Rad

Yikes! I'm sending you non-denominational prayers, Dane. Sobo, it sounds like you did an amazing job as crash pad and first-responder! You can belay for me any time. Med bills are the fastest route to bankruptcy known. Let's hope our next prez will figure out a way to make sure everyone gets covered. BTW, no insurance company pays all of your bills. They may pay 50%. You shouldn't pay more than them... A good friend of mine was first on the scene of a nasty accident at one of Trapp rock crags in CT. The leader was off route, ran it out past small stopper over small roof above a ledge, fell, somehow flipped, clipped hit on ledge on the way down, and continued on another 10 ft down. He had no helmet on and his head was cracked open like an egg. His belayer (who had done nothing wrong) completely freaked and was running down the trail for help when he ran into my friend and her partner. The partner ran down for help and my friend and the belayer went back up. It was a gruesome scene. At least he was killed instantly. I don't know enough to know if a helmet would have saved his life, and I'm glad I didn't learn more details... Sadly, bad shite can happen to good people.

The Mission Impossible theme is for twilight 4th class descents without a headlamp.

Similar discussion for rock climbing

Cool. Thanks for cleaning the route! I was not able to convince my partner to head over there after we went up Prussik. Do you think that thing could go free at 5.11 or under, perhaps if bolts were placed in different spots? Is there quality climbing (at least 5.8, sustained, clean, protectable, interesting) in your approach? Just curious.

Be safe as you gain experience. Epics are surely more memorable than uneventful outings, but don't let them kill you. These two simple things could save your life: Pay attention to the weather. You can die of hypothermia at any time of year. Froze to death on Rainier in June storm and Died on Hood in giant winter storm It's OK to turn around or back off a climb. You can always come back to it later. Turned around when rockfall cut the rope and From this thread, "...We hiked in to do N Ridge Sherpa but were met by wet, icy, snowy rock. We managed a couple of pitches but we were moving very slowly. I smelled an epic in the making so we bailed before we got too committed. It was a great day in the hills none the less." Now go have fun out there!

Jim, June is unpredictable. They are expecting about a foot of fresh snow up there tonight. For current conditions, check this NPS site: NCNP current conditions website For more info call the NCNP ranger station in Marblemount. You should not need any rock pitons. Removable protection (nuts, cams, long slings) should suffice. Please do not hammer pitons into any of the classic routes up there. Thanks. Rad

Glad you are ok Joe. Whatever lesson you learned is not one you're soon likely to forget.

FWIW, I thought the last pitch of GM (3+ inch corner crack, not the lower squeeze) was harder than the gendarme OW on Stuart, or for that matter the first gendarme lieback pitch on Stuart. If you can do GM you should be able to cruise on Stuart. Go get it!

Sobo, I once had a guide, perhaps now in the basement, to the Owens River Gorge that defined pinkpointing, redpointing, brownpointing, and at least two other colors. One may have corresponded to dogging on lead (hanging/falling and then continuing to the top). Not sure. You're not missing much by ignoring all of these. R

Pinkpointing trad routes, or even sport routes, seems pretty silly to me too, but if that makes people happy who cares? I might imagine there are routes truly at one's limit that one can pinkpoint but not redpoint.

Flash is what I did on the Sword after seeing pics from every possible angle and reading every TR I could find. Certainly not an onsight. Right.

Perhaps I misunderstood and Rob was talking about redpointing (placing all gear/draws on lead) versus pinkpointing (clipping pre-placed draws/gear). We can probably all agree that leading onsight > flashing > redpointing > pinkpointing > hangdogging on lead > TRing > couch surfing > spraying on CC.

Yes, Rob, easy for you to say. As you may know, some highly respected climbs are hard headpoints in the UK. These routes are typically toproped ad infinitum prior to R/X lead attempts. Is that cheating too? Many threads have dealt with FA style before. It often boils down to whether the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one. In other words, is the style and experience of the first ascent (the one) more important than the final product that subsequent climbers (the many) will experience? In one example, bolts placed from hooks may not be in places that make sense for free climbing (e.g. near a clipping stance and protecting the right part of the climb). Cleaning loose rock off a route from hook placements sounds really scary! Besides, hooks are aid, so perhaps you should drill bolts by hand from stances. It's a fine goal to make a first ascent onsight ground up while placing all protection from stances, with an eye to developing a classic route worth repeating. I agree with you that ground-up is better provided it does not compromise the resulting product. We look forward to seeing your FA TRs.

Quite an opus. Thanks for posting. Why not try to get it published?

I think Matt's point is also that Fox is a partisan news source. Most other media outlets talked about how McClellan totally slammed Bush, Rove, Cheney, Rice, and others.

There is no denying people gain a sense of authorship over routes, for better or worse, and that authorship may be a small and vain attempt at immortality. Nonetheless, that pride in one's work is often what drives people to excellence and can lead to some great achievements. The flip side is that people who don't care about their works are probably doomed to mediocrity. In my view of humanity, these apply equally to climbing, relationships, careers, and essentially all aspects of life. "If your work isn't what you love then something isn't right" - David Byrne.

Rob, I don't think 'sport' route developers think they created the route. Of course the rock was there first, but someone had to have the vision that a route would go free, and then clean and protect it so that others can safely climb it. Creating great routes with fixed protection is a lot harder than slapping in some bolts. Choosing an aesthetic line is not easy. Just ask MattP. Fixed protection is vital to many classic routes. For example, without bolts on Merci me (or Cruel Shoes) the Grand Wall, with its stellar trad pitches, would not be climbable for people unwilling to free solo 5.8 500ft off the deck. For that matter, the bolt ladders that most aid past are also critical on that climb. If you only want to climb cracks that's fine, but you're limiting yourself to a pretty narrow set of climbing experiences.

See OPP lyrics above...

Bill has spoken. Post some some pics of your 'almost' ascent so we can see if the route is worth all this bother.

No change in 2 years sounds like it went from 'project' to 'open project'. One crazy idea: climb it and don't tell anyone about it.

Thanks. Even if it's not five star it still looks well worth doing.

Nice TR. Seems to echo what others have said: that the first few pitches are sweet and the rest is fairly forgettable. Would you agree?

I used to have something like that Estwing thing when I was a kid. A geologist neighbor gave it to me. Great for smashing open rocks. One winter I used it to chip two inches of ice off our driveway and it worked great, except it nearly destroyed the driveway in the process. Dad was none too happy. Thankfully we lived in a rental at the time. I like the standard weeder for PNW cleaning. And yes, the nylon brush is much better, mainly because it lasts much longer and doesn't litter the area with metal splinters/hairs. I'd also second Alpinfox's comment that mask, goggles, and leather gloves are vital. I've inhaled a good bit of dirt and lichen and it is no fun at all.

We definitely will. I did, but at least it was small.