ken4ord

Hey Pax, I might join you over at Bruce's Boulder on Sunday. I think I will have a couple of newbies that will be coming up on Sunday. Sounds like that might be a good spot for rock 101 for them. I got to talk to them and find out if they are still interested in coming up. Ok Saturday I am doing a mountain bike ride, if anyone wants to join in, bring your ride. Right now I am thinking Devil's Gulch trail. Does anyone know where there are some good trails in L-town? I hear there is some good free riding there, help anyone. So Alpine K what is the the cerveca situation? Is there going to be TG goodness or other type of beer. Do we need to start a slush fund at tnights PC?

My first bivy was unplanned, I was on a sort of honeymoon. I say 'sort of', cause Chess at the time invited my friend Greg along. Well we went up to the Canadian Rockies, a week and half we had already done several climbs before we planned on going into Mt Louis. Both Chess and Greg wanted to rope up for the fourth class approach, which slowed us down. Also we weren't at all proficent at alpine climbing, so we had pretty much a wall rack, two regular 10.5 lines, and belayed out everything. After a while I began to get worried as I saw the sun sink behind the mountains we still had maybe 1000 feet of climbing ahead of us and maybe 2 below us. So I started soloing pitches as Chess belayed Greg who was hauling the pack. Eventually I got to this big ass ledge and saw about 600 feet of climbing and thought 'well this is where we are spending the night'. I was pretty calm about it, Chess on the other hand freaked. She started crying and screaming about the B&B she reserved and how we couldn't spend the night, blah, blah, blah. We started going back and forth, me 'There is nothing we can do about that now and acting like a lunatic is not going to help!' 'Well it is not like I am going to jump off the ledge!' 'Well it sure as hell seems like you will!' She calmed down and eventually my friend joined us on the ledge, and reached the same conclusion I did. So we hunkered down luckily there was some stone walls already built and it felt really warm out. Bad part was after the food and water assesment we realized that we had 2.5 power bars and 1 liter of water. I knew then that is was going to be slow going out. So we laid out the ropes for padding, put on all our clothes, Chess and I had bivy sacks, so I gave my pack to Greg and we proceeded to get some Z's. Probably around 2 I woke up with Chess shivering uncontrolibly, I was cold too so we took turn warming each other. It turned out to be ok. That became the patern for the rest of the night, warm each other, sleep, get cold, wake, repeat. Eventually the day broke, but we got a slow start. The climbing was moderate, but felt hard as hell cause we didn't get to really eat anything. We made the summit started our way down. Lucky for us on one of the rappels there was a seep. Not enough to collect water, but enough to get sips by sucking the rock. We all took turns. Finally we were on the ground, then began the slog, it took twice as long to hike out as it did to get in, though we did it. Burgers and beer never tasted so good. Chess and I made it to the B&B and took full advantage of having a bed and no neighbor in a tent. All was good once again.

Hey Tim, The base of Cathedral and Whitehorse are reached in less than 5 minutes, farther ends of the cliffs are reached in 20 minutes. Cannon is 30 minutes approach from the car to the base, park at the south end of the lake that you pass alongside the highway going south. The parking lot is acessed by going south bound only. Walk down the bike path until you see a big boulder next to the trail with a climbers trail next to it, shoot straight up the talus to the base. This is the standard approach now-a-days, it is new trail that was opened up by a big rock slide a few years back. Scary story to go along with that, it came down just two days before a friend and I were going to climb underneath it. At the base hang a left go about 150 yards the will be a big gully/dike/choss then a narrow buttress split by a hand crack that is Reppy's Crack var. for Moby Grape. Follow along the base for another 150 yards to reach VMC Direct Direct is the hardman free classic on there I have only done the first 5 pitches, it is awesome, can't remember what the start looks like, sorry. Don't bother with Wiesners, Lakeview and such that was recomended, the Old Man kissed all those climbs goodbye for a while. No matter where you are on the cliff you are bound to see some rock fall, hopefully little buzzers, but Moby Grape, VMC and Whitney G is about as safe and solid as you can get on the cliff. Check out Old Town Hall road for free camping in the No. Conway area, it is North of No. Conway on the right (past Ragged Mountain gear store) on 302. Follow road for a while until you are past the residential area. North Conway cragging is freaking great.

