eldiente

I'm paranoid so I use a small locker on the rig. As for the knot, the above picture was stole from some random website, this isn't my picture. The only thing I do differently is I use a overhand knot to join the pull line and the lead rope together, the tag line is not supposed to be load bearing so I use whatever knot is small and easy to tie for the tag line. My feeling is that there is no conceivable way for a locker to fit through a rap ring, safe enough.

See below pic of pull-line system in use, I use this method with a 6mm cord. Note the biner is REALLY important, people have died by using just a knot and no biner. This method isn't prefect as discussed, but I've been happy with it and only had a few stuck ropes that required some extra pulling. [img:center]http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CVi31V8pFQE/S-nNArY-xCI/AAAAAAAAAMI/p1-uqDgNHHQ/s1600/448px-Autoblock_lockeds.JPG[/img]

IMO- In most cases I'd skip the probe and just go right to digging. I tested this years ago with a chunk of plywood, I could always locate and unbury the wood faster with a shovel and no probing. The one exception to this would be huge slides, if the victim is burred 15 feet deep it might be quicker to probe before digging, although if the slide is that big the poor sap is probably a goner. -Nate

Oh man I can't believe I got sucked into this.*laughs* What does large mean? I was thinking of revenue and profit, not market cap. By a measure of revenue, Apple is larger than Microsoft, Dell or Google. Although market cap can be a bunch of crap, (remember the dot.com bubble days) Apple has extremely conservative fiscal policy to back-up the high share prices. 50 billion in cash, and no debit. Apple could buy Dell tomorrow and never even notice. *sighs, dude I feel like I'm sticking up for the evil empire here, blah* Anyway, we can agree that Apple is f**ing huge and shows no signs of slowing down. Heres another fun fact Walmart has 2 million employes and makes about 14 billion a year in profit. Apple has 50,000 people on payroll and also makes about 14 billion a year. If making a buck off your employee is the goal of all this, Apple is doing a great job.

No way, when we run out of oil, we can run our cars on iPhones. Exxon has a finite life, whereas Apple can keep making up BS forever. ( I do agree on the bubble though, when should I cash out?)

I love math! (really I do) Depends on what you mean by "large" but let's look at some of the other big players in the computer world and what they did during 2010. If we are only looking at value, Apple is currently third largest company on Earth, no not a mistype. Exxon oil and China Petro occupy the number 1 and 2 spots. Apple. 65 billion revenue, 300 billion market cap. Dell. 53 billion revenue 27 billion market cap.*Ouch* Microsoft. 63 billion revenue, 238 billion market cap. Intel. 35 billion revenue, 116 billion market cap.

Hot off the press, the PC as we know it (Intel/MS) is dead. http://www.asymco.com/2011/01/06/this-is-the-most-exciting-ces-ever/ And back to Apple. Here's something to ponder. The economy sucks, people are driving old cars, shopping in bulk, canceling vacations, getting a roommate, climbing on old ropes etc. However during all this nonsense, people are choosing to buy "over-priced" Apple hardware instead of a PC. Think about it, Apple has tons of competition, charges a premium price, and in a down economy has become America's largest computer company. You can't blame Apple's success on a few fan boys or some type of monopoly, Apple is building a mint the old fashioned way, by making a better product. Given the current economic environment this is nothing short of a miracle, this would be the equivalent of Porsche overtaking Toyota in the car industry. (But hey JH, the Toyota and the Porsche both have the same engine (er CPU) that's a hell of tax to pay on the Porsche, they both will get you to work at the same time) Oh and onto the App store. Sort of big brotherish for sure. The future with Apple is making the device like a toaster; easy to use, never crashes. You give up some freedom going this route, but the experience for the end user is better. Will this piss off some folks, yep developers and people that like to run the command line are going to be hating it. The other 99% of the world is going to love it though, that's what Apple is betting on. If people don't like it, no worries at all, there are many other choices. Dell isn't going out of business just yet, although their stock price might make you think they are.

Oh no I've been sucked in! Below we have a picture of two very nice laptops, I'd be happy with either one. The on the right is an Apple MacBook Pro, and on the left an HP Envy. Both get high marks from the pundits. Both have almost identical specs. The big difference is price, the one on left costs $1,600 whereas the Mac on the right costs $1,300. That's a bit of a heavy HP tax. :-) Ok bad example, but here's a good example from a large HMO here in Portland. These folks are savagely cheap, there is a fellow in procurement whose only job it is to buy the cheapest computers he can find, he gets a pay raise if the TCO (total cost of ownership) per machine goes down. He'd buy a toaster if it would run Office. Anyway, they are in the process of switching the entire company to Mac for the simple reason, they cost less money. But hey I'm glad Steve is getting rich, I own Apple stock. $400 in 2011 I tell you! [img:center]http://cache-02.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/4/2009/09/DSC_0263mac.JPG[/img]

I'll second what Rob said about shooting guns, fun! Just about anyone can have a good time shooting. However shooting for self defense has zero to do with shooting for fun. Most people shoot for fun but think they can use that same "toy" for shooting a person. Nope. Most folks (myself included) should not even think of a handgun as a self defense tool. It is has been said before here but is really important to think about; professionals with years of training still have problems with handguns and often shoot the wrong person or are shot themselves. If a trained professional can't get it right, you and I have no hope. I wouldn't try to free solo a 5.14 pitch? Why, because I'm not qualified to do so and would get myself killed. That said, I find the 1911 to be a "fun" handgun to shoot at the range. If the world is really coming to an end and you feel like you've got to have a weapon to defend your ranch, a shotgun seems like a better tool.

