Sol

thanks dru. were out.

I've got the address, but can anyone give me directions to the artteryx outlet store in Vancouver. I heard it's open on thursday, does anyone know the hours?

Don't forget you plastic wall bong with keeper sling for those long 2 hour belays, oh yeah, and don't even think about jumping on a wall without a homeade bosun's chair. Aid climbing, the lazy person's sport.

no, I only turn the fan on when I need to. the one day i rode with them I turned the fan on 3 times for a total of about 2 minutes. $200 is crazy expensive, I promised myself that if I ever found them on sale I would pick them up, so I did. $100 isn't much more expensive than most regular goggles these days.

I just bought a pair of smith googles with a little battery-powered fan. I have been snowboarding with glasses for 17 frustrating years. I've done all kinds of things to prevent my glasses from fogging up. My most modern method was to either go inside where it is heated, or crank up the heat in the car. Then I would put mild soap on each side of the lenses of my glasses, and buff it until i could reasonably see. I would put my goggles on in the heat and not take them off all day. this method worked most of the time but when I overheated from hiking or if i fell and the googles came off I was screwed. Now with my new turbo cam goggles I can gear up outside like everyone else, slap my goggles on, turn on the fan for the initial condensation and I'm off. They've got a really low setting which you can barely hear, and a super high mode which is quite loud. they run on two triple a's. retail they are like $200 but I found them at sierratradingpost.com for $100. word, if you wear glasses and ski or snowboard do yourself a favor and hook it up.

I'm heading down on the 8th and returning on the 18th. I'm super stoked. Have fun!!! J tree

Two Words: Mt. Baker

I assumed the wallhauler question related to doing one wall in Zion. That typically means one night on the wall. Why spend money for something you'll use a dozen times? But, hey, you're a teacher, so you know all about "unsolicited advice". Yeah I proabaly don't need it for Zion. But i'm el cap dreamin and thought I'd get a start on ye ole mountain of wall gear. the way i figure the lamest thing about wall climbing seems to be hauling, so why not make that part of the experience just a little bit easier.

Ok so cam hooks are out, makes sense. Fix the grade five's and fire in a day. Are there any moderate grade 6's, we would really like to use the portaledge thang, we like to suffer every now and again. thanks for the info folks, keep it coming

time to buy a wall pulley. considering petzl's pro traxion, or rock exotica's wall hauler. any comments, recommendations? thanks.

Looks like I got about 11 days in early december to head over to Utah to do some desert climbing. Plan is to first check out indian creek for a few days then wander on down to Zion and do a wall. First off, i'm looking for any recommendation in the indian creek area (5.8-10b/cish), as well as a general idea of the temps we might encounter. how many #2's should we bring? As far as zion goes, what's up with the weather this time of year? super cold, rainy, will we be alright without a portaledge fly and only bivy sacks? we're considering prodigal son, space shot, moonlight buttress, etc. if you only had time for one zion wall what would you climb? we've got the normal aid trickery for granite: cam hooks, slider nuts, offset nuts, hybrids, do we need anything special for the desert? good guidebook recommendations? thanks for any info.

Bird of Fire 10a. Dangling Woo Li Master 10a. O'Kelly's Crack 10c Mental Physics 5.7+ Right and Left Overhang Bypass 5.7, 5.9 Friendly Hands 10b Dolphin 5.7 Spiderman 10a

Saw you guys up there. We were getting rained off Heaven's Gate. Y'all must not have gotten back to your truck till late, b/c we were drinking beer in the parking lot until dark and didn't see you. yeah, we proablay got back to the truck a little before six. had minor difficulties getting off the wall. neither of us had done the descent but we followed nelson's beta and walked to the south side of the wall to a slinged tree by a gully. a double rope rap didn't quite get us to the ground but did reach a bolted sport anchor. when we tried to pull the ropes they wouldn't budge so my partner prusiked the rope up to the top re adjusted where the knot layed and rapped back down. Rope pulled, rapped down. Proabaly took about an extra hour. on his way back down Ty noticed a few bolts leading from the tree down to another bolted anchor. do most people downclimb to this anchor then make a single double rope rap to the ground? Seems like the thing to do. for giving heaven's gate a try on such a questionable day.

