minx

and doing it so much better than you w/so little experience

i'll ask nicely, one more time, please don't turn this into a bolt v. trad thread. there's been some good posts and i'd like there to be more. i agree w/crack's point about the grade. at this point i am talking about easy to moderate routes. nothing harder than .10- For example, i found myself last w/e perfectly happy and comfortably leading a fairly long and sustained .9 crack but that same afternoon a .9 sport route had me shaking between bolts

look i just don't know how any of you would trust your life to biner bootied off some college kids pack? do you know what those must go through? the stress associated w/having a coffee cup AND keys attached? some of them might even have picked up the whole pack by grabbing the biner? they might have even been dropped from the great heights of the mountain bike the kid rides around campus? how can you take such risks????

oh my god! see my autosig liar hhmmmmmmmmaaaaaaaybbeeee

oh my god! see my autosig

well thats no use to us this weekend, now is it? nope! but my fat arse is pretty useless anyway hey...just figured i'd make a feeble attempt to usurp your thread for my own personal benefit. it's all about ME!

there are lots of cool women who post on this site only occasionally. (probably b/c they have lives) just like there are plenty of male posters. Many people who don't post regularly have plenty to offer in the way of interesting posts. hi girls!

me and my fat arse will be there next w/e.

thanks for the thoughtful replies. interesting to see other perspectives. alex for the detailed, thoughtful response. i think for me, being a control freak, it's the fact that when climbing bolted routes i'm confined to having pro where somebody else wanted it. i hate to whip out the height card but i think part of it is related to being shorter than the people who placed the bolts. i often find myself in a great stance to clip and find that i'm 6" too short to reach the bolt and up clipping from a less secure position. such is life, no big thing but i do think that contributes to it.

nothing wrong with that! when i was kid, we weren't allowed to ride our horses w/o wearing a helmet til we were 18. i thought i was so cool and it was so much cooler to ride in the summer sun w/o that i did. then when i was 19, in a silly accident i got feel and hit my head on a rock. received a severe concussion and still don't remember 30 min of my life. i was going far less than 12mph at the time. not that i wear one when i ski, i just don't see a damn thing wrong with it and certainly won't chastize someone for doing something safe.

That's ALL I'm wearing to the catwalk on Saturday... perfect, be sure to stop and say hi, maybe i'll buy you a drink and touch your horns

nice... and you can wear it to the catwalk on saturday nights too

75* and sunny yesterday

They make calves look shapely!!! trask thinks this is a shapely calf

can't say i wear mine but i put one on my son when he skis.

aaahhhh cripes people!!! now you've gone and done it! i agree w/dru on this one. damn it! tasteless you morons. on a happier note. maybe we could thumbtack this thread for quick reference when we need some humor?

i'm leading similar grades for bolts and cracks and actually slightly harder grades for cracks. i just seem to relax and feel more confident with cracks than i do bolts. yeah, my technique in general sucks...don't think it matters if we're talking about cracks or not.

ehmmic and i were climbing lizard one fine afternoon. she was leading the 3rd pitch, the pitch after the OW. i saw her give the roof crack a funny look and move along rather quickly. when i got there, while looking for a slighty more secure hold than i had i peered up in the crack. there was a bat, and it was starting to move. i committed to that first traverse move really quickly after that! i'm not sure if i'm glad she didn't tell me about the bat or not!

indeed! i guess it's just subconscience disdain that i choose to misspell that word repeatedly. GDI

yup! definitely sour grapes! i'm super bitter about not joining a soriety. nothing says fun like like living with 50 barbies....oh wait! i'm not a guy...sorry, that might be fun

thanks for you feigned concern, but i was not involved in these activities. i would not join a soriety. she really means, no soriety would pledge her - nerds not allowed and of course i was crushed that an organization that spends that much time on the body fat % of it's members wouldn't have me oh wait.... i never bothered to waste my time w/rush week and all the blah blah blah

to lead bolts or on gear as i try and get my head back into leading, i've had a lot of patient partners and others offer up useful advice. one of the most common has been to climb lots of bolted stuff. logically this makes sense. in that situation i don't have to worry if there is good pro, bolts are usually pretty bomber, won't be as pumped etc etc. BUT mentally, i'm more comfortable leading on gear. particularly moderate routes. i can put in a piece whenever i want (mostly) it may not be a good piece but it's something. i can sew that baby up if i'm sketchy (damn it, one of those pieces will hold) i know this isn't logical, but am i the only one out there more comfortable leading with gear than bolts? *** please do not start a bolt/don't bolt thing here***

thanks for you feigned concern, but i was not involved in these activities. i would not join a soriety.

nice list dru i love taking my shoes off after a trip alpenglow i love my partners with whom things go smoothly when we can't hear i love the sound of gear at the crag, you know the clinging of someone's rack the smell of dirt after it rains the smell of damp rock a cool breeze blowing down a crack on you on a hot day. my partners that make me laugh when i'm sketched or the day has gone awry. my partners who help make the day cold beer while sitting on the tailgate after a long day perfect handcracks stiff breeze on a summit