John Frieh

Merely the tip of the ice berg my friend... if anyone needs some advice/insight holla back.

My tale of woe: 7:30 on Saturday the 6th found me lying in bed awake, debating whether I should go to PDX to look for a place to live (sidenote: anyone looking for a roommate in PDX? I have 35+ cams and am willing to share) or put it off until Tuesday and sleep in. It was at this particular moment that a loud (emphasis on the word loud) crash literally jumped me out of bed. The source of this noise you ask? Upon inspection of my living room, I found that an elderly woman had decided to park her late 90’s Chevy sedan there. Not just the front of her car, mind you, but the whole car (i.e. all four tires on the carpet). The front of the car had come to a stop against the house frame that separates my room from the living room. While inspecting her parking job, I found I could see my brother Tim standing in our front yard (as at this point I no longer had a living room wall blocking my view) calling the police. In my Patagonia boxers (I mention this only because I think the lady was actually more embarrassed about seeing me in my boxers than parking her car in our living room), I jumped over her car and the various pieces of what remained of my furniture, the living room wall, etc to get to her and make sure she was okay (which thankfully she was). In the process, I managed to cut the shit out of my left hand and foot on the glass that once constituted a rather large glass window. It was at this point of securing this prime parking location (lets be honest, indoor parking is always preferred), she decided for whatever reason that it wasn’t to her liking, and restarted her car to back out. She literally stopped talking to me through her window, looked over her shoulder and out through the hole in the wall and waited for Tim (who was in the front yard still on the phone) to get out of the way so she could back up. I have screamed loudly a few times in my life (ice climbing lead falls on spectres come to mind), but not as loud as I did at her to please shut her car off. She reluctantly complied and was kind enough to allow me to open her door and get her out. I escorted her to the front door of our house, which I opened but then closed, as I realized the monstrous hole in the wall next to the front door was just, if not more, adequate to walk her out through. Following our relocation to the front yard and getting the lady some water and what remained of my lazy boy to sit on, I opted to discuss the recent house renovation with my brother who had just finished calling the police. He told me that while standing on our front porch, he heard a car revving its engine across the street. This of course captured his attention, and he turned to watch as a late 90’s Chevy sedan started to speed down the street. The Chevy proceeded to jump the curb into the yard of the senior citizens center (which is across the street from my house), travel through a hedge, cut a fat brodie in the yard, bank back left and head straight for him. Before it reached the house and Tim (who was still standing on the front porch at this moment), it drove through the end of a Nissan truck that was parked on the street in front of my house. The Chevy had enough force that it spun the truck up into our yard (a distance of several feet) and out of the way of the Chevy. The Chevy, after proceeding through the Nissan, traveled into and through my brick flowerbed, followed by my living room wall and into the living room where I found it. Based on my understanding of physics (and let’s be honest, I don’t recall any problems in quantum mechanics that involved Chevy’s in a 3d box, so I could very well be wrong) had the Nissan or the flowerbed not be present, I hypothesize the car would have proceeded through another wall into either my room and/or the bathroom and quite possible into the back room. Just a theory though. But back to Tim’s story: young Tim, about the time the Nissan was spinning through the air in his direction closely followed behind by the speeding Chevy, quickly reached the conclusion that the front porch was probably not the best vantage point at this particular moment and jumped clear (complete with an army roll landing in the grass). Side note: If this isn’t an argument against waking and baking, I don’t know what is (Can you see the headline? Young boy killed as he was too stoned to realize he should get out of the way of oncoming car). Which brings us back to where I was spurred out of bed to find the car parked in my living room. Anyways, Corvallis Police was nice enough to come and take an accident report; Tim was disappointed that of the officers who responded, none of them were the one that gave him a MIP earlier in the year. Listening to the elderly lady give her report, she somehow mistook her accelerator for the brake and drive (it was an automatic) for reverse. Don’t you just hate it when this happens? I know I do. A tow truck driver came and moved first the Nissan and then the Chevy. I had the joy of calling my landlord and telling him I no longer had a living room wall. After a copious amount of cussing, he was nice enough to come and clean up the mess (and one it was) and install a temporary living room wall consisting of plywood and screws. If you thought I lived in the ghetto house before, you should see it now… my plywood castle. I have a feeling the plywood won’t be as insulative as the old wall and my house will be a little colder. Oh well… alpine training I guess. The landlord did give me permission to paint a window on the plywood. Regretfully, as I am a science major, painting isn’t one of my fortes, so if someone would be interested in painting me a window, mural, tag, etc., drop me a line. I have always believed in supporting the arts. Shout outs and mad props going out to: *My landlord for fixing my wall fast and giving me permission to paint. *The elderly ladies insurance company who will be replacing all my furniture as well as those 2 pairs of ice tools, portaledge, and bibler tent that were so damaged in the accident you couldn’t find any trace of them in the debris. And I had a flat screen too. I swear! No love for: *My upstairs neighbor who upon hearing the noise and feeling the house shake decided that Tim and I were (and I quote!) “only wrestling” and went back to sleep. *The AARP for their continued success at lobbying congress to not require elderly people to retake driving tests every few years. Lessons learned: *In hindsight, living across the street from a senior citizen facility might not have been the best choice. *Don’t park your car on the street (no it wasn’t my Nissan). *If something crazy happens (see above story), its probably means it’s dead week. At least it wasn’t finals week I guess. I know you all want pictures, and yes I took many (I thinking I might already have my Xmas card photo for the year!), but at the time I had slide film loaded, so it will take a few days before I get the roll back. I promise I’ll post them.