Hey bobbyperu was saying you guys were going to be out there. There is a good possibility that I will end up out there, though right now I am waiting to see if a alpine ice weekend up north materializes should know by tonight.

It was money wasted right from the get go.

Hey yeah CG33, I forgot all about the Moat, definitely go there over Delaney's, good brew, alright bbq, and other eats.

Where you going craggin', not that I am interested in going?

Oh yeah forgot to mention that I have all the books and maps. You can borrow them if you want. Also I know of some good free camping, it is just easier to point that shit out on maps, if you are interested. Westside Road is definitely the way to go around the valley. Also if you do Whitney G do the 5.8 variations, the 5.7 had some recent rockfall on it and the 5.8 variation is more true to the ridge. Also there is a great last pitch variation to WG that goes at 5.9+ it is a cool step out above the Black Dike. Cannon is notorious for big rockfall, mainly in the spring. Oh yeah if you are going there with your girl, make sure to go to Bellini's awesome italian food, go with a giants appetite though, usually a long wait which can be spent at the bar. Or what my girlfriend I used to do is order a single meal and sit by the river and eat what we could have have leftovers for lunch for both of us, I am serious 4 meals in 1. Have fun

Hey Tim, Ed Websters guide is the guide to have for the area, it is a great read too. If you find the old one it has Cannon, Whitehorse, Cathedral, and surrounding crags. The newest guide only cover Cathedral, Whitehorse, and surrounding crags, with the intention of producing a Cannon and surrounding crags guide. There is a Roxfax guide that sort of sux but has the classics listed, there is also a Cannon guide that is ok. The Rumney guide is good. If you want to borrow any get in touch with me. Alright routes. The Prow rocks and it is fairly easy to french free if you can't pull the cruxs 5.11 5-6p. Ok here the list, not complete though: Cathedral Thin Air 5.6 4p (link first 2 with regular length rope) Funhouse 5.7 2p (outside corner fun var. 5.8) Still in Saigon 5.8 1p Three Birches 5.8 2p Pine Tree Eliminate 5.8 1p Bombardment 5.8 1p (link) ***RecomBeast 5.9 5p (Recompense w/ Beast Flake var) ***most anything on the Barber Wall 5.9-5.12 1p ***Diedra 5.10a 5p (first couple pitches can be done in the rain) ***Rapid Transit 5.10a 3p ***North End has several single pitch cracks 5.7-5.11 Whitehorse Short Order 5.9 1p (walk up to the second pitch don't do first, dirty) ***Inferno 5.8 4p ***Hotter than Hell 5.9 4p ***Children Crusade 5.9 3p (old skool 9, bolted on lead) ***Children Crusade Complete 5.11 2-3p more ***Last Unicorn 5.10c 4p ***Seventh Seal 5.10b 1p ***???Thin crack next to SS 5.1od 1p ***???From the top the last two stand on block lean into the wall up then traverse out left 5.10a 1p Cannon ***Whitney Gilman obvious ridge on LH side of the cliff 5.8 4p ***Moby Grape 5.8 9-11p in the middle of the cliff. IMO Cannon is not that safe nor as asthetic, but it was one of the few alpine options. Those two routes rock.

Looking for a partner from Thursday-Sunday (Sept 23-26). Don't want to fuck around with cragging or any thing like that, we got a weather break time to take advantage of it. I would like to do something big and alpine I'll lead up to the 5.9 range right now follow harder stuff, want a competent partner to swap leads with. Preference will go to those of ya that I have climbed with already.

Looking for a partner to climb the corporate ladder, eh?

Alright, I am glad you liked it. Hmmm, I haven't made it for a while maybe this weekend would be a good time to do that.

There was absolutely nothing wrong with Camp Slime for a place to throw down for the evening. Little bit of traffic, sometime crowded, but all the times I camped there I met some cool folk, kickin it drinking beer making plans for routes the next day. I will alway have good memories sit out on top of Near Trapps, drinking a beer, smoking little something, and shooting the breeze. As for easy beginer climbs I would say Gelsa at 5.4 is your best choice. Then Easy O, 3 Pines, and the Horseman for a beginer challenge. If you feel comfortable with those then give some of the others a try like Shockley's, Disneyland, High E. I will tell you though when I went down there and climbed High E I was a 5.8 leader at the time, but that route scared the shit out of me, that second pitch is steep and in your face. Have fun.

