wrench

how crappy was the crap on the traverse? i've heard it can be bad.

re avalanche debris: as you approach, there appears to be two paths across, a higher one and a lower one. take the HIGHER one. you might notice an arrow carved into the bark of one of the downed trees at the start of the debris indicating that you are on the right path. we lost an hour trying to get through via the lower path a month ago. also, the streams were running pretty high when we went up there, esp in the evening, so unless the water volume has dropped off considerably, suggest crossing them in the morning (there are ~4 of them).

guides: Olympic Mountain Rescue Climbing Guide (very old) has the most complete description of the range. Smoot's Climbing Washington's Mountains book (new) has some Olympic peaks in it. Mt. Cruiser might be one alpine rock route you'd be interested in, along with some other peaks in that area. i agree w/ the others' sentiments that you'll be very hard pressed to find what you're looking for over there though. Olympics are more well known for their backpacking than climbing.

bubblebutt: both the cassin and petzl harnesses have detachable leg loops -- i agree, that's a NECESSITY. mvs: just like the french, eh? their girlfriends carry their packs so their legs don't get too big. but having your manservant carry yours gives it a nice tarantino/deliverance touch.

OCD or real boring fucking job (aka climbing funding venture). not sure. maybe i'm schyzophrenic too.

heh heh, what the hell do you know, thinker?! besides, you know i have way bigger problems than gear loops. hey, do you still want a fixer-upper pair of gaiters? on topic... the eolo is only 1.5 oz. lighter than the pandion but costs $30 more (after considering the sale i found) and both require gear loop modifications to fit (what i deem to be) my needs. so the extra $30 doesn't really seem worth it... but then i've been known to overanalyze these things... just like a thinker.

my thoughts were to go with the pandion (found it online for $40) and sew another extra gear loop on the left side. i have one other petzl harness w/ those fancy buckles, and at first they were a little annoying, but i'm used to it now. seems like this setup would be the right solution for me. i like to rack a few things on my harness, and the gear loops on the eolo (w/ no tubing -- just thin strands of fabric) seem like they would get a little annoying.

actually i didn't mean gear/leg loops you can tie into, just meant gear loops with a minimal amount of burliness to allow hanging a few cams from and leg loops that you can autoblock in a worst case scenario. MVS: do you rack any of your gear on your Eolo gear loops? are they annoying, or do they do okay? JH: Bibler makes harnesses????

i'm thinking about a new lightweight harness! so far the lightest i've found are the Petzl Pandion (290g), the Cassin Eolo (225g), and of course the Alpine Bod (350g). the Pandion and Eolo are marketed as adventure racing harnesses and have a few drawbacks. the Pandion only has one gear loop and a single, high tie-in point (is that a drawback?). the gear loops on the Eolo are wimpy and the leg loops can't be clipped to (cuz they're wimpy too). price-wise, the cost can be almost directly (and inversely) correlated to the weight! my biggest concerns are durability and how far you can push them, i.e. where do u draw the line for using them: glacier, easy grade alpine rock/ice, or long, difficult alpine, etc. has anyone use the Pandion or the Eolo? do you have an opinion, good or bad, and can you compare it to the Alpine Bod? have you taken a fall in it, and if so, did it kill you? gracias!

the snowmobilers really suck (except when they stop by your basecamp and offer you free beer). but check this out, looks like the problems with them are over for the summer: From the NPS: NOTE: The Mt. Baker National Recreation Area (NRA) off of Forest Service Road #13 and Anderson Creek area off Forest Service Road #1107 are now CLOSED to snowmobile use for the season due to melting snow conditions. This closure is to prevent damage to the fragile meadow vegetation that was protected by the snow cover. Posted: 6-03-2003

So, in summary, after 3 1/2 pages we have learned that... People who aren't involved with climbing organizations are annoyed by people who are, and people who are involved with climbing organizations are not. Wow. But I have learned a valuable lesson: Everyone should trade in your goretex so we don't read about "disgruntled Mountie-haters going postal in Commonwealth Basin" in Accidents in N.A. Mountaineering next year.

Thanks. For anyone interested, here is the article in couloir mag -- it's pretty good. Also, the split kit itself probably comes with pretty detailed instructions: http://www.couloirmag.com/gear/reviews/snowboard/split_a_board.htm

I ran a search on the forums and found some old discussions wrt split boards, so forgive me if you are bored of this topic, but I have a little twist on it... has anyone ever built their own custom split board? Or does anyone know where I can find info on building my own split board? I.e. taking an old board, sawing it in half, and attaching a Voile split board kit. I found an article in Couloir magazine that describes the procedure, but it's a little brief, so if possible I'd like a little more detailed info/tales of personal experience (if there are any out there). Thanks!

quote: Originally posted by Dru: Canary - yeah it says right here its a 5.4. No you can't look at the guidebook! WHAT! Dont you trust me? Youre climbing with a partner that you dont trust? we might as well just pack up and head home right now then! Insane, but LMAO hilarious!