Can one purchase them in advance online or over the phone? Any info would be great!

If you dig that CD, check out Madlib: Shades of Blue or Yesterday's New Quintet: Angles Without Edges. Madlib is in both bands and about 8 million other projects (I can't wait for Madvillian!) most of which being more hip hop oriented (not rap). These two are not though. On Shades of Blue, Blue Note recording label let Madlib loose in their archives and he remixes some classics (i.e samples beats much like iain's cat does). YNQ is very similar. If you get into those and want some more recs, let me know.

No problem. If it's any of my business: what type of law are you studying/practicing?

Alpine or roadside antics? Generally for long alpine routes I take at least 3 of the lightest yates one; I think they call it shorty. One per anchor (at the equalization point) and my first piece gets a screamer if I am using my twin/double ropes. I might take 1-2 more if the route has a pitch that merits them. For road side antics, I have a few of the zipper screamers. Nice, but to heavy for alpine. I don't know if they make them anymore, but charlet moser made screamers in the past. Worth a look. If you plan on some aid, the scream aiders aren't necessary (your shorties will work fine), but the clip in point is nice and you don't have to worry about activating a piece by just stepping on it/jump testing it (as it is separate from the screamer).

Generally the jumpoff is how far they plow into Big Lake (which I haven't been up there recently). You start on the West Side of Big Lake and ski in. Ski in is straightforward (you should do it in the dark if you plan to fire car to car in a day). Take your skis as high on the ridge as you can; the ski off is sweet (a particular patroler at Willamette skied off the true summit of it in the late 90's... sickness!). Conditions aren't exactly prime, but you knew that. I think there is another thread going about info, etc. Let me know if you need rack suggestion, etc. I most recently climbed it in early Jan. of this year, but I am willing to bet conditions are very different. Good luck!

Love 'em enough to have 2 pairs! I am assuming you have a scarpa foot? The larger pair (44.5... 1/2 size down) I wear on routes where I want to walk off/wear the shoes back down the route (Burgundy, anything on Snow Creek Wall, etc.). Don't climb as well as my smaller pair (44... full size down). The 44, for me can climb just about anything I throw at them, but still are comfortable enough at the belays I don't need to take them off. They break in fast! You might also want to check out Five Ten's hueco and la sportiva's focus as good candidates for do everything all day shoe.

