JosephH

Yes, that would likely be the result.

I have in the past posted we ought to institute a 'National Cam-free Day'...

If ice climbers now had to wear mid-70's clothing there'd be a whole lot fewer ice climbers today - that shit sucked.

Sounds like we've been slow to upgrade the fleet with software fixes and that the Iranian kids have just GPS-spoofed a second drone - way, way weak if not completely stupid on our part. Fool me once...

Oh, and with regard to the trail bridge being out and needing repair. A couple of alternatives were proposed - pull the beam and replace it (big job) or weld a section of L-beam onto it to beef it up and re-level it (pain in the ass). But as it turns out, Karl was put in touch with this old guy who fixes bridges after they've been hit by trucks. Turns out this guy says steel wants to go back to it's manufactured state and, if you know how to manipulate heat and cold right, you can put it back in to it's previous shape. So they're getting a bid on doing just that and will use a prison work crew to haul six big torches and a day's worth of gas up there to do it. Sounds like voodoo to me, but then I don't know shit about steel fab and welding.

It's definitely the same stretch of rock. Leave the old p1 anchor and head either straight up, or slightly left through slightly rougher terrain, or slightly right to the small ledge and then step left across. They all put you into the small, angling dihedral which takes you directly to the p2 anchor with the left hand variation placing you in it slightly higher than the start of it.

i did this pitch before jim and ken did the B.H. pitch! i can't tell you how much i hate it being called the butthole pitch but it is what it is is there still a stud there? I also hate it being referred to as that. Yes, the stud is still there on the left of the three variations - left, center, and right. I'd led both left and center before it was all thoroughly chiseled out and brought down a full grade. It was obvious whoever did it did so with the clear intent of retrobolting it on top of the now way more than adequate pro they chopped out during the blatant chiselfest. It was an existing leadable variation that didn't require any bolts or excavation before and sure as hell doesn't need any bolts in it's newly manufactured state. Could just be me, but this episode completely fails the 'keeping it real' test (unless of course, that mantra is more for bumperstickers, than rocks).

Our best drones are so stupid that clever Iranians kids could just tell one to land in Iran instead of Pakistan. Kind of embarrassing.

Wow, nice shots. Glad to see you're back at it...

I know I would - total drag and currently running a severe deficit in yardage.

My old partner and I tried going straight up through the East Face roofs directly opposite where the trail takes it's first hard left at the big tree back in '87. Barely escaped that venture alive. The blocks up there were all fractured like pages in a book, very similar to what's exposed in the arena. I've stared up at that for hours in the past to see if it wasn't possible to do a direct start to 'Silver Crow', but I couldn't see any really plausible line which was protectable. It's all too loose and you're basically gonna deck and roll when you come off.

probably not a great idea for a clydesdale.... Hell, that's not a great idea for a stigmatic chihuahua.

Malcolm and Trango have been consistent in expressing a strong opinion folks not rope solo with the Cinch.

I suspect HSA would be a bad idea for folks in poverty. For every low income person who 'gets' HSA's and manages them 'right' there'd likely be many more who wouldn't and who would still end up in ERs.

The Alamo, that happened in February. I'm personally not into the whole re-enactment thing, but it's clearly a popular annual event folks have decided to play out again and again.

The damned Columbia is a total blight on climbing. The Corps and BPA have been advised of the debilitating emotional stress it causes us every year and we have forthwith demanded they re-route the river far, far away.

Go Hawks.

Yeah, I figured that's all you had.

Ice gear and a set of Warthogs and there's unlimited vertical terrain just off the road...

There was a decent size rockfall onto the trail just short of the brass plague that took out the bridge there and bent one of the main beams. The trail is currently closed pending their structural engineer taking a look at it and re-planking. At the moment it doesn't appear additional [volunteer] resources will be necessary, but it wouldn't hurt to offer. I for sure can't get away due to a medical crisis in the immediate family, but it does represent an opportunity for the BRCA to make the offer.

Apply before Monday, January 28, 2013...

Dave, if you're likely to use yours at all then I could send mine, as with the family medical crisis I'm involved with I'm not going to be using mine for awhile.

Excellent tutorial Joseph! Thanks for the link. In your system, is it cumbersome to always carry the rope on your back vs. leaving the coil at the anchor? Also, why the A5 rope bag in your pack? Why not just flake the rope out directly in your pack? No - quite the contrary - I found having the rope hang down just sucked so bad I couldn't deal with it. Also, on winding routes like the SE Corner at Beacon or out in the open in blazing Gorge winds like on 'Free For All', having the rope hanging down is basically ridiculous unless you're interested in a workout of heavy squats while attempting to climb or being stranded by hung up ropes and tangles. As for the A5 rope bag thing, I've always used them and careful stacking the rope before each pitch with short, clean loops is way essential to the whole deal to avoid knotting as the rope feeds out of the pack. And given I've always only used the A5's for my ropes, soloing or not, it's just what evolved, but there is a reason for it. To stack the rope into the A5's I put an extended trad draw around my neck clipping the biners together, I attach the A5 to what then becomes the lower biner as they realign, and then I clip the rope through the higher biner and run it into the bag. What this setup allows me is to rapidly stack the rope into the A5 bag and watch the stacking as I do it if I so feel the need - i.e. I carefully lay the rope in the bag in small loops, avoiding coiling, as I stack back-and-forth around the bag interior and monitor that it's stacking up clean and level as it fills the bag up. I like using the A5's because they hang clean and open with that stacking method where as, if I use just used the pack, it's too bulky and awkward to stack from around my neck. In that case I have to extend the pack down from my anchor and stack into it that way - it takes twice as long as just doing it around my neck and I can't easily monitor and adjust how the stacking is going. So overall using the A5 plays into the fact I like to move fast when roped soloing and with a minimum of dicking around with it all and using the A5 seperate from the pack really contributes to that.

The smart money doesn't get religious or emotionally attached to any OS, language, or device - they all suck equally and all stand as an obstacle between what you can envision and what you can realize. However, I will grant you Oracle does suck on multiple fronts more heavily than most - none of them having to do with java, though.

What I do...