Gary_Yngve

That brings up a good point about sandbagging in general. In my mind, something is sandbagged only if it seems substantially harder than similarly rated routes in the same area. So going back to BoC, if I'm a 5.9 climber, new to steep cracks, who got spit off BoC and think it's sandbagged, I really don't have any bearings to make that claim -- I'm probably just saying it's sandbagged to nurse a bruised ego. Rather, if I have climbed Toxic Shock, HoC p3, D-H, Libra Crack, Thin Fingers, and feel that BoC is inconsistent (which it's not), then I could make that claim legitimately.

if you upgrade BoC, then you'd also need to upgrade a number of other pitches at Index... Libra, HoC p3, D-H p2... which are all 10A.

there's a 40' route at Vantage to climber's right of Fat Man's Squeeze that I think is rated 10B and has a lot of slopers. To me, it felt harder than many Vantage 11As! the 10A unprotected start to G-M (at Index) seems sandbagged, even on top-rope

RC is great for stretching BoC or MK into one LONG pitch and getting extra pump! But otherwise I tend to approach BoC/MK by rapping from the top of GNS, because Lizard/GNS/variants are so fun.

Also the traverse right to the little alcove before the traverse left.. there's two ways to do it. the higher has feet where the lower has hands.

That loose flake has been there for at least five years. My first time leading it (in someone else's rock shoes because I forgot my own), I stood up and walked the traverse back left, because it seemed easier. I've climbed the route st least ten times since and have done the hand traverse every time.

mazegirl, since you've been bombarding us with articles/youtube, can you explain away this? http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1350794/posts

I see, so when your people are killed, it's bad, but when someone else's people are killed, it's ok. I don't give an f who killed who when, but if you want to call yourself civilized in the 21st century, you're not going to oppress/kill an ethnic group, as the Chinese govt is and has been doing.

That's just one grad student for one year. Lame.

The permits and their surcharges are f'n lame. MFQED

AWESOME PHOTOS!!!

That's because of the lack of wolves. Though I did cook a tasty bunny the other day.

I can't do 17/18

the skyline divide sunrise impresses me with its quality, especially with the crispness of the foreground.

cool, i'll need to check them out in hi-res. another comment on panoramas: how do you guys view them? i've been turned off by them for a while because i haven't been inspired to interactively view them in a viewer or to view them as a 10:1 aspect image. i'd almost prefer several 3:2 images from a pano that capture the coolest parts. the only way the pano would have an advantage for me is as an immersive experience. Do they have viewers these days that can zoom into / fly through a pano full-screen (1024x768 or larger) and be smooth and sharp?

If you look at the panos carefully, they're not perfect. They look sharp because the blending uses minimal overlap. But on close inspection I can spot nearby areas with replicated textures.

Two instances I was involved in: - partner took a lead fall and his foot hit a nalgene clipped into the anchor on the way down. water bottle plummeted down 100 ft, narrowly missing RuMR's posse - decided to borrow someone's nalgene to warm up my wrist prior to a frisbee game. broke the handle just from flicking my wrist a few times

Let me clarify: Consider this quote: "The gear he was wearing — a helmet, sturdy boots and riding bibs — probably helped save his life, said rescue officials. They also said it's legal to ride in that area, but not recommended for anyone other than an expert." Would that quote have come out had it been a climber? It's well known it's illegal to ski the crater. Guess it's legal to fall in. Second, have you seen any angry blogs come out about how St Helens should be closed from snowmobiling or he should have his kids taken away from him?

Arch hit the nail on the head. Were it climbers, the press have been all "they should pay for their rescues" and "they're selfish daredevils" but since it was a snowmobiler, nothing mentioned.

wtf? i climbed like a monkey in trees throughout my entire childhood. the only thing possibly disorderly is the ramirez telling someone to stop climbing a tree if the tree isn't on her own property

what a sweet photo of a macbook pro! drool!

Going by Muffy's definition, the lesser of two evils was to "cheat"?

http://docs.google.com/TeamPresent?docid=ddp4zq7n_0cdjsr4fn&skipauth=true&p

I think the deal is that the coulee floor is not yet trashed. So let's keep it that way. The places that are already trashed can remain trashed.

the talk of whether the leader or follower should be the stronger is interesting. i think the correct answer is both, because of the mantra DO NOT FALL. that said, i think the person who can routefind/place pro more quickly/solidly should be the leader. the follower should be "invisible." this means occasionally giving more slack so the leader always can climb without going tight, or so the follower can clear a steep crux and get to a good stance instead of pumping out while the leader is placing pro. i second what ken4ord says regarding remembering when the second will be arriving at tough spots.