First and foremost, figure out which shoe company fits you best. I’m going to guess you fit well in La Sportiva or Five Ten. La Sportiva makes a few crack models: the female mythos being one (the green one) and the focus being another (I’m assuming you want to stay away from high tops). Both are slip lasted; generally these days most high performance all day trad/crack shoes are slip lasted, but have more midsole (when compared to sport shoes) to give some support, but still make them smearable. Five ten offers the hueco as their all day high performance shoe. That isn’t to say the Moccasym isn’t an all day shoe; one could wear one all day, but ones feet would be more tired (you would have to condition your feet). Speaking of shoe types, broad lasted shoes (like the boreal ace mentioned) don’t smear well at all. They are more suited for the wider (hands) cracks. A good example would be my friend who has a pair of aces, but never takes them to smith as most of the crack climbing there requires more feet out of the crack smearing instead of the repetition hand feet plug fest of Indian creek or some routes in the valley. If your interest is only in hand cracks, I would steer you away from board lasted shoes. If you hope to climb just hand cracks, you won’t be full on jamming you feet; usually it’s more of a smear or slight twist of the toe at the edge of the crack (as you can’t get your feet in further). This type of jamming will only be uncomfortable if you downsize your shoes too much (which tends to happen a lot to people crossing over from sport to trad/alpine). As you get into the bigger sized cracks and subsequently jam more of your foot, you might get some pain, but it will go away with time. The pain is due more to undeveloped foot muscles and lack of experience with the technique (at least that is what it was for me). A good way to develop foot crack technique is after climbing a crack, down climb it (assuming you top roped it). This will force you to feel foot jams more without always being to look at them and will only help your foot endurance. And its good practice for when your partner drops one of the rope 4 raps up a route. One question for you though: what is your idea of alpine… that is what are some mtns you’d like to climb? Depending on the route, your footwear selection might change. A few examples: For thin cracks, slippers are the best way to go. For anything larger, I own two pairs of Scarpa Marathons: a pair of 44s, which is one full size down from my ice climbing boot size/street size (also scarpa): in this pair my toes comfortable touch the ends (slightly bent). The other pair is a half size down (44.5): these I can wiggle my toes easily and could maybe squeeze a sock in (though I will admit I can’t climb as hard with these especially if the footwork is technical). For cragging to alpine cragging (WA pass) I wear the full size down pair. For climbs where I only want to take one pair of shoes (reduce clutter on the harness) and will rap back down to my approach shoes, I take the bigger pair and wear them on the descent (i.e. anything on Snow Creek Wall, Burgundy Spire, Chianti, etc.). Generally I can walk in the bigger pair without too much discomfort (the foam in the heel helps a lot). Lastly, I have an old pair of generator (high top scarpas from the 90s) that have been resoled enough times they are fairly roomy. These I can get a sock in them and on some climbs (Early Morning Spire, Forbidden West Ridge, etc.) I wear the rock shoes with socks in side the plastic boot shells (I leave the liners at home). I found this works great and I can leave the shells at the start of the technical section and return to them on the way down. With in the past year I have almost completely stopped doing this on most climbs now as I got a pair of Garmont Dragontails: approach shoe (2lbs!) that you can put a crampon on. I love them for any moderate snow stuff and don’t mind having them in the pack. And once your past the pain and are climbing 10+, go climb Chianti. Mmmm alpine.

I heard the ones on Washington are bigger...

Sounds like you've already purchased them; regardless they are excellent boot with the obvious disclaimer assuming they fit. I have the standard liner (non extreme model) and have worn them in some fairly cold places and had no problems. I don't know if I agree with people's comments about them running narrow: I have the classic scarpa foot: widest around the arch/midfoot and a lower volume foot and these boots fit me best (though I have had them for some time so I can't say I have tried on any of the recent additions to the market). I would say both La Sportiva and Koflach run more narrow then Lowa.

BD product design manager did the testing along with a climbing magazine writer: it appeared in climbing mag a few years ago (I'd have to dig throught the pile... let me know if you want me too... it was the issue that covered routes on Robson). I loved the picture on the last page: the caption was the carnage and it was a pic of this pile of broken screws, biners, ice axes, etc. Tie offs are sketch at best.

Dude! Tell me about the suits f-ing with you! I'd love to hear how the co-op is doing its best to put its owners interests first. If you need info about the best times to try and return things (i.e times management will less likely be staffing the customer service counter), let me know.

