selkirk

I've got a yellow one (#2) and love it. Every now and then I find placements for it where literally nothing else would go, and of course the range if cool. That said I don't think it's worth having a full rack of them. They're a great way to make sure you've got a second cam in any given range instead of having to carry a full set of doubles (or triples) when you might only need the 2nd or 3rd piece once or twice. So I would say once you have your basic set of cams (or double set) 1 or 2 might be a good addition. Downside is that they're kind of heavy, and expensive. On the widest placements I can see how they might walk just a bit, but further retracted it is the more stable it becomes. (Mine's on a season and a half and I haven't had to clean it yet. So it's on par with my other cams for tending to gum up.)

I'm planning a record slowest attempt on a linkup of OS/Orbit that weekend and am shooting for 48 hrs each. Needless to say I'm bringing my portaledge.... and no , you may not pass, if your try, I'll tie your ass off to a big fat hex

Just stand on the damn boulder to get your first piece in, make it a nut, put it as high as you can get it and then jerk set the hell out of it. That way your protected from the groundfall onto the big pointy boulder for the first few moves until your up the point where you can start getting larger and more regular gear.

Was up there Saturday and it's officially in good shape. Nice hard compact snow. With a little bit of slightly fresher stuff that's collected at the slope change in the middle, about even with the mid-face rocks. Very secure climbing, though the pro isn't worth a great deal. It's pretty much too hard for pickets (though we did pound a few in the slightly newer stuff in the middle), but there really isn't any "Ice" except above the lip where it gets some sun, so I doubt the screws would hold in the unlikely event of a fall. Cheers Josh

White ligntning works great So does the boiling pot of slightly soapy water. Watch how much of the wax based lube you use on the small cams though. I have a couple where the action isn't quite as stiff as I'd like as I think there is too much wax on them, well and i'm too lazy to re-clean them A good thing to do to all of them in the winter before putting them away.

Never stop replacing old bolts? and I always take small wires, and almost always have a couple small tri cams on any alpine/adventure type climb. I have no problem with adventure climbs! In general I think adding bolts in new places to climbs is horrendous thing to do. (Maybe with the first ascentionists permission, if they're justified and thought out, i.e. Dans Dreadful Direct) However replacing old rusted, POS's is another thing entirely. They were placed with the intention of being good, strong belay bolts, and likely before you or I ever climbed it. I think the ones on top of Kangaroo Temple are ripe to be replaced as well.

Now that I've climbed the route and been privilege to all of your collected wisdom it's very clear. Didn't do me much good as I was trying to onsight it though now did it? We lead the chimney, and belayed at a bush on the traverse to the 5.9 finger crack as the other end of my rope didn't feel comfortable leading 5.9 at the point. So I lead through the finger crack, and belayed at the bush just past it, where the team in front of us had was belaying. Then stretched the rope to the shitty belay at the two rusted bolts (by the way, it's a much better belay with a smaller nut than I used the 1st time), but still hanging. We then stretched the rope through the roof to the ledge, and on up to the top. Hind site is fantastic, but having move by move, belay by belay beta takes 1/2 the fun out of the climb. To someone leading it for the first time, depending on how they break the pitches (and who's if any trip report they read) it becomes a reasonble/critical belay depending on rope length. (the crack above is ok, but that belay has better points of protection.) So my question still stands..... It may not be an improvement, but doest it really detract from anything to replace two shitty bolts, with two good ones? Were certainly not talking about retrobolting a pitch, or bolting the chimney, or even adding bolts. If you like the history that just put in two shiny ones and leave the old rusted ones there for posterity. It wouldn't change the integrity of the climb, as when they were originally placed 30 years ago, those bolts were probably great instead of sketchy. Cheers!

Anyone been up Observation Rock recently? Would very much appreciate any recent beta on conditions, approach times etc. Thanks for the info! Cheers Josh

Time to brush up on your math Keq =(1/ka + 1/kb)^-1 if ka=kb (two identical screamers) Keq =(1/ka + 1/ka)^-1 = (2/ka)^-1 = ka/2 The activation force should be the same but it should absorb more energy From the Yates website "Screamers can be combined in series to double or triple the total absorption. " I'm such a geek!!

aah but there's good stuff out there Plenty of stuff to scare me senseless on a regular basis!

