markwebster

Awesome tr! Beautiful photos.

I was rapping down from the top of the 5th pitch of Lizard yesterday and stepped on a large loose block. When I stepped on the block I was about level with the bottom of Breakfast of Champions, just above and right of that 5 inch tree above the 5 bolt anchor on Lizard. The loose block is 17 inches wide, about 7 inches thick and loosely perched on a sloping ledge. It's a killer, and one more push from dropping down Rogers corner. I am aware that might not be called Lizard. We had gone as high as you can go on Great Northern slab at Index and were rapping down.

Sweet photos! That's a good camera, whatever it is.

I carry a few slings on my shoulder, but most of my shoulder length slings are "tripled" and clipped to my harness gear loops, sort of like bulky dogbones. Tripled means that when you unclip either binier, then clip it to one strand and pull, it opens up to a shoulder sling with two biniers. I never use longer than shoulder length slings, not counting my cordalette. I carry enough slings to simply clip them together to make a long one. Also, I stopped using those shoestring slings. They are tangle queens. I use 9/16's inch sewn nylon. Cheaper, dynamic, and last longer. On the rare occasion when I need a longer sling, like, emergency back off raps from a thick tree, I always have my chock bag sling. This is a double wrap around my waist of 1 inch webbing, to which I clip my chalk bag. I also tie into it, as a backup harness. Think swami belt, and Todd Skinner's demise.

Here is a thread about Barry's resoles. He doesn't have a website. http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=251746&tn=40

I'll second barry's resoles. That guy is awesome. I've never had a resoler call me on the phone twice to ask me questions about exactly how I wanted the shoes done. Did I want thick or thin soles, did I really want the rands? He sent my rand money back...said they didn't need them. Barry is not the fastest, but he does awesome work.

I think your picture is not poison, but I'm no expert. This is Poison Ivy up by February Buttress in Tumwater canyon. Note the way the leaves leave the central stem in a three way spit. "leaves of three". They are also slightly glossy from that nasty oil that causes all the problems. I've had some bad run ins with that stuff. I'm starting to wear long, thin stretchy climbing pants, even in hot weather. It helps with a lot of stuff to have your shins covered.

awesome photos!

Nice work, awesome pictures! I have to try one of those big walls some day. It seems like too much work compared to free climbing, but the pictures are so amazing, and it must be super cool to be up there that high.

Nice photos! Very cool seeing the wedding dress on the wall.

Well, it's cool to hear that Jim had a fat rope. I think maybe I'll try it out. If I get two years out of it, I saved 240 bucks. Most of my partners are younger. I'll let them carry the rope :-)

I'm ok with a heavy rope. I'm not a mountaineer anymore. I don't do approaches longer than outer space. I will gladly carry a heavy rope if it feels burly. What the hell, I still pedal a chromoly steel frame 10 speed from 1973. Bought the dang thing new. It's heavy compared to my wifes new aluminum road bike, but that thing is burly. When did it become important to climb on dental floss?

I bought the most expensive rope REI sells last year, thinking it would last for at least a couple years. New England 9.9, bi-color 70: http://www.rei.com/product/783832/new-england-glider-bi-pattern-99mm-x-70m-dry-core-rope I got one year out of it. In the first month I core shot the tie in knot getting lowered down a chimney to recover a stuck cam. The knot rubbed against the chimney wall right down to the core. Thin sheath! It got hairballed quickly, but nothing dangerous looking. Then at about exactly the one year point it got a bad bump where the sheath wore through about half way. It was one of those random things that happen to ropes, you don't know where or how. It never got stuck, rarely stepped on. It's a big enough bump that I feel like I have to lead on the other side...I just don't trust it. It's plenty strong to rap...probably the core is fine. I think this trend toward lighter and thinner ropes is sacrificing durability. I haven't started climbing any differently the last few years...ropes just don't last as long. I am a weekend climber (every second or third weekend), though I have 9 weeks of vacation so I get around to all the west coast climbing areas like jtree, smith and the city. Has anyone tried going back to thicker ropes? I just talked to Sterling on the phone, he thought I was crazy to be looking at his 10.7, but said that it was his burliest rope. http://www.sterlingrope.com/product/155115/MU/_/Marathon_Ultra He said they use that rope a lot in gyms as it lasts forever. Any thoughts?

