catbirdseat

cymbal crash, rim shot

The EDK seems to give very inconsistent test results even when consistently tied. It seems to me that eventually someone will figure out some kind of mechanical backup device that would clamp the rope and act as a failsafe to the EDK. It would have to be large enough that it would prevent the tails from pulling through the knot. Here's a chance for some inventor out there to get a patent and make a few $$$. Said device would have to be light, compact, reliable and inexpensive. It would also have to be coated in thick rubber or foam so as to not kill someone when it falls with the rope, and it has to be low profile so it doesn't cause the rope to hang. Sounds pretty tough to do, but then there are some pretty clever people in this world.

Where did you go skiing, Dru? Gawd, the skiing sucked at Snoqualmie!

Some people use a figure eight to join two ropes because it is easier to untie than a double fisherman. If you do, back it up with a half-fisherman's (or grapevine) on each end. It still jams like a double fisherman when you go to pull it. Might as well use a square knot instead- it's faster (again, w/ half-fisherman's backups).

Isnt' the Radium hitch simply the well-known Munter-Mule knot?

Yes, I know the butterfly. It is a good, strong knot and easy to tie. However, as a middleman knot, it still requires the use of a locking biner, whereas the double bowline does not.

You GOT to be kidding! An overhand knot for a V-Thread? I'm with you. Stick with the double fisherman's knot. This is a knot that is a "leaver". You don't give a shit how hard it may be to untie and unlike a rappel rope, you don't care how big the knot is, either. I'm only grudgingly coming around to the idea of the overhand knot (Euro Death Knot) for rappels, because it causes the rope to become stuck so less often. No doubt about it, the overhand knot is less secure, but is used despite that for a very good reason. That reason is not there for a V-Thread.

What about the bowline? A double bowline can be used to tie into the middle of a rope. A bowline on a bight can be used to equalize an anchor. Finally, a bowline on a coil can be used to tie into a rope if you have somehow forgot or lost your harness (an there is no other way to improvise a harness, such as with slings). Before anyone brings it up. Yes, many, if not most people tie into the middle for glacier climbs using a figure eight and a locking biner. I prefer the bowline because it is has one less point of failure in the system. It ties directly throught the harness. The end is usually clipped off with a biner, just to guarantee the knot will not come untied.

Okay, how about law as practiced by certain attorneys? I once shelled out $2,000 to an attorney who spent about 2 hours on the case. The result was satisfactory, but that's beside the point. I've never met a single honorable used car salesman. They all lie through their teeth. I don't happen to think of prostitution as a dishonorable profession, per se. If the client gets his or her money's worth it is an honorable transaction. Some life insurance salesmen are dishonorable for selling expensive policies to old people who are not competent enough to understand they are being had. I could go on and on. To conduct one's self with honor one must: 1) tell the truth, 2) appeal to one's sense of logic as opposed to preying on emotions, 3) be willing to compete on an equal playing field (unlike Microsoft), 4) put in a hard day's work for one's pay.

Those big rings on the Great Northern Slab at Index are good anchors They will be rock solid until the day they pull out. I don't think they were ever intended to last a century. How many hundred year old bolts have you ever rapped from?

If you are willing to drive a ways, Mt. Hood is a great winter climb. It's basically a slog, though. You can car camp in the parking lot and do it as a one day climb.

The underlying assumption here is that climbing is (or should be) a lifelong pursuit. There are all sorts of great sports in this world. Before I came to the PNW I lived in Southern California and was into competitive sailing bigtime. I lived and breathed it. Before that there was surfing. Ken Carpenter, a Seattle climber of some note in the 60's and 70's gave up climbing and took up running marathons. A good friend of mine gave up climbing for golf. Why not try something else for a while? Canyoneering, white water rafting, base jumping? Maybe when you come back to climbing in a while you'll have a fresh perspective. Right now I can't see myself doing anything other than climbing, but there will come a time when either my body will not allow me to partake or I will lose interest. I know that I will plough into some new thing with the same enthusiasm I had for sailing and climbing.

There is nothing wrong with insurance. It is an honorable profession. It is a very large industry that is reasonably stable unlike the computer business. Anyway, it's time to get the thread back on track.

Insurance is right up there with death and taxes. There will always be jobs in insurance. You are right though in saying that people have to be willing to change careers sometimes if they want to find work. That would be hard for me to do, since I am so specialized and love what I do. I've changed jobs 9 times and 5 of them were lay-offs. The longest stretch of unemployment for me was six weeks. I consider myself lucky.

Good on yer, mate! A great story. Greg W's just jealous, that's all.

I'm with you all the way grrrl. I don't want to hear other people's damn cell conversations in the mountains as thought they were standing in line at Starbucks. While we're at it, I don't even like it when people talk loudly in the back country. Have you ever noticed that sometimes you can hear another party a mile away and have another party over take you before you know they are there?