I've had a Gateway for a couple of years and have been pretty happy with it. Usually I'm anti- "paying for extended warranties" But I did on the laptop. It seems like enough end up with some problem, battery, screen whatever and it's not something I think I could take apart and fix

I end up with a bit of a broad mixture. For trad cragging I tend to take alpine style draws instead of sport draws. They're nice floppiness makes me happy when I'm clipping nuts and cams I prefer them mostly because they don't get hung up on stuff and if i'm pushing my own grade at all I want to be able to place and clip gear as efficiently as possible. Tied work fine, but I'd probably make up a seperates set of short tied draws (1 ft long?) instead of using standard single (3ft?) draws that have been trippled over. (trippled over, tied singles get messy and futzy ). For alpine stuff I end up with a mix. Sewn alpine draws for singles, 1 or 2 sewn skinny doubles and 2 to 4 tied doubles (the 9/16th's climb spec stuff, not the 1" nylon). That way I've got a handful of runners that I don't really care about keeping nice (good for slinging chock stones, sap covered trees, building rap stations etc). so... yes, definitely worth having, and seriously cut down on bulk for the draws. I don't think I'd make single length alpine draws with 1" tied webbing, at that point they're better over your shoulder. as has been noted... strength doesn't really come into the question, it's more about bulk, futzing, and efficiency.

10% seems a little bit low. Of the dozen folks I usually climb with I think i'm the only one who posts but at least 2 or 3 others lurk on occassion or come here for TR's/beta. I imagine CC might get more than say gunks.com or smithrock.com due to it's breadth and the high quality of spray The real question is.... how many sprayers actually climb

my fave has always been... The climbing was uninteresting, but at least the pro sucked.

your true colors are shining ...... oh hell, it's been said before

Hillary will run and probably get nominated by the Dems. Then she'll be blow out the water by a somewhat moderate Republican. The first women president will almost certainly have to be Republican.

Linky link

Seeing as you missed my glorious pun your definitely slipping

Why? that climb sucks I didn't know any better at the time wandering around the backside and, whadaya know? climbed crap

I did the lower pithc of Cling-on earlier this year. Talk about a pain in the ass strenuous layback on greasy bald footing! Once you get through the thin section about 1/3 of the way up an onto the jugs its easy though. Seemed awfully strenuous at 5.8 to me too. Of course then I got to watch a friend, stem the whole line on top rope And how can you not love the flop onto the bird shit covered ledge

better question might be does a 5.10 face climb = 5.8 crack climb? And from what I've seen, trying to face climb a crack seems to increase the difficulty by about 2 or 3 grades so yeah, that's probably about right. (had a chance to watch a couple burgeoning crack climbers who typically follow/gym-climb at 10b/10c but get shutdown at about 5.8+/5.9 when they have to actually climb a crack directly. They both lead at their upper limit about 5.8 cracks on gear, and 10a sport at (Vantage, Smith, etc maybe a wee bit harder at E38) Whether a 5.8 NW crack = 5.8 Yos crack is a different question and as i've never been blessed enough to climb in Yos i have no idea what so ever!

Damn i forgot E and Aline fox in my compliments and the people here i adore.... you guys RULE and dont forget the Gin this year Hey! Are you feeling slighted? Since this is such a warm fuzzy place you two should definitely kiss and make up

Might consider adding in an integral (or optional zip out?) rope tarp. Possibly attach it lengthwise with a beefy zipper up against the frame. Then add an internal compression strap or two to secure the rope up against the frame. Idea would be to drop the rope onto the tarp, roll it up directly into the pack, secure it with a strap or two, then throw the rest of the gear on top and seal it up? Good luck and the packs look great! Next time in the market I'll definitely be looking a them! Cheers Josh

This translates into climbing-ese as a roadtrip where you buy wine, cheese and bread, instead of PBR and raman noodles.

You say that with an awfully sarcastic tone archie It's a skill called picking your battles and the only other very important skill every married man should have, is the ability to discern when there is absolutely no correct answer, and the best course of action is shut the hell up and stop making it worse ----------------------------- First rule of holes: When your in one, stop digging.