That's just what are guidebook said. It was easy, chill aid.

Climbed a fun variation on the Upper Town Wall yesterday. Went up on thursday and solo-aided the first pitch of the Green Dragon and fixed a rope. Weather was warm and sunny. Came back Friday morning with my partner Ty, weather was not so sunny. Started jugging up the line a little before nine. Ty cruised the second pitch of the Dragon. Then on the third pitch I climbed the Dragon til' the bathtub sized detached block, from where I headed right to the triple overhangs on the fourth pitch of Town Crier. Killer pitch, great exposure through the overhangs, easy aid on rusty fixed pins. As soon as I hit the belay it started raining. Rained off and on as Ty styled the fifth C2+ pitch. Topped out on the wall a little after 3. Inhaled congratulatory combustibles on the top. Hiked south and rapped off the tree. Hiked back to car and drank beer. In all a super fun day. We were stoked to pull it off this late in the year in questionable weather. Seems to be the quickest way to climb the wall when free climbing isn't an option.

thanks for the info. folks, keep it coming. after reading that state department warning i'm thinking about south america......

If the puns were intentional they would be bad. but they weren't.

I an considering applying for a grant at the Fairhaven college at WWU. the grant is called an adventure learners grant and is for $15,000 to travel abroad for 10 months. Most importantly the grant givers want you to go somewhere in which you are personally challegend. I've been considering the Kyrgyzstan for a number of reasons. One, it would proably blow my lid off (very, very poor country), It has killer climbing, and it is about as far away from my security bubble as I can get. Anybody ever travel or climb there? I know tommy and beth got kidnapped there, I can't find their book anywhere, do you folks know the titile? Also I remember in a somewhat recent issue of climbing or rock and ice an article about some graduate student living there, climbing, and building schools, does anybody remember what issue that was? or the guy's name? Also besides kyrgyzstan can anybody recomment any other exotic foreign locations in which I could challenge myself and do some killler climbing? any thoughts would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

I've had the privledge of entering the beautiful world of cam hooking on a few recent trips to Index. I was borrowing a set of pika cam hooks from a friend, now i want my own. when searching for such devices online I came across the leeeper cam hooks which appear a little differently: rounded off sides rather than straight. can anyone recommend one brand over the others, or offer me some pros and cons of each? While were on the subject of specialized aid trickery, anyone use peckers or toucans? They look kinda interesting, kinda sketchy, any thoughts?

Is that route near the base of the seasonal waterfall, to the right of Green Dragon? If so, I was belaying my buddy ty on the first pitch of the dragon on 10/24 when it came down. we both watched it go. He said he felt this really sickening, bad, feeling right before it peeled. it seemed to be about the size of a honda civic, but it was hard to tell since it detached, dropped about 15 feet and exploded. after it hit the ground chunks of it continued bouncing down the hill for a long time. freaky.... after a few words of encouragement ty kept on going and we finished the route.

Sent the Green Dragon on the upper town wall at Index. Amazing weather. Killer route. While belaying my partner up the first pitch we watched in amazement as a honda accord sized block exfoliated from the wall near the bottom of the waterfall. Exploded at the base about 50 feet to the right of us. brought a homemade belay seat which . made it to dinner at my girlfriends folks house in sultan by 6:30. Index

ok, so your talking about a wooden board with holes drilled in it, webbing knots on underside of board. makes sense that it would restrict movement. instead, make slots for webbing that so one continuous peice can wrap around the whole thing?? am I making sense??

I was figuring a wooden one since it would be easier to make. But if you've used a fabric one,and liked it, holler. Please share any info.

I want to make a belay seat. I have a general idea on what to do but wondered if anyone had input on what they like, or works for them. photos, plans, whatever. woerd.

Word, stoked on aiding, can't wait to get back on route.