quote: Originally posted by AA: I think some may be missing the point here: We are barely out of our cars when someone up above yells down, "we have a class!" It's the ATTITUDE that is the problem. I agree with Dwayner 100% in the way he handled/viewed the situation. Until any of these climbers actually OWN the rock (area), I think it's completely unjustified for "whomever got there first" to take over an area that could and should be SHARED. Had "Red" not started off with the attitude of "I have a class therefore I get to take over this area..." I'm sure you (Dwayner) would not have been as peeved.... (not to put words in your mouth) Dwayner!!! You're not being realistic. Dwayner and I already agreed it wouldn't make sense to try and share the upper buttress -- that would be totally impractical. You can look at Red shouting from above as a threat or whatever, or you can look at it as a warning that, "hey, we've got a bunch of people up here, I know it sucks trying to climb around a large group so I'm letting you know." We're arguing over perceptions. If Dwayner perceived attitude, then he perceived attitude and if Red didn't intend attitude, then she didn't intend attitude. Period. YOu can't take a post on the internet and make a judgement about whether she had "attitude" or not.

quote: Originally posted by Dwayner: [Hey pseudo-psycho-analyst...keep your day job. Like your pal, "Thinker", you don't know me, and the more you guys attempt to make personal speculative jibes (i.e. "name calling"), the less "cool" your WAC appears. Is there a civil, competent spokesman for your group that can offer something less snotty to this discussion? - Dwayner[/QB] Decrying an entire club as "uncool" based on the *personal* opinions of a couple members who never claimed to be spokesmen for the group is tacky and presumptuous as well. I believe you set the standard for the quality of feedback you would receive by the snotty tone of your original post -- esp. the charming title you gave this thread. Seriously, if can't take it, don't dish it. I'm not trying to be snotty, I'm just saying that if you assumed a few of the WAC people there that day wouldn't read your post then that was was somewhat ignorant. I'm going to assume you're not ignorant, so when you chose to write in an accusatory, inflamatory, mud-slinging tone, you had to know you were going to offend a few people. (the opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the wac. the wac accepts no liability for any offensive or snotty responses by this member.)

climbing's a pretty popular sport now -- get over it. a few years ago in college, i remember having to wait over an hour to get on the court to play a game of basketball at the uw ima. basketball's popular too. hmmm... a correlation? the situation extends beyond club groups too. a few weeks ago i wanted to climb boschido at vantage and there was a shiny new yellow rope strung up on it. a group of ~8 or so people not affiliated with a club said "it would be a while." i walked by a couple more times throughout the day; rope still there; no one climbing on it. yeah, I was a little miffed, especially cuz my 2 friends from argentina would have loved to get on it. but to the best of my knowledge i got over it rather quickly, especially upon discovering there are other routes at vantage. and, if memory serves correctly, i don't believe i got on this site the next day and bitched and moaned about it. the fact is, in order to adequately teach climbing to students to the point where it is reasonably safe for them, a certain amount of time must be put in. if we had tried to share the upper buttress, what would have happened? we both would have spent a lot of time sitting around waiting for the other group to finish using certain lines. would you rather have a bunch of incompetent, poorly taught students out there putting themselves and everyone around them at risk? after reading your post, doesn't sound like you have any genuine concerns or any productive, constructive thoughts on the situation... it sound more like you just want to BITCH. and you have done a might fine job of it. my one criticism of your bitching though would be that it seems more appropriate and constructive to bitch directly to the wac rather than post your version of events on a public site. classic, melo-dramatic effort by someone looking for attention and desperate for sympathy while trying to be the focal point of a popular debate at the expense of the wac.

quote: Originally posted by jordop: I hear Tom's video has some good "Wrench" videos Ah, so you're a fan of my work, eh?

quote: Originally posted by jordop: I hear Tom's video has some good "Wrench" videos Ah, so you're a fan of my work, eh?

quote: Originally posted by trask: Hey Wrench, where can I find some of those videos? They're kinda hard to find -- I don't actually own any. Seems like I remember seeing one or two at REI a couple years ago. i ran a quick search online and you can track down all of them eventually, but I didn't find a single site that had all of 'em (amazon had none). Maybe try ebay???

Anyone see that climbing dog on TV the other day? Pulled off some sweet paw jambs and hind leg stems on a 5.6-ish looking crack! Unbelievable.

quote: Originally posted by Dr Flash Amazing: And then at the end after the credits roll, they show the footage of him missing a dyno and damn near taking the big plummet. You see that and sort of find yourself hitting rewind a few times and gaping til the drool puddle soaks through your shirt and jolts you back to reality. Sickness. Indeed, I know exactly the scene you're talking about -- my heart impaled itself on the thing that hangs down in the back of your throat then promptly retreated through my stomach, down my large intestine and lodged itself firmly in my sphincter. I had to watch the Playboy Extreme Team toprope some sick 5.7's to set everything straight.

quote: Originally posted by Dr Flash Amazing: Do you remember that little photo feature/blurb in one of the climbing mags a few years back of Dan Osman soloing some waterfall that was still flowing? He was in a full wetsuit with a hood, and he climbed it with ice tools. Fuckin' psychopath. I think that was in one of the Master of Stone videos, wasn't it? You're right -- fuckin' psychopath.

quote: Originally posted by sexual chocolate: What makes you assume it's "name-dropping", as if knowing someone from Feathered Friends (or from The Supersuckers!) is a mark of distinction, to be displayed proudly where-ever one goes? I know the girl on the cover of "The Sacriligious Sounds of the Supersuckers." I even know her LAST name, her last name before she changed it, and her married name! In FACT, I know her husband, her sister, parents, dog and daughter. What's more, I DATED her sister! Tremble before me and my coolness...

Magnetic bolts!