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catbirdseat

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Everything posted by catbirdseat

  1. "Mashed potatoes and slurpee", I couldn't have said it better. Did you guys see the two purple slings and one blue sling we rapped off of in an ice bulge, or had it melted out already after two days?
  2. I can never figure out why some people could be ungrateful for a suggestion that might have saved a life, but that's just the way people are. People hate the feeling of embarrassment. This current direction of the thread might be a good topic for an entirely new thread on "neighborliness and safety at the crags", or some such. Coming from the other side of the discussion, I remember the first time I went to Leavenworth to top rope on my own. I was at Roto Wall setting up an anchor. A grizzled old veteran happened to be watching me and said, "wouldn't it be better if you had two slings rather than one". Well, I had been taught to set up redundant anchors, but had somehow botched this one. I was so grateful, despite my embarrassment. I thanked him profusely. I'll always remember that incident.
  3. That photo has got to be one of the grossest I've ever seen. The ring basically stripped the bone of all the meat. Yuck. Never will I climb with a ring again. For some strange reason I'm not hungry anymore.
  4. I think he is hiding from his partner. He figures if he can't see his partner, his partner can't see him. Most people outgrow that stage by age two, however. But, well, he is a climber.
  5. catbirdseat

    Ice tools??

    Chouinard sounds a little dated there. Who uses axes with wooden handles anymore? I would love to have one for my mantle, though. I'd like to get my hands on a pair of those old hand forged crampons too. They too would look cool over my fireplace.
  6. Yes, they are all electrolytes, but it is calcium that plays an important role in signal transduction by neurons. There is a tendency for modern diets to contain too much sodium, which displaces potassium (also a monovalent cation). Too much phosphorus, in the form of phosphoric acid from soft drinks, can deplete calcium. I don't eat a lot of sodium and neither do I consume many soft drinks. I just found this very good paper on cramps. Apparently, there a lot of different causes and theories. The paper is rather technical, but from my understanding of it, I need to drink more water and stretch more immediately after completion of exercise.
  7. WOW. I really like that last one.
  8. Although occasionally amusing, usually all this trad/sport sniping is tiresome, boring and useless. Constantly insulting one another is not going to change anyone's behavior. Do some of you honestly believe that if you heap enough opprobrium upon the sport climbers that they will suddenly "see the light" and convert to alpine climbing? How stupid! Why not criticize specific behaviors you find objectionable, for example, littering, damaging vegetation, rampant bolting? Let's hear about specific instances of these behaviors and maybe they can be changed. DFA's example of leaving slings behind on alpine climbs is a valid one. Things like this concern me. That's why last year when I climbed Wilman's Spire East, I carted away ten pounds of old rap slings. It was mass larger than a bowling ball! If you do a good turn for the climbing environment, let us hear about it. Finally, if you feel you still have to get in your digs, at least do your best to make it funny. Name calling does not make for interesting reading. Back handed compliments can be quite amusing.
  9. Found this trip report from the same weekend on Shuksan: Shuksan One Day Trip
  10. Of course there is the famous, "Able was I, ere I saw Elba".
  11. I have an anecdote about the Boealps. We were climbing Shuksan by the Sulphide route. At the trailhead we saw a large number of Boealp students. One of the group were made to wear their climbing helmets on the approach (why?). On summit day. We caught up to a large party of Boealps Basic Students parked below the summit pyramid waiting, and another large group stalled 1/3 of the way up the gully. They were all bunched up attached to a fixed line using prussiks. We asked them why they weren't moving and were told that they didn't have enough rope to fix the entire distance to the summit! Our group passed on the left placing snow pickets with a running belay. We got our summit and they ended up backing off. Later, I heard second hand that the Boealps leaders thought we were taking a big risk with running belays, that they didn't trust pickets to hold a fall. The snow was very hard and the pickets had to be hammered hard to go in. We placed seven. After our hour on the summit the sun was out and had softened the snow so that the pickets were loose, but then also the chances of falling were also much less because you could kick steps and plunge the shaft of your axe in to the hilt. I am not criticizing the Boealps. It seems that they are very conservative and highly safety oriented. If that is important to you than go for it.
