Blake

Dollars to donuts that this "mirks" character is the guy who posted on mountainprokect as Bob mirko who was banned from that site. That guy also spoke English poorly, lived in Canada, and only posted in the for sale area, and always ripped off folks or caused drama. I think he posted on the sales at the UW climbing club board too

If you need to get a cam back in action and you are on a camping or road trip without wd-40, some olive oil will definitely work as well. Over time it gathers dust, but for a day or two, it works like a charm. Bacon grease tends to re-congeal.

In four or five visits, i've maybe seen one tick, and had no poison ivy reactions. Some approaches are well-worn trails or rappels, so if you seen poison ivy, you can just walk around it. Others (such as the "prisoner of your hairdo gully" ) do have some unavoidable patches of posion ivy, but with long pants on, neither myself nor partner ever noticed an effect.

Trip: Black Canyon of the Gunnison - The Flakes Date: 5/20/2011 Trip Report: Over the past year and a half, I've been able to make several visits to one of the USA's newest national parks, the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. I think that it ranks right up there with Squamish/Yos/Zion/Red Rock in terms of highly-accessible long rock climbs. The camping and ambiance make it a must-visit spot. This week I climbed "The Flakes" on the South Chasm View Wall with my friend Rob. The climb begins and ends on Astro Dog and has about 10 pitches of independent climbing in the middle. It's basically just a lot of fun granite crack climbing, with everything from fingers to chimneys. This wall is in the shade most of the day, and it's nice to sit on a comfy ledge and see the afternoon rays shooting down into the canyon and catching the iridescent backs of all the swallows, along with the mist pouring out of the rapids and waterfalls. I thought Astro Dog was a little better then The Flakes, but both routes are worth climbing. From on our North-facing wall, we were entertained at belays by watching a team work their way up the South-Facing wall across the river. (climbers in the corner left-center) Routes on this wall are reached via a line of 12 double-rope raps called the "astro slog", and since the rap stations are belay stations for some of these routes, you can strategically leave prizes for yourself clipped to the belays that you'll be returning to. Given that one starts rappeling about 50 feet from the car, there's no need to bring tennis shoes, so you can climb pretty light considering the routes are around 1,800 or 2,000 feet. Although I'm sure that doing new or truly obscure routes in the Black would result in some loose flakes and choss, there are dozens of clean and solid climbs that get done every season and are nothing like the horrifying reputation which the area has cultivated. The rangers are climbers who actually get out and climb as well! A few more photos from good climbs on both sides: Nate on Atlantis Matt on the Scenic Cruise Lightning Bolt Crack on Comic Relief The Dylan Wall My friend Scott's video from Astro Dog [video:vimeo]15513547 Gear Notes: The Flakes - doubles to #2, with a 3, 4, 5. Approach Notes: Usually down a gully, occasionally with a few rappels. You top out at the road or campground.

For sure it would go with a 70m as long as you had a few runners to clip to lengthen your rap length. Do this: but just use one rope. Make the "OK rope" be the long end, and have one climber rap it first to measure it out just long enough to get to the base of the pillar. Then the second climber also raps this one strand, but ties on a few slings / cords onto the other (short) end as they rap. Pull that end to get your rope back. Fireman back or rapping on a GriGri makes it easier. I guess there are a fair number of bolts on War of the Raptors, Cruel Shoes, Merci Me, etc, but you still might have some non-standard rappels to make it from the base of the pillar back to the ground.

Almost any of Darin's trips, but his adventures in the Pasayten Wilderness was an inspirational favorite: http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=379431

Yeah buddy, thanks for the great day! Sol sent the gnar on a pitch of stacked flakes that he held together by jamming all sides at once, and he didn't even give me too much trouble when got us lost on the Black Velvet approach 3 times in a row.

If I could only ever have one pack, it'd be a 30L Cilogear. I've used mine on more trips than I can count, and it is the bees knees on everything from an afternoon of cragging to 4-day trip into the Picket Range. My only issue is a small hole in the bottom which I patched. The hole was chewed by a monkey in SE Asia though, so I can't really blame Graham or the design for that one.

It's getting a little cold on the North-facing stuff, but if anyone has a free weekend and wants to climb in Red Rock through the end of the year, you can currently book a round trip flight AND hotel in Vegas for practically nothing. People have been going form Seattle (+ hotel) for 20 cents. Buy tickets and hotel through www.Expedia.ca (gotta love the Canadians) and you'll get a $300 discount on what is a ~$300 purchase when you type "SAVE300" on the last page. More info on the deal

Inspirational guys...

6,000' gain and loss in 5 hours... pretty good for a sport climber. I hear that cinnamon rolls are the 'next thing' in post-workout nutrition.