I had the misfortune of slaving for the corporation posing as a coop you all know as REI. I worked there for two years and I will say: When NAFTA passed, REI a month fired all 100 something of its employees who designed/manufactured the gear (REI brand which in REI lingo is called the THAW corporation) and opened a shop down in sunny mexico. They didn’t bother mentioning this to any of the members in the annual report. Of all the factors that affected my bi-yearly raise, the one thing that affected it the most was how many memberships I was selling. In fact, it was twice as high/values as product knowledge. REI sets monthly goals for all its employees based on how many hours they work. If this were a corporation, this would make sense. But its not, they claim coop. Hmmm. If you read the Oregonian article on the new pearl district REI, they current president talks about his hopes of doubling the number of REI’s in the next five years. I’m a member, when did they ever ask me about what I think the coop should and shouldn’t be doing. I think REI’s behavior is that of a corporation, not a coop as it claims. I don’t buy anything there except clif bars, etc and I return everything. As far as US Outdoor goes, I agree: most are smoos, the chick are hot (I saw one girl crank two one arm pull ups in a row… hot!). They have a few there who know some, go for the sales.

schnitzem I had the misfortune of slaving for the corporation posing as a coop you all know as REI. With regard to your question about cashing that puppy, you are basically stuck with it. Here is why: If you buy something with it (up to the value given), it will show on the receipt you receive at the time of purchase that you paid with in store credit. This fact appears on both the paper receipt as well as in their computer (assuming you used you REI member number). When you take back whatever you purchased and try to return it, they will only give you back in the same form (i.e. instore credit). As far as someone suggesting to buy something cheap and ask for cash back, that won't work either. The computer registers they have there are programmed to automatically give the difference in instore credit again until it is under approx. 10 dollars. Suck. As of 2000 (when I last worked for them), the only sneak way around this was to buy a gift certificate for someone (anyone) with the instore credit and then have them go in and cash the gift certificate as at that time REI allowed customers to cash gift certificates. I am fairly certain they have changed this as quite a few people where taking advantage of this. Just ask what there policy is about cashing gift certificates before you buy one. I think your best bet is to try and get someone to try and buy it from you. A few other options, though risky, include: Buy 2 of the same exact item (at separate times), one with your instore credit and the other with a VISA card. Only use your member number on one that you buy with the VISA card. When your VISA statement comes, take that with you along with one of the items (the one you actually bought with instore credit) and return it, using the VISA statement as proof that you paid for it using your VISA (claim you lost the receipt). Have a friend go in a few days later with the same exact item (or you) and this time use the paper receipt you received when you purchased the item using your VISA card. In the end you will have purchase an item twice (once with instore credit and once with VISA), but recieved 2 credits to your VISA card. All bets are off if you use your customer number for both items or have the same CS person help you both times. If you think you want to try this, let me know and I can post info about the best times to try and return things as well as how to judge if someone is going to do it and tricks to use. One other trick is to buy something at REI with the credit that another store carries (the bigger the better i.e. GI Joes). Take it there and return it after you check out there return policy in advance. I know both GI Joes and REI carry North Face, you could buy a jacket that both have and then return it at Joes assuming you remove all evidence of REI (tags and such) and prior to returning the jacket, cruise into Joes and get there price tags of the jacket and bring those with you. You need to some how convince them you bought it there. Let me know what you are planning and I will help as best I can. Lastly, for all you, check out the Oregonians article in the business section last week about REI’s new corporate plan that includes doubling the number of stores over five years. Coop my ass.

Honestly, no feathers ruffled. And I can completely relate to the superficial ness of internet postings. I too hold an outdoor education degree (kinda); if anything it’s more like a certification. My second NOLS course was the IC course; but after passing, I realized it wasn't for me. It definitely ticked them off when I told them "no thanks." Currently I am a student here at OSU (not a NOLS instructor). I should mention I will be relocating to PDX in March for my annual internship: we should plan on going to Smith and wear helmets for the drive over. I think you and I can relate to meeting a lot of climbers over the past years with skyclimb's attitude of "me me me" and not "we we we." Honestly it worries me when I see this stratification amongst the group as the consequences it could potential hold for the climbing community. Look at surfers: they will go as far as waxing you car if you surf “there” area, but when it comes to challenging local governments and/or industries, they don’t break rank. I mean shit, they have surf rider groups set up in states they aren’t even on an ocean. They as a group are much more in tune with their impact on the area as well as how they appear to non-enthusiasts when compared to climbers. How many people here are member of the access fund? My postings in this thread were only in hopes to get skyclimb and anyone else who views this to consider the fact that sometimes the best thing to do is not call rules bullshit and to treat people the way you want to be treated.

