catbirdseat

My partner, and I climbed this Leavenworth route yesterday. Jim was leading and was having trouble getting started on the layback when he asked to be lowered so he could tape up his hands. He had put in a "supplemental" green Alien in a crack or flake to the left of the main flake. At first he down climbed, but then got to a steeper section and as soon as he weighted the rope, the Alien popped and he dropped about ten feet and was caught by the bolt below. He was entirely uninjured. Apparently, the flake expanded beyond the range of the cam and out it came. After taping up he had another go at it and forsook the rack, deciding to rely on the bolts. He made maybe a single jam with his right hand before sucking it up and going into the lieback. He was successful on this try. This mistake was a learning experience. Although I couldn't know how secure the cam was, I had a feeling that I should have had him clean it while downclimbing to the bolt, but didn't. Had the cam waited longer to pop, he could have grounded before the bolt caught him. (Edit) I almost forgot to mention about the anchor. It features a single bight of chain between two bolts. This chain passes through a large stainless steel ring. If either bolt were to fail, the ring would slide off the end. For this reason, someone had added a nylon sling tied off with two aluminum rappel rings. I seem to recall that this chain arrangement once resulted in the deaths of two or three climbers at Yosemite and witnessed by John Long. Someone should go up and replace that setup with two separate chains or else take a hacksaw or bolt cutters and cut it. It's unlikely that a new 3/8" bolt is going to fail, but one way of looking at it is this: you wouldn't rap from a single bolt, would you? This setup has twice the likelyhood of failure as a single bolt.

Sounds like bungee jumping. Yikes.

The take home message for me is what I've always known: the greatest danger is when you first leave the belay. The higher you climb and the more gear you place, the safer you will become. Build a SRENE anchor, get a piece in right away and place your gear close at first until you get some rope out.

Some people will go to significant trouble to get something for free, even if they don't need it.

And you speak from experience?

So the relative importance of the artist is signified by the size of the orb? How is relative importance measured? Record sales?

Aw, that's just another cock and bull terrier story!

Orbital flight would require a lot more shielding which weighs a lot more, even with the lower reentry angle. Achieving orbit with his concept would require everything to be bigger, heavier and more expensive. With a larger orbital vehicle, the carrier plane (White Knight) would have to be made much bigger.

Look, the guy got into suborbital space on a budget of something like $25 million. With the $10 million prize and $21 million technology licensing agreement he has signed, he will make a profit on the venture. You gotta respect that. It is quite true that Space One is a long way from orbital capability, but the true significance is that Rutan demonstrated a new pathway to low cost launches.

A gleeful Rutan, celebrationg an apparently flawless flight by his private spacecraft, couldn't help poking fun at his favorite nemesis - big government space programs such as NASA and major aerospace contractors such as Boeing and Lockheed. "I was thinking about how they're feeling, that other space agency...the Boeings and the Lockheeds...I think they're looking at each other now and saying, 'We're screwed,' ", he said to wide applause and laughter. "We've only begun", said Rutan. Source: Seattle PI, Tue. Oct. 5, 2004

Some of the brands have slightly different shapes, and one shape may fit better in a particular placement than another.

Here are some more Rope Up pics. Mattp on Outer Space Dave Schuldt and dryad on the first pitch of Poultry in Motion (5.8), Clem's Holler, Tumwater Canyon.

I've heard so many stories of Bellinghamsters and their travails with with cars and transportation in general. Bellingham must be the Bermuda Triangle of automobiles.

That sucks.

It looks as though you actually have to jam your feet in the crack, as there are not the usual abundance of incut face holds.

I had a great time. Thanks, Dave, for cooking up the brats for us on Saturday night. We were ravenous when we got back from our climb. Thank you Tim, Jon, AlpineK, TG and anyone else I left out.

I assume you found those book in the public library? I've read the first and really enjoyed it. I would like to read the second.

Yes, gas would work, but why take a risk with something so volatile and flammable when something safe like detergent and water will work just as well, if not better? Gasoline is good at dissolving the old oil, but not as good at suspending dirt and grit as water. Dru is right about the lube. Get wax-based. These are the same as bicyclists use on their chains. The wax is dissolved in solvent base which evaporates. The wax left behind lubricates, but being a solid, the dirt doesn't stick to it. You should still wipe off any excess before it dries.

Can't wait to climb Outer Space with a certain well-known "effortlessly cool" climber. The melody "I Remember Clifford", by Benny Golson. Damn that icegirl is hot.

Pandora's box is still open.

There is an easy down climb of which most parties avail themselves. The rappel in question is a double rope, low angle one down a dirty gully. I watched Buckeroo down climb it.

They are there. I have every confidence that you will find them. One thing I'm not really sure on is the second pitch. We may have stayed too far left and gone up an easy left facing corner. We think there may be more chicken heads and other "champagne bubbles" off to the right of that. Anyway, before launching off on the second pitch, look around for the higher quality climbing. I'm not even sure there is any one best way. It's kind of an adventure.

A couple of us are talking about doing either Clem's Holler and/or Pearly Gates on Friday. Let me know if you'd like to come along.

I just got a report on Kyes from someone who just climbed it. It is much more broken up than in 2002. I climbed it in both 2002 and 2003 and there was little difference, so its safe to say its worse than last year. Allow a little more time. My friend said they bivied on the Yellow Shoulder.