know first hand what it takes to put up a good route. It is a lot more work that one might think. It is more than just bolting some plastic to a wall. That being said I don’t think it would be too much to ask for a hand full of well thought out, quality new routes every week. Especially if your talking about short boulder problems. The other head of the coin is please leave things up long enough we can work on them. It is rarely a problem but it kind of sucks to start working on a new problem and it disappears as fast as it was put up. I know there is a balance in there somewhere. Another big gripe I have is the lack or range of problems. When I was climbing at PRG there was usually one or to probmens in the V-extremely easy range (say 0-1). I didn’t see a decent number of problems until V-4 or harder. Not everyone pulls hard. Yes you can use your imagination and make up your own problems and what ever difuculty you want but it is also nice to be able to just follow the tape. I feel like easy (and a lot of not so easy) gym routes tend to be long pulls on big jugs. When I was putting up gym routes I tried very hard to put up routes that required more technique than muscle. I don’t think every wall needs to be steep. The old gym in Corvallis actually had a big slab. Just because it’s slabby doesn’t mean it has to be easy. As for cardio and/or yoga, I think a loud smelly rock gym is the LAST place I would want to do this. I have no idea what it costs to run a gym but membership fees do seem quite steep. Last I heard when Costco became Club Sports or what ever it is now, the fees went form spendy to through the roof. Light is a good thing. Stone gardens always feels like I’m climbing in a dungin. As much as I hate to admit it the gym is as much of a social hour as it is a work out. A place to hang out, read old mag’s, swap stories put your shoes on or what ever could be nice. John’s landing would be very nice (I work in that area)! I will have to check it out. May even think about pulling on plastic again. I think it’s time for me to shut up and get back to work.

What time of year are you thinking? I've been there a couple of times in December and climbed in t-shirts. Cold at night though. I know this year it has been relitively wet and cold. The first time I went down the traveling sucked. 4 people with 2 weeks worth of camping crap in a handa civic. We took I5 and cut over at bakersfield. Robertjoy said 17 hours. I think he may have been driving a little fast. I think it took us closer to 19 but I could be wrong. The other time I flew into Palm Springs on Alaska Airlines for about 200 bones RT. The price was about the same as all the other airports in the area. The airport is much smaller and less of a hassel. From there it is only about an hour drive. I'm thinking about heading that direction in May. If I do I will probably go down the on the east side of the seirras and take my time. There are a ton of cool things to do and see on that route.

More info: http://www.fresnobee.com/home/local/story/9313779p-10220319c.html

I spray paint all of my pins black. Works great! I am missing a few thought. If anyone has any black pins they must be mine

I saw it happen once. A guy jugged a pitch and never tied in short. When he got to the anchors he must have taken his ascenders off and never tied into the anchor. Couple minutes later I hear a screem and see the guy flying down the pitch below. Thought he was going to crater but stopped right next to the anchors one pich below. At least he was tied into the end of the rope. That would be a fall factor 1 onto his anchors. Although it wasn't vertical (second or third pitch of the free blast) and he lost some skin slowing him down.

How about the place in Oregon City? It is quite short but may fit the bill. Can't remember exactly where it was but it is mentioned in the back of the Portland Rock climbers guide. Close to where 99 goes through the tunnel if I remember correctly. Not sure if it would take any more or less time to get to from Beaverton with all of the traffic.

There is an atrical in todays Oregonian metro section about this. Sounds like more of the same. I really hope this does not happen.

Learn to suffer. You will be cold, wet, tired, hungry, your head will hurt, your feet will hurt, you will feel like you want to throw up, you hands will be cold, you will ask your self a million times why am I doing this, you will get bumped, bruised, scraped cut, blistered, sun burnt, bug chewed, run it thorny plants, plants that sting, plants that make you itch, it will be too bright out, it will be too dark out, you will loose equipment, you will destroy equipment, you will spend way too much money on equipment, your equipment will fail you, you will be scared, you will want to cry, you will go home with your tail between your legs, you will drive many hours and walk many miles just to have the weather crap out on you, at times you life will be in danger, you will wish you had listened to your friends advice, you will wish you hand not listened to your friends advice, you will hate your climbing partners, you will smell really bad, and many many more unpleasant things will happen. In the end if you have a short memory and keep at it you will have the time of your life! I think the saying “jack of all trades, master of none” is good to keep in mind. You will need to know a little (or a lot) about a lot of things. In the end much of it will come with experience, some of it bad but much of it good.