Bitches Brew is definately an amazing album; not for everyone, but if you like it consider purchasing the box set. Is it just me, or has no on mentioned Rage Against the Machine? In no particular order: The Ghost of Tom Jones No shelter War with in a breath God I could just go on and on. Speaking of Rage (assuming you are a fan) pick up the live recording of their last show... it will only make you miss them that much more and hate audio slave even more.

Dare I ask: when are people going to start posting pics of their body piercings on this thread? Can of worms anyone?

So about NOLS. I apologize for diverting from the thread theme: if necessary move the thread. Yes I am a multiple NOLS graduate. I do not presume to think I am safer, better, smarter, more experienced, etc. etc. than any other climber because of this. I have met many climbers who were much more experienced, knowledgeable, etc than me that had not had any formal outdoor education classes. Without getting bogged down into the differences/similarities of NOLS to OB to Mounties and so on as well as arguments for and against it, I would ask only this. Why wouldn’t any outdoor enthusiast (climber, hiker, etc) be supportive of a group that developed and teaches in all of its courses as part of its core curriculum 1) Leave no trace ethics and 2) Wilderness First Responder. Who can say their climbing partner(s) knows what to do in a number of climbing and/or medical emergencies? I can. I would be willing to bet that a small number of user on this webpage have practiced and/or are trained in belay escape. Smaller than the number of people who have climbed at Smith. Yeah group hugs are wrong on so many levels, but would you rather see a group of people hug or a group of people leave there campsite in worse shape than when they showed up? The grasslands come to mind...

Michael: Your more than welcome to believe or disbelieve my helmet wearing practices. Perhaps if we ever climb together at Smith, you will find out. It wasn’t my intention to make people think I am constantly look over my shoulder at the rock gym; honestly, I don’t nor can’t. I do try to stay aware of who and what is going on around me. Yes I would agree I am safety minded, but I would ask who wouldn’t want to be considered safety minded? I honestly take it as a compliment. And though your chances of meeting, as you call them, prana girlz might be increased by not wearing a helmet, what do you think your chances are when you are crusin’ around in your electric wheel chair because you are paralyzed from the neck down after some gumby punter who crawled out of the gym and on his first trip to smith, for got to double back and fell and landed on you. Correct me if I’m wrong, but smith had a fatality a few years ago when a climber feel and landed on his belayer (he lived… belayer didn’t). But then again, I heard prana girlz are suckers for the “hey baby want to go for a ride…” pick up line; especially when you have one of those sweet electronic voice boxes like Stephen Hawkins does. Honestly, do you really want to meet/date a girl that puts so much emphasis on physical appearance (like oh my god… that guy looks so dorky with a helmet on… I am so not going to sleep with him) that she won’t talk to you if you wear a helmet? I wear a helmet because its cheap insurance, they are a lot stronger than my skull, there are a lot of dumb$hits out there, it doesn’t hinder my climbing that much and I don’t know anyone willing to feed me applesauce through a tube the rest of my life. Perhaps you are lucky enough to know someone who will. And one other thing: if the only reason you climb is to meet girls, I would encourage you to consider the fact that you will probably get the same or more booty for way less than the amount of money you spent on your rack. Just think how much Rohypnol you could buy for the price of a cam…