I can't say I'm friends with either Tim or Ian, but every time I bump into them at Smith, they strike me as being classy guys. You guys handled this situation well, thanks for the video, way funny. -Nate

At this point this fund raising activity is becoming SPAM on CC.com.

Hey Kevin, it is a tad respectful the families of the deceased to suggest that their loved ones on Flight #77 are not dead and instead part of an elaborate hoax. I guess if this is the mind set, we can safely say the Earth quake in Haiti was a hoax, the Tsunami in the Indian Ocean and the Civil war ware all made up because you didn't get to witness them with your own eyes. When it comes to this sort of nonsense, people forget that the government is made of people just like you and me, people who waste time at work reading BS web forums and want to sneak out of work early on Friday. You think some slack government employee is going work overtime to blow-up buildings? -Nate

I'll fess up to abusing the hell out the REI refund policy. I often feel bad and think I'm going to hell for it. -Natre

I think climbing TC would be grim right now, maybe some of the OWs would go but I think your hands would go so numb on the thin cracks that you'd have a hard time pulling the triggers on your cams. -Nate

Huh Alex, I think you may have mistyped this. Sport wankers the world over will call any rout they lead without falling a red point, usually this is done with draws hanging in place. Pink pointing usually refers to a trad climb with the natural gear pre-placed, no bolts! To add a further layer of confusion, people will sometimes say "trad red point" which usually means placing natural gear on lead with no falls.

Bishop? Why would you ever want to go there? I was there a few weeks ago and it was awful. [img:center]http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs1133.snc4/149561_10150098775061013_605271012_7819908_6680499_n.jpg[/img]

5mm or 6mm seems to be a good size for the pull line. In a pinch you can still rap on 5mm or 6mm, it sucks but I've done it several times. Also, the skinny pull lines can be a real whore to keep tangle free, anything smaller than 5mm and I think you'd be spending a lot of time sorting out ropes. Here's one that hasn't been mentioned yet for moderate terrain. Take an 8mm rope and fold it in half and simul on it. When you need to do a full belayed pitch, unfold the rope and use it like a normal lead line. For the raps, tie the 8mm to your tag line. Super light! Just don't fall very often, I feel OK leading on a single 8mm line but I'd retire it after a whipper. -Nate

The above picture is the correct way to rig this. This is the method I use for my 5.5mm joined to a 9.2mm lead line. Works great! -Nate

Go with a skinny 70M and bring a 5 or 6mm for the raps. Although I was never good at Math, if you add the weight-up, this is the lightest system way to go.

I'm debating going there for T-day. Any thoughts? Sounds like a group-of awful climbers is getting after it right now in the Valley. http://twitter.com/kjorgeson

Oh my, is all the rock in AK this bad? What's up with that hip belay, did Joseph teach him how to climb or something?

I should mention that nobody should take my advice on anything aid climbing related, I'm really bad at it and only use when I get shut down on free routes. That said, when I fall ( seems to be the norm) and have to aid up a pitch to get my kit back, I like to rig up something like this. If the daisy whipper was a real worry you could put a screamer into this system where the daisy connects to the aider(?) Or if I'm in a real hurry, I'll skip the daisy entirely and treat the aiders like climbing holds. Sort of like dry tooling with and aider attached to the bottom of your tools, if you let go of the grab loop you fall back onto the rope just like a normal leader fall. Again, this is probably not going to work for hard aid, but I find it fast when on splitter cracks like City Park. [img:center]http://www.climbing.com/print/techtips/ttaid219-01.gif[/img]

Turns out this route is way over hyped. It got a 3rd ascent yesterday and is reported to be "mundane" http://www.supertopo.com/climbers-forum/1306859/3rd-Ascent-of-Southern-Belle

I'm going to disagree with the group on your aid climbing skills. On easy C1 aid it isn't unsafe/wrong to clip the rope without bounce testing. I mean when's the last time you bounce tested gear while free climbing? Good gear doesn't often fail and even if it does, theres so much gear below the fall will be mellow. Being bad at aid, I like to pretend I'm free climbing. Put 4-6 pieces of gear on each aider and use them like moveable jugs for your hands. Every 10' feet stop and leave a piece of gear behind.

Maybe I'm just a sally, but I find great joy in TRing routes above my pay grade. There are many routes that are fun to TR but way too scary for me to lead, I'm OK with that. Maybe TRing is the best solution for these obscure/un-safe routes(?) J-tree would seem to be an ideal place for this, walk up the back and drop the TR down, scary route is scary no more. Nate