catbirdseat

You say they have no ethics, when in fact they do. It is just a different set of ethics from yours.

I was wondering if the Dave Matthews fans managed to trash the place as badly as they did last year. I hope not.

I spent this beautiful summer day working on my old beater of a car replacing the water pump and timing belt. This because it gets better gas mileage than my truck and I can't afford the $400 the mechanic wants to fix it. It will pay off on climbing trips with 32 mpg.

Hey, what better place to get in touch with one's Inner Nerd than the Gear Critic?

You mean to say you want something that has an alpine feel or one that reaches a summit? Darrington routes have a nice alpine feel to them, I think. Only Exfoliation Dome is a true summit though.

Redmond is out.

So it's basically aircraft aluminum. While zinc is high in the electromotive series, aluminum is even higher. Corrosion resistance is also related to adhesion force of the oxide.

No, you are wrong there. Stainless steel is commonly composed of primarily iron, chromium and nickel with other minor components. Zinc is very low on the electromotive series. Brass, which has zinc and copper in it, is much less resistant to corrosion than either pure copper or bronze (copper and tin).

The zinc would explain the greater corrosion.

People who hate cats don't like them because cats don't take orders. They can't be manipulated. Do cat haters like to manipulate people?

Freezing would definitely not kill bacteria. Bleach would kill bacteria, but might damage the fabric. You'd have to study the label and decide. My guess is that the stink is not from bacteria on the fabric but rather they byproducts of bacteria that are on your skin. The oils turn rancid and horrible-smelling aldehydes are formed. Because the fabric is hydrophobic, it sucks up these compounds and holds onto them tenaciously.

REI has a pair of Simonds Crampons on sale at present. The ad on their website mentions that they are made of an alloy called Zicral. Some investigation on the web revealed that this is a type of zirconium-aluminum alloy for which there are claims of greater strength than conventional alloys. Zicral has been used in bicycle crank sets, frames and spoke, also in baseball bats. It is used in the Petzl Spirit carabiner for which is claimed a 9.5 kN open gate strength. This extra ~2 kN strength over conventional carabiners presumably comes by virtue of the stronger alloy. Further reading brought me to a site on caving in France in which it was mentioned that Zicral carabiners were subject to accelerated corrosion when left fixed in the cave. But it wasn't exactly clear from reading it that conventional biners wouldn't have also corroded under similar conditions of constant immersion. Zicral carabiners used for the usual climbing purposes are not usually in contact with water for extended periods, so it is probably not an issue, but it might pay to rinse your Spirit biners periodically if you get sweat on them, which is true of any carabiner for that matter. I was curious as to whether any of you have access to metalurgical data on the properties of Zicral or have any other info on this alloy. Is it harder, for example? Greater hardness means crampons would stay sharper longer.

I just hope the humans don't have some of the bad habits of their cousins the apes with respect to throwing things at the visitors.

Why post this in Spray and not Access Issue?

How about Darrington? Three O'Clock Rock has several easy to moderate climbs under 5.9 and from three to five pitches. Drive time is 90 minutes from Seattle.

Sobo, I take it your pro was on the main wall and not on the column. The latter would have been a bummer to say the least.

So this was you?

Sounds like you could use a dilute solution of Dr. Bronner's Peppermint Castile Soap and get the same thing.

Probably an inverse relationship.

There was a rock and roll group called Dicky Doo and the Don'ts. It was led by a guy who's name was (am not making this up) Dick Doo. Lyrics to Click Clack

The Mountaineers archive the summit registers at the UW Library, I believe.

Yep, it is near the smaller of two trees to the left of a 5.11b, which is Little Hitler, I am not mistaken. The route as it exists now has been there for at least two years.

I climbed Kinder and Gentler Carpet Bombing (to the left of the route in the picture) last night and it sure looked like a bolted crack climb. I was wondering if anyone knew the history of this climb.

When it first occurs to you that you might be posting too much, the answer is yes.

I thought you were going to say it was already filled because you are so popular, and the paparazzi were after you.