Rad

Ratings shmatings. The rock is dry, the weather is good so get out there and climb!

Nope, but he was good friends with my younger sister and we had many mutual friends. Maybe I have been lucky, but I haven't lost any close friends to climbing accidents....yet.

Uh..Porter. This turned to spray on page one. In case y'all haven't noticed, EVERY thread in the rock climbing forum eventually morphs into an exploration of one or more of the following themes: 1 - why bolts are actually the first harbinger of the apocalypse. 2 - why crusty the armchair clown climbed harder in the 70s in EBs than Chris Sharma does today. 3 - why one route, crag, or genital appendage is better than another. Someone should write a little software to generate these threads - it would save these guys some time

Article on Denali fatalities Mislow was one year behind me in high school. Good guy gone. .............. He had climbed Mount Everest and Mount McKinley, won the respect of colleagues at the Brigham and Women's Hospital, and was known for his drive for excellence. On Thursday, Dr. John Mislow and his climbing partner died while scaling Alaska's Mount McKinley after falling about 2,000 feet, the National Park Service said. Mislow, 39, of Newton, and Dr. Andrew Swanson, 36, of Minneapolis, were roped together when they fell shortly before 2 p.m., the park service said in a statement. Another climbing team saw them falling between 16,500 feet on the Messner Couloir and its base at 14,500 feet. The Messner Couloir is an hourglass-shaped snow gully with a 40- to 50-degree snow and ice slope that is sometimes used by advanced skiers, the park service said. It is rarely descended or ascended on foot. "Some people come down that couloir, but most typically on skis, not typically on foot, like they appear to have been at that time," said Maureen McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for Denali National Park, where the mountain is located. Three skiers in the area were the first to get to the climbers. A team of volunteer rangers, including an emergency room nurse and two medics, quickly arrived and confirmed the two men had died, the service said. The two men began their climb of McKinley's West Rib on May 30. It was unclear if they were climbing up or down the 20,322-foot mountain when the accident occurred. Mislow had graduated from the Pritzker School of Medicine at the University of Chicago in 2004, according to the state Board of Registration in Medicine. Mislow and his wife have two children. "He loved being a dad," said Arthur L. Day, chairman of neurosurgery at Brigham and Women's Hospital. "He was a terrific person, an inspiration. He had a great work ethic," Day added. "When he was your doctor, you knew he was going to be there with you day or night, completely committed." Mislow was in the fifth year of a seven-year neurosurgery residency. He had a bachelor's degree from Princeton University and a Ph.D. and medical degree from the University of Chicago. Day said he remembered Mislow talking about his climbing expeditions. "He was an adventurer, and that was another thing that made him so unique and interesting." Last month, neighbors noticed camping equipment in his yard, apparently in preparation for his Mount McKinley climb. The Park Service said both Mislow and Swanson were experienced mountaineers. The Denali National Park presented the two men with the Denali Pro Award in 2000, recognizing their achievements in safety, in self-sufficiency, and for assisting fellow mountaineers. Eric Meyer, who joined Mislow in a 2004 ascent of Mount Everest, said he remembers Mislow as a careful climber. "He was a very meticulous planner," Meyer said. "He would go to great lengths to plan his climbing approach in the mountains, his tactics. He was not one of these sort of fly-by-night people. He was very methodical, very calculated." Although Meyer made only one trip with Mislow, he said he remembers Mislow for his enthusiasm. "He had a very infectious love of climbing and a very charismatic, upbeat approach to climbing," Meyer said. "He was a joy to be around up in the mountains." McLaughlin said that two other climbers have died this year on Mount McKinley, and that four climbers died last year. "It's definitely experienced climbers that come here," she said. "It certainly has its dangers." It was the second time in less than two months that a doctor with ties to the Brigham died in an accident. Phyllis Jen, the popular medical director of a major physicians' group at the Brigham, died April 21 after she was involved in a head-on car crash near her home in Needham. Jen, an internist, had served for the past 27 years as medical director of Brigham Internal Medicine Associates. © Copyright 2009 Globe Newspaper Company.

Why go to the pub when you can go to the crag this time of year. CBS, are you in town?

Thanks for the detailed TR, but can you explain why is this a "great climb"? Every time I read TRs it sounds like wading through nasty scree, soloing easy 5th class on super loose rock, one good traverse pitch, and then a whole bunch of scrambling and schwacking. I suppose I should do this route someday, but there are too many other things on the list that seem miles better. Maybe pics will convince me otherwise someday.

There is another difference that hasn't been mentioned: On a bolted route someone has already defined how the pitch will be protected. In contrast, on a trad pitch you must decide how to protect the pitch yourself. Some pitches are very straight forward, others require conserving gear for higher cruxes or anchors, being mindful of ropedrag, and figuring out placements that are not immediately obvious. This costs time and drains mental energy. It is also the reason why I find trad onsights particularly fulfilling. Thus, I'd propose that ONSIGHTING a trad pitch is harder than ONSIGHTING a sport pitch of the same grade. I agree with Tim that the difficulty of redpointing trad and sport routes is probably probably pretty comparable once the moves, gear placements, and clipping stances have been worked out.

