Geek_the_Greek

Well, the spendier ones have hand-held brakes! No, I don't know how they're supposed to prevent you from flying forward when you suddenly jam the brakes on, since you have nothing to brace yourself with except your feet...

I thought it was Sagan too. Stephen Hawking tells that story in the first chapter of A Brief History of Time. I could use some shroomy shrooms right now - might make my data meaningful for a while... (My girlfriend is now on this board and I don't know who she is. It's driving me crazy! If you're my girlfriend, please give a hint...)

Dude that's hilarious! I weep... (working hard to be horsecock lover...)

I like Revivex too. A good wash, hot dry and touch up with an iron works pretty well too (the ironing supposedly melts the microscopic frayed threds or something). I usually use all of the above.

Pad (MEC El-zee) arrived on Friday (1 week after I ordered it!). I spent Saturday bouldering and lounging around on it at Smith (hot hot ). I sucked, but the pad rocked! I dunno, I guess I don't have much experience with other pads, but it seemed well-made and durable, without a lot of bells and whistles (standard MEC fare). If you want a decent pad without spending a lot of $, I think it's a good buy. BTW, the bouldering grades in the back of the Smith book are all over the place - some way undergraded, as well as some real sandbags. Then again, what's an "S2+" supposed to feel like anyway??

The MEC El-zee goes for Can$148, which squares out to 100 US bills if you ship it. It's not quite as big as the Cordless large, but is half the price. Because it's MEC brand, they will also ship to the US. I took a risk and ordered one, and it should be here in a few days, so I'll give a report when I get it.

Climb with 'em, hang with 'em, and am unashamedly one myself! (know the literal translation??) Yasou vre malaka! -GTG

A couple come to mind: Getting ready to teach a beginner's class at Sugarloaf, Squish, I set up the anchor and rapped down to the eager students. One of them piped up "Shouldn't your harness be done up?". I looked down to see my Arc'T Neutrino held on by nothing but the velcro. Forget double-backing, I hadn't even threaded the buckle... Sheeeeeit....I tried to turn it into one of those "ok, what have I done wrong?!" lessons, but it was way too late for that! Then there was my first attempt to lead Jabberwocky (.10a fingers at Squamish). Had some trouble on the start, had to do the shoulder stand (as suggested in the guidebook!), put in a nut, went higher, put in another nut, relaxed 'cause I was past the crux. Then a toe slipped, a loose finger lock popped, and I said "aw shit" and slid down a few feet past my top nut. But then I felt a sudden release, a brief burn on the back of my ankle and before I had time to think about it I was screaming headfirst towards the ground. "Holy shit!" screamed my belayer, who thankfully caught me as my (bare) head bobbed to within 3 feet of the deck....(top piece popped, rope running behind my leg flipped me arse over teakettle, and bottom nut caught, thankfully). I thought about quitting this stupid sport while I was still alive...instead I bought a helmet and some more pro... Yikes

"cuz when ya booze ya lose and when ya lose ya booze and then ya wonder why ya lose ya shoes" (Hugh Masekela, ~1980s)

"cuz when ya booze ya lose and when ya lose ya booze and then ya wonder why ya lose ya shoes" (Hugh Masekela, ~1980s)

Ok, I'll give this one more try... I'm looking to go climbing (rock) this w/end, just about anywhere in southern/central Oregon; up to low .11 or so, sport or trad. I was thinking of Smith, but I'd go with Rattlesnake, Ashland, or any of those mythical Eugene places. (Yeah, I know the rules about climbing with people you don't know, and about only gumbies asking strangers to be climbing partners, but I'm working in Crater Lake, and the climbing community here is just about nihil!) Cheers Otherwise I will have to boulder... (no pad) If you don't wanna respond here email dan@buildering.net

Mmmmmm... dunno about that (been in the evil empire long enough to forget me french!) ...I think breasts are seins or tetons "Lurker was way cooler than wanker"

Tonerre de Brest! (don't know wtf it means, though...)

Sunshine route on Hood is kind of "out" for the season. I was up there last weekend. Bergschrund (~9500 ft.) looks steep and technical and shitty (much harder than it would be in June, anyway). (Not really sure if this is a bergschrund or just a steep crevasse; guidebook says 'schrund, but I thought that was the term for the bottom end "ice cliff" on a glacier, which this ain't.) Cooper spur might be a bit better, but also disappeared higher up (so loose rock might be a big deal).