Michael: I think you and I are on the same wavelength with a few exceptions. You made a lot of good points; hopefully I can address them all. As far the employees throwing skyclimb out, I would agree that throwing him out over a bouldering height violation is just stupid (especially when it is so low). However (assuming I read his post correctly) he was thrown out as a result of calling the gyms decision to require him to retake the belay test bullshit, not the height violation. I think you will agree with me that if someone told you at the gym you worked at that your rules were bullshit, you’d have throw them out also. Treat people the way they treat you. I will say this: I also have also been caught violating rules at the new gym on more than one occasion (the height violation being one of them). A majority of my violations have been due to the new gym’s rule that one can only belay using the locked off technique. As I have slip/slap/slided for a decade, so it has been hard for me to remember to switch over when in the gym. I have been caught more than once by different employees who work there not using the approved technique. I always apologize and promptly switch. I believe the reason I haven’t been kicked out or required to retake the belay test (which according to the waiver sheet one signs upon completion to the belay test is what exactly will happen if caught belaying “inappropriately”) is I recognize that if I am going to use OSU’s gym, I have to follow there rules. Skyclimb is in this same exact position as me: he can continue to ignore rules and become the first person to become permanently 86ed, or if he feels a rule is truly that stupid or bullshit, he can go see Josh (the individual who sets all the rules for the joint) with his concerns. Having meet Josh, I can say he is an open-minded reasonable person who recognizes that he works for the students. I spoke with him only once regarding dry tooling and by the end of the conversation he had promised to get a dry tool night by spring term. I completely agree that is sucks to be treated like a gumby punter. It always seems when I am there climbing with an attractive young lass, that at least one of the employees feels the need to come over and check if I am doubled back, using the right belay technique, etc always in front of my attractive climbing partner. Of course this never happens when I am climbing with my partners that are male. Hmm… I also agree that it sucks to be subjected to unfounded spray from smoos who haven’t ventured out of the gym yet but have no problem belittling whatever you most recently climbed or telling you how rad they think they are. I had the unfortunate joy of listening to 4 years of it as a outdoor/gear shop retail. While I was there I heard it go both ways (employee to customer and customer to employee) and it sucks. I found what works best is to just ignore them (at times I would just stand there and repeat over and over “yes listening to this is worth a prodeal…” until they left). If they are a poser, no matter what you have climbed, they have always climbed something harder. I would guess (and by no means I am correct) OSU management is being so strict about the whole thing only because the gym is so new and 8 million people climb there. The employees haven’t even had a chance to find out who is a gumby punter and who isn’t yet (and watching some of the people who climb there, there are a lot!). I had one employee hassle my belay technique last week only to run into him over the weekend at the Butte in Eugene (he saw me solo aiding). We talked and I actually ended up showed him some tricks in self belay. The next week I saw him at the gym and he didn’t even bat an eye at me when he found me well above the bouldering height. I would encourage skyclimb to also develop a good repoire with the management (as stupid as they may be). Remember: trust is earned, not given. I think my concern about the whole thing is skyclimbs attitude (as well as other climbs who view these pages) about the whole thing. Examining skyclimb’s other post related to climbing gym violations (also in the yellow pages: RULES SUCK #205730 - 07/02/03 09:19 PM), I wonder if this attitude carries over to other aspects of climbing. Skyclimb: what would you do if you knew of a sweet bouldering area on private property (a good example would be the few new spots located near the town of Sisters, Or or the boulders that sit on private property in Icicle canyon). As I have only meet skyclimb briefly once, it would be unfair of me to presume to know what he would do. What would others do? I completely agree with you about a gyms purpose: training. It sucks to have to share space with people who are there only because some HR corporation tool thought a good way to build teamwork would be to require his employees go climbing. It sucks to watch some kid wipe dog $hit all over the holds because he choose to climb in his street shoes. But unfortunately it comes with the territory. And especially at a University owned climbing gym you are going to have these kind of things going on. And you are correct that a number of the employees that work there don’t know any better (if not anything at all); but that is merely due to the fact that OSU owns the joint: equal student employment opportunity. It is usually the ones that are the newest to climbing that are the ones that catch me belaying incorrectly. So about NOLS. I’ll try to get to that in another post, but like you, I have tests to tend too.

I had this happen on Burgundy (with 8 mm twins). What my partner and I did was build an anchor, attach both ends to the anchor via figure 8s, climb with two prusiks attached to one of the two twins and placed pro (clipping the same strand both prusiks were on into the pro). This way if the rap anchor failed, I wouldn't "buy the farm." Also, if the rope became unstuck, I could then just rap from my position and clean the pro on the way down. Needless to say, neither of these things happened and after unsticked the rope (moving the knot to a better position so it could pull), I cleaned my gear on rap. Grandma1: if reascending stuck rap ropes is the reason for the question, climbing had a good article on it in the past year/year and a 1/2 you should look up. Hope this helps.