Ellation to the summit, traverse Hannegan to Ruth-Icy-Shuksan, then climb the Arayete. The 542 Berdinka Link-A.

And Sol adds to his ever-growing list of 2nd ascents... Now I'm relieved that nobody was to tempted to 'test' that pin. Way to keep it together through the subsequent "excitement". Did the clean upper-wall features inspire any ideas? Congrats to G-J and Jess on their NR tick as well.

That's awesome guys! Really really inspiring to see! For people (like me) who aren't able to hang around upside-down in hand cracks, I think it's reasonable to have a great time doing the route at 5.11- C1, with 20 feet of easy aid.

Was any sharkie soup consumed on this trip?

Nice, it's cool to see some more climbing on that area of the pass! I know of a few other groups that have done these as well, so maybe some of the pine needles are getting cleaned up. I wasn't alone on the climbs, just alone in spraying about them. Max Hasson and Dan Hilden were leading the way as well (we had a convention limited to climbers whose last names started with "H") I can't recall too much about the first couple pitches on "Perfect Crime" - as you mention, they were a little more vague and wandering than the top of that route or on the route to the left. - Bigger Topo

Nice Matt and Mike, glad you had a good trip. Isn't that cirque beautiful? And the rock quality not too shabby either. I think Sol's right though, for now the dealio is 5.10 C1. But that's just good incentive for someone else to go in there and enjoy the place on the FFA. We rappelled generally SE (right of all 3 climbs) and I remember joking that we were using Fred B's shoelace for one of our anchors of somesuch. There's plenty of good horns and good rock to rap off, but a bit of tat and some bailable nuts would handy.

can i come too?

copious in-situ tat, rap rings, and horns, would allow you to make it off that thing with a pretty darn short rope and some redecorating given a little creativity. 50m is fine.

Did Tim bring his Vuvuzela? Nice work not knocking rocks off Inspiration.

Gene's right. Scramble down climber's left of the route. If encountering branches with goat fur, you are on the right track.

To lower a hanging climber with any of the auto-blocking devices, just ratchet the belay carabiner up and down. Each time it lets out a little slack and doesn't unlock the device. If you have to give out a BUNCH of slack, then read the directions and do the "formal" method. When I'm bringing up a second climber, I almost never pay much attention to the climber. If the goal is to safely belay your second climber up as they follow the pitch, and this can be done A. safely but with very little effort or concern to the follower or B. somewhat less safely, requiring constant singular focus on the follower, then it just doesn't make sense to always choose A. I bring in the slack as it's available, but that's about as much attention as I give to the second climber. I'd rather take photos, put on a jacket, find that missing snickers bar, re-rack for the next pitch, take a piss, pretend I remember the route description, etc. And I'd rather follow a pitch under the same circumstances, belayed in the same method. A belay device hanging from the anchors will "catch" a falling second as long as it was rigged correctly, which is painfully easy to do. Doesn't matter if the belayer falls asleep, passes out, has an allergic reaction, etc. And as much as I like to trust my partners, I trust simple physics a whole lot more. Plus if you belay like this, and take turns leading, you can save time and superfluous gear because the follower never needs to anchor into the belays.

There are so many knobs, one doesn't even need to touch the crack on OS. What is the best handcrack in the NW? I guess I'd say High Planes Drifter is up there

Hey all, heads up on another event in Bellingham! Malcolm Daly, the alpinist, rock climber, and all around rad guy, is going to be giving a presentation next tuesday (4/27) at 8pm at Backcountry Essentials in Bellingham. Malcolm has climbed for over 40 years, was a founding board-member of the Access Fund and Paradox Sports, and started the climbing company Great Trango Holdings. He's presenting about an epic Alaskan trip in 1999 with Jim Donini, resulting in a 200' fall, being stranded alone for 48 hours while his partner went for help, and the the eventual amputation of a foot. Since then, Malcolm has remained a committed rock climber, ice climber, cyclist, and fly fisher. He definitely doesn't let minor inconveniences likes a missing foot get in the way of having an adventure. Backcountry Essential (downtown on Holly Street) 8pm - Tues 4/27 Here's the facebook link, for those so inclined: http://www.facebook.com/?ref=logo#!/note.php?note_id=386284474263

Leaping Lizards is clean, feels like mid 5.10 with a mix of styles and has a great stemming finish. It puts you on the ledge system that runs across all the way to the top of Thin Fingers, and between p2 and p3 of Narrow Arrow Direct. I think Lizards and Thin Fingers are both best climbed as similar-grade approach pitches to the LTW's BEST 5.10d/11a - Narrow Arrow Direct p3. On a wall STACKED with good climbs at this grade, I really do think NAD is a must-do.