Rad

Cutting trees is not the same as scraping moss and pine needles out of cracks. There are cases where it makes sense, cases where it clearly doesn't, and a continuum in between. Perhaps more importantly, the day is coming soon when Index will be a State Park and it will not be possible to just do whatever the f##k we want without consulting anyone. For that type of freedom you'll have to develop crags on your own land. Right now the property is owned by the Climber's Coalition, so you should seek permission from them for any projects beyond basic gardening.

Make it so!

Thanks Sam. Will check them out. You might want to retrieve your rope before someone absconds with it. I have some new routes out there too. They'll be in the next guide.

I had an Edelweiss rope BITD. Lovely thing. It came with a book where I was supposed to log all of my meters of top roping, leading, abseiling as well as details on falls. I never wrote anything in that book cuz I'm not a swiss machine. You could keep relevant info in the rope bag. Each rope stays in its bag, except for alpine outings.

RIP Dean. You were a pioneer and explorer. A true original. I never sought to follow in your footsteps, but that doesn't make you any less inspiring. Fly free. Hey CCers, let's not recycle the trash of the comment boards around the interweb. Respect deserves respect.

Shuttle could be an alternative to parking madness at Little Si. Guess you'll have to leave your crag dogs at home though.

Gaia already does it by combining GPS w USGS topo maps. From GPS coordinates you can find out altitude, assuming you're not riding your Nimbus 2000.

Good question. I know there was footage of her placing pieces on lead, but maybe on the send she clipped the pre-placed gear. Will have to go back and watch it again tonight!

So far, the hardest rock lines in the world are either limestone (Spain) or the bizarre granite of the Flatanger cave. This means super steep terrain with holds. In fact, none of these routes are redpointed. They are pink-pointed, where pre-placed draws are clipped (or skipped). Marc, maybe you can find and lead the first 5.15 trad climb! The hardest trad line I can think of without googling a bunch where gear was placed on lead on the FA is is Beth Rodden's Metldown in Yosemite. Awesome Dosage video of same. Agree w others that risk and technical ability are different dimensions to the sport.

The NYTimes has posted a long list, with links, of places to donate: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/27/world/asia/where-to-donate-for-nepal.html?&moduleDetail=section-news-5&action=click&contentCollection=Asia%20Pacific&region=Footer&configSection=article&isLoggedIn=true&module=MoreInSection&pgtype=article

Making plans to finally head up there this year. Anyone know what the snowpack has been up there this winter? Will crevasses, moats, bergshrunds and bare glacial limit our options (or add a significant ice element) in late August? Is early August better? Thanks much. Rad

Actually, they extort cash out of blacks, hispanics, and poor people. Middle class white people and rich folks get a free pass. Just look at Petreus getting probation for spilling national secrets to the chick he was banging. Different laws for different tiers of society. It's sickening.

Yes, there's no question that was a remarkable achievement, but it was 22 years ago. Hard to get excited about news that old.

We should have a pool on what person and route will be the first female ascent of a confirmed 9a+ (5.15a). Obvious contenders include women who've climbed 9a already: Muriel Sarkany Angela Eiter Ashima Shiraishi (let's assume Open Your Mind settles at hard 9a) Sasha DeGiulian Josune Bereziartu Charlotte Durif I'll put my money on Ashima. The next question is what route. La Rambla is probably too reachy. Some other routes too power-focused. Realization/Biographie might be the one, though it looks fairly reachy at the top as well and has proven quite hard for even the top men to climb. Where are you placing your money?

Ratings are highly subjective. Use them as a guide rather than a true measure of anything. How a climb feels can vary depending on height of climber, conditions, proficiency of the climber in the type of climbing, era, area, developer, and on and on. That said, climbs with the same rating, style, and area ought to be consistently graded. You can't easily compare 5.9 cracks at Squamish, 5.9 slabs at Darrington, 5.9 on loose exposed terrain in the alpine, and 5.9 sport climbing at X38, but routes in each group should feel similar in difficulty. People who start in gyms might easily do sport routes but be completely shut down by slabs and cracks because they haven't learned those styles of climbing. That doesn't mean the ratings are wrong. They just need to be internally consistent within a given area.

Now this is some entertaining s$%t! Internet rant on claiming lines at crags

Don't want to buy a separate GPS but want to know where you are on a topo when you don't have cell service? Check out Gaia on iPhone or android. Fun and useful tool.

0 to 10,000 should be fine. You might get a headache. Chances of worse are low but perhaps not zero. Stay hydrated, wear polarizing glasses if it's sunny, have fun!

Imagine someone brought their toddler to the crag and the child ate your sandwich, stepped on your rope and gear, licked your hand when you weren't looking, knocked rocks on people below, dug up a bunch of native plants, shit on the ground close to the crag (and left it), chased squirrels and birds, bawled inconsolably while the parent was up climbing, and slept on your gear or in the middle of the trail. Then imagine the parent ignored most of these behaviors and said, "Don't worry, he's friendly" when asked to control the child. You'd think the parent was a selfish, inconsiderate @%#$, and you'd be right. Why should dog owners get a free pass? Even on leashes, dogs detract from the experience of other climbers/hikers/users in many ways. Solution: Non-service dogs should be left at home. Just like National Parks.

DOES YOUR DOG BITE?

Can you post a photo or to to illustrate?

I'm typically trying to work cruxes on overhanging lines: climbing, lowering, climbing, lowering repeatedly on a section. Putting hardware on and off the rope repeatedly while dangling in space seems like a recipe for eventually dropping an expensive device. I've used a prussik as a backup. It's very cumbersome. If you have a device that can unlock and be used to rap/lower as the top piece you avoid a bunch of extra shenanigans. I use a Cinch. I can lower with the Cinch and Petzl micro, but it may require manually holding the cam open on the micro while the other hand is managing the lowering on the other device. Or remove the micro to lower/rap. I'm still learning best practices and open to suggestions.

I just bought the micro traxion and tried it out for the first time. It worked great TRing on a fixed line (I used it as a backup for the Trango cinch) but when I wanted to lower/rap it kept clicking back to engage rather than staying open when I set it open. Taking it on and off every time you want to go down to try a section again would be a pain. Anyone else encounter this or have suggestions?

Looks like they used cheaper metal. Ropes that have grit/sand in them will wear metal (grigri, biners, chains) faster than clean ropes. Think sandpaper. They used to say the same grit/sand will abrade and weaken the core of your rope. I don't know if the latter has been borne out in experiments. But it's probably a good idea to keep your rope out of the dirt and clean it after it gets dirty.

I had a PT w Raynaud's. I felt sorry for her, but not enough to go back.