lancegranite

Allow me to fire the first shot... I grew up trad...learned to climb at Index. I love cracks. I'm not dissing the MERITS of either disipline of our sport. simply saying that sport is movement based and so therefore the basis of everything. By taking most of the risk out of the situation,framilarity is more quickly reached and a steeper learning curve is the result. the traditional climbing base is the challenge of engineering safety in a high risk enviroment,making it safe to operate.only thru skill and fortitude will the leader prevail. the risk that is inherent in our sport attracts people differently,some want to tame it,some want to set it free. what do you think?

may I suggest yet another variation we have used.. top down,TR,mark holes,drill,pull ropes. then "ground up" putting bolts in on the lead. still fun, and, you get to bring a hammer on a face climb.

hard to say, so many international visitors,some very strong,climb here every year. More soloing got done in the old days(1980-1990's) my friend "the gambler" has soloed many long routes,epi,dream,froglands,tunnel. Route knowledge is really important here, and framilarity for the rock cannot be understated enough. one day,a Bacher-wanna -be cratered right in front of me and my lady friend at the Gallery(showing off for girls) as always,this stuff is dangerous,please use your head.

I live in vegas. it's ok..but there are not many funky coffee shops or cool bookstores with a cat sleeping on the counter. but, we do have a new Whole foods market right across the street from my house,a very nice gym to train in on those winter nights, and just about everything that you might need 24 hours a day. oh yeah, while you slowly grow mold all winter,today the weather is around 80 degrees and sunny. yesterday I worked a half day, then ran some erands. on the way home,the Red Rocks looked nice so I ran out and free soloed Tunnel Vison with just enough time to watch the sunset from the top. 30 minutes later, my wife calls me in the car to pick up a pizza on the way home."I'll be home in 10 minutes..." yeah, vegas sucks some times,.. but not today.

you can buy a house and have no problems.. for some, the fun is building your own.

I did a couple of split conversions back in the old days. the main things were: have a nice work enviroment. a good board vise: sawblades,fine grain of course. buy the longest setting glue that you can find.the more plyable the better.go the extra mile and get the good stuff. also find a space heater and a bathroom.( for later)then, plot the straightest line possible. measure three times, cut once. (trust me on this one) Do not plot out or drill the binding holes yet, as you will lose some width when you cut,usually a 1/16"-1/8" then clamp the half-a-board flush to the edge of the bench so you can dado out the wood core along the 'new' inside edge. Neatness counts now, as this is the crux.. set the saw for a 3/16 inch cut. now CAREFULLY dado out the core. avoid nicking the top sheet or base for obvious reasons. Once the core has been removed, take care to clean any debris out of the cut.ideally,the remaining top sheet and p-tex base sheet will form a trough for tommrow's glue to harden in, creating the board's 'new' side wall in the prossess. now, open a frosty bevarage and admire your handy work,then, set the board(and SEALED glue,..important) into the bathroom with the space heater set on a low setting, the piece should be warm,not hot, in the morning. the idea is to have both glue and board at the same tempature for the pouring and curing prosess. mix enough epoxy to do half a board at a time. Pour the glue into the new sidewall flush to the top. use a needle to get rid of air pockets. return the board to the warm bathroom to cure...repeat. once cured(at LEAST 48 hours)sand and file the new sidewall flush.the pieces must fit PERFECTLY together. now,plot and drill the binding holes. neatness counts once again, as you have put in a lot of time in on this project.. nobody likes to blow it at the anchors. once outfitted,take it easy on the break-in period,(as any hidden problems will now be showing up.) all this because you can't tele..

The late,great Craig Kelly... An amazing rider, consumate professional, coolest dude ever. "the kid...he was one of the greats, a hero." Thanks Craig.

Three fingers east face, in winter the horror...the horror...

