fenderfour

I was climbing with some friends at Clem's Holler on Sunday. We were on Gunrack on the left side of the crag and heard a loud crashing from the far right side. A large rock was coming down the slabs to the right of the routes listed in the Kramar guide. It continued some ways down the approach trail. No one was climbing in the immediate area and no one was on the trail at the time. It was a good reminder that things can happen when you least expect them. Be careful out there.

Is that Judge Judy?

Try calling the outfitters down there. Sr. Limon and Sr. Reyes have climbed many different routes. Since they are outfitters not guides, they are more likely to help out.

I've got a real boner for Squamish these days.

I'm tough and bitter. They always go after my partner first.

I think the M's are funny because they take safety to a new level. Not a bad thing when teaching n00bs.

incremental design improvement. Did you test the hammers on the dog? How did the Stubai do compared to the Kong?

It is a big grey area. If someone only has one locker on an anchor, I will let it go. If someone is about to TR off webbing, I will step in. Every situation is different. I was climbing on the Apron with a new climber this weekend. We topped out and had to do a few of the exposed fourth class slabs to get down Broadway. My partner was a bit sketched looking at the exposure, so I set a fixed line. Another couple was there eying the exposure with trepidation. I offered them the fixed line. They both tied in with kleimheists attached to their leg loops. This looked more like an autoblock for rappel rather than a way to traverse a fixed line. If one of them had fallen, they would have dropped straight on their head, but they wouldn't have fallen to their death, so I let it go.

I always ask one question: Is anyone going to die if I let this go? If the answer is yes, I step in. If it's no, I let things happen.

You should keep trying. How much without the boots?

not so weird, but oh so fun: on an open project i'm currently trying, there's a left hand side-pully teensy crimp, and the next hold for the right hand is a half pad crimp up and left of it, so it's a weird balancy dyno off of a high left foot, up and over drive-by to a decent right hand crimp and my body pendulums all the way around pivoting on the left toe and right crimp and it's about aim and then powering to hold the swing with one hand, since the left crimp becomes virtually useless once i've swung onto the right hand. whew. oh and it's overhung too, adding to the above issues. Is there a translator in the house?

It's a 5.12 in the hiking world.

They will probably investigate tents/bivies in strange places.

I will take the R1 Hoodie.

Awesome. Simply awesome.

Prime Rib of Goat. It's not terrific, but it is 10 pitches of sport to 5.9.

thanks for the pics. I'm glad I wasn't scratching my ass or adjusting myself.

bolt both kids to the log so we can have double the amusement

Use the plastic from one of those 2.5 gallon water jugs. Cut it out to fint the entire bottom of the crapon and attache with wire zip ties. I have a set of these on my AL crampons. They work pretty well.

Trip: Wa Pass, Liberty Bell Group - Moderate Enchainment, all 5 major summits Date: 7/12/2008 Trip Report: It started like any number of weekends. On Wednesday I sent a note out to my regular partners to see who wanted to climb. I had my eyes on the Northwest Corner of NEWS. Argus was the first to respond. Aside from being the second stinkiest climber I know (I am the stinkiest), Argus is a solid climber and a fun guy to share a belay with. On Friday morning I got a text message from Argus. "I was thinking we should try to climb all 5 spires tomorrow" …and that's how it started. The idea was to make a rough traverse from North to South from Liberty Bell to SEWS. It worked out pretty damn well. SW Face of Liberty Bell (5.6) North Face of Concord (5.6) North Face of Lexington (5.6) Northwest Corner of NEWS (5.9) Southwest Rib of SEWS (5.8) We started on the Beckey Route on Liberty Bell. I forgot the camera in the pack, so there are no pictures of our long simul-climb to the summit. I'm sure you are all devastated that there aren't more pictures online of the Beckey route. Argus did get a shot of me rappelling down (I think that's Liberty Bell) We rappelled as normal and climbed the North Face of Concord. Argus saw a few pins and a rap station and pulled us a little off route. We climbed about a pitch of loose 5.7 before regaining the normal route. More simul-climbing to the summit. Argus Approaching the summit of Concord We did a double rope rappel off the South face of Concord. We were most concerned about the south face rappels on Concord and Lexington. It seemed like it would work out, but neither of us had looked at them in person. I think it will go… The next route was the North Face of Lexington. We found a bit of loose rock and kitty litter. IMO, this was the worst climb of the five. Again, we simul-climbed to the summit. Fenderfour on route The fun traverse to the summit (downclimbing) Rappelling the South Face dropped us into the notch between NEWS and Lexington. After climbing up a small rise, we did another short rappel and were then able to scramble over to the start of the NW Corner on NEWS. Holy shit is that route good. This is also where we ran into some other parties; three to be exact, all on the West Face. NW Corner w00t! The pitch three of the route follows the obvious crack system starting at the lone tree on the right. We ran the first two pitches together. Argus lead the crux under cling pitch. The exposure, position, and moves on that pitch were nuts. A little beta: bring a #4.5 or 5 for this pitch. It takes some of the bite off. Argus starting the crux pitch I got to grovel my way up the off width pitch. I didn't do it in style, I didn't do it pretty, but I didn't not do it. Argus took the last real lead and chose the 5.9 option over the unprotected 5.6. Another fun pitch. A short scramble to the summit and another rappel took us to the last route of the day; the Southwest Rib on SEWS. Both of us had climbed the route previously. We wanted to finish up with some easier, but still quality climbing. Goat on the summit of SEWS from the summit of NEWS Argus, the pissinest guy I know The chockstone rappel between NEWS and SEWS We skipped the first two pitches by rappelling in to the 5.8 hand crack from above. It was awkward and funky, but as good as the first time I had climbed it. Argus ran the next two pitches together, saving us a bit of time. I finished off the serious climbing on the bear hug pitch. Instead of bear-hugging, I decided to hump the pitch. Damn I'm sexy. The 5.7 bearhug pitch that I turned into the 5.4 dryhump pitch. Argus battled some significant rope drag on a looong simul-climbing pitch to the summit. We cheered, we farted, we pissed, we climbed down the South Arete. Two tools on the summit, 2,000+ feet in one day. I had a flask of Jim Beam at the packs that made the walk out to the car more enjoyable. A sprint to Winthrop had us eating dinner at the Bistro. I don't think they get many scuzzy climbers in there, but they were the only place still serving food. Overall, this was a really fun moderate day out. There were definitely some less than stellar pitches, but as a whole, it was terrific. It would be difficult to find so much easy. moderate climbing that can be done this quickly. We had a huge rack that made the simul--climbing of 4 pitches at once possible. We all know the picure Gear Notes: Set of nuts, Double cams to #4, one #5 for NEWS, 14 single slings, 4 double slings, Double 60m ropes, crampons, ice axes (unnecessary) Approach Notes: Beckey Route on Liberty Bell and head South. All of the rappels work with double ropes, just look for stations as needed.

Man, did I crap a lot yesterday. A big dinner on Friday, a long day climbing on Saturday, a big dinner on Saturday night, and a big breakfast on Sunday made for a lot of shitting.

These sort of posts piss me off. For every basketball sized rock that comes down, a lot more smaller rocks are knocked loose and are also coming down. Your attention is held by the monster rock and you don't notice the smaller rocks. A baseball sized rock can kill you. A baseball sized rock probably won't kill you if you are wearing a helmet. You have your reasons for wearing or not wearing a helmet. I don't much care about that. I dont' like seeing arguments against helmet use based on flimsy anecdotal evidence posted in forums that new climbers will see as a source of reliable information.

I will be there, 7/15

Or it was a good weekend.

Blue, I think.