boatskiclimbsail

The outing club tele ski rack went through 3 or 4 brands / models before said "to h*ll with it!" and bought all Voile 3 pin cable bindings. They still broke once in awhile, but usually it was what I called "operator error". Highly reccomended, the optional release system works extremely well (try half a dozen beginners on NE "snow" to test a release system).

Kong makes an exceptional hauling pulley, it kindof looks like a hodge-podge job, where they seem to have bolted one of their "modular" ascenders onto an extended rear plate of a pulley. Anyway, this thing has a 4" ball bearing sheave and an ascender for a rope grab. As an additional bonus, the back plate has a normal clip hole, but the front plate of the pulley has a clip gate on it, so you can load/unload your rope without having to unclip the device, possibly dropping it off the wall (like you would with a gri-gri). I haven't hauled any tremendously large loads, but for the 160lbs we were pulling, it was super super easy. Prior to this I had busted my ass with a mini-traxion, and I am convinced that (at least for hauling) that thing is sh*t . The cam gets hung up on the rope all the time, and the design seems to have been put together with "look cool" being more important than "function properly".

carbon steel picks and black fiber handles strapping on crampons when I take off my sandals blue and white chandeliers, laced up with cord this is what makes ice climbing adored!

You had to pay car insurance when you were 14? I couldnt even get a license till I was 16...

How about the situation I've witnessed twice in the same weekend at smith, when a group of 4 or 5 is TRing a climb and there is a diagonal line and a pushy leader who wants to put a rope up ACROSS the rope that is already up? Geez people are impatient... The first time I suggested he not clip any bolts until he was past the first rope but I just got a mean look back from him. I Was serious, not trying to be mean or anything!

My backcountry partner from VT wore a Women's 5 (23?)and swore by her Gara's. Anne's feet are very small. I almost had an old pair of her climbing shoes bronzed just because they were so damn cute.

I tripped in the middle of the road walking to my car this morning. Felt pretty silly.

Troy...

You mean Potsdam, NY?!? That is where both of my parents are from and where my uncle still lives. I never figured I'd hear it mentioned on this site! Small world! I went to college there for 4+ years, any chance your Unc is a professor in that wonderful College town?

Hey I grew up in the gunks, huge trad roofs are welcomed with open arms :-) Seneca 7 ... = Gunks 8 = Valley 8 = Squamish 9 = Rumney 10- = NRG 10 = Smith 10+ = PDX 11 Why did we standardize the ratings again? I was stoked when I lead my first gunks 10, when I got out here I was hearing stories of people's first ever leads on 10 at Broughtons and Smith. Side rant, why in a "decimal" system is the value of 5.10 > 5.1 and 5.13 > 5.2?

No, we climbed the day we got there at the New and stayed at the Sville dam, climbed another day at the new, before falling in love with Summersville. After the first day there we stayed the rest of the week. Where else can you climb gorgeous rock all day before stripping down and jumping in the river to cool off for the evening. We didn't get a license though... We might have gone to meadows had we not seen Summereville, and we had already done a week at Seneca during a caving trip to Franklin the year before.

Took a few weeks off work a few summers ago with the GF and did a few days at the Daks, down to the Gunks, one intermediate day at a camping spot in PA, down to NRG for 2 days, Summersville Lake for 3 days, RRG for a few, Saw some friends in TN, some family in NC, onto Boone for a couple days, one more day on the way home in NC (Pilot mtn), some more family in VA (got to waterski for the weekend too!), then back up in one push to the Gunks for a night then back up to good ol' Potsdam. Was awesome!

Got lost on a backcountry descent in the 'Daks and ended up hucking down about 200' worth of short ledge systems, only to find that we just ski'd down a "route" we had used to teach a beginner ice climbing clinic a few weeks back. It didn't look so big from the top!

Lifts start turning on Thursday 'round the PNW. I may *cough* be too sick to *cough* come into work tomorrow. For that matter, I may have to *cough* leave now, my skins need immediate attention... Snow-covered mountains and water-filled creeks. Which to choose!!!

Family wedding in FL, and bringin my kiteboard!!

Here, here! Let's end this damned battle of semantics and just go glimbing!

Last March (when I was there), 15 pesos was $1.23

But this is good beer . Checo's restaurant will also serve you 4 or 5 square feet of food for 40 pesos. We always left with the next day's lunch, lol. $1.20!!! SHEEEET! You a big spenda... I can get dat kinda action jes down da street!

