eldiente

Can I ask you Fairweather and KKK a question (Actually to all of you) Why do you post political commentary in a online climbing forum? What's your motivation? (Actually let's extend that question to anyone that starts such a thread) You'd have a lot more fun hashing it out with other like minded people over at fivethirtyeight.com or frumforum.com. (Although 538.com might not be a good choice for some of you, statistical analysis might require you to form an argument based on something more than "You're wrong." Other random question that comes to mind... What's the the reasoning behind the term "Libtards" ? Surely you must be aware that the majority of people that have terminal degrees (like really smart people yo!) would label themselves as "liberal" and vote democratic. Conversely the majority of folks that are mystic ( reject logic, believe in the Easter Bunny, creationism etc) would call themselves conservative and vote Red. Can you help explain the logic behind this term? Perhaps there is proof out there that mentally handicapped people (retards) tend to vote blue more often. -Nate

Thread drift but since were talking about self belay now.... I've always had good luck with my GriGri for top-rope self belay. I'm sure the MiniTrax works better ( seems to be the big wall standard for top roping) but I'm too cheap to buy one. The GriGri will self feed if there is enough weight on it, I'll tie my pack to the bottom of the line or tension it with some pro. This only works on routes that are straight up, any type of traversing and the rope tension will keep you from being able to move. Once in a blue moon I'll have to manually feed the device, on these types of routes I just pretend I'm on lead and stop every 10 feet to pull the slack out just like you might if you were stopping to clip pro. Not the best solution but better than doing a hang-board workout on a sunny day.

Tieton is just over the pass, lots of variety from mellow cracks to steep sport. http://www.mountainproject.com/v/washington/tieton_river/105921237

Yeah there is a bit of heckling going on here (I'm in that group) but the general idea is not to under-estimate that wall and get some practice. Most of the wall climbing I've tried to do ended in failure and bailing, not because the climbing was hard, but because I was too slow. Just about anyone can figure out how to aid up C2, however the real skill of it is to do it quickly and efficiently. Unlike free climbing, on the big "day" you just can't will yourself to move faster or push harder, if your systems weren't dialed before they won't get dialed up there. I'll stand by my earlier recommendation, you should be able to lead and clean a (moderate) pitch in two hours or less. If it takes you 8 hours ( as someone suggested) to lead a pitch on El Cap, you'll be up there for a month. Now there's a TR I would read! -Nate

Well as my grandma would say " They must have needed it more than you did." I get the feeling someone was watching me, I was in the process of loading up my car with bins of gear to move it into storage. I took a break and 30 minutes later I came back and the car was cleaned out. (and I do mean clean,they even stole an old parking ticket) I could care less about the climbing gear, just metal junk, however they stole my pancake pen I got as a gift. Hard to make pancake animals without it. Irony on this one is the last load of crap I hauled to my car (when I discovered it had been robbed) was my shotgun. Thankfully I didn't catch them in the act as I probably would have ended up in jail or worse. I hope my American Pride rope makes a good dog leash for someone. -Nate

Hey all. I just had a huge pile of gear stolen from my car last night. Yes, please lecture me about leaving my rack in the car. These ass-holes were brave, they cleaned out my car while I was taking a break from loading it up! Please keep an eye out for this gear and let me or the police know if you see it. The worst of it all is that my shoes were stolen after I just spent two full weeks breaking them in. Arrg! This is a rough list of what is missing. I'll work on getting a full inventory soon.The climbing hardware is missed the most is listed below. I hope some meth head enjoys climbing cracks on my hardware! 2X set of Aliens. Blue-Orange. 3X set of BD C4 Cams. .4-#5 2x set of BD C3 Cams. Purple- Yellow 2X seto of Master Cams: Blue-Orange Set of draws. Set of Alpine Draws. Nuts. BD and Offsets Ropes. 2x 60 and 70 M. Shoes. TC Pro, Muria, 2x Pitons. Size 40 on most of these. BD Harnes. Size M. GriGri/ATC 2x Backpacks. Size Large black Dana Design. Haul bag Size M. Misc clothing and hiking gear. -Nate

Is this the guy you are climbing with? At the pace of one pitch per day, it'll take you a full month to send and a lot of water. I think it is possible to do a big wall your first try without having ever been on the big stone, however you'll need to practice your systems at the local crag( and no, aiding a bolted sport route doesn't count as practice) If you can't lead and follow a pitch in less than two hours, you'll never make it and we will indeed see a real time bail report on the interwebs.