I believe it is for that parking lot that is at the Mount Washington trailhead. To get around that one just park on the pavement and walk 100 yards to the trailhead.

Yeah I know I will be post some shit for y'all once I start my African Adventure.

I'll tell what's for lunch, mmmmm mmm good bbq chicken with the meat fallin' off the bone, no wimpy meatless ribs these suckers are meaty, tato salad, beans, corn bread, mmmm dessert you say banana cream pie. Yummy lunch, taste even better when it all you can eat and free.

Freakin' nice pictures . That area is so beautiful, look forward to the slide show.

Rumney is a fun sporto area. Most of the climbs are short and stout. The meadows is the first crag right by the parking lot, it has a large concentration of easier sport climbs any where from 5.6-11c or so. Holderness Corner is a nice 9+ trad line (obvious corner in the middle of the cliff to chains) the arete right of the corner next to it is a nice climb too, I remember it being easy 10 clip up. Captian Fingers is a good short face 11b. All of the climbs in this area are well travel, pretty decent, not too steep like other areas, overall a good intro to the area. My all time favorite sporto route is Waimea 10d/11a, it is on the Waimea Wall on the lefthand side. It is one of the easier routes on this wall. It is where the Fly is and several others hard climbs. It is worth the trek up there for that route. I don't climb to hard, so Waimea is the only one I have done on that wall. Above and to the right of Waimea is a small crag that has some nice 10s the blunted arete Lonesome Dove (?) is my favorite up there. The Main Wall has a mixture of sport and trad lines and routes can be several pitches. That where you want to go for multi-pitch stuff. If you want to do some bouldering as you drive into Rumney you hang a left to get to the parking lot, if you keep going down the road on your right there is the Blackjack Boulder, do lightening crack it will be easy to spot out it is the classic, or you can make a right and there some boulders right next to the road. Not as big as the Blackjack area still good. Whatever you climb in Rumney make sure you got some thick pads, the rock over there is super aggressive. Check out North Conway for some just stellar granite rock climbing. The North Conway area has a good balance of climbs that will suit anyone. Also, right up the road from Rumney (1 hr north) is Cannon, it is a great 1000 foot alpine granite cliff. The routes to do there are Whitney Gillman 5.8, Moby Grape 5.8, Lakeview 5.5 (well actually not sure about Lakeview now it may have been destroyed when the Old Man decided to drop. I wouldn't reccomend Cannon in the spring big pieces come off then, it is usually settled by summer. Have fun you moved out to that area just in time for the best part of the year for climbing.

Hey Will, nice TR. It was good to see all the pictures to all the climbs you did. Next time it will be good to get out and climb with ya besides at 32, but it was a good time still.

Nice job you guys, and nice TR. Pax I can't believe you hand over that offwidth that easy, that is the best climbing on the climb, though the fin is more asthetic, the rock isn't as good. Hey did you do a pure alpine bivy, sans sleeping bag? How did it go?

Well it looks like it isn't a Mountaineers Rope-up people actually got out and climbed. Just don't forget your gaitors for sitting around the campfire.

I knew somebody had to say the answer. I prefer racking on my harness but that doesn't matter much. If you transfer gear over only a few times, by leading in blocks. Also some people are just slow. When I am at the belay, belaying the second, I start transfering gear over to slings and organizing the gear. One sling for all the draws, another sling for the gear (organized by type and size). When I am following a pitch I try and organize the gear on my harness keeping cams together, nuts together, and draws together. As long as you are organized you can swap leads pretty fast even if you use different racking techniques.

You guys must have been moving to slow, I didn't even notice any wasp nest when I was up there.

I used to do what erden explained, but the Reverso or a Gigi is way easier and much safer, it not like they are that expensive.

Agreed. Two regular draws, in oposition is what I have always used. I have never had it come unclipped or broken them. With that said locking biners are safer, but in my opinion, overkill.