fenderfour

I saw a plane take a swipe at J-berg on Saturday evening. It flew mighty close to a high point on the ridge. Was that you?

It's all the wiggling and smacking of nuts. I think it's a little too much. Sometimes you need a delicate hand to work these things out.

Will you provide altitudinization tables?

The biggest issue I've heard involves the service providers handicapping requests for data/services from online companies in direct competition with them. i.e. Comcast could slow down the connection to e-bay while promoting their own auction service (or whatever).

There is still a lot of snow on the E Ridge direct approach. I'm pretty sure the ledges on the NE side were pretty clear. I looked down at them from the summit before we went back to our bivies at the W. ridge notch. There were a LOT of people up there last weekend. About half went down the E. Ledges.

Cool TR and great pics. Maybe I will get down there this year. Gary, please, eat a twinkie for me. You are waaaay too skinny. Your leg is about as big around as my wrist. Hand cracks yield knee jams for Mr. Yngve.

W. ridge of Forbidden is in good shape. A few moats have opened up in the couloir, but nothing insurmountable. There were a lot of people up there this morning. Go do it and have fun.

Sunday june 25: You guys were in a Passat wagon and had just climbed Buckner. You drove off and left some boots. PM me for pickup.

I've been working on this for a while. You don't need a bartacker, although it would do the job better. You can use a regular machine with sturdy polyester thread. Use a zig-zag stitch with a very short stitch length. You wil need to waste some webbing to work out the proper stitch length and thread tension, but it should work. Thinner needles seem to work better. Make sure you start and finish a seam by going backwards. This will lock in the stitching. I thought that I would need a heavy duty machine too. The weave of the webbing is really loose, so the needle slides through fairly easily. Where are you getting hooks?

We can make it!!!! (Slab climbing with the Mountaineer's Handicapped branch)

I tried to get a new diesel VW in order to go Biodiesel after the waranty expired. They are very tough to get right now. All of the Golfs sold out in February/March. Diesel Passats weren't imported this year. Only thing left 2 months ago were Jettas at $24,000+. I've heard rumors that VW won't be bringing any more diesels to the US until 2008. Something about emissions. On a more positive note, VW has approved B5 for use in all of it's diesel motors. It's not very much "B", but it's a start.

which is why a Lesbaru is great for Washington climbing.

Get a small . Although I just bought a new Lesbaru.

Join The Tooth conga line too-day!

Go to REI. Buy the 2 liter aluminum pot for $9. It's lighter than the MSR blacklight. It's cheaper than the MSR blacklight. You will look like an alpine hardman with your new aluminum pot. You will look like a badass once there are a few dents and some residue from a melted sleeping bag on the outside of your new 2 liter aluminum pot. Wanna buy a 2 liter aluminum pot for $9?

Righteous! and shit.

Cool enough, but I'm the guy with a hammer. You are the guy with a chalkbag.

I keep my bible in a pool of blood so that none of it's lies can infect me!!!

Not to start a war, but... If an old aid line is free'd then it is no longer allowed to be nailed, even if that is the only way to aid climb it?

Attention all lurkers - Just say "no" to bad first posts.

I'm guessing you don't use an adjustable fifi? I use Metolius adjustable daisies.

So I've had a couple sets of Russian aiders for a few months. I just got a chance to try them out in Tieton on Saturday as rain threatened us all day. Russian aiders are a two-part system. The first part is a leg cuff that loops webbing under your foot to attach a hook to the inside of your knee. These never come off while climbing. You strap in at the bottom of the pitch and they stay on throughout. The second part is the aid tree which is a piece of webbing with a series of metal rings sewn on the sides. These replace your aiders. You clip an aid tree to your piece and hook a ring on the aid tree with one of the hooks at your knee. Up you go. These are not the Russian aiders that Trango used to make. They are produced by Alvo Titanium, which is marketed under the Ushba name brand in the US. As far as I know, these are not available in the US. I have a friend in Moscow who sent them to me here in Seattle. At first glance, these things look scary cheap. The webbing is just about the shittiest I've ever seen. The weave is thinner than what is used on backpack straps. It won't last very long. The "buckles" are two Ti rings cut from tubing that has been deformed to make elongated ovals. They do not hold the shitty webbing very well, so you have to tighten them down periodically. The only part of the aider cuffs that looks well made are the hooks. They are nicely welded titanium with webbing loops on the top and the bottom. There is a hole for a carabiner just above the hook. I've been aiding for a year or two now. I'm certainly not an expert, but I have tried out a traditional 2-aider system as well as the Easy Aiders from Metolius. The Russian system was much faster and felt more secure. The advantage comes from the hooks at the knees. You are able to use opposing forces between your knee hook-in location and your toes to stay upright. Instead of relying on your daisy chain to maintain balance, you can push off with your toes. I lead the first pitch of easy A1 on slightly less than vertical terrain. I never once needed to adjust my daisy chains to maintain balance. Everything was handled by the knee/toe push. This advantage also translates to cleaning the pitch. I girth hitched slings to the aid hooks and clipped them to my ascenders. I was once again able to maintain balance with the knee/toe push instead of relying on my daisy chains. The hooks enable you to hook directly to a carabiner or the piece that you are on to get a couple more inches of height. Move to move, the Russian system will get you higher than the others, even if you don’t hook the carabiner or the piece. When you absolutely need every inch to get to the next placement, I believe that a top-step move on traditional big wall ladders will get you higher. The distance gained on every move of the Russian system should more than make up for this. I haven't taken any pictures of the aiders yet. If you have any specific requests, let me know, I'd be happy to help out. BTW - We climbed the aid route on Tieton Wall. The first 100 feet are fun easy A1, taking nuts and small cams. The last 70-80 feet are scary loose. If you are to climb it, go up to the fixed pins at 70 feet and rappel off instead of topping out.

Hand wash with dishsoap. air dry

I know that Dyneema and Spectra are more affected by UV. It could have something to do with it.

F_ck it. I'm going to Leavenworth to chop Bruce's Boulder. It's like 12 feet of 5.6.