matt_m

THIS. Marmot is the store for all the funky hard goods etc. 1/2in Webbing is hard to find ANYWHERE. Climbing Hards Goods = Business FAIL without softgood support. PERIOD. The ONLY place you might pull it off is in the heart of a climbing mecca (yos valley, gunks, boulder etc) Any other place where climbers are less than common and you need the mom's with TNF and Arcteryx. period.

Skimming the guidebook (non-water) tells me there's plenty to do without getting wet.

One might re-define "reasonable" near the top when you have that beauty plugged in next to you. They're [VGs] top notch by the way - worth it for the pro and years of conversations you'll have...

These guys are out of Austin, TX and make good stuff. Many of these draws can be found around the limestone areas around here. http://climbtech.myshopify.com/products/permadraws

Found a great pic of the ledge and boulder... Photos by Ben Gilkison / www.bentroy.com

Even better, John S has "ins" with Alpinist. Maybe a dual purpose can be served. A nice article in Alpinist AND pictures will raise MUCHO awareness.

512 - was just up on 6/13. I've done IB twice now (need to check my CTC time). The taylor bridge is out - see above pic. There's a HUGE tree leaning against it that gives access to the far side OR someone has rigged a cable Tyrollean as well. (I did the tree as I didn't feel like getting the gear out then) It does add a bit of time to the approach as you now have to hike to the TH. (20-30min? I wasn't paying attention this time). The big news for you is it's WET up there right now. Lots of water coming down. P6 (as you leave the lower slabs) has water all over it (waterfall on a few of the bolts). I think you could climb around it to the right (bring some gear). I bailed as the weather was threatening (thunder and a few drops) and I didn't feel like rapping off the wet chains INTO the water. Hit up Fee Demo instead. M

Just and FYI to the OP. IB is NOT a small undertaking and if you're just starting out WAY out of your skill set right now. Not trying to be condescending, just being truthful. Edit: Realized I still sounded like a duche. Basically you're looking at a STEEP approach followed by 23 pitches of climbing. The climbing can be runout, there's challenging route-finding in places, a funky bit of 4th+ class with no pro or anchors etc etc. Then you add in the raps down (figure 4 hours if you haven't done a lot of long and sometimes wandering raps) I'd check out some more stuff in L'worth first. Condormorphine Addiction or link Heart of Gold to Prime Rib? (not sure on that without my book) Or head up to Darrington / 3 o'clock rock. Longer Trad stuff in the PNW is really the domain of UTW at Index, WA Pass or Squamish.

You mean this washout?

Just FYI - RAMUTA (Who I'll ship shoes to till the day I die) does different thicknesses, you have to request them and VW isn't very good at telling you the options. I email him last month and this is the info: "We have xs Grip in 3.5mm, xsv in 3.5mm and 5.10 C4 in 4.0mm and 5.5mm. Thanks, John" Me? I have 2 pairs of my fav shoes, one with XS Grip for hot days and one with the Stealth for the colder ones (he had ONYX I think last time - need to ask about that) Send em to Ramuta - QUALITY period

While in San Antonio last year, most Austin-ites were pretty upbeat on the scene there. (I never made it down due to conflicts every weekend I had the chance!) There were concerns last year as well. No military personnel were allowed in Mexico PERIOD. The vibe I got was once you're there it's a pretty sleepy climbers area - you are not in town but up canyon near the rocks. People did insist on only driving there during the daylight hours and avoiding any time in the border towns. It does seem to be getting worse. http://www.woai.com/news/local/story/Mexico-morgues-crowded-with-mounting-drug-war-dead/LSnkl95et0mJGLfvvuD1Kg.cspx http://www.woai.com/mostpopular/story/Spring-break-travel-warning/wjGlfP29nEa85D78hBE1tg.cspx This is the best place to get the "local" info. http://www.erockonline.com/forum/upload/index.php

I've been on here 5+ years and the "it's coming" has been a running joke on here since AT LEAST 6 years ago. Buy the select book if you want an "update". A new book will be "almost here" when I see it on a shelf.

Having climbed in the NE (Gunks, NH etc) I found the Tricams very, very useful there. Lots of horizontal placements and things where they fit just perfectly. Out here I've almost NEVER found a use for them except in the Alpine for belays etc. A set is nice but not for the PNW. As for doubles and your prefs, Yellow Alien, Red Alien, .75 camalot.

