catbirdseat

Mais oui! It was the first time I'd led that one. I got to go up it a second time on top rope too! Jim led I Remember Drooling, 5.10b. That one has a burly start that you can do a cool heel-hook on. He led it without the heel-hook and complained about how hard it was. After he saw me hook it he had to go back up just to try it that way.

What's with you and Mormons? Have you been jilted by one?

Last night we didn't have much choice because of the rain. We went to Amazonia Wall and did a bunch of 5.10s. There is one 5.9 there and that was all that some of the people could manage to climb.

They were young people and blissfully ignorant about the wilderness. They weren't prepared, but they didn't know they were not prepared. They didn't have a clue what could happen. It happens all the time. Not sure what people are thinking when they leave the trail without map or compass. It just doesn't occur to them that they could get lost. One could argue that the veteran should have known what could happen with the weather in the early season. I feel for the guy too. I remember many years ago backpacking in the late season in the Sierra out of Kennedy meadows with my young son. We met a young through hiker on the PCT. His name was Bart and he was a photographer from Tacoma. He ended up coming back from a high pass because he encountered snowfall. His judgement told him it was time to call it for the season and come back next summer.

Bummer. Sounds awfully suspicious. Booth Creek has been trying to buy or lease the property so they could build crossovers between their existing holdings. Looks like they'll get it now.

I saw that then forgot all about it.

Did you happen to notice that the post was made in February?

Classic! A picture is worth a thousand words.

Go do Mt. St. Helens or Mt. Adams.

Thus is created a new hazard, that is being squished by falling "snappoes".

How's that? Donovan was unlucky while the kids were stupid?

I'm sure they'll turn up Donovan's remains nearby. Most likely he died in camp and wild animals dragged his body off into the bushes somewhere.

Dude, if you hadn't made that catch...well it wouldn't have been pretty. I wasn't planning on falling.

I once went climbing with OlympicMtnBoy whom I did know at the time. He did something that I thought was pretty smart. He said, "I'm going to climb up no higher than 10 ft and I'm going to jump off". He did, and being satisfied with my catch, proceeded to lead the pitch. So I sometimes do that with people I don't know, just to check out their belay. If they were to refuse then I wouldn't climb with them.

I always insist that people use two hands when they are lowering me. This is because sometimes a twist or hockle will run into the brake hand and cause problems. If you have two hands on the rope one hand can fix the twist while the other maintains a firm grip. With GriGris, obviously, one hand is on the lever leaving only one hand for the rope. At Vertical World where they require you to use GriGris, they provide carabiners with which to redirect the rope for a smoother lower. Was your belayer using one?

From the same thread:

Okay, here is another anecdote with an n=2. I used to have an 1982 Honda Civic wagon, similar to the late Klenkemobile. I routinely got 35-40 mpg. I met a woman who had the exact same vehicle except that it had a three speed automatic. She got 23 mpg. Sure, modern automatic transmissions are more efficient, but they still are not as efficient as a manual in city driving for someone who knows how to optimize efficiency. No matter how efficient an automatic gets, it will never be able to read your mind. What I mean by that is it can't anticipate what you will do next. For example, say you are accelerating on the flat and you see a hill up ahead. You decide to leave it in third instead of shifting to fourth. The automatic will shift to fourth and then back to third when the car starts up the hill.

Somehow we've figured we'd never have to come to grips with more expensive oil as the Euros have. Well, that day has come.

Damn! -50C. That's COLD.

Far from it. I am sure that the effort was great.

Don't the Canadians and Brits spell it "phial"? Eh, Dru?

I've got drawers full of vials. That size does he need? There's lots and lots in the 1.5 mL size.

Don't forget A0, BW5, Grade VI, mega devil's club.

Effortlessly cool. I expected no less.

Wow, I read all about how the methane on Saturn's moon, Titan, is not of biotic origin! Amazing!