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scrambled_legs

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Everything posted by scrambled_legs

  1. My 15 year old Rambos have finally been filed flat and my boot toe isn't doing a very good job of sticking in the ice. I haven't been watching the crampon evolution at all and need some advice on the best steep ice/ mixed crampon available. I won't lie, the mixed bit is really just a desire. Up until now the idea of flailing ice gear on manky Rockies protection, has limited me to mainly ice routes. So what would you suggest for a great steep ice crampon and ok mixed crampon?
  2. Thanks guys. Anyone know the exact title and author? I might be able to get a store here to bring it in. I want to try and get a copy beforehand to plan it out. I have a limited amount of time but if all else fails I'll stop in and talk to them.
  3. Thanks for the help but none of those sites have the guide available online. I guess I'll just have to get it when I'm down there.
  4. Not looking for an online guide, but looking to buy the new guide book online.
  5. Anyone know where to find this online???
  6. Anyone been bouldering in this area? It looks amazing and is supposed to rival the best bouldering in the world according to some. I'm going to be there in February and want to get some beta on cheap places to stay, food, travel etc. http://www.rockandice.com/inthemag.php?id=6&type=featart http://www.unco.edu/cebs/psychology/kevinpugh/family/VG-guide/beta.html
  7. Thanks summerprophet... ya a bit of a slip there, I meant smith but was planning red rocks if Smith wasn't in. I did both about 6 years ago but can't remember if it was early/late february or even March. What temperatures can you expect? I was looking at a chart that showed the averages from -6 to 6 degrees Celsius. I remember wearing a t-shirt and sweating when I was there so I figure it had to be at least 70f or 20c. Does that happen in late January or early February or is it year round climbing similar to Skaha where you have to be part Yeti to enjoy it? When is spring break? Do they close off areas like Black Velvet Canyon after five or is it just the loop road?
  8. I'm thinking about planning a trip to smith sometime late January to early February, what's the weather like then?? I know the nights will be brutally cold but is it a good bet that it'll be comfortable climbing during the day, or is it hit and miss then and possibly unclimbable?
  9. I don't think they were Arcteryx, but it's Arcteryx that is doing the extensive testing on used harnesses for the first time, so good on them. Bad on them or Mountain Gear for not telling Canadians they won't get anything for spending the money to send in their old ones but good on them for doing the testing. Apparently both harnesses were really badly worn and could have been easily replaced by simply calling the gear man as both were sponsored climbers. To rip a belay loop is damn tough so to have it rip with the minimal force applied while rappeling on both, is damn scary. They must have been in really, really poor condition.
  10. Ya, some guide, on rappel as well, bailed off when his loop failed a few feet from the ground fortunately. Not sure where or who but could probably find something if you spend the time. Two failures within a year after how many years without any and both climbers sponsored with free gear??? Talk about strange.
  11. Ya, would be a good idea to waive that clause for Canadians sending in their harnesses. Either way, somebody should be putting the fact that the gift certificate is useless to us on the advertisement to send in your harness, or be willing to send the harness back to the owner and refund the shipping costs. It really sucks to find out after the fact.
  12. Arc'teryx has gotten together with mountain gear and are offering $25 off $125 of Arc'teryx gear through www.mountaingear.com, if you retire your old harnesses. In light of the recent belay loop failures, they are looking to do some testing on used harnesses, their lifespans, effects of use, effects of salt water etc. I have a harness that's nearing the end of its life cycle so I thought I might as well send it in now and get something for it, and give them a hand with their testing at the same time. After sifting through www.mountaingear.com, to see what harnesses I could replace it with, I was surprised to find that they won't send any Arc'teryx gear to Canada. So if you're looking at sending your harness in and recover your shipping costs through the gift certificate, it is actually useless unless you are going to travel to the US to use it. I find this to be quite deliberately deceiving and have requested that they inform Canadians of this on the advertisment but still no change. I was going to buy a new tent on the same order but won't be shopping through them anymore.
