Jake_Gano

Wow, I'm glad I got a few simpathy replys. Yeah, thanks to all those giving directions to Devil's Lake from Chicago, but you see I'm from the ILLINOIS part of ILLINOIS, not like that city we have somewhere north of here...hehe Willimette? Is that like Chicago? Do you talk funny like they do up there? I'm in a little town called Charleston, about 45 minutes south of Champaign-Urbana and host to Eastern Illinois University. Actually, I'm a lot closer to the southern IL crags than Devil's Lake, say four hours instead of six+. But yeah I know there is climbing around and all, but finding willing partners is the crux. Tell most people in Illinois that you're going rock climbing and they give you this look like you just told them that you're going to slay a dragon. The climbers on climbingcentral.com's forumns all sound about as exciting as watching your grandparents in bed.... I think next summer living in a car in Leav sounds really appealling. Oh well, back to trying to boulder the brick columns on the house... *sigh*

So by some strange karmic just (probably for my sins of being a general purpose asshole), I'm stuck in hell this summer. My hell goes by the name of Illinois. For those of you unaquianted with this friendly inferno, drive east til there are no more mountains, and you will find a place standing defiantly against everything columbus taught us, that is, in fact, flat as a pancake. Is there any other poor SOBs that read this site that are like myself stuck in this region? Anyone wanna go out and hit up the local crags like in Shawnee, Devils Lake, hell maybe even Red River Gorge this summer? If so IM me or email jgano2@yahoo.com

Hey I used to live kinda close to there... oh wait I lied Quilcene is a long way from anything...

Yep, the Illinois part of Illinois, as in not the chicago part. Any good climbing up there in Minny?

Heading back to the midwest from the Northwest for the summer. Looking for anyone here, lurkers or otherwise, who would be up for hitting the crags in Shawnee or maybe even Devils Lake on the weekends. I'll be back at the beginning in June til mid August. I've got the rope, very basic trad rack, etc.

Buildering + normally ends in bad news... foot'wook' falls apart really quickly, and the cops tend to frown on drunk climbing on the campus buildings.

Nice. I saw the poster up in the kenworthy the other day. I'm sure I'll see ya there.

There, all better....

I'm going back home to the flatlands of the midwest for the summer and will spend most of the summer >1hr from the nearest rock gym, probably >3hrs from the nearest real rock. I can keep my back/hand/shoulder strengh up in the weight gym, but does anyone have any good suggestions for maintaining footwork and balance away from the rock? Thanks Jake

Anybody been up there end-of-May-ish? Guidebook says there may still be snow, others have said to expect full on winter conditions. I don't mind dealing with the snow if it keeps the crowds away, but I'm not in the mood for any hell-ish cold expedition conditions.

Ok so about a month ago someone posted a cool video in spray of some dude doing all these ridiculous jumps between buildings and stuff. I've tried about a trillion different searches, no good. Anyone know the thread I'm talking about ?

I haven't been to Marcus Baker, but I did climb a bunch of peaks on the other side of the fork of the Matanuska. We thought about making trying to cut over to MB from Turtle Flats, the big flat area where the Mat and the upper Harvard meet. There is a bunch of really cool climbing in that area, mostly long-day snow climbs. Tons of stuff that probably has never seen a human before. Further down the harvard, the dora keen range looked really cool, but that would have to wait for some other trip. We approached everything from the road, just to add to the big sense of adventure, but we did get airdrops from Mike Meeken air services. More details on Markus Baker are in the alaskan guidebook. If you want more details, or pictures (I have a ton) PM me. We went in July, actually the whole month of July, in 02. April would make the approach on skis much easier.