  12. I bought one #3 bugaboo and it doesn't come to a knife edge. The tip is about 1/8 of an inch or so. I don't know about the other sizes. I think that all knife blades are sharp and made to create their own crack from a seam, is this not so?
  13. I sometimes get terrible leg cramps in the hamstring muscle on climbs. It occurs more often in the summer when it is hot out, but it happened again yesterday climbing Chair Peak. The cramps occur while resting when the leg is bent. We had just arrived at the base of the route and I was putting on my crampons when my left hamstring cramped. Nine times out of ten, it is the LEFT leg that cramps. Back at the car, both legs were cramping as I was trying to get my boots off. I am in reasonable shape right now, but could be better. I know I tend to have fewer problems with cramps when I am fitter, but what can I do to avoid cramps in the future, other than training harder? Here is additional information: 1) I had two cups of coffee that morning. Coffee is supposed to be bad. But Twight mentions using coffee on climbs. 2) I drank 1 liter of water on the approach and another throughout the day. 3) I do not think I was overdressed. I was running fairly cool. 4) Other than the cramps, I felt completely fine, with good wind and clear head. Am I drinking enough water? One thought I had was that I might have some sort of salt imbalance. I use a small amount of salt with my food, but perhaps I am short on magnesium, calcium or potassium? I have a friend who swears by Cytomax. Any advice would be appreciated. It would be terrible if one of these cramps were to occur when I was on technical terrain, although thus far, it has never happened.
  14. Obviously, someone put a lot of work into that one. And, we are all the better for it.
  15. Perfect it ain't! Too warm. Go do a rock climb instead.
  16. Toast and I went up to climb the North Face today. You still are better off with snowshoes, although some people came in in boots, but left. We arrived at the base of the NE Buttress at about 10 am and could see some track (presumably Dane's) heading over to the North Face. We followed them, but were surprised at how badly we were postholing. They disappeared before getting below the route and we assumed whoever it was had turned around. The ice looked really thin and it was very warm out. Small avalanches were coming off the mountain and there was water running under the ice in many place. We decided not to attempt the climb . After getting a look at the NE Buttress, we decided to give it a shot, but found the ice to be very thin with lots of unconsolidated snow covering what ice there was. The rock is very difficult to protect and the pro was manky and worthless. I got maybe two dubious stubbie placements. Finally after the third pitch and 200 ft short of the summit, we decided to retreat as it was now 4 pm. There happened to be an ice bulge that was the first good ice we encountered, so we put a couple of Abalakovs in it, equalized them and rapped off. This was Toast's very first ice climb under very challenging conditions and he did very well. I was impressed.
  17. How about this? Ascension Gold Label Adhesive http://www.rei.com/online/store/ProductDisplay?productId=57710&storeId=8000&catalogId=40000008000&langId=-1&addon=671633-459078
  18. Bill Robins, who died this year in Argentina, used to recommend the exclusive use of cams at Vantage. The only time I went there a cam I fell on pulled out and it was a hex that caught my fall.
  19. Have you ever started telling a joke and then forgot the punchline?
  20. The switchback pack is totally lame. I vote nay. The only situation where it might be okay is pack packing down to Cape Alava or Sand Point where they have all those raccoons. And you'd have to prove to me first that a raccoon couldn't bite his way in.
  21. 100% think it is a stupid poll. Amazing. As Sam Clemens once said, "There are three kinds of lies: lies, damn lies and statistics".
  22. Huskies are known to be canny hunters. A friend of mine has one and it likes to hunt and eat squirrells. One time he watched the dog sitting by the back door watching a squirrell come down a tree and into the yard. The squirrell saw the dog and started running. The dog rather than go straight after the squirrell, as many dogs would do, headed right for the tree and intercepted the squirrell. He ate everything except for the tail.
  23. Toast and I are going up to do the N. Face on Friday early. Would anyone like to join us?
  24. The Ale House in Issaquah is awfully expensive. Nice otherwise.
  25. catbirdseat

    Ice tools??

    Borrowing tools is excellent advice. It's a big investment and you want to spend on something you can live with. Everyone has different preferences. I know a guy who bought a couple of tools on Barabes, because the price was right, but when he tried them, he didn't like either of them.
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