Totally agree with catbird. Next time you're on a sport climb carry your rack, pull a tricam off your harness at each bolt, clip it to the bolt, then clip a runner to the bolt and clip that. Alternatively, just hold your hand over the bolt while you sing the alphabet song. Surely more strenuous than just clipping the bolt. That said, there is another factor: usually older climbs have stiffer ratings than newer ones, and most trad climbs are older than sport climbs. In an area where both types went up at the same time then the ratings should be closer.

MattP and Catbird are generous in sharing their time with stranger noobs, and I'm sure many others are too. In addition to rolling the dice in the partners forum, you can attend group outings and events and meet people that way. It's a bit more of a test drive before you buckle in for 5 pitches of Dierdre. Generally, you get what you give. I think of the cheesy church sign on Lake City: "Want a friend? Be one"

This thread is getting thin on content. Last year we went up Leave My Face Alone at Index and upon rapping down with our 60m rope we got stuck above the Zoom anchor and had to play rope games to get down. 70m would have been nice. On the flip side I remember going and climbing Braile Book on a 60m rope and getting all messed up because we wanted to run the full rope length and ended up at awkward belay points because the pitches were geared for a 50m rope or shorter. I'm glad y'all had such a golden time in the golden age with your goldline. Hope you are enjoying your golden years. I'm not ready to go there yet myself.

all fixed. Trees are OUT

Isn't that the org's own fault w/ branding, if indeed it is unfortunate? Probably. Note that I am not a Mountaineer, have never taken a class from them, and try to remain clear of the Mountie-bashing on this site. M-led groups have had some serious accidents in recent years, but the org doesn't deserve any bad press that follows from the follies of others.

Scary. Glad only minor injuries resulted. Perhaps you should send your version directly to Kelly Bush. PM me if you need her email address, but I think you can find it on the public NOCA website. BTW, the use of the word, "mountaineers" is unfortunate, because it unintentionally mirros the name of the organization. Perhaps simply, "climbers" would have been better.

A few years back a man got arrested for shooting a peregrine and he contested the fine. At his hearing, he told the judge he did it because his family was poor and they needed food. The judge let him off with a warning and community service. When the hearing ended, the judge leaned over to the man and asked, "So I'm just curious, what does Peregrine taste like?". The man replied, "Oh, almost as sweet as Spotted Owl but more meaty and tough like Bald Eagle".

Was there this morning climbing Just Dessert and Late for Dinner and mama falcon was swirling and talking. She didn't dive at us, but she checked us out until she decided we weren't getting closer to her. It would probably be best to stay off the following climbs until July - some of these are quite popular: Jiffy Pop. Rat Face. I can Fly. Underground Economy (very popular 5.9). Overture (A GREAT CLIMB BTW). Underture. Won't Get Fooled Again. Thanks. Rad

If you want views take him up the Sahale arm.

That guy looks a lot like my former landlord, except he was an ass.

How about posting links to your favorite helmet? Mine is in serious need of an update.

Since this thread started I got a 9.5 mammut, which I will probably only use for sport onsight or redpoint attempts. Thanks for all your thoughtful responses. In truth, I'm just responding to peer pressure to look cool. It's probably a lost cause because I still wear my helmet on most leads. I'm guessing that's why you haven't seen pics of me on the cover of Climbing Magazine yet... Fortunately, my wife likes skinny.

Don't worry so much about the ratings. Good routes are good fun and bad routes are crappy regardless of what people have rated them. Think less, climb more.

How about comparing ratings among gyms? Pretty wide range there...

Ego boosting, but not in all cases. For example, Negatherion, Overture, Architect Rally, and Primus all felt comparable to easy 11s at x32 and Index sport routes in the Country. Comparing sport to trad ratings is useless IMHO.

Thanks JH, I took my Hilti 36v battery (symptoms similar to your sawzall) to Batteries Plus. They looked at it and looked up the right cells for a rebuild and quoted me $230 for a rebuild. However, the tech said that rebuilding this exact battery was the final exam for battery cert program and it took him 8 hours to do it - and he'd rather not do mine because it's so old he is concerned we'd do a ton of work and it wouldn't work any better than now. Either he's right (quite possible) or it's a cop out. I asked them to try reconditioning and they did at no charge, but no benefit. So I'll go back to pick it up at no charge. But I'm back to square one. I can drill one hole per trip to the crag - makes you think carefully, but now I've decided where placements should go on a 30m bolted route so it would take 9 trips to the crag to complete the line! Maybe I'll send it off to Primecell or wait to hear how yours goes. Please post. thks.

20th down to U village around 47th. 2 good ones from E 10th to I5 around Howe (Cap hill). A nice series of steep streets between I5 and Latona around 52nd to 60th. I think there is a long stair set in Fremont but I am not sure where.

Clever, but if you fall on that girth hitch it could slide on you (unlikely), and if it slides you could burn through your belay loop (even less likely). It would probably take a really big fall to do that. Cool idea.