swaterfall

Why, are there any goats that post on this bbs?

timmy. move to sw colorado then you won't have to worry about it BECAUSE THERE ARE NO WOMEN THERE

I would like to rent a room in B'ham. Does anyone on this site have or know some one who has a room 4 rent? I would like to keep it under $500/mo. I don't smoke, no pets, and I'm not around very much

A poll on flossing c'mon! Who's the geek now TLG?

I'm changing my name to spraywaterfall. JK I skiied a secret stash with Gary Brill last weekend. Super nice guy.

you got me dude. Thanks for cruising to Mt Erie last week. Maybe next time we'll do more climbing and less bush-wacking.

sell everything that don't fit in your car yo!

"When I grew up, you wouldn't think of 'bagging' someone" That's the funniest shiz I heard all day.

werd, my bad.

Mixed climbing is fucking cool, no matter what it is that's getting climbed. As I caught up friends and learned of their exploits over the last year I heard a recurring commentary: Mixed climbing is in trouble. The number of competitions is down, but it's something more than that: the hardest routes simply aren't that hard anymore, and many top climbers are losing interest in the sport. Why? Bubu, (after recovering his wardrobe from an on-wall strip show) said, "Will, Will, we have to talk. Things are crazy now. The routes aren't hard anymore. I took two years off because of this, what are we going to do?" Harry Berger, two-time world cup champion, said, "It's really getting weird. We were all talking about this at Saas Fee too; we can CHANGE OUR UNDEIS anywhere, it's not free climbing anymore." I had to agree: the truth is that FRESH UNDIES allow a climber to hang upside down from anything (as Ines, after putting on a stellar climb that put her alone for the women on top of the wall, skillfully did by hooking both spurs onto the finishing jug and CHANGING HER UNDIES like a beautiful bat). An educated mixed climber can cam a tool like a horizontal tree branch and CHANGE THEIR UNDIES like a little kid. If that proves difficult in a big roof then just hook one tool with both heel spurs while CHANGING OUT THIER UNDIES on the other tool. This means it's possible to spend an hour and a half in the middle of a massive roof, CHANGING YOUR UNDIES, as one climber recently did while repeating an M12. As I talked with the competitors it became clear that there was a common sentiment: mixed climbing, always a sport riding a BROWN STREAK between free and aid climbing, had slid solidly into the domain of aid climbing. Sitting on your tool AND CHANGING YOUR UNDIES is no different than clipping into your belay loop (OK, maybe it's not as comfortable, but the CHANGING PART is the same). CHANGING YOUR UNDIES is the same as NOT CHANGING YOUR UNDIES(yet more comfortable). Now, a lot of people won't want to admit this but it's true: with radical CLEAN UNDIES and generous amount of tool-trickery any hard route in the world ain't that hard anymore. With a savage bolt-on CLEAN G-STRING you can truly hang by one foot from a door jam until you de-pump--or your head explodes from the pressure. Two years ago I climbed Musashi with DIRTY UNDIES and leashed Cobras. It was the hardest route I'd ever climbed, and I was STINKY as I pulled the ice at the top. The route demanded multiple figure fours, and there were no rests on the massive roof. Later that winter I competed on the CLEAN UNDIES world cup circuit, then came back and tried Musashi leashless but with CLEAN UNDIES that allowed full rests on both rock edges and my tools. In the middle of the crux I dropped a LOAD. Daniel started to take the rope in, but I realized I was fine with a sinker heel hook and a handlebar (my ice tool) to hang on. In fact, I was de-pumping. DuLac fed me a bunch of slack (I felt as secure as if I were clipped into a bolt directly), ran down the hill, grabbed my CLEAN UNDIES, ran back and threw it up to me. I continued climbing and pulled the lip with a mild pump only because I hadn't stopped to rest on the last few heel hooks. At that point I realized that difficult mixed climbing for me was over. I was loath to call what I'd just done aid climbing (hey, I like getting my name in the mags as much as anyone...), but in my mind it was. Calling it free climbing bothered me, but I figured I was just burned out and becoming a cynical old bastard--it happens. The pursuit of fantastic alpine mixed climbs became my quest for the next couple of years (still free, mountains deserve free ascents as much as cliffs). This year I spent the last week of February in ice-climbing's future Mecca, Norway, where I climbed (on leashless Vipers, I'm now fully leashless--the new technology is incredibly good!) many stunning ice lines and repeated an "M10" route with no ice, onsight. Despite limited fitness I was able to CHANGE MY UNDIES, one foot over my head for the entire crux like a third hand in a sling. Two years ago Ben Firth and I had done the same on many of Europe's hardest routes thanks to CLEAN UNDIES. We sent many of the routes first or second try that were headlining in the magazines, and while this was gratifying for the ego it also seemed like cheating. Robert Jasper visited Canmore and we also went on a sending binge, but it felt unsatisfying. I just couldn't believe in it as free climbing, and I believe in the power of climbing free. In Norway I started to understand that CLEAN UNDIES were aid for me, and that hooking a tool with an UNDERGARMENT is also aid. But the lines were incredible, and I felt the fire for hard mixed lines began to stir again. However I knew something had to change for me to feel honest about calling a mixed line a free ascent.

