catbirdseat

My daughter is going to be so happy when she returns from California. She hated that bird and it hated her.

Erik, you ought to make up some fake stationery on your computer from a ficticious law firm. Send the guy a letter that says your lawyer will be suing his ass. Make up all sorts of legal mumbo jumbo that will get his panties all in a bunch. Then forget about it. Alternately, you can inform the State Patrol about the incident. They will send him a nice letter saying that he shouldn't be mean to people on the road...

Does this mean I get to show up at Pube Club to collect my valuable prize, the piece of duct tape for my helmet. I've always wanted duct tape, but couldn't afford it.

The bearhug cracks are short and it would be really hard to fall off, so I agree with you about the #5. The #4 is useful elsewhere on the climb so it is a good one to have, although a Camalot wouldn't be my first choice because it is so damn heavy.

Gary, you have a knack for stating the obvious. Look, I did it as a bearhug only because I'm not a very good climber at this point, okay?

Congratulations. Another thing to celebrate.

The parrot was gone this morning when I went to check on it. I don't know where it is now.

I'm going to try in the morning. The bird should be okay until then. It shouldn't get very cold.

Translation: it's all a lot of hooey.

It looks like I'm winning, but to be fair we should give JGowans (that Scottish guy) a chance to return from Russia to mount his campaign.

Let me spell it out for you. Bob Hope was in his own way a patriot and he was highly respected by his generation for his contribution to the war (WWII). Your sarcastic retort shows a lack of respect for the dead. I think it was inappropriate.

One reason for the early success of the organization was that they admitted women. It was a novel idea.

It's good to know I have friends I can count on, Dru. I was able to borrow a set of climbing spurs from my friend Mike. I'll give it a shot tomorrow.

For bouldering about all you need is some scrubbing. That probably isn't even mentioned in the statute. Besides, you can't "unscrub" a route once it has been cleaned .

Holy shit!

I like Rock Empire. You all should Czech it out.

My wife's Goffin Cockatoo escaped and flew 30-40 ft up a fir tree. Is there anyone who can help us get the bird down? Does anyone have AlpineK's phone number?

6 mm perlon should work fine with three wraps. Whatever you get, test it first and then you'll know for sure. The thing about prussiks is that more wraps is not necessarily better. If you don't get enough friction with three wraps, switch to the kleimheist.

Dru reveals a heretofore unseen side of his complex personality, the Philosopher.

I've been here for 13 years after having moved from California. Emmet Watson was the only person ever to make me feel unwelcome (and has was sort of joking). This place has lost some of its small town charm but it still is a heck of a lot better than either California or Texas.

In a word, no.

This ain't pot! Who do you take me for, the President?

not to jump on your case and all, but to jump on your case if i may, to say there shouldn't be any slack in the rope sounds a little like a perfect world situation. my experience with simulclimbing is the follower can't always go through moves at precicely the same speed as the leader (and often may move ahead creating a little slack to give the leader enough rope for his moves). so i think a little slack could easily be in the system, although hopefully not more than 20 feet or say at most i guess. anyway, a falling body speeds up pretty quick so can't even 10 feet generate a descent yank? i have a tibloc and it pretty damn pointy looking. anybody else? You have a valid point. There likely would some slack, but I would hope not more than a couple feet. I suppose it could be as much as 10 ft. If you set a Tibloc, you know the second has some hard moves coming up. I would imagine you could make an extra effort to make sure no slack develops until he is past the move.

Consider having an extra prussik (in addition to your chest and foot prussiks) already on the rope. Then, once you get the anchor in, all you have to do is clip it to the prussik. Also, if you are on snow, consider a fluke. Flukes can be set with one hand.