matt_warfield

Damn all that tobacco, liquor, and casino income anyway.

Usually the sportos will yield when you have gear hanging off your harness re: Zebra/Zion. But lots of options to start. Lots of good trad at Smith, including the backside. Check the guidebook carefully. Many spend days there without clipping a single bolt and many many more only clip bolts. As climbers we like a smorgasbord. And add the Boulder CO area in the spring/summer/fall to your next trip. You could spend a lifetime on the rock there especially if you include Rocky Mountain National Park, which also has great ice climbing. Never been to Red Rocks. Was at Vegas once but after spending all night at the blackjack table the Rocks were in plain sight but seemed a million miles away. I'm glad you had a good trip and thanks for the TR.

Ouray is the bomb for ice. No planning, just bleed the line and party down. Your trip reminded me of one of mine with the first wifey: Boulder CO (Eldo, Flatirons, Boulder Canyon), AZ (Granite Mountain), and JTree. I am currently single. I hope your tips have recovered from JTree. And once you get out of the "urban" atmosphere of 5 gallon, Zebra/Zion feels like heaven. And old rickety 4runners will serve you forever. Many more trad routes at Smith. Check the Gorge next time.

Steel caribiners have the same issues and aluminum caribiners. The only difference is the amount of time. A good example are rap station chains. Look at the wear they get from idiots who TR and lower down from them instead using their own gear and rappelling respectively. That said I agree it is going to be hard to solve unless a mfg comes up with a solution. Okay, a manifesto is in order here. It's all okay as long as each climbing area has a person or a committee who can without judgment just know shit and DO shit. Aluminum biners, steel fasteners, fixed pins, bolts of all sizes, coldshuts, nylon draws, permadrawas all have a lifetime! You will never keep people from lowering off 5 Gallon Buckets at Smith or Rainy Day Women or Chronic at E32. Let's just help keep them all alive. Placing or replacing proper hardware can be just as rewarding as a redpoint. This message is cosigned by Todd Skinner and Dan Osman and a cast of thousands of others who could have benefited from knowledge of or respect for aging effects. The rant continues: Bolts: diameter and length. If you have ever taken a fall on a 1/4" bolt your pucker has probably never recovered. If it is 3/8" or bigger you say ah.... and the next day is okay. If you have rapped off a single piece of webbing of unknown age your pucker is probably still significant. If you have rapped off of or put yourself in danger on lead with a 15 yr. old piece, your pucker has probably never recovered. If you haven't lubed your cams or taken off the sediment so they work properly, your pucker prolly never knew what happened. Or when you dropped your rope on the garage floor where you changed your oil last week. Or you can eschew all equip and go free soloing which worked for a while for Derek Hersey and John Bachar. I may rant some more but then it wouldn't be a happy new year. The good news: take care of business with your equipment and your judgment and live a long and happy life. AND HELP TAKE CARE OF YOUR FAVORITE CRAG.

Admins and Mods? We true climbers can spray on this site by ourselves a bit without the help of internet entrepreneurs. If I want a kitchen design I will ask Blake. Outdoors is where I want to cook.

You should check out Aspen or Whistler to find some emptier shells. Sun Valley is on the B list for ski area posers.

You have high standards. You guys didn't get the memo that all rock stars are virgins or at least shy. Led Zeppelin denies any groupies and none of the 3000 "done" by Mick Jagger have yet written a book to my knowledge. Fastest way to the bedroom: music and dancing. Slowest way to the bedroom: endless belay slave duty or better an epic on a crag or even better involving a bivy and a death march to get there and back.

I'd like to have Bieber's bank account or car or any gfs but haven't seen him play guitar. I will not be a paparazzi stalking him however. Malmsteen? Or even Keith Richards. He's been practically dead for 20 years so should qualify. Joe Perry of Aerosmith is also quite good and is in the same category. I will still say that Jimi had style and panache but lacked the technical skill or maybe equipment of today's rockers.

If we can hammer it out, why can't congress? Because Congress, like the UN, costs a lot of money and neither does shit. Congress is trying to set a world record for least bills passed and the UN goes to Syria to "observe" the carnage and can't do a damn thing.

Kask, You beat me to it. Vai is the real deal. We geezers have a tendency to dwell on the artists of our era (Beck, Page, Hendrix, Vai, Slash, etc.) There are many excellent guitarists that are under the radar in our media driven current life. And it has to be considered that Vaughn died in an accident while Hendrix (you can visit the gravesite in Renton BTW) overdosed.

I've been on a few trips to Sun Valley but at the ski area not backcountry. But Exhibition was a trip and debauchery was also involved. From Montana, many a road trip involved buying Coors in Idaho in bulk and bringing it back. At the time it was the beer du jour and worth risking your neck for. Thanks for the TR.

And these TRs are always welcome on cc.com. MT climbers and visitors and climbers in general love to see the visual onslaught.

Better sooner than later. For me it was sooner and later.

I didn't have a good climbing year, so this is a proxy vote for the moderate climbers out there: 1) Outer Space, Snow Creek Wall 2) Midway, Castle Rock 3) Diedre, Squamish 4) Super Slab, Smith 5) N. Ridge of Stuart Thousands of climbers did these in 2012 and enjoyed the hell out of them.

Tred gently. Lots of gfs and bfs have been lost through incompatibilities in the outdoors.

My apologies. A poor attempt at humor. Metros don't do El Cap very often.

I just watched a drug show where they document BC Bud from Canada (hint: high THC) and separately from the south we get a lot of meth and heroin from Mexico (via Afghanistan). The BC Bud guy could only carry 60 lbs. (worth 250K) across the vast border. What a pussy. How many on this site have carried more for nothing or less. My point is: gangsters and drug dealers shoot you if you get in the way and it could be in BC or Hawaii when in the midst of a pot farm or in Afghanistan near a poppy farm or near any smuggling operation anywhere. Nutcases are different: they shoot anyone anywhere without principle. The word for them is opportunity.

I agree.

We've done dozens of pages on flu shots, gun laws, and etc. and we all enjoy posts of real outdoor stuff. Keep posting and I'm still envious.

One of the problems is that Canada remains under the radar because, well, they are Canada, not unlike many other counries. (Well, maybe a few are alike). We, as Masters of the Universe (China is on our tails) take the credit or the blame for this shit but we in the US have the unique position of being between Canada and Mexico and are conflited. Assault weapons should be banned but so should coke and heroin. Oh, I understand that copious amounts of those drugs and apparently any firearm you can afford are available. There is no law that will prevent crime for sure. Forever.

Unfortunately always absolutely vertical and once you figure it out is predictable. A workout can be done in the gym, workout on rock requires real rock. Go to Index or Leavenworth. And you won't get arrested.

Diamond? It's worth your while...

Well, regardless of mistakes I make in life or in my posts, I will not morph. But Pandora's pic on top of Rainier is one of my faves. bobbyperu? And we have an estrogen cliff going on here. Many of the missing have lots of it and many that remain have the opposite. Let's try to be kinder and gentler and keep the gender scale a little more even.