John Frieh

w00t! Did you do the route 13a variation or the standard? What about the Panic Point variation?

again, fully agreed. my limited experience seems to show me that sharpness on the bottom edges of the pick to 'hook' the rock is more important than point sharpness. or, more correctly, dullness on the bottom edge is more noticable as a limitation than dullness of the tip. cheers, And the quad (for the quark/quark ergos... I think the quatros are for aztars only) sports a longer front tooth that hooks much much better... not as prone to pop when you switch from the lower to the upper grip.

Petzl isn't staffed/doesn't have the capability to take individual orders from either their site or over the phone... this is actually fairly common with many climbing companies (metolius, etc). As far as his response that's too bad but I would venture a guess based on my experiences with outdoor retail that he has been fielding calls the past month from last minute Xmas shoppers wanting him to explain why he couldn't overnight some 10 dollar item. I would encourage you to use a little empathy with him... everyone has bad days.... water under the bridge… I would send them a polite email and ask which dealer in there area they recommend to special order through. Don’t go to REI as all special orders are placed through customer service which is staffed by people who have no clue want you want and will end up mucking it up. I get mine through Gavin at US outdoor in PDX because he advertises on this site and he actually climbs and knows what you want when you tell him you need a replacement crampon bar or dart front points. I know one of Petzl’s largest online dealers is Karst sports… they generally get Petzl stuff in stock a week ahead of everyone else and have so much in stock you are less likely to have to wait for a special order to be processed. Does that help?

Icegirl is right (or I should say I agree with her… I am willing to bet some people disagree)… a number of people who have met me have commented that their initial impression of me from just my posts was that I was very confident (perhaps over confident/arrogant/etc etc) but after meeting me realized that they just misinterpreted my tone and I am nothing more than a young super motivated climbing dork. Nothing more… nothing less (unless you count the fact that I wear bandanas and leather vests )… And it doesn’t help things that I worked a combined total of four year in gear shops so over time I became tempered to the constant spraying of sportos that would wonder across the street from the rock gym to chest beat about the 11 they sent on plastic and ask questions about climbing that they already knew the answer to so they could just answer their own question and listen to themselves talk. Basically I’m a little jaded. Just a little. But I digress… Iceguy: I received your pm and I agree: probably just a case of misinterpretation. I understand your frustration and am empathize with your situation. I would hypothesize you are receiving more grief than anticipated over the founding of a new BBS climbing due to a number of reasons. Specifically: People don’t understand why you chose to start this site especially when you are already a mod on this site. To date I haven’t seen any type of purpose statement for a.com… what to you hope to accomplish with a.com? what is your vision for a.com? what will a.com offer that cc.com can’t? Most importantly: why can’t you merge these ideas with cc.com? Answers to those questions would be straightforward if it weren’t for the fact that you were affiliated with cc.com... the fact that you are is what makes this whole thing so awkward. Specifically: It costs some money and even more time to start a BBS site. If you have either one of those wouldn’t you, as a mod (someone who feels so strongly about cc that they donate time to keep things running) on cc.com, want to donate one or both to cc.com? If that is not the case why are you still a mod? Case in point the trip report index or the search engine on cc.com needs help… just last week Forrest posted a question inquiring the location of some posts from last year. Jon a number of times has commented the mods have been so busy babysitting a number of individuals (now “contributors” on your site) that they don’t have any additional time to improve the site. I would propose the time you spent founding a.com could have helped improved cc.com tremendously. Your site is very impressive; just think how much better cc could be if you included some of those items over here. These are just a few question that I found myself wondering once I learned it was your site. Depending on the answers to those questions I know at least I would be more accepting of a.com. WRT to your current situation: I wonder if AlpineK’s behavior on a.com was to prove a point… specifically that this quote “ban free site” isn’t. Yes I could and am likely wrong… perhaps AlpineK will comment why he feels prompted to behave so differently on a.com than he does here on cc.com. Whatever the reason is I suspect it is personal and would propose there are better alternatives to resolve whatever issues he has with you and/or your site. And the million dollar question: is he banned? Finally some soapbox: one of my views in life is that all partnerships (friendship or relationship) require work. Generally if one (such as myself) gets more out of a relationship than the amount of work that is required to maintain the relationship I stay in it. However if the amount of work required to keep the relationship healthy is greater than what I am getting out of the relationship I generally end it. Applying this philosophy to cc.com: A large number of the people who have been banned from cc.com and now call a.com home once contributed something to cc.com. The problem is the amount of trouble, mischief, anger, etc exceeded the amount of good stuff (humor, TRs, etc) they contributed so it was not worth keeping them around. Hence their banning. If we had kept them around it would have been a net loss to cc.com. I stand by cc.com's ban of all the individuals (at least the ones I was around to see... I've only been on the site a year). Good luck with your site. I think it would be in you and your sites best interests to answer some or all of my questions especially if you want a.com to go somewhere.