I would imagine since NH has ONE mountain, they dedicate all of their resources to just that one lump. Tough to do that with such a large mountain range like the Cascades. I honestly don't put much faith in the avy forecasts, you almost have to go up there and see it with your own eyes before making a decision. Especially on Hood as there is lots of ways to bypass unsafe avy terrain and conversely you can find unstable snow even when the forecast says it is "safe"

The GriGri is for people who do nothing but single-pitch cragging and don't know how to tie off a climber and initiate a rescue scenario. People learning how to belay on a GriGri just leads to laziness and bad habits. You might want to take a look at this: http://gravsports.blogspot.com/2010/02/simple-tricks-for-speed-on-multi-pitch.html "Belay the leader with an auto-lock lead belay device. This allows the second to eat, drink, organize the belay" If you think the GirGri is only used by lazy sport wankers, it could be said that ATCs are only used by slow multi-pitch climbers :-) Seriously, I love the auto-lock on longer routes, allows me to change songs on my iPod while belaying.

Note that this rule only applies to people with a permit to carry a concealed weapon in that State. Ie If you have a permit in WA, it is still illegal to bring your loaded hand-gun to Yosemite. If you have no permit, it is still illegal to carry in a concealed weapon in NP.

Vantage isn't the only place with lose rock. Last weekend at J-Tree my partner pulled off a flake near the end of O'Kelleys Crack. The rock and him both went flying, the falling rock hit his knee before the rope caught him.(see pic for the end result) Dumb luck and slight movement of my head to the left kept this plate from chopping my head-off at the belay. I'm not sure if a helmet would have saved me, this rock was moving and I suspect it would have killed me and then my partner had it hit me. A bit crazy as this route sees tons of traffic and the rock at J-Tree is normally the best around. I might be using my GriGri more often in the future... [img:center]http://lh4.ggpht.com/_XNueStDVX8c/S32wLTBx6WI/AAAAAAAAJY4/K3UmCuS97j8/s640/P1010079.JPG[/img]

The same cornice almost got me a few weeks ago while snowboarding. I was eating an Apple for lunch when the whole thing cuts under my feet. I was able to jump off the block and face first dived back onto the ridge, made an awful noise as it rushed down into the crater. I felt bad as it scared the crap out of a large group of Mazams that were up there.

The GriGri is for people who do nothing but single-pitch cragging and don't know how to tie off a climber and initiate a rescue scenario. People learning how to belay on a GriGri just leads to laziness and bad habits. Yes, that's why most Wall climbers, free and aid, cary nothing but GriGris these days. Maybe you should post to ST and let Chris know that his recommendation for using a GriGri for wall climbing is wrong? http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=875439 You can also hunt around ST and find the gear beta for when Chris and Tommy linked the Nose and Freerider together in a day, the only belay device listed is a GriGri. I find a lot of use for the GriGri,even while alpine climbing. Good tool for simul climbing, I can adjust the length of the rope on the fly and still climb. I can take my hand off the rope to eat food while lead belaying (not going to do that with an ATC) handy for self belaying as a second, short fixing, hauling etc etc. Yep it is heavy, but there is a reason all the speedy climbers carry only this device and skimp on the rest.

Get a GriGri and forget about all this nonsense. New climbers get too hung-up on the process and not the final outcome. The end goal is to keep your partner off the deck, how you do it is up to you.

I retract my statement about the dumb tat. A good friend of mine has an even dumber tat. (John you can appreciate this) This guy loves computers so much that he got a Pentium 4 chip tattooed on his foot. (this was back when a P4 CPU was hot shit) :laf: As we've all seen someone will always be willing to tell us something we did is dumb. Would I get the same tat as Rick or your friend Nate? Nope. But that said cheers to them for doing something they wanted to do that didnt affect the rest of us I have to give my buddy props, he was very excited about his Intel P4 tattoo despite the heckling. I told him he should get new ink every time Intel came out with a new family of CPUs. Although he is stoked about hit tattoo, I don't think the girls are very impressed by it. Any ouch painful on the foot!

I retract my statement about the dumb tat. A good friend of mine has an even dumber tat. (John you can appreciate this) This guy loves computers so much that he got a Pentium 4 chip tattooed on his foot. (this was back when a P4 CPU was hot shit)

I love my split system, Burton 62 S. The Split system opened up a lot of lines that I never thought I'd ride because the approach was too long/flat. Fast up fast down.