J-Tree, circa 1996: I had just led the first pitch (?) of Buisonnier, a straightforward 5.7 crack. I was in the process of equalizing my 4-point gear anchor at the anchor ledge when this guy comes up out of nowhere beside me wearing running shoes and trailing a rope from his harness. He had scrambled up a ~4th/low 5th class gully beside me. He took one look at me in my helmet, fat rack, and complicated anchor deal and scoffed "Holy safety, dude!". Then he took the one runner he had off his neck, slung a flake with it, clipped a (non-locking) biner to it as well as his rope, and lowered himself hand over hand down his gully. After I had belayed my partner up our route, this guy's buddy shows up after having been belayed up the gully. "What do I do now?", he asks us. I didn't know what to say. I suggested he ask his belayer friend. We got the hell out of there....

Did the north face of Castle Dome a week ago. It was sweet! We couldn't figure out the second pitch, and ended up doing a super-gripping filthy 5.9 corner with garbage pro - one of the scarier leads of my life. Above that it's great, though. Some loose rock, but not much. Crux involves some .10b slab moves, but very clean (and well-protected). Somewhere between trad and alpine rock, I'd say.

Dude, come down to Smith for the weekend. I'll climb with ya. (Smith Rock, OR)

Ah well shit, with all the talk of sport vs trad, blah blah blah, how come no one wants to climb with me at Smith this w/end? I did say "trad or sport?".

Damn - I was hoping for more hate and vitriol by now, in a climbing context. All this biker stuff seems over my head... "I'm a lurker, not a fighter"

...this weekend (Aug. 10-11, I think?). Just looking for a (nice) partner to climb something, 10's, 11's maybe, trad or sport, single pitch or multi (ok, probably no trad 11's ). Happy to belay on easier or harder stuff. Safety-conscious is good. Ya - it'll be hot, whatever. we can find shade or bake. Unless you're coming from south (Crater lake), I can't offer a ride. email (Dan@buildering.net) or PM me. Cheers.

Hmmm, slightly 'a propos', but I've always thought that in terms of bragging rights (which is what all this is about), anything other than an on-sight ascent when trad climbing is kind of jokey. Once you've grovelled your way up a trad climb, you could just pencil yourself a little memo about the gear required and where the good placements are for next time. On any subsequent "redpoint" attempts, you then leave the rack at the bottom and bring only the 3 or 8 or 32 pieces you need, and basically you're sport climbing - or at least pinkpointing. (No, I don't do this, but as far as redpoints go, hey, it's fair game) Sure, it's harder to place gear on lead than clip bolts (or draws), but it's waaaaaaay harder to shake your way up something on-sight while dragging along a boat anchor of a rack, hoping to figure out how to stay alive with the gear you've got and the placements you see (or not) in front of you. NEway, I guess for this reason I think the "bragging rights" point of sport climbing is redpointing or on-sighting, but the "bragging rights" point of trad climbing can only be on-sighting. And yes, for you boy/girl scouts out there, the point of climbing (pour moi) is fun and cool scars. "On belay? Better than being off belay"

I had a cool experience with deet when I was tree planting. I started the day just loading it on - in my hair, on my face, hands, arms, legs - pretty much on every exposed surface except eyes and mouth. I had a walkman on to drown out the buzzing of the skeeters. The stuff must have dripped into my ears, 'cause after a couple of hours my earphones were melted into my ears. I had to pull seriously hard to get them out. Ears felt kind of wierd afterwards. I think I cut down on the habit after that. "hot damn - 2 posts already?"

Anyone have any thoughts on 'biner to 'biner links in anchors? I learned a long time ago not to do this, but was never given a good reason why. Thinking about it, I think I generally do it to help equalize anchors (to lengthen a sling just a little bit, for instance), or as a directional on multi-pitch to belay up a second (so the rope goes from my belay to the biner and down, so the pull is upwards). Yes, I too know that adding extra links to a chain means there are more potential failure points... It's mostly for anchor/gear management purposes. Any thoughts? Strong opinions? -GTG