Geek_the_Greek

The deal with climbing at the gym is that it's easy to train for strength, and harder to train for technique. In all types of outdoor climbing, but especially trad climbing, technique improvements will be more useful than strength improvement. Obviously, being stronger will help too (and both bouldering and typical gym routes will help with strength - power, endurance, flow, etc.). To actually train technique, I recommend looking for low-angle, footwork-intensive routes (vertical or slabby). Work on finding rests, leading (if possible), and being smooth. These skills will help most with the realities of trad climbing - subtle footwork, dinking around with gear, and dealing with runouts. Overhanging trad routes are somewhat rare, so the usual steep jug hauls in the gym don't translate that well.

Yeah, that's what I've heard. I guess in that sense it actually helped that I didn't have a car - but not really, because it was really hard to get to some places. "Well, let's start hiking this 17 km approach, and see if any cars go by". They usually did. I guess compared to the rest of the continent SA does have a lot of established climbing. I actually meant Zim has very little, although that could be changing. Mozambique? No idea, but probably doubtful.

I'm hoping he meant the toenail, not the whole toe...

Any good climbing in the Matobo Hills in Zimbabwe? Ah, I didn't manage to get any in. Original plan was to cruise through South Africa, do a bit of climbing and hiking along the way, then blast through Zimbabwe, Zambia and Tanzania and eventually climb Mt Kenya. Got a couple nice multi-pitch days in SA, and then totally fahquaraeoipoih'ed up my knee hiking in the Drakensberg range, near Lesotho. Climbing gear got mailed back to Canada, and trip became beach/culture/sightsee/hobble around for the next 2 months instead of climbing. There IS a ton of granite in Zimbabwe, and an absolutely astounding amount of dry, clean rock in South Africa, but I don't think there are many established climbs there. FWIW, Matopos NP ('Matobo hills'?) is very cool. Saw a couple rhinos, pretty darn close. They were chillin, chewing on some plants. Good times.

Many thanks for spending the time to write that out, Sam. What a fantastic job by all involved.

I've been to Chimanimani park, on the border with Zimbabwe (actually, I've only been on the Zim side). I wasn't there for long, but it did look beautiful - verdant rocky hills with forested valley approaches...

Looks like he caught a sweet easterly breeze passing the Canary islands. Very cool.

skyclimb seems to be a fan of Hustler when hes in the desert. Eric8 reading "the articles" on Library Ledge:

Yes, and if you follow the link, and click on 'shop', you will see a lovely WALL CALENDAR but not, for some reason, the Classic Climbs 2006 Engagement Calendar. I was told (by retail mokeys) that it was a seasonal item that may be out of print.

What I really want is a new picture of AlpineDave every day, sending the sickness as only he can. Can you make me one?? Ok, panic averted. Twelve phone calls later, I found one on calendars.com. Please continue with your regular programming.

That's what I've heard everywhere - oh, they didn't sell very much, so we gave them away... what, are people so anal that they actually buy their calendars and planners in January?? I wouldn't have expected this from climber-types... Willing to pay good money, dammit!

Ok, I have arrived at a career point where I actually need to schedule and write things down. I thought it would be an easy matter to pick up one of those sexy Climbing magazine day planners (what are they actually called? Classic climbs 2006 or something?), so that I too could look like an urban poser in all his glory. BUT NO! The things are bloody hard to find - not PMS, not Feathered Friends, not REI nor Stone Gardens or Vertical World nor MEC (although they're checking and said they'd get back to me), not through the Climbing mag. website. Ok, it's March, but so what? Any ideas?

"But I wore the juice!"

Agreed. 'Bacon buddy' is better, even more so if the greasy snack is correctly called 'butty'.

Ah, my bad. I retract everything.

Is this a humorous beta request for the N-face route? Ok, there are some trees on it, yes...they make nice belays. Didn't you get enough info from the 35 TR's in the past 3 weeks? Between that and Nelson's guide you should have more than enough info. Turn the 'puter off and go climb it! Mind you, conditions are probably sketchball on it right now, with the dumpage here in town. Better stay home and spray some more...

I have a Half Dome I will sell you for $10 if you want. It's been used maybe 6 times - minor cosmetic scratches, nothing more (I'm serious). It just looks dorky on me, and my principle requirement of a helmet is that it not look dorky... I've reverted back to my old Ultralight, and am moving soon, so getting rid of unused shit. PM if interested. EDIT: Helmet has been sold.

I wouldn't plan on climbing anything on Chair unless you have safe avy conditions. If you are too worried about stability to go up the left (south) side of the river, fuhgedaboudit.

Yeah, that's what I thought too: big prints, obvious claws - bears; but I sure didn't want to meet a bear in the mountains in February... But then looking at photos of bear prints, it's clear they weren't bear prints. I wasn't going to draw any conclusions myself, but a friend in the know seemed convinced it was a wolverine.

Nice coincidence... TR link

This ended up being an awesome tour despite chattery skiing conditions: up to Pineapple pass, over to Hemlock pass, around the north side of Low mountain, down to Tuscohatchie lake, up the Tuscohatchie/Denny lake divide to the top of Granite, and down the s-face to the car (requires a car shuttle or low-probability hitchhike). Some huge claw-y tracks we saw are apparently wolverine tracks?! (As identified by a friend who knows something about this.) The ski down granite was just soft enough to be really nice. Quality tour Lovely pics by Phil

The only thing to note, is that it negatively affects your steeze. My steeze is so suck....

Yeah, I've seen quite a few boarders in the B/C with one pole in hand - apparently used to poke themselves around, and to help avoid getting stuck in low-angle spots. Not being a boarder myself, of course, I can't comment on the pros/cons of this setup.

Don't stress about new collapsible poles. Get yourself a pair of 80's vintage downhill poles in the right length -through garage sales, craigslist, or even ebay you should be able to find these for $10 or less. They might even be pink. The $100 flicklock whatever jobs can wait for later. When you ride down, of course, you'll have to strap non-collapsible poles to your pack, and they will point up into the sky a bit, but it's rarely any sort of issue.

As the pain, suffering and fear fade in memory, it all seems easier, eh? Nice work!