  13. When people die on a rare occassion doing something that they love, that is an understandable risk/reward activity. When people die on a regular basis doing something that they love, that is a questionable risk/reward activity. The difference between "American" free soloists and "Stolby" free soloists is the mindset approaching the climb. For the most part, free solos in America are carefully calculated risks made by climbers that know their ability, know the climb, know the risks, and are mature enough to decide whether they are capable of climbing the route safely without gear. As a result we are generally surprised when a free soloist dies. Stolby on the other hand is a community that appears to be free soloing in the same manner as a group of kids playing on monkey bars with no regard to the consequences, knowledge of the climb, knowledge of their own abilities, and many aren't mature enough to get behind a wheel let alone free solo. It's basically comparing a climbing gymn where someone who's been climbing all his life, jumps on a rated route within their ability and solos to the top vs. a gymn where everyone pushes the kids, who are just learning, to try the climbs with no ropes. It was a boy who died not a man, how do you feel about a 13 year old american being encouraged to free solo by his parents, especially after his 3 siblings have already died doing the same thing. When do you have the right to call a climber or a group of climbers reckless? I can't say I understand it or agree with it and yes I feel that I have the right to call it as I see it. The difference between us calling them stupid and the public calling us stupid, is that we don't die on a regular basis, they do. "This happens all the time at Stolby." Brittany saw it for what it was right off and I'm sure Jonathan sees it the same way after watching a young boy die in front of him and the community shrug it off as commonplace.
  14. Actually the manager was going to refund the original course cost as well as the one that was cancelled. He was going to give Yama all of his money back despite him having completed a course with paid guides, business expense etc. Judging by Yama's e-mails he wasn't too appreciative of this. No the customer isn't always right in fact this one is a moron. His rude comments, idiotic jokes and ridiculous threats make him a candidate for a course black list in my opinion. I would have sent him an e-mail stating he is no longer welcome to attend any CAG's courses. Thanks for posting the e-mails Yama so we could see the whole story. The only successful smearing you've managed to do is against yourself, so you might want to stop that campaign.
  15. Ok, well after reading your e-mail exchange I think I have a change of heart. It sounds like there is some serious problems with their booking system and the person answering the phone to deal with the customers problems, is probably very sick of dealing with them. But really Yama you were a dick. If anyone is degrading here I have my money on you. I bet the manager is just itching to tell you off but is being professional enough to hold it in. If you had been professional or somewhat polite yourself, you'd have the money in your account and his employees would be getting disciplined. Instead you came across as a complete asshole, you'll never see your money and the manager is probably joking with the employees about how rude you are.
  16. Yama has every right to post this. I know I'd be seriously pissed if I booked time off of work to have a course canceled 2 days prior and not even receive a refund for months. I'm sure the owners of Cascade will stumble across this or hear about it. It's a pretty small community after all. Might end up changing things for the better. He's not saying don't go there, in fact he said that their guides are excellent it just a problem at the business level. If this is a common occurance, I'm sure the guides are just as pissed for losing business due to their employers incompetance. I'd be happy to see this being posted if I was working there. Maybe the owners are completely in the dark as to how poorly their business is being run. Feel free to post something if you've found the office to be more then accomodating and Yama's post nothing but a fabricated story.
  17. Interesting, sounds like its definately not black and white after reading RGold's post about how the tests were conducted. I think you may have missed one of his main points, or what I thought he was saying. He mentioned that the importance of the falling weight on the anchor after the intial piece blows isn't the biggest concern as the tests show the secondary load doesn't produce higher figures, but the weight of the belayer falling on that second piece is a huge addition to the second load put on the anchor. Depending on how they're tied in, the belayer can add to the force of the climber significantly with anchor extention and they are tied into a static system, unless using the climbing rope. Although they are only falling a small distance, they are adding to the overall force and unlike the climber, their weight is transferred to the anchor all at once with no elasticity in the system. Interesting how he figures Sterlings shock loading results are misleading until they add a belay weight tied into the anchor. Whatever the answers they definately haven't been answered conclusively by Long or Sterling or anyone as of yet. Hopefully this test will develop into more tests. I definately appreciate Sterling for taking his time to research this.