Nice send and thanks for the service - Midnight needs the traffic and fresh hardware to stay "un-mossy" in the long run. The rust and slime I saw last time was dis-heartening for the hike I'd just done. Looks like it's getting the love it deserves now. I laugh at this topic - I moved away for 15 months, return and the same 2 have the same tired complaints they always do. That said it's evident at index and elsewhere there's some fresh blood breathing a lot of new life (and upkeep and cleaning) into the local crags (index, lworth etc) and for that I say THANKS

It goes both ways. I laugh every time I go into one of the "local climbing shops" only to be reminded by the staff of how "core" they are and how "newbie" I am. Any "experienced" gear shopper knows what to expect from stores big and small. As Always - Caveat Emptor

The debate seems to be about what the "risk style" of the route was during the FFA (croft) and whether or not that should be restored. As it is right now - the bolts are manky and need replacement - period end of story. What's really being debated here is whether the new stainless should be a 1 for 1 same location replacement, a 1 for 1 replacement with location adjustment, or most controversially, SS replacement of the original bolts with the addition of 1 more bolt lower down. From all the posts, it certainly seems like the FFA and many repeats were done with slings off the older bolts, essentially creating more "clipping" locations than there were bolts (3 at least by my count - long sling, bolt that sling is attached to, 2nd bolt above) All the recent climbs sound like they were done sans sling. Proud to be sure. Strong, impressive climbing that should be commended. But their style should in no way negatively influence how a climb is protected during other ascents. What I mean is, just because someone does a climb in a way BOLDER than the FFA that shouldn't mean everyone after them must follow the same way. If we did follow this mantra we'd have chaos every time bolt replacement came up. "I did it back in 95 when there were rusty, loose, 1/4in spinners so that level of boldness must always remain" or worse "I skipped those bolts and used crappy trad gear so should you." I don't think so. There are always bolder people out there and if the "I did it 'better' than you so now you have to too" idea were accepted - climbing would become exclusionary to the extreme. Route maintenance should try to faithfully restore the protection LEVEL found on the first ascent (or FFA if that applies) while also taking into account current impact levels. In some cases this means pulling and plugging a hole since wide pro that provides THE SAME LEVEL of protection is now available. Pulling a bolt because you can wiggle in a marginal 00 TCU doesn't count. More controversial would be pulling a rusty pin and replacing it with a bolt. In the SPM case, one has to look at what Croft had as his level of protection during the FFA - It certainly seems to me like he had at least 3 points of solid pro. So how do you restore the route to this level of protection? Replace two bolts with new locations or place 3 bolts? I tend to think that 3 SS Camo bolts have far less impact on the rock than a 4 foot piece of tat that makes climbers look bad with land managers. (The same conclusion has been made at the very anti-bolt Gunks where rap anchors have been bolted for several years to REDUCE impact). Do 1-1 replacements on the originals and add a new one where the sling would've been clipped.

Rumor also has it that that bolt had a looonng sling on it back in the croft day. If it ever gets replaced (it's getting old) it should be moved lower for a similar clip to the FFA.

Just got my copy in the mail. Very well done with lots of newer / undocumented stuff that looks great. Makes me want to check Nov flights to LV now. Highly recommended.

Dru needs to write a squam history book. Like Camp 4 but with Dru wit. Roper... not so funny. I'd buy it.

Man - now I am all confused. When I did the Sword pitch in Summer of '05 here's how I remember it. Leave the belay (Bolts) on top of the Split Pillar and climb a right facing corner with wide gear (old #4 camalot). As you get higher the corner leans back and the gear gets thin - small nuts. The Crux on the pitch is pulling over this overhang onto the ramp that leads up to another right-facing corner. Here, corner pinches down to nothing but seam for gear and there is a single bolt there. This protects the moves LEFT out onto the face. Once on the face you laugh as you work higher on 5.8 jugs (You can sling the top spike of granite). The jugs run out and you are forced to move right back into the right facing corner. Here is where you lean around for a blind gear placement (.5 camalot or red TCU IIRC) Then you cast off on the lieback pictured You can see the clipped bolt far below. Then you keep going until the corner makes a dramatic turn right ( Here, you reach out left and grab the chains on the face where you start the bolt ladder upwards. See the full blow by blow here: Matt Buckle's page

I guess what I mean by "alpine style doesn't work" is that, in my mind, there comes a point when you cross over from "alpine style" to "suicide style". At some point in the high mountains you're really just rolling the dice - no amount of skill and determination mitigates the hard facts that high altitude climbing kills you at some point. Routes of extremely high difficulty such as the K2 route above cause the climber to walk a razor sharp line and at some point it turns into blind luck they survive and succeed alpine style. It's at this point, where success in an alpine style ascent becomes more luck and a willingness to die trying, that I no longer care about it being "done in good style". Now this is admittedly an impossible point to define but for me personally, fixed ropes and siege tactics will earn my respect more than wining a game of "russian roulette" with the mountain.

Exactly - people make it sound like this climb was EASY because they didn't do it alpine style. Whatever. Alpine style whiners are like wine snobs. They'd miss out on a great bottle of table wine because it wasn't pure enough for them. Fact of the matter is there are some routes / faces that alpine style doesn't work on. There may be a party here and there that can prove that statement wrong most of the time but I maintain there are routes that are not in the realm of non-suicidal alpine style.

anyone catch on his blog Trotter made a stop at index? Got on City Park and Amandala - Did he send? Did say he liked it. Any world class project hidden away in index still?

Man - that would be a HUGE day - Wear your comfy shoes! I was almost in tears after Stairway to Heaven having worn my "hard slab shoes". I would work left to right (NN->Crest->Buttress->Stairway) less walking each time back down. Though doing the link into Millennium Falc at the end of the day might be proud. Maybe NN, Crest, Stairway, Buttress. Yeah... that's it.