I have one set of picks I've spray painted yellow dedicated to just drytooling. I keep a new set just for alpine or redpoint attempts… Additionally WRT training/drytooling IMO 4 mm picks tend to last about the same as 3 mm picks however I have bent 3 mm picks so I drytool exclusively on 4 mm picks. Jens: I would be curious what type of filing you are having to do to your picks... the cutting edge or the teeth or both? Generally the underside of my teeth (especially the first two) need much more attention than the cutting edge itself... could it be the cause of your problem is that you are striking rock underneath thin ice and not the physical act of hooking/torqing? Just a guess... WRT crampons I climb on darts and can buy just the front piece from petzl so I can avoid having to buy a brand new crampon over and over. I think other vendors offer this options (or at least hope so). I think Ade said it best: cost of doing business… just like rock shoes… the more you climb the more often you need a resole.

Check avy conditions! In the summer you'll notice at the bottom of the bowl various tree carcasses... the sw bowl is notorious to slide. If snow conditions ever do get fat enough its possible to ski down the se face and launch off the south ridge onto the s west slopes. When it is safe the bowl is a h00t to ski. Great climb; Thielsen in winter has always been a favorite of mine.

Come on man... you're going to have to more specific then that... I’d like a side of examples with those accusations please. The only thing I can think of that I've done is point out the fact that it is your site... something I think you would want people to know... don't you? And if "blowing your cover" is all it takes to make someone a prick then so be it... I can live with that. Pony up.

I expect Pete to be there and at least half as drunk as he was at tuff love

Any chance we could have this during the week...? Weekends are for climbing IMO... Monday - Wednesday nights are great for me.

Leavenworth Ranger station (509-548-6977) does not know complete status however NO GATE up yet... Anybody drive it recently? s if you can help me out.

Bubbas in bondage. Picnic lunch. Jim: hook move? Knowing you I'm surprised you haven't freed it yet.

Yup. If you want to nail go do Bubba's.

My first time up l. crack we bogged down and ended up sleeping on the "bivy ledge" at the top of 5 and promptly bailed the next day. The next time I was hit by falling snow. Made it my third attempt... Mad props to anybody getting out and climbing something.

Have you actual done this? What is your ape index? Doesn't everyone do it this way? It takes like 5 minutes. And I have a -1" ape index I have a +6 to shoe size.

What is 13? The PP variation? I heard it was 5.8... Route #13a in the guidebook you numberchasing grade monkey Ahhh... route number... not grade. Need... more... coffee.

Personal preference. I have both my aider and adjustable daisy on the locking biner in a two aider system. In moving, I clip a free biner to the piece (or bolt) and clip the locker/aider/daisy to the biner. Then I bounce, get on that aider, and then move the second locker/aider/daisy to the free biner. This keeps the two aiders vertically aligned and allows me to move either the left or right l/a/d to the next piece. I'll lock the biners at anchors at the end of pitches. Other people use different systems. That works for sure but why not save some wear and tear on your locker and get more reach for the next placement (you are higher above your piece if your aider is clipped into the top biner) by keeping the locker on your harness until you hit the belay? I think this would speed you up some and not have to deal with open gates.

What is 13? The PP variation? I heard it was 5.8...

Have you actual done this? What is your ape index?

Watch the freezing level and weather.

Do the variation... you 2 pitches to Bohn street instead of 1... both are super fun. Also there is a variation to panic point (starts at same point PP does) that goes way right (climbers) instead of straight up to the nose... I haven't done it yet but heard its 5.8 fun to the top.

Pitch 4... right? If so... looks like somebody aided it or is a serious seamstress...

Perhaps Iceguy can shed some light into the matter... Iceguy: any comments?

Come out to rocky! You can pump yourself stupid in an hour and then hit burro loco #3 afterwards!

Shorts WITHOUT poly pro!

Where did you hear that? They are advertised on grivelusa.com as unreplaceable (see my link above)... that would be sweet if they were.