That is the dumbest thing I've ever seen, by a long shot. Side note, how the hell is some guy so much flab going to swing a tool anyway.

Yikes, I sound like such a jerk on the internet. I was trying to add a bit of humor to a conversation that is WAY too serious. Were talking about Beacon Rock right and not El Cap? Kidding aside, it is a bit silly to close that one section of trail when that whole area is crawling with trails, fences, railings etc. Worth losing sleep over and screaming about? Probably not. If that trail has a special meaning for you and the lack of access is truly ruining your life, do what you need to do. I love eating candy, if the "man" outlawed candy I'd still eat it and not feel one bit guilty. Ok bad example, but I've been eating corn candy all day and yumm! I can't recommend breaking park rules as it jeopardizes access for us all, but I'd be lying if I said I've never broken a park rule that I viewed as "silly." ( I slept in my car in the Valley once, oops) As for this trail. It is actually a nice Winter hike down there, but I'm OK if they close the trail during the off-season in an effort to limit our impact. There are plenty of other trails that I would gladly hike if it helped keep Beacon open for climbers during the summer. I still think that for access sensitive areas, the best thing we can do as climbers is to keep a low profile and try to be invisible. Cutting back brush and encouraging people to be down there doesn't count as low profile. (Side note) Do we really want non-climbers around the base of Beacon? I get a bit nervous of having my pack stolen when I see rednecks from Camas wondering around the base of the wall while I'm up climbing. I'd be stoked if the climbers trail was hard to find to discourage hikers from going in there. -Nate

The crag is closed so it makes sense that the climbers trail is closed as well. Why would you want to hike down there if you couldn't climb? Do you want to encourage non-climbers to hike around the base of the wall? Keeping a low profile is important for access restricted areas (like Beacon) Needlessly hiking around the base of walls and calling up the Ranger to pester him about the sign does not count as "low profile" If you really need go down there during the Winter to help visualize the moves for your SE Corner red point attempt, do so in a quiet manner. Calling the ranger to complain does not help matters. -Nate

We were up there as well, made the summit by 3:00PM as a party of four. Good turns going down, a bit crusty in spots but overall a good day.

It must be nice to have all that wisdom gained over the years and apply it to the redpoint of Givler's Crack that you've been working so hard on. Those jams are tricky, no young punk could ever figure it out! (Although I hear Marc is going to send as soon as he gets done playing with his iPhone) If were looking for opinion leader, I'm not sure if age or number years climbing has much to to do with it. Sorry. Anyone climbing at a high level (like Marc) clearly knows something about climbing.

The amount of cardio he's doing makes me feel like going for a run, right now!

I should clarify that I was thinking of what works best for protecting your skin, this has nothing to do with what is best for strength gains, tendon prevention etc. If your coming off the couch with no base, yes doing 6 weeks of jug hauling is a good thing to get a nice, deep pump. Although again I think this is the most painful part of a training cycle. The crisp jugs cut into the hands and if you are indeed coming off the couch, the skin is already soft an easy to damage. One possible work around for this would be to hook up some skin friendly holds (wood, smooth ) to a lat-pull down machine and do a bunch of sets there. Similar to jug hauling on the 45 but perhaps not so hard on the skin and doesn't need a belayer. When doing this I like to do the normal 10x pulls but instead of letting go, I'll dead hang with one hand from the hold for 30 seconds, shake out chalk-up an do x10 more sets for 20 minutes. The folks at 24 hour fitness might give you odd looks but it sort of feels like climbing a long route with good shake-outs. Side gripe. Anyone have any problems with the texture of the wall that is normally used for the campus board? My gym bolts the wooden campus holds onto the normal gym wall that is textured like sandpaper. The problem I have is that when I dry-fire my finger tips go scarping across the textured wall and I lose a lot of skin. I'm thinking it would make sense to use smooth paint, or put thin rubber strips above and below each rung to protect the skin from botched moves. Has anyone tried this? Perhaps I just need to be more accurate with my campusing.

A few possibilities. *The image is part of flash animation. *The image is copy protected. *Other? Some type of animated JPEG or Giff. One low-res way of getting around this is taking a screen capture of the image. On the Mac it is "Shift, command and 4" all at the same time. This allows you to capture whatever is on the screen in front of you with a lasso like function. If you need more help with this, PM me.