Has the chimney ever been led? I've been thinking about leading it. I try not to top rope, so it would be an onsite. I've got big bros and a valley giant, so I could get up it safely...but for it to be climbed regularly, at least one bolt might be in order...seems like a lot of big cracks get a bolt to save people hauling big gear up there?

A few more photos of RattleTale. This is a stellar route! We did it 7-7-12. Klondike leading pitch 2. This has got to be one of the cleanest hand jam corners anywhere on the west coast. It's slightly overhanging, and trends right. At the top, it gets bigger: #3 blue camalots...just when you are getting pumped. Lisa following pitch 2 layback style: Lisa leading pitch 3. That chimney variation on the left side looks sick! You'd need a couple valley giants and some big bros. Lisa rapping down. There are nice rap stations that allow you to get off with just one rope in three raps, rap the route. I've never seen anyone else up here in two visits. I like this route a lot better than Godzilla. The climbing is more consistent, you can totally sew it up if you need to.

Sorry to hear about another bold soul passing. I'd like to think that the extra safety measures I take (helmet, big rack, no free soloing) keep me safer, but it's probably not true. Still, 35 years of climbing isn't a bad track record. There is a lot of danger in climbing that is unavoidable. All routes have sections with no gear...some approaches are worse than the climb. I've stayed the same risk wise, before and after raising kids. If I have some close calls, I take an ocean hike and do some painting. But I always come back to climbing. It's more dangerous than golfing...but golfing looks so dang boring!

I could not agree more! Thanks. I had to work pretty hard to get that shot. I tied myself off to a 25 foot leash of rope, and climbed up the crack to a slippery perch off left. I didn't have any anchors up there as I waited for Marty to climb the roof...he had all the gear. I got lucky and managed to capture him just as his rack was swinging outward as he threw for the jug. I did some spot brightening in Photoshop raw to "undarken" the roof. I've always loved Spiderman, even back when all we had was hexes and stoppers, awesome climb!

Trip: 2 weeks at City of Rocks and Smith - many and varied Date: 6/25/2012 Trip Report: I took a two week road trip to Smith and City of Rocks. Marty and James joined me for the first week at Smith, after which I drove them home and picked up my wife Sue for the second week at the City. Weather varied from windy and comfortable to baking hot. Both Smith and the City have shady cliffs, so we never got too hot. My camera is a Canon 7D with a Canon 24-105L zoom lens James and Marty following the rarely climbed second pitch of Lycopodophyta 5.8 trad. This pitch is not nearly as bad as you may have heard. The rock is solid, once you scrape off the pigeon droppings. It's a bit of an adventure climb but well worth the effort. It has an exciting bulge at the top, but there are excellent hand jams, jugs or finger locks all the way. The gear is mostly fingers to hands. I didn't use anything larger than fist. You can lead it from the ground, but it requires a massive rack. There is no rap station, but you can rap down the second pitch of Bunny Face. The rope you see in the upper left is Bunny Face Marty, happy to be on top of the second pitch of Lycopodophyta Marty hanging out on pitch 5 of Wherever I may Roam, Smith of course. 5 pitches of bolts. Over the last couple years I've now led all the pitches except #4. 4 is a scary friction pitch with a ton of exposure. I'm glad James led that one! Who is the monkey? You can just barely see climbers aiding up to the monkeys mouth. Self portrait: James, Wherever I may roam, smith, belaying Marty up the 5th pitch. Me, being a ham: Some guy over by Zebra: We climbed up Friday's Jinx 5.7, left of the Peanut, and crossed over the top and down to Spiderman. This is Marty getting ready to lead the last roof pitch of Spiderman. James on the walk off from Spiderman to the Cinnamon Slab rap. James and Marty had to go back to work. I picked up Sue in Tacoma and drove to City of Rocks. Our old friend Jim drove over and met us there for a few days. I met Jim at Spire Rock in 1977. It's awesome to climb with old friends. He was tired from the solo drive over in this photo. We climbed at Castle Rocks for a day. I think this was a 3 pitch 5.7 sport route called Big Time. Castle is 10 minutes from City of Rocks. This is the cash register in Almo at City of Rocks. We met and climbed with Anzgar from Germany. Here we are on top of the 5.8 Skyline route, Morning Glory Spire. Anzgar on top of Columbia Crack, 5.8. This is the best 5.8 splitter I've found at the City so far. Awesome hand jams for at least half a pitch. Morning Glory Spire, Skyline goes up the center face crack system: The next photos are from our trip up Steinfelds dome on a route called Sinocranium 5.8 sport. This is an awesome 5 pitch long sport route with amazing views. The crux is on the 4th pitch where it goes through a 40 foot vertical section. The bolts are close through the crux, which made it feel very safe, even though the holds were mostly down sloping. The route goes up the right skyline in the photo below. Jim following the 5.8 crux on Sinocranium: A couple from New Hampshire followed us up: My amazing wife Sue. We met in a climbing class in 1976...still climbing together all these years later. Here she is following Rain Dance, a 5.7 sport climb. Kevin Pogue puts up awesome sport climbs! Sue, our RAV4, and the City. By, by until next time. Note the Edgeworks Climbing sticker on the car. Gear Notes: Some of the sport routes have up to 15 bolts. I carry gear up to a 4 or 5 camalot, and a green big bro if the crack is large. Approach Notes: bring 2 quarts of water this time of year.