You are probably correct about the flow. It is low but it is guided all summer. The "middle white Salmon" is class 3 with one class 4 at the beginning and end that most guides skip. Many trips run the "lower white salmon" also. This trip is class 2. If you really want to have fun try kayaking instead. I have only done one guided raft trip in my life and I felt like a cow being herded down the river. Although let me warn you now, kayaking has really cut into my climbing.

If you are thinking about heading south I would highly recomend the White Salmon! It is less crowded and has better white water than the deschutes. It is in the Columbia gorge, very close to Hood River (OR). There are a ton of other things to do in the area. A few other Oregon Options are the Clackamas just out side of protland. The North fork of the Santaim just east of Salem and the McKenzee just east of Eugene.

I remember seeing a thread a while back on good books to read but I cant seem to find it. Could some one point me in the right direction or give me some recommendations? I'm leaving for a long river trip in a couple of days and need something good to read. Climbing related or not, doesn't matter. I'm looking for something that will stir up the gray matter a bit.

Saw this on the news last night. It is not clear if it was a climber or not. Sounds like he is more or less OK (at least not dead). Anyone know any details? Here is what I got off the web: "By ANTONIA GIEDWOYN, kgw.com Staff A man fell about 60 feet off a hillside at the Rocky Butte natural area in northeast Portland Wednesday afternoon, authorities said. His injuries were not life-threatening. The man is in his twenties. His name hasn't been released. Officials said they believe the man was climbing the steep hillside without rope gear and probably lost his footing or lost his hand grip. Rescue crews carried him out on a stretcher. No further details were available. "

I pulled off about a half set of nuts, a cam, a pin, and a couple of draws off the leaning tower. Bootie on almost every pitch! We could have had more but we where trying to do it in a day so anything that didn't come out fairly quickly was left behind. Is it just me or is the majority of booty amlost brand new? My theory is that it's newbies that have developed the cleaning skills or backing off routes over their heads.

I've broken my ego a couple of times. Aid climbing can be hard on gear. Broken mystery metal, mystery webbing, funkness biners, heads, small stoppers. Nothing too exciting.

I do trust my partners with my gear. Just try sorting your gear out after a wall or some other long gear intensinve route. You could probably figure it out eventually but it makes it a hell of a lot easier if it is all marked.

You just placed my favorite cam . . . . found it at the base of elcap

Every time I have been up there the pearly gates is at best chewed up from 10 million mazamas at worst the 10 million mazamas are still in there. I would try the big face just to the west. I think it is called the old chute or something like that in Oregon High.

Horney/Johnson route on Washington Column

I'm planning on heading down to death valley some time at the end of march. I have never been there so I would love some suggestions of things to see and do. I know about all of the climbing in the bishop area so no need to comment on that. The trip will likely be more about hiking and exploring but if there is good climbing in the park I could be talked into that too.

I used a 3:1 to pull my dead car up the drive way when no wone else was around to push. My hand drill came in handy when I needed to put some holes into the concrete padio in the back yard. Hall bag makes one kick ass laundry bag.

So there is some pain and suffering involved but in the end very rewarding?

Well, she grew up in New Jersy and has yet to request I squeel like a pig so for now I am safe. Anyone know how far it is from lewisburg to NRG?

Next week my girlfriend and I are headed to Lewisburg West Verginia. About All I know of the area is that New River Gorge is somewhere close by. We will be visiting her family and it sounds like they will be playing tour guide. I'm not sure how much time I will have to go climbing but I would like to at least give it a try. My question is what's in that area? Sport, trad, what ever. My girlfriend climbs about 5.6 on a good day so there has to be some stuff for her too. Thanx in advance for the info.