catbirdseat

She's around, but trying to rehab a tendon on one of her fingers. I expect we'll see her eventually at one of the Exit 38 prAna events.

Sunday, March 27, 2005

A bolt every 15-20 feet would be good. There are routes there with bad natural pro and one or two manky 1/4" bolts for protection. There are routes there with little to no pro that might have been climbed on lead (essentially a free solo) once, ever, and yet appear in guide books.

What are you climbing options in the Tri Cities area? Hope you have a reliable set of wheels, because you are going to be putting on some miles.

Tell you old boss. It'll make him mad.

When you try this stuff, you realize just how nice it would be to climb with half ropes. You have more options. If you have to lower a disabled leader who is more than half a rope length from the belay, the half ropes simply things greatly. It saves a one trip up the rope. Lower leader to within 1/2 ropelength of belay. Tie leader off. Tie off slack rope with about a foot of slack (if lead strand anchor fails, the slack rope will catch you). Ascend to ropes to the leader, build a new bomber anchor just above him. Untie slack rope from leader, pull it through top anchor, rethread through locking biner on new secure anchor and retie to climber. Descend to belay and remove slack on slack rope and tie a Munter Mule to the anchor. Release hitch on the original rope holding fall until it is taken up by second rope (original slack rope). Lower climber to ground using second rope. The first rope is completely released so it can fall through top anchor. Can you think of any "pitfalls" in this system? The way I see it you are depending completely on the piece that held the leader's fall, but that is no different than in the case with the single rope. It seems to me that you get redundancy by having two ropes. Okay here's one. The first rope can possibly hit the victim as it falls.

Oh, Dru.

Hey, I suggest you go read about Tollund man. It is an interesting story. That cord around his neck wasn't a necklace. He had been hung.

The Misty Mountain has all the bells and whistles.

It looks rather like a grasshopper.

First you said it looks like a diaper. Now you say it looks like a girdle. The good old "invisible edit" trick.

Reminds me of the expression, "be careful what you wish for, you might just get it".

Looks cushy, albeit pricey.

I'm interested in a super comfy harness for use in teaching or rescue practice, where I am hanging for long periods. I don't care how much it weighs. It doesn't need lots of clever features and affordable would be nice. What would you recommend?

If you like death routes, Peshastin is the place for you. There are only a handful of leads there that are safe. That's a shame, but it does explain why it is a newbie toprope mecca.

I'd have to say that a shock is quite a bit more compassionate than a bullet. They'll get over the shock, but perhaps not the bullet.

Practiced leader rescue in an ancient barn. Did the full Five Step Process from Fasulo. Made lots of mistakes, none fatal. Learned I need to practice a lot more to become proficient.

Looks like you've gone all native, Luke. Nice smile.

You can't fault an attorney for doing his job well. We have adversarial justice system, like it or not. Lawyers can't decide one client deserves acquittal and others do not. He must fight hard for every client (even if he's guilty as sin, like OJ).

Yeah, the folks at the Zoo had to figure it out because no one had ever called before asking for Mr. Lyon.

One of the guys at my company sent out an e-mail saying that our secretary had called him to remind everyone that they were restriping the parking lot in front and to move their cars to the back lot. A bunch of people fell for it, but not me because I always park in the back anyway (but I might have fallen for it otherwise).

So what is the down side? If you leave the stalks etc to rot, then nutrients are returned to the soil. If you haul them away, and process them to make ethanol, how will the soil retain its nutrients. Actually, the nutrients you could be referring to, such as potassium and phosphate would be left from the process could be turned into fertilizer. Nitrates may or may not be lost depending on the process.

Without an autopsy, the conspiracy theorists would have a ready source of income writing books about how Terri was actually in a drug induced state and was murdered. Blah, blah, blah. The books will be written regardless.

The husband said he will have an autopsy to prove the extent of Terri's brain injury. It won't change anyone's minds one iota. You watch.