The job market really DOES suck for people in high tech jobs here in Seattle. It's easy to criticise someone who can't find work. Trask ought to walk a mile in your shoes before he pontificates about how supposedly easy it is to find work. I just barely survived a layoff in September and some my friends who were laid off (chemists, biochemists) are still looking for work. I have climbing friends in the computer sector that have been looking for work for a year. The only area of the economy that is doing half-decent is construction.

The Seattle attorney mentioned in the PI article, Karl Forsgaard is a climber. I knew him when I worked at Optiva (now Phillips). I suggest that you contact him. The best approach will be for each of us to write or phone our representatives.

I don't have any experience with Avalungs, but I have always felt that I either wouldn't have the presence of mind to put the mouthpiece in my mouth in the event of a slide, or the mouthpiece would be ripped out by the force of the snow. The newspaper report said that Dovey was buried for 20 min under 5 ft of snow. While we do not know whether he died of trauma, it is quite possible that he died from hypoxia, even though he was wearing an avalanche transceiver. Twenty minutes is a long time to go without air and it points out how important it is to practice beacon searches so that they go quickly and efficiently. There was a triple burial in Canada a few years ago with victims as deep as five feet. They were all recovered within 5 minutes and all survived.

By "Cliff-Dwellers of the SW" do you refer to the Anasazi? They are an extinct race. It would be hard to ask them how they feel about the rock. Their modern-day descendents are the Hopi, if I am correct. I have mixed feelings on this issue. I guess it all depends on how strong the feelings are in the tribe versus how good a climbing destination the rock is. I don't think that giving in on one crag will lead to loss of all climbing venues. That's silly. The tribes don't consider all rocks as holy places, although they do regard all of nature to be the manifestation of the Great Spirit.

Here is a bad experience that I had at FF about three years ago. I was taking an avalanche safety course which included training in beacon searches. I did not own a beacon at the time, so I reserved one to rent from FF for $10 paid in advance. When I went in on the appointed day to pick up the rental I was told, "oh, we just rented it out to someone else ten minutes ago", sorry dude, here's your money back". It was too late to go elsewhere to rent as they were all out to other people in the class. I had to make a last minute purchase of a beacon at Swallow's Nest. I was steaming mad. It was another two years before I cooled down enough to set foot in that store again. I probably bad-mouthed them to dozens of people. It just doesn't pay to screw your customers like that. Was it Einstein who once said in so many words that it takes ten words of praise to make up for one word of criticism?

If I remember correctly, Schoeller is a blend of nylon, polyester and lycra. Only polyester has a high enough melting point to allow iron on patches. Iron on patches really have to be hot to stick well. Most patches are made of cotton because only cotton can take that kind of heat. If the hole is small, I would simply darn it shut with needle and thread of matching color, then apply a gob of seam grip from the underside to seal it and make it waterproof. If it is a tear, you have two choices: you can join the edges by overcasting by hand (better for a very small tear-this causes some puckering of the fabric), or you can sew a patch to the backside with a machine. If the patch is coated nylon, most of the water integrity should be maintained. You can then apply seam seal to the stitching. I hope this helps. Ain't it a bitch when you poke a hole in brand new expensive pants?

Amen

I could see the logic of not allowing returns of USED technical gear, but why not take back UNUSED gear. You can't tell me someone could take a pair of boots or axes on a climb and bring them back so clean that someone couldn't tell they had been used. I don't believe that flaws could escape careful inspection. I guess the lawyers have everyone dancing to their tune. It just seems ridiculous that we are trying to achieve a state of zero risk from gear failure in a sport that has so many risks from other sources. Our world is so fucked up. As Shakespeare once said, "Kill all the lawyers!"

I don't imagine too many people can claim to have happened upon a dead body. It happened to me in the late 1970's. My brother were launching our 14 ft sailboat with the intention of racing that day. There had been a tremendous storm the previous night. The water was full of all sorts of debris: foam floats from docks, wood, trees and branches, junk- you name it. I looked under the pier on which the hoist was mounted and saw what looked like a body floating in the water. All I could see was the back and shoulders, but I could make out dark hairs. I told my brother and he wouldn't believe me. He thought it was just styrofoam. I said, "okay, smart guy, go touch it with a pole and see". He did and knew right away by the feel of it. He was pretty freaked out and didn't want to go sailing. We called the yacht club's dock master and he called the coast guard. We didn't stick around to watch the body recovery and sailed away to our race. We think the victim was a swimmer at the nearby State beach. We think he drowned off shore and came into the harbor with the tide. The point of the preceding is that at least we took a moment to investigate a bit and confirm what we thought we saw.