The Icicle to Index day trip: CLIMB any Icicle route you feel comfortable doing at 4:00 am. DRIVE to the end of the road. hike 15 miles to Stevens Pass. your friend who dropped you off will be waiting with the bikes. RIDE them the 20 miles down to Skykomish.(use the old cascade highway variation) then.. grab some beers from the gas station for the PADDLE to Baring,(10 mi.) take out at the store for ice cream,then.. HITCHHIKE to Index,sunburnt and buzzed,to CLIMB whatever route feels good in the dark. This can be done. I challenge you,the reader, to complete the traverse in a day. Good Luck, God Speed. the winner gets to name it.. next year ..we'll have the race.

what would be your supertrip? My cascade supertrip would be a north cascade traverse by alternative means... Paddle Lake Chelan to Holden, Hike the Holden to Lucerne trail via Glacier Peak, Climb Glacier Peak (of course..) Down to the Suattle or Whitechuck, Drop in and paddle the Sauk River to the Skagit, Paddle the Skagit to the Sound. It all sounds good, except the part where we drag kayaks over Glacier Peak. we could swim...or build canoes out of logs. OK...drag a log canoe up Glacier and tobaggon down..we'll live off the land.. eat berries and elk.

hmmm.. "massive and grey.." "numerous bluffs in the woods" "narrow knife edged sitting straddle(ouch!) COULD these clues written by the world oldest climbing bum stir the hearts of jaded crag rats?... WILL crusty alpinists with beards rush to straddle the spiny summit ridge?.... WHO would you manage to talk into "checking out some stuff" in the middle of the week?.. HOW smart is it to go climbing in national forest during hunting season?.. CATCH ALL THE ACTION,TUNE IN THIS WEEK!!! (next week,"how to remove devils club slivers")

DARRINGTON SPEEDWAY 5.9+ witch doctor wall. FA fred becky A CASCADE CLASSIC!

white chuck is not in the stilly valley,but had a lookout no it.(also the WC river flows into the Sauk) close?

very smooth move I did'nt see it coming sly as a raccoon

hai.ku /(hi'koo) n. Japaneese three line poem of seventeen syllables. ahem.... rope, fingers and toes fingers in a lightsocket get what you came for

this is like eating ice cream with a hot dog. you can eat it with the weiner, it's better to put it in the bun. pitons are fun to place. you feel like... every story written about climbing written before 1972. "there I was..40 feet out,I look back..the rope hung in a lonely arc down to some poor soul i met at the hut. the fellow's name was Alberto, I believe.. I turn, to see a snow flake, slowly float down the wall and land on my bare hand. reaching higher,my fingers find a crack over the roof. it's too small to jam. things are starting to look desprate...

the first pitch was freed at 12+. the moves are not very hard..until the last bit, (5.11 to the crux then.. power! you motavated folks can train for this by climbing a vertical wall using foot jibs and the t-nut holes..don't forget to stuff in the RP'S. *** for you folks at home, 5" is five inches. my apologys to my MENSA friends out there!

thin fingers is ok, narrow arrow direct is the reason to climb thin fingers. the 3rd pitch is so fun! just the feeling of joy turning the roof out the 5" crack is as close to heaven as the good lord will let a sinner like me. (you take what you can get...)

good points! personal liabality is paramount in these situations. truth usually lies somewhere in the middle of these skirmishes, with both sides being "right"about something.

this stuff is great! you guys are never going to solve anything!(but,it makes for fun reading) down here in sunny las vegas nv,the "locals" had the same sort of problem..grandstanding,backbiting personal wars...general bullshit. now,here's the funny part... they put together a liason council filled with these folks. add a few access issues and enviromental concerns, the council was too busy waring to notice the 2 camping areas we lost and oh yeah,a total ban on bolting. down here the sun reaches 120 and UV is murder on webbing . I have torn webbing apart with.. MY BARE HANDS. on rappel? your fighting is making the sport look even more dorky. l.granite P.S. see you guys down here in november!(we can spot you ..pale,beard?,5.10a,dogs,subaru)

nice..thats it...now,let's all pause,go to the fridge,get a beer and type this out. it seems like a door has been opened...

This stuff is awesome!

DC- just paging thru the index guide...man,you really did a lot of climbing! what was equally surprising was that I grew up on your routes..racer x, gorilla, newest industry... classics all. thanks, DC. hey,I enjoy your thoughtful commentary...any chance of your own website?prehaps A.m. radio...this forum is just too..confining.

it's nice to see that thoughtful ideas can be expressed in a netural space. bolts are a fact of life. no matter what we tell our selves, man cannot help but shape the enviromert to his liking. the conflict occurs when we feel the sting of guilt,however small,that something was lost in the act. we all share the legacy of climbing. it has brought us all together,distant and close cousins, to be part of something greater. we represent many branches of the same tree. funny,i imagine the older limbs complaning that the sky used to be brighter in the old days,while the new growth fills it's days reaching for the sun,oblivious to it all.

my list of kool stuff. 1. climb with friends 2. enjoy life 3. lrean to type