Bug

It changes so fast they can't keep up. You can drill faster than they can type. A helmet is a great idea over there. Also set up your belays so that the belayer can dodge meteorites. This has been advantageous a couple of times. Thanks for the tips CBS. I will have my girls over there this weekend or next.

Sounds good.

[quote=hawkeye69no. it should only stand until someone climbs it with fair means (whatever that is) by not using the bolts. otherwise, the climbers are more hypocritical than ever. When I put up aid climbs in the Bitterroot it was always with the intention of climbing it free as much as possible. Who was it that said, "If you carry bivy gear you will use it."? If you carry aid gear you will use it. 30 extra pounds of rack is a lot. But to stick to the point, When I did complete an aid route in the Bitterroot I always advertised what it would take to go free. One of those became a Bitterroot classic. Modern Home Environment. The FFA team had the right to chop or add what they wanted and rename the route. They chose to keep the name. Seems like a good system.

You can get by without it but dont miss anything that might resemble pro. That route IS wide. I would have traded my belay partner for a 5.

Chop, Chop, Chop. Don't ever stop. Anything that wasn't put up in perfect style should be chopped. If you were stupid enough to try to climb it in EB's you deserve to have your route chopped. Wankers. shit........

So far no one has committed for sure. I haven't climbed it for at least 15 years. I'll PM you with my contact info.

Are those seams sewn through or baffled? The web site didn't say.

Dense fog, fatigue, no food, limited water, can confuse anyone. A good friend of mine who has skied extreme faces since we were in highschool in the seventies got lost off the backside of Crystal after he had skied there for 20 years. He recounted the entire event step-by-step to me and I was amazed at how many poor decisions he made. So was he. In fact, his entire point was that every single thing you do is a decision that ends up being a part of your survival or a detriment thereof. He was able to hike out in the middle of the night and ended up way down 410 at the plow hut. He was in the process of trying to break furniture to burn in the wood stove when the plow crew found him. He was sweaty and extremely fatigued and has no doubt that he would have died if he did not get a fire going. I am not meaning to scold anyone. Just informational.

Not if it is raining. Doh. Even if it is not raining there will be water in the backs of the cracks. But I have climbed it this early before. It is not your basic summer climb but it is south facing and was snow free two weeks ago. I don't know how much snow they have had since then. I will be there regardless, so if anyone is interested, I can drive over there, check it out and post here to let you know how it looks. Can't get much better service than that (no Bubba jokes please).

Cool. Check your PM's

I'm open all spring. Have done all of the routes you mentioned. There is an age difference but I won't call you "sonny". Check your PM's.

I will be in Missoula March 14-18. I will bring my rope and rack and can lead every pitch if needed. Or share. Anyone (and only one) who can follow 5.7 and is a competent belayer is welcome. There are one or two 5.9 moves in one spot but with enough tension, you will make it up. Cheers! Bug

Anyone up for a cruise up Shoshone? I will be in Missoula March 14-18. I will bring the rope and rack and lead every pitch if you want. This is open to anyone who can follow 5.7 with one or two 5.9 moves. Blodgett classic. I can also regale you with the climbing history of the canyon on the way up. Or not. I don't want a huge party, just one climber. Cheers! Bug

No seriousness was intended. I got your tone and frankly, you did better than I would have. But then, I have two ex-wives, three kids, and no dog to talk to.

You sound tense.

Yes. Communication is important. I went into the Enchanments with a guy from Chicago I met on this board. He warned me that he was slow. Good thing. Because if he hadn't I would have had to throttle him and hide the remains. He was NOT slow. He made glaciers seem quick. It took him four hours in Safeway to buy food for the trip just for himself. In the morning we had to drive to Leavenworth from Redmond to get in the lottery. He dragged and didn't eat breakfast, and generally pissed me off. I loaded his gear and asked him if he was coming or not. He got in but accused me of being tense and pushy. We got there 5 minute after they had started the talk before the drawing. Another five minutes and we would have been out. He never acknowledged that. He only point out the times I was pushy and tense trough the whole trip but did not ever acknowledge the times I saved our buts from a much less fun alternative. In camp, I had to get the water boiling and sort the rack and soforth. I felt like a guide with no pay. I finally lost it on him when he started the stove, put some water on and went for a walk. I had just layed down for an evening nap after dinner and climbing the south face of Prussick. I fell asleep and he came back much later and ragged at me for leaving the stove going. I told him I was not his F...ing mother and blah, blah, blah. He went on about how tense I was for being on vacation etc. He just didn't get it. But, there I was in the Enchanments. We did climb Prussick and the Mole (slowly). I did not have to kill him. Later he posted on this site about how he was going to climb a huge ice face in South America and I warned him not to. He is too slow to be on a huge exposed mountain face in the winter. Stay there long enough and you are just another bolling pin. I was criticized for flaming but I did not ever hear how he did or if he even went. I can only hope that if he died down there, it was of natural causes.

I have had some less than optimal experiences with online climbing partners but I feel confident enough in my own abilities to identify problems quickly and alleviate or bail. Denali was one such example. Two online partners. One didn't know how to use the hip belt on his pack. The other one was well read but unable to improvise and had a militaristic approach to being the "leader" of the team. We bailed at 17,000. Yes it was dissappointing but as Sobo said, I was out there. And more importantly, I lived to climb another day. But beware! There are people posting on this site now who have no qualms about misrepresenting their experience level and taking out a newbie. I will mention no names.

One more basketball tourney for my daughter on Sat then if the weather is too cold for my girlfriend to ski, I will climb something Sun. Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!

Ouch.

Getchurglydon

I don't remember which continent it was on.

I spilled beer on John Long once.

Sometimes I have to refresh my memory and go aid something. Solo is what I prefer just because I hate belaying a leader on aid. It takes forever. Tie into an anchor on the ground. At Index I use trees or rocks. Set it up to hold an upward pull. Put two locking biners on your harness and tie a figure 8 in the rope giving yourself enough slck to climb to a logical place to put in a piece. Clip the rope to the piece just like leading. Now pull up the loose end of the rope a little bit and tie another figure 8 loop. Again, giving yourself just enough slack to get to the next placement. Clip this to the second locking biner. Unclip the first loop and untie it. This way, you are always tied into a foolproof system. No rope shear or stripping from a solo device. No second guessing how you are going to land etc. It isn't cute or elegent but it is safe and simple. Aiding is a great way to sharpen your placement skills. Almost every piece you place can be watched as you weight it. See how they move or not.

When I was living in the valley in 85 I was held down by a band of maurading bikers and forced to eat LSD. Wanting nothing to do with crowds, I sprinted up the trail into Little Yosemite Valley past the water falls and well into the flats. I broke off the trail when everything started to blend. After about 30 minutes off the trail I was in the middle of nowhere standing at the edge of a small clearing. This was a solid two hours from the trailhead at a near jogging clip. On the other side of the clearing a person appeared. We saw each other at the same moment and both of us almost ducked but knew we were committed. So we wandered into the middle of the clearing and said "Hi." The conversation faltered. Finally, the other traveller said," I have to go. I am really high on acid." And he turned and dissappeared into the woods. I never saw him again.

EYikes! I had forgotten about that one. I once belayed a "buddy" on a 5.7 in JT. It was one pitch. It took him four hours. One side of me was sunburned and raw. The other side was chewed off by a pack of cayotes.