Bodynazi

Ropegun, I’m not gay, but your manliness certainly makes me wish that I was – along with you. Only someone with extremely large testicles would do LR w/o a helmet on. Are you by chance single? You should feel extremely proud catching my partner and me – as he had time for little training and was far from peak condition. I’m surprised you didn’t catch us earlier. “Whining?” Right. Luckily, I was able to keep my skirt away from my crampons on that section – plus the Vagisil helped there too. Another strong point: slamming Colorado climbers – exactly. I will take personal responsibility for the lack of glaciers here; I do sincerely apologize to all. I climbed a section of WI3 once (on TR of course) – and I drove to the top of Mt. Evans (14K) last summer – so there! (Actually I had a headache, so my girl – I mean boyfriend had to drive as I was lying down) Your points were right on to the concept of my original post – thanks for playing.

Easy there ladies. Geez. I never claimed to be "joe alpine master," OK? Perhaps my tone was a bit too negative and I should have been neutral - but then would we be having this fun? AlpineK Glass, Slothman - my sentiments exactly. - yes if it were hard ice for prolonged periods I'd consider simo (sp?) climbing w/ fixed pro. If anyone is dumb enough to think that I climbed that route unroped to be "tough" then you are indeed a dolt. We did rope up for crossing the berg at the top for ~ 20' so there! You think you want to be roped up when dealing w/ crevasses?????? Brilliant. I never thought of that My point was that people were roped up w/ no pro on slopes that were steep enough that if someone fell, with the slack in the rope, it was likely that the party would not be able to arrest the falling climber - and that seemed dangerous. I guess there are people who get their panties in a bunch on all boards. Deep breath and relax.... I passed a party of six 500' before Thumb Rock - going up - and they were roped together w/ no pro. On the descent of the Emmons-Winthrop route, we passed a group of 7, yes 7, climbers roped together not placing any pro. Winthrop, when soft, is not steep enough to really fall on so that may be OK. We did leave earlier than everyone else as to avoid roped climbers above us. Yes - it's rather obvious that if a party is going to encounter repeated technical sections where a belay is necessary then keeping roped up between those sections would save time and be a good idea. Not exactly rocket science... "if you're roped up to someone competent" I believe I said in my 1st post that experienced climbers can arrest a falling climber - groups of 3,4, and yes, 6 probably will have a difficult time with that task should it become necessary with major slack and general unawareness abound. It looks like many agree - I was hoping so. Thanks............. BTW, Lance is kicking ass in the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré if anyone is a cyclist

Greetings people. I just did Liberty Ridge last weekend. My partner Nick and myself were the only people on the route that were unroped. I cannot believe all the novice parties that rope up, don't place pro, and think that is OK. Do these people really think that they can arrest a falling climber? Right, just like that party on Hood last year benefited by being roped up - whoops, they actually died because of that... Every experienced climber I talked to said how they cannot believe how many dolt people are roped up climbing w/ zero pro between people – yet EVERYONE (except us) on the mountain was roped up for the actual climbing (of course we were roped up on the glaciers). Question: Are there really that many stupid people climbing Rainier – and Liberty Ridge at that? Being roped up w/ zero pro takes a very confident experienced climber to be able to arrest the fall of their partner. Groups of up to 6 $hitheads with tons of slack in the line is an accident waiting to happen. “I’ll belay you up” as the idiot simply pulls the rope in hand over hand with no belay device. I felt like I was at an easy sport climbing area with fools abound – not knowing how to belay, clip ropes, equalize anchors, etc. Are the guides that stupid? Is there a basic mountaineering book that says to do that? I have read accounts of climbers on the trade route on Denali doing the same thing so it’s hardly unique to Rainier. Someone please explain to me what in god’s name they are thinking when they are climbing roped up – how that provides anything other than a totally false sense of security and is actually a death sentence for all involved if one should slip. So… if you’re a beginning climber and the Fred that’s “in charge” of your ascent up Rainier says to rope up for the actual climbing with out at least a running belay with pro placed between climbers, tell him (or her) that they are f-ing idiots and to have them explain it to you. Sorry for the rant – I was just amazed…………………..