If you go to Potrero, don't miss new years. MASSIVE partying in the middle of rural Mexico, climbers from all over the world. Even us non-alcoholics can appreciate the liter of beer one can acquire for 15 pesos ($1.20)

I get the cheapest (sometimes free) picks I can find and shape them to my liking. When I bash them on rocks (oops!), the next time I am at the car I get out my trusty file and reshape them. I don't think you can expect any pick to last forever, and a spare weighs little enough that I think it warrants carrying a spare. It's either that or a third tool, and for the alpine stuff being discussed, I think the pick wins. This post persuaded me to check out what BD says about these picks. Since when did a plasma cutter become a "laser"?

Wow, what a thread... There seems to be a second distinction between "building an anchor" and "equalizing pieces". the cnhor building skills I am referring to are not just placing a bunch of pieces and clipping them together in an equalized fasion. I'm talking about making new leaders realize the need for creativity and "making do with what youve got". The three piece cordalette anchor is fine, and is simple enough an idea you could build one while reading a JL book at the top of a climb. My goal with my students is to get them comfortable enough building anchors in regular situations that when things get hairy, they will be able to get by. The usual situation I describe when I get a "close enough, I can figure it out when I get there" answer is "OK, fine, good enough for now. Now do it with your eyes closed, using one hand that is being frozen by a -10 degree wind and snow pile with freezing, soaking wet gear as your other hand is helping to keep your injured partner concious enough to get down the next three pitches alive." They usually go and practice a few more times after that. And yes, once again, placing gear is indeed a fundamental part of making anchors. Goodness... Is it time to go home yet?

Different climbers, different focus. You are free to your (aparently majority) opinion. Perhaps we started climbing in different environments. My impression of the situation is that the purpose of the anchor is to deal with a catostrophic mistake or accident, and keep the rope attached to the rock. I feel that individual pieces in most cases are a convenience to the leader should he or she fall, and not a reliable method of keeping onesself alive. I am not disputing that they are important; they are what makes trad trad, obviously piece placement is the most valuable skill a trad climber (perhaps the only one specific to trad climbing?) can learn. My arena is day+ long, moderate trad routes where the leader isn't gripped more than once or twice on the whole climb. My "pushing the trad limits" days ended long ago I think this is where my opinions are formed. Anyway, back to this phenomenon called work...

Actually, I never said anything about the results of the classes. The point I was trying to make was the opposite of the way it has been interpereted. Obviously the only way to make a good ____ is to have experience doing ____ and an understanding of what good ____ technique is. My example applied to a limited amount of people, those who do not yet have significant experience, and are trying to go about gaining some in the safest environment possible. My point was that I feel anchors as an entire system are far more important than individual pieces put in while climbing. Most beginning trad leaders are so afraid of falling that they generally do not. The anchors are the only reliable things between you and the ground, in all but the first pitch of any climb. Take this into the ice arena for experienced climbers and it can also apply. Very few ice climbers put any real faith in a single screw placement, instead they rely on their anchors for security. I am not claiming that individual placements are not important, just my view that anchors are a more valuable skill to develop first. The point of the "falling on your ass" excercise was to get the students to have faith in their placements, by trying to make them fail. Some of them were very surprised at how well the gear held, some were shocked at how poorly their anchors were constructed, and it whipped them into shape faster than you can imagine, when I told them to imagine that they were not on the ground, but that they were 200' off the deck and their gf/bf/spouse/child was on the other end of the line and also depending on that anchor.

I believe the most important part of learning and teaching trad tecnique is anchor building. For the beginning leader who's nerves are too shaky and who's skill is not yet developed placing mid-route gear, the anchors are the only things that are keeping the team alive should they fall. This coupled with the fact that the new leaders "should" be on relatiely easy grades as per their ability, I think an anchor clinic holds far more value than placing gear on toprope. I used to make my students construct 4 or 5 anchors right off the ground, and then clip so that they hung about a foot off the ground. When I would make them jump up and down the reward for a good anchor was not falling on their ass, lol. This was the second "class" we would run, open to the kids who had gone through the toprope anchor class. I feel a lot better sending out a new leader who can make bomber anchors than one who can set gear and make questionable ones.