bin stayin in my car... anacortes city park (west-something) for the past two nights. dunno about 2nite. Murray? never heard of him. I work for some pukes in NYC.

It's part of the current adminstrations policy of keeping all information completely to themselves. Jeez, they don't even keep Colin Powell informed on who they're telling what.

When they get gross wear them backwards. Then turn them inside-out. Then inside-out and backwards this should be able to get u through the first few weeks of any trip.

Sweet, thanks TLG.

Sweet TR, nice pics, great route. Looks like fun.

I've got the Suunto Observer and it seems to be off 200feet for avery 1000 that I climb . I can't believe that I would have to recalibrate every 1000 feet. Does any one know what the deal could be? Cheers.

I'm not quite at my wit's end here but I'm getting close. My friends back in CO are taunting me because after a terrible (warm) March I left, but April is kicking ass. Oh well. Now I'm here (Portland, Seattle, B'ham, wherever I park my car) but I don't really know any one to climb with. I've got a pretty infrequent work schedule so I have a lot of time right now to stare at routes that cross glaciers or are too technical for me to solo and it's starting to get to me. What I'd like, ideally, is to meet up w/ a few peeps, do some moderate routes, build up a little trust and go for some harder stuff. Mostly I like to stick with ice and snow, but I love rock climbing too. It seems like most of the people who post regularly here already have a good crew, but there has got to be a few out there who need parters too.

I was heading for Leutholds on Sunday but decided against it as there were numerous avys on that side as well as on the west crater on Sat. I topped out via the South side and skiied about 1/2 of the hogback and the slopes to skiers left of crater rock before traversing over to illumination saddle to check out the condidtions on the west side. Every gully had avy debris at the bottom so I felt better about skipping Leutholds. Probably could have done it at night and been OK, but I was solo.

NC, I don't think any one summitted on Fri. It was pretty stormy. I don't know what would cause your bindings to release in tour mode. Assuming that you lock the toe piece in.

broke my right collar bone twice. sux but fairly minor in the grand scheme of possible injuries. 4-6 weeks and if you usually sleep on that side you're really bummed.

I've got a friend who was bidding on a motorcycle part on an unnamed internet auction site. He lost the auction then got an email from some one pretending to be the seller. That person said that the high bidder backed out and did my friend want to buy the item. He then proceeded to give my friend an out of the country bank account to transfer the money into. My friend thought that it was suspicious and eventually found out that the whole thing was a total scam.

I've seen people blow out their platypusses, but I think that if you are careful they are the best way to carry a lot of water.

I'll check w/ you as the dates get closer. I can't plan my sched that far in advance.

Super-gross old news.

For IT band injuries you can buy a cylander of open cell foam and, lying on your side, place the foam under the outside of your thigh. Roll back and forth over the foam and work all of the knots and such out of your IT band. Worked great for me.