  18. I've always wanted to have someone show me hard data that shock loading with a dynamic rope is more dangerous than having a semi-equalized anchor. Whenever you tie a knot in the anchor and don't have it perfectly centered for a fall, you automatically have more weight on one piece. On climbs where there's a traverse to the anchor after the last piece, you can't center it. In the case of a second approaching the belay, if he falls before he pulls the last piece, it'll be a sideways pull, after he pulls the piece than falls, a downward pull. You can't set up the anchor with a knot and have it equalized for both. Also, if the knot is centered for a straight downward pull for the second but the next pitch wanders left or right before a piece is placed, it won't be equalized for the leader. So what's more likely to blow your anchor, have the initial fall caught with the majority of the weight on one piece and then if it blows, all of the weight on the next pieces with no slack in the cord/sling etc? Or is it better to have the weight distributed equally among all pieces on the initial fall with the possibility of another 6' fall on the remaining pieces if one does pop? The first way, you're far more likely to pop a piece on the initial fall and the second, more likely to pop another piece if one fails on the initial fall. One thing that hasn't been mentioned is the dynamic rope is a lot more static after it is stretched out from the initial catch. So that shock load might be only 6 feet on a dynamic rope but that rope won't stretch nearly as far as it did on the intial catch. Just another reason it'd be interesting to read that book, its now on my list.
  19. Hey just got the MEC election pamphlet. There only appears to be one climber billy in the whole election. The rest appear to be a bunch of suits that wear MEC gear to the office. Maybe we should help him out. He's Chris McNeil of Delta. Here's the election link. http://www.mec.ca/Apps/election/election.jsp?page=election&FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=1408474396038917&bmLocale=en&bmUID=1172354438800 Cheers.
  20. A number of questions were answered in this thread: http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/537507/page/0/fpart/1
  21. If snowboarding (or skiing) were sex... I wouldn't be a virgin, I'd be the #4 prostitute in all of Canada!
  22. I'm barely surviving work today so I thought I'd start a work survival thread. Post some video links to some quality climbing. I'll start it off with a pretty wicked whipper
  23. Uhhh, maybe because on that $7.99 that you paid, they pocketed -$42. Those maps are paid for with our tax dollars and the $8 just helps balance costs with production numbers. Get it yet???? You paid $7.99, the taxpayers paid $42. That's why they want to stop printing them, it costs them money to sell them. They don't make any money off of the measly $7.99 cents you paid, it costs them $50 of which you paid back $8 and all of our taxes paid $42. Understand yet??? If they made money they wouldn't be trying to shut it down, they'd be selling the printing rights, which they're not because no-one is interested. Keep bouncing fairy... pretty soon you won't be smart enough to know how to post, then we can all breath easy.
  24. How many books are published by the government then after the rights are released, republished by the public? How many books are published by several different companies? The government isn't selling the publishing rights, they're simply stopping printing. They no longer want to pay more then the public pays them to print paper copies of maps. Who is going to pay for the rights (if the government sells the printing rights or even gives them away), then pay for the building, the printer, the paper, the ink, the utilities, the employees etc. all to make a hanfull of topographic maps that sell for $10 a piece??? If there is enough demand to produce them, you bet they won't be selling for $10. Good for you, you have a map printer at work. Does it print on water/tear resistent paper with waterproof ink? Unfortunately the other 99.9% of us don't have such good luck and will get stuck paying an arm and a leg for a good map or printing off a shitty one on a canon and blank piece of paper. Once again Dru, if you don't give a shit about the subject, don't bother replying. This is going to suck for a lot of us and we could care less if it doesn't bother you.
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