Skyclimb: I can understand you frustration regarding the maximum bouldering height allowed especially when a large majority of bouldering problems both in the gym and outside end well above three feet off the ground. And frankly falling 3 to 4 feet is trivial to most climbers. The catch is that the gym is frequented by a combination of experienced climbers as well as beginners new to the sport (with the majority being newbies). As these beginners lack climbing knowledge, they have nothing to base decisions off of that they make, where as you and I have a better knowledge base to employ. As a result, $hit happens. Hence the rules are in place to prevent this. What you need to recognize is that the rules are in place to protect all the users, even you and me. If you have spent any time in the new gym, you would agree with me that there are a lot of yokels that frankly don’t know what they are doing and/or don’t have a true understanding of various aspects of climbing. A few examples: 1) I watched two freshman girls pick a route based solely on the color of tape that marked the route. They didn’t understand that it was rated 5.12+. I should add one attempted the route wearing street shoes. Needless to say they ended up using any hold they could reach on the way up. Also, they had to ask one of the employees working there twice for reminders on how to tie in correctly. 2) I have seen two separate people deck as they failed to double back their harness (luckly it was down low and they just walked it off). Its users like this that end up screwing it up for all of us. Imagine if someone did get seriously hurt and decide to sue the already in debt OSU. Can you say closure? Hence the rules existing that you complained about. And honestly, I would have a hard time not beating the $hit out of someone (as well as their belayer) who fell on to me from 25 feet up (or more) because they forgot to double back. For what its worth, I prefer gyms that have employees that tend on the stricter side than loose as it creates a safer atmosphere in the gym. When I lived in Eugene, I climbed at both Skinner’s Butte and the Crux Rock gym and felt significantly safer at the butte than at the crux as the prevailing attitude at the crux in regard to safety, enforcement of rules, replacement of ropes, etc was very lax (i.e. stoned). And if anything, a safer climbing gym translates to safer outside climbing areas as once these rookies develope some skill, you know where they are headed: outside. There is a reason I put my helmet on the second I get out of the car at smith and wear it the entire day until I return to my car. As far as you getting kicked out, well that’s just expected. One of my rules in life is treat people the way you want to be treated. If you raise hell in the gym over rules that you agreed to follow and then call them bull$hit, of course they are going to kick you out. Think about it: you know the employees aren’t making more than minimum wage which is no were enough to have to listen to some one complain about rules they can’t change. If you have beef with the rules, go to the top. The guy who runs the place (Josh I think his name is) is a certified AMGA guide (if you are familiar with the certification process, you will agree that he knows his stuff). I went and saw him when the gym first opened to inquire about dry tooling as they didn’t allow it at the old gym. I was nice and polite and he was very receptive to the idea and promised to look into getting it as an option. I think discussing with him your issues with the current rules is your best solution. One last thing, if want to highball but can’t stand the gym try some local alternatives: US Bank on Monroe (downtown between 3rd and 4th ): marble bricks that are amazingly pumpy. Word of advice: go during nonbanking hours. On campus: Apperson is excellent bouldering: boulder as high as you dare. In the alley is best and don’t let campus security see you. Also the Gladys Valley Gymnastics Center has some excellent granite boulder problems. PM if you are looking for some more spots around town (i.e. cracks). I hope this helps.

The rule for prusiks is roughly 3 mm (or more) smaller than the rope you are ascending (you can sneak by with 2 mm in a pinch, but if the rope is wet you will get slippage... I have used a 6 mm prusik on a 7.8 mm rope and was fine). Also, if you settle on a prusik as you knot, use three wraps (called an improved prusik in NOLS books if you need a reference) as it will give more surface area contact. Perhaps I read it wrong, but are you are trying ascend both strands together/side by side simultaneously? I hope I am wrong, but if you are why? If you are following a pitch or coming out of a crevasse (or anything for that matter), have the leader belay you on one strand and you ascend the other fixed strand. Obviously not essential, but safer. There is no need have both strands running thru you knot (prusik, etc). Can I ask what you are doing?

stuff for the new version of Oregon High So are you saying a second version is slanted for print? I picked up my copy back in 95 right before they stopped printing them. After that, the only guidebook for Oregon was Jeff Smoot's Climbing the Cascade Volcanoes (and if compared to Oregon High was about as quality as the rock it wrote about... you know what they say down here: like the hold? take it with you). I saw recently Oregon High was back in print, though I didn't examine it closely. Is it at all different? Is a second edition slanted for print? What's the dope?