Awesome photos! Thanks for posting!

I've given money towards the Vantage toilets, have you? Regarding raindawgs bolting opinions, it's important that we listen to his viewpoint. Climbing areas have been closed due to not respecting the climbing management plans...if there is one. And numerous lines of bolts up cliffs can be offensive to other users of the resources, like bird watchers and hikers...they vote. Still, Vantage and exit 38, Smith and other sport areas have accepted the trend toward safely bolted cliffs. As long as the bolts are placed according to rules of the climbing management plan for that area, why not? That's why there is a plan that is approved by the owners of the land, typically the government. I used to climb with raindawg a lot back in the day. I'm guessing he would approve of the bolting in the Peshastin Pinnacles. It's runout, bold, and dangerous. Routes like Cajun Queen, Martian Diagonal Direct, Gray Whale. He used to love those routes. The problem with run out bolting of that nature is that the routes become ego statements. "Hey, I'm good enough to lead this route with just one bolt every 25 feet, what is your problem?" When you put up a route that way, you establish a standard, and that is fine and honorable, but what happens down the road? People come to climb the public cliff, and they can't, because you turned what could have been a fine adventure for future generations into an ego statement. Like a dog and a fire hydrant, you've staked out your territory. (think, Yosemite Apron) I've been guilty of this myself. But my reasons for runouts were the difficulties of ground-up hand drilling. I would have put in more, but there were no stances, and I was trying to drill by the standards of the day. Fortunately this problem is becoming less common. Good new route creators build their routes with bolts appropriate for the grade. If a route is 5.8, it should be bolted for the average 5.8 climber, not a 5.11 climber who is slumming. If modern, accepted bolting practices bothers you, climb trad. I love going to sport areas like Vantage, Smith, and the City and climbing trad. Trad climbers get more respect.

Matt, In your topo, you say Midway Direct goes straight up from the jello tower step across. It's true that if you go to the top of the shallow dihedral...at about 50 feet it blanks out. But from that spot, if you traverse left, there is some lovely face climbing protected with small wired nuts (5/16 inch) that takes you up to easier ground and joins, eventually, with Angel. It's only 5.6 or so climbing, but very steep and exposed...a great "girlfriend" route. The holds are big incut gym type holds. Super fun climbing.

Nice Matt! I agree, Castle Rock has it all. Back in the day we'd go there 3 weekends in a row, climbing everything up through the nines. Then we'd head up to Midnight and repeat. It usually took me a trip to the valley to get ready for Brass Balls. A lot of those routes are old friends. It's like going to Thanksgiving dinner with the relatives. I'd shake my cousins hand and remember what a cool dude he was. On Castle, you grab that crux jug on (insert route name here) and think: yeah...I remember you!

Awesome story about swami belts and natural chockstone belays. Those were hard men indeed!

tape is aid, no doubt about it. So are cams, and sticky shoes. If you can free solo, a climbing rope is aid. Depends on your perspective. With that out of the way, Yosemites climbing store used to sell some amazing tape. It had pinstripes running the long way that allowed it to be torn into one half inch strips very easily. And it was super sticky. I used to order it online after finding it in the valley. but that company got bought out and it's not available anymore... that I've been able to find. I tried hand jammies and loved them, except on 10b cracks where they are too thick. Plus, I ripped them out in 5 months. Kind of fragile. I'm back to taping with cheap tape...Metolius tape is ok. That brown tape Physical Therapists use is good, but slippery.

Powerful writing! I free soloed a bit when I was younger. Your words captured the feeling perfectly.