Alpinfox

I've had three finger tendon injuries; all occured while pulling plastic. I would advise not pulling plastic. If you must pull plastic, make sure you warm up and stretch out your fingers prior to doing anything hard. But really, it's summertime. Go outside.

Paraframe II for $11.99 seems like a good deal. The "SUMMERUSPS" code takes care of the shipping. you can also get THIS little keychain knife for $0.99. Good for carrying on your harness as an "off belay" device. Might want to put a couple wraps of tape around it to insure that it stays closed.

When facism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross. -Sinclair Lewis

I think you did a good job of getting yourself out of a tough situation and it's a great reminder to everyone that they should have the gear and knowledge to effect a self-rescue if needed. However, I also think what happened to you was easily predicted and avoided and that hasn't been discussed yet. I really appreciate posts like this as I think many climbers don't think about these sorts of "what would I do if" situations and are then not prepared when a challenging situation arises. As for gear, I always carry a short 5mm prusik cord, a tibloc, a pulley, and a small knife on my harness whether I'm doing one-pitch sport climbs or "big walls" like infinite bliss.

AND THE WINNER IS!!!!

I'll write a grant for a water quality survey of Cascade Mountain surface waters and see if I can get it funded. Since all of ~20 people (my guess) contract water-borne illnesses from backcountry sources in all of WA state/year, with zero deaths, I'm sure it will be a major priority for the DOH. LINK to Ivan's story about campylobacter infection in the enchantments. LINK to good info. PREVIOIUS thread about giardia A quote from THIS THREAD :

Well at least MY post had numbers in it.

Olympia Climber: The answer is I don't know for sure. Some bacterial cysts can survive in some pretty crazy environments (absolute zero temps, high radiation, vacuum, etc), but most of those probably aren't pathogenic. I've only felt the need to boil water for the sake of hygenie a few times and I felt that just getting the water to the boiling point was good enough. HERE is some actual data about survival rates of various pathogens I found on teh interweb. Relevant excerpt:

IT MUYST BE TRUES! I READED IT ON TEH INTERNETS!

WEARE IN YER TOUMBS, RAPBOLTIN YER MUMMMIES

How many bolts were used? Sounds like he took all the adventure out of it. I tell ya, archeologists these days grow up in the safe environment of the university and think they are entitled to a 100% risk-free experience... Leaving holes in the rock... It's a travesty I tell ya! Just razzin' ya. I'm looking forward to watching it.

Kevbone will you just shut the fuck up already?

You can get them HERE Might wanna get one of THESE while you are at it.

That THOR HEYERDAHL was quite a guy. Say... it sure would be cool to meet or talk to somebody who knew him.

If you can put a piece on either side of the block and equalize them, then weight on the anchor should result in balanced forces and no movement of the block. I have actually done this, though the block was never weighted, so I don't know if things would have held as I expected, but it makes sense to me. Cams, because they have an expansion range (duh), would be my first choice for an expanding crack. Passive pieces have a very small expansion range (double duh), so if the crack enlarges even slightly, they will fall out. I think a good mathmagician (I'm not one) could calculate the outward forces generated by a stopper with a given taper angle versus a cam with a given cam angle. I know that metolius cams generate more outward force than BD, or any other cam. This gives them better holding power, but smaller range.

What is a carabiner? Is this a carabiner? How about this? Another? Is this a one? What are the essential elements, the platonic form if you will, of a carabiner? What is it that denotes carabinerness? Big questions.... big questions.... HERE is a primer we might use as a starting point for this compelling discussion.

WELCOME TO BAJA CANADA!

BAHAHAHAH!

That's too bad you didn't like it more. I thought it was pretty sweet due to the position and the "big wall" feel (thank god Kevbone has defined that for us so we know what it means now). I don't remember THAT much kitty litter; none on the lower half. You want kitty litter? Try the SW Face of Kangaroo Temple. Wear gaiters!

A car shuttle would be an atrocious waste of time, energy, and gas and I personally promise to make fun of anyone who admits doing it. Early season, go in Mtnrs Crk and down Sherpa glacier. Late season, go in Ingalls Lake and down Cascadian. Simple.

My favorite bit of the climb. Thanks for posting the pics Matt! Interesting factoid: I just found out that "paisano" means "companion or pal"; I had assumed it was a variety of wine or grape

Come on, you have to admit this is funny. I don't know what your talking about?

Lake City - Gateway to Bothell

Me.