catbirdseat

Maybe next week for me.

I should think that the weather could be quite variable. You could get lucky and find it relatively warm or not. East Coast weather is harder to predict.

I just think Doug mispoke. He meant to say "belay from" not "tie in".

New Testament was good, but it's close to or at my lead limit, at least for Smith. That rock is different and takes some getting used to. Part of that is the climbing itself and part of it the gear and trusting it. Sounds like your wife is quite a wag.

Japanese Maple, Acer palmatum?

Of course they could. It would have the same effect on the lungs. I should mention that Viagra and Cialis are PDE5 inhibitors. While there is PDE5 in the lungs, there are other isoforms like PDE4 which are more prevalent, I think. My understanding is that some of the drugs being developed for chronic pulmonary artery hypertension (PAH) are targetting PDE4 which is thought to be the main player. These drugs if approved could be even more effective at treating HAPE. Canada has approved an endothelin inhibitor Tracleer (bosentan) for PAH. That drug works by an entirely different mechanism. There is some animal data to suggest that it might be effective against HAPE.

Why don't you climb the damn route before spouting off? At least Mark and Kurt climbed it.

That's a new one on me. I just use the belay loop as instructed by the manufacturer.

On that note I'll tell you a story. We were gearing up to lead Toys in the Attic and there was a group next to us from Seattle Vertical World. There was this redhead chick sitting on a boulder with a camera talking in a loud voice to anyone who would listen and those who would not. She started into a story about how the previous week, some other climbers had told her to shut up. In her loud, irritating, nasal voice she related how she told them that they couldn't tell HER to shut up. On and on. I started to mutter under my breath, "here are a couple more climbers who are going to tell you to shut the fuck up". My partner stopped me from making a scene. I wanted to so badly. Anyway, my overall impression was that the local folks at Smith were, by and large, cool people. The trad climbers especially were very supportive and happy to provide beta. The most irritating people, by far, were the ones from my home town of Seattle.

MCash and I were at Smith this weekend. On Saturday, we witnessed a minor accident on Sky Chimney resulting in a possible broken tailbone. A woman following had a hold break off in her hand. A combination of pendulum and/or rope stretch allowed her to fall approximately 10 ft. She was able to walk out under her own power. On Sunday we saw a belayer almost drop a climber after he yelled take and leaned back without verifying his belayer was ready. Fortunately, he was caught after a 10 foot drop. Later that afternoon we saw a rescue truck pull up in the parking lot and a rescue team head out with a backboard. I was wondering if anyone knows anything about a late afternoon accident.

I take it the gear is the shaft of an ice tool? I would avoid it if at all possible. We had a carbon fiber spinnaker pole break on us once. It broke at a hole someone had drilled to fasten an eye for the foreguy or topping lift. The best approach is to use some sort of band that runs around the shaft, fastened with adhesive.

I will address MtnFreak's point and only speak for myself. When I teach, I like to teach several different ways to do things. From a practical stand point, and time limitations, one can only ensure that the student has mastered but one method. I'll cover other ways of doing a thing with no expectation that they will learn it, but they'll at least know about it. The quicker ones will pick it up, the slower ones won't and others will go look it up in a book. The point is that they do become aware that there are multiple ways to do something and they have a choice.

I can comment about the kids program, at least as it was when I was involved about five years ago. They had a group called Youth Activities that was involved in all sorts of outdoor activities including climbing. My own kids were participants at the time. As I recall, the only stipulation on climbing outings was that one person on the Climb Leaders list be present at the outing, which most often was top rope climbing in the Icicle. We had a really good crack climber and his wife who volunteered. He wasn't a member, but he was a really good teacher and we valued his contribution. I remember this one very promising 14 year old named Colin. He (and I) were soaking up information from this guy. Last I heard Colin had become a pretty fair climber. Coincidentally tonight is the Gear Grab. This is a sale that raises money for the Youth Activities Committee. Here's the blurb:

I might add that someone with say two or three years experience like many of said leaders if paired with similar partner would do just fine on the popular routes and not create the bottlenecks and jam ups of which people complain. But put them in charge of a first year student who knows practically nothing, and it's too much to ask. You have to really know what you are doing to keep parties moving along. What I am saying is that the inexperience of one partner should be made up for by an overabundance of experience in the other partner, but unfortuanately that isn't always the case.

This discussion and this topic has more to do with emotion than reason. It will forever be so. People fear the unknown threat from outside much more than the more familiar and tangible threat from within.

Check it out. Myotherapy doesn't involved needles. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Kraus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonnie_Prudden http://www.bonnieprudden.com/ There are local massage therapists who know about Myotherapy. http://www.sacdt.com/downtown/programs/therapists.html

This guy is a ticking time bomb.

A lot of what you see is just plain lack of experience. There are many things you just can't teach in a classroom. You have to be out climbing to learn a lot of the important stuff. Why aren't there more good leaders? Because too many of them move on just as they are becoming experienced. Why do they move on? Because they aren't being challenged any more. They don't want to keep leading the next batch of newbies up the easy routes. I am not sure what the solution is.

Actually, Jens is a fine teacher. He's been mentoring a fellow he met at his gym. This guy has come a long way. So Jens is into the more traditional model, which is fine. The reason organizations like the Mountaineers exist is that not everyone is able to hook up with people like Jens. Not that many experienced climbers have time to take out a rank beginner. Once people have some experience be it with the Mountaineers or whatever, they have an easier time finding partners.

There was a climber named Hans Kraus who used to do trigger point therapy (same guy who put up High Exposure). This consisted of palpating the trigger point and then breaking it up by jabbing it repeatedly with a large gauge needle. Ouch. They say that guy worked wonders though. He was JFK's real back doctor.

Try tying the "Climer Sling Hitch". It's pretty cool. It is quite a bit more difficult to tie than an ordinary girth hitch, but in theory, it should be stronger, especially for 7 mm Spectra. http://www.climerware.com/knot.shtml I'd love to see a pull test done on the Mammut 7 mm using this hitch versus the conventional version.

Required equipment: Helmet, 10-Essentials, 2 Tools, Adult Diapers

I'd say not to do it if you have the biners. If you run out of biners you don't have much choice.

B UCK F USH

Coincidentally, MCash and I are heading down there on Friday too. We have a possible third as well. Might be able to fit you in.