I've heard threads about screamers come up a few times now, so this time I decided to put on the nerd hat and way in... This is all physics textbook aiding, I've never had any first hand experience with screamers aside from fondling them in the gear shop. Let's say two climbers that weight the same amount take the same fall, one on a screamer, one on a standard draw. Because they fall the same length, when they hit the anchor their momentum is the same, that is the massXvelocity is identical. They both stop, so both of their change in momentum is the same. The change in momentum(dP) or their IMPULSE, is the same. Impulse is also defined as the area under the curve of a time-force relationship. Because the area is the same, but the time is longer for the screamer, the max force on that chart is gonna be a lot lower. So assuming if the sketchy anchor has a low maximum force, the screamer is a plus. Now as for the arguement that the anchor will be shockloaded when the screamer is full extended, I think Matt was on to something when he said thinking for yourself is fun. Which is going to lengthen the time for the force to be absorbed more, the stretch of the rope or the expansion of the screamer? When you're lower on a pitch (higher fall factors) you're not going to get much rope stretch, so the screamer will help you. At what point do you think the rope strectch will be longer than the force on the screamer? Again, a judgement call, but obviously the more rope you have out, the more stretch (lower fall factor). As for increasing your risk of decking, like matt said, thinking is fun, but I hope I'm never in a fall where 10'' will make the difference between decking and no. As for me, I buy into the arguement that screamers have their place, but you have to think about it. Ok, nerd hat off, feel free to pick apart. Any physics-smart types out their wanna tell me how this sounds?

Yeah, I have a tough time really buying into it, but damn if that tequila flavored stove fuel is real...

http://www.ediblegear.com/ Dinner's served ?

That's pretty sick. I like the giant whipper he takes drytooling sport routes!

Sold

How often do you make a habit of replacing your harness? My first thought would be 'whenever it needs it' : frayed webbing, blown stichting, taken big scary fall, etc., but I noticed on the stuff bag for my harness it recommends every two years of weekend use. Does this seem often to anyone else? I've had my one and only harness for two years now, and it's seem 4x a week in the gym, plus about a weekend of climbing every month, plus about about a month straight of being frozen solid every night and then worn all day long, and it's still going strong, hell this thing looks new compared to some of the scary straps I've climbed on! So what are you guidelines for retiring a harness? Oh by the way $ for $ the REI onsight II is about the best alpine harness on the market. $25? no stupid padding to get wet and freeze solid, and if you're lucky and it fits you like it fits me then it's not a bad rock harness.

“And so, with the White House, and Tom DeLay, and in the House of Representatives, the attorney general … talk radio, the conservative Fox News, all that sort of thing, these are parts of the righteous army that has finally come into its own.” !!!!

Wanna own one again?

The North Face "Superlight" zero degree down bag. Only seen a couple uses in the back country. It's only a few years old, but hasn't seen much use. This is a very nice bag, but unfortunately I don't use it enough to justify keeping it around. 650 fill down, very lofty and warm, size large (probably would fit ~5'10-6'4). I'm about 6' and it fits me pretty well but still is a little long. Green shell, right hand zip. Was around $240 new, would take $125 OBO plus cost of shipping. PM or email jgano2@yahoo.com if interested. Thanks, Jake

That sounds like a great idea!!! Damn, I thought I had a million dollar idea going there...

Kurt, sorry to here you're trip was slowed down, but hey, still got to be out in the mountains for a few days, so at least you got something out of it! Had a similar experience last week on Baker. The guy that I was going climbing with decided to bring along a friend that wanted to try out climbing. He'd never been on skis either. I'm about as bad of a skier as you'll ever meet, but this guy could redefine slow. We spent all day skinnning up on the on the nine mile road up to the heliotrope ridge trailhead, something that should have taken a long morning, then had to bivy at the trailhead, then spent the whole next day moving from 3300 to 4900 ft. This level of slow was mind-blowing. We took one look at the weather the next day, then turned around and headed down the mountain. It's hard to say if his speed made or broke the trip, but I know what it's like to feel frustated by a partner that hold you up. Very nice pics by the way. Jake

I lost my EcoRaggs gray hat somewhere below 4100 on the Heliotrope Ridge Trail. Can't give any reward, but I'll pay postage for it's return. Thanks, Jake

I like to take a big pocketful of Jolly Ranchers to suck on every few minues, which brings me to this idea... What would you all think of a GU-style hard candy, complete with the carbs, amino acids, vitamans, etc.? You could just load up on them and pop on every few minutes. Think it would work? Think it would sell? You heard it here first.