JosephH

All the Gorge nesting appears to be about a week behind, so I'm just guessing we're looking at more like June 2x as opposed to a June 1x opening. I plan on really ramping up the monitoring over the next two weeks...

At no point have Falcon populations ever 'exploded' - they have made steady and painstaking gains from 1970 when there were no pairs east of the Mississippi and only a relative handful of them west of it to today where they have reclaimed about 3/4 of their natural range. That equates to places like NY state having just under 70 pairs in 2008 (13 pairs in NYC). There is not and never has been an 'explosion' of Peregrines - just a steady, hard fought forty year battle to restore them which sees gains and loses in every year. And we're still only talking under 2,000 breeding pairs in the U.S. and Canada. In Oregon the average number of young fledged per occupied nest site averaged 1.55 from 2001 to 2005 and 2.18 young per successful nesting attempt during this same period. Couple that with the fact they have a mortality rate in their first year of 59–70%, going down to 25–32% in adults. You can see between their rate of breeding success and mortality that there is no way they can even begin to sustain anything but slow and steady gains in their numbers. Kevbone has a far higher breeding rate.

Pretty much the only time I wear mine is when I get on cc.com. Helmets and Internet forums - millions of keystrokes down the bitbucket for naught. I will grant you they're a lot more necessary now that the demographics have exploded and you never know when someone clueless might be bumbling around above you at single pitch crags. For multipitch in general, with very few exceptions, I never climb straight-line, near vertical multipitch under another party, ever. I sometimes where a helmet for specific endeavors, but mostly not.

Maybe where you guys where climbing... pindude got the roots of it right - it went from 'take me' to just 'take'.

Yep, big change from old school days. Back then at any of the crags all you heard was "falling"; quite a change from today when all you hear is "take". "Take", it's the plaintive of our times.

Do you know anyone who's died climbing? Doesn't mean it doesn't happen. Sub-10 ropes cut much easier under tension than a 10 0r 10+ rope. Don't kid yourself - the 'not me' covers a lot of f#ckups that happen all the time in climbing.

You can't pull up a 10mm and clip? Yeah, right. Like I said, sub-9.8 singles are for sport climbing.

Good stuff Bill! I think part of the deal is that, while some minor advances in the nylon and rope manufacturing have taken place, they are just that - minor optimizations. It's not like we now have spider silk ropes that is stronger than steel and can barely be cut over an edge. Bottom line? the technology of nylon and ropes hasn't changed so much that you can just say skinny ropes are bomb and ignore reality. Making ropes 'skinny', or making any gear 'ultralite' for that matter, involves some real world trade-offs and these need to be acknowledged and understood. Things don't get skinny or lite without a cost. For me that means I [trad] climb on either 9.8's or 10.2s depending on the specifics of the rock and route I'm climbing. I only buy ropes with high fall factors, high sheath percentages, and teflon coatings regardless of their size - they last longer and should be less likely to cut (in theory at least). They are a little stiffer, stretch less, and have a slightly harder catch; all attributes I personally like in a rope. When evaluating rock and routes I also don't limit my options; I also consider whether doubles or twins might be more appropriate - even here in Oregon. On the route I've been working on I've variously used double 9.8s and even paired a 9.8 and a 10.2 for a specific pitch before just settling in on a single Mammut 10.2 Supersafe. Single sub-9.8s might be ok for sport climbing at crags where the risk of a sharp edge is minimal, but you won't find me trad climbing on a single smaller than a 9.8 until the material science advances significantly.

Could have sworn I'd posted up about it at the time as Dave had talked about it at length after tracking down the origin of one of the bird bands I found out at Beacon on upper grassy ledges while replacing anchors - sure enough, it was a racing pigeon from Vancouver. He said it was a serious problem through the PDX / Vancouver corridor. But I just did a search and no post, must have slipped my [senile] mind at the time. Hard to imagine, particularly over pigeons - it's like if rat fanciers started killing cats.

I sent my Hilti 36v and Sawzall 18v batteries off to these guys at Primecell because they upgrade the cells to either higher capacity NiCDs or to NiMHs (not the Hiltis) which up the run time. I couldn't get from the Batteries Plus guys what they'd be replacing them with and the difference in price covered the shipping with the Primecell guys. If you use the Batteries Plus guys you might try reading the Primecell website and specify you want the them to upgrade the cells they use if they don't already. Will let you know how it goes when I get a chance to see how they perform. The Sawzall had a real lousy run time and I should be able to tell the difference the first time I use it.

Maybe channeling. No one writes TRs like Ivan, though...

Good going! Sounds like you had a lot of fun. My only comments would be about the chimneys and the last chimney pitch in particular. On that pitch you have the rightside-in, face-out part down, but then if you stay all the way out on the very outside edge it's more like 5.6-8 [airy] chimneying on good edges with a #3-4 Loweball crack that follows you along on the face just at your left side. In general, I'd say don't get sucked into those chimneys at any point - stay as far towards the outside whenever you can. If you're feeling squeezed and cramped you're probably too far in.

Anyone know if Jim's phone moved over yet?

I'd take the Marmot Trestles mens - call it $60 given I'm in Portland and will need to be shipped. PM me if that works... Joseph

Check it out on the rc.com threads...

The three I mentioned above all have optical view finders - as you said, a must...

Moof, sorry for not looking closer at the photos - sure enough. I just saw all those traditional aiders and wondered what was that all about. Thanks for setting me straight. Hybrid - an interesting idea, but doesn't that turn into an incredible cluster fuck given the aid trees would tend to tangle with the aiders?

You got that right...

Hey, WTF! Where are the Russkie aiders and aid trees...? (Great job and TR, though.)

The SD990 has the same Digic IV / 14.7 combo as the G10 and is available now. As for fast enough and shooting above ISO 200? Huh? Maybe you better roll that one out a bit further...

- Cannon SD850 / SD1100 / SD990 (14.7 megapixels - it's a microscope and telescope) - LowePro Rezo 10 (SD850 / SD1100) or 15 (SD990) case - Good, solid [small] retractable key leash (wire or stout floss-like material) from a locksmith The combination of the three, when used on the shoulder strap of a Metolius 'Big Wall' gear sling, allows you to instantly shoot from almost any stance or decent hold. If you start to slip or panic you can just throw the camera into space or drop it because it's leashed and then put it away once you get to a better stance.

One more thing - over the past four years I've seen just a ton of bolts where the hole was not drilled perfectly perpendicular to the rock. This results in some staggeringly lousy installations with the nut or bolt head cocked way off from laying flat against the hanger. If you're going to go to all the trouble of assembling the stuff to put in a bolt, then try to get this part right as it is critical to a solid installation. If you're rapping with a power drill then don't descend too far below the hole as I suspect most of these abortions result from flagging forearm strength and drooping drills. Stay a little high where you can see what you're doing and have better control over the drill. If hand drilling on rap you'll need to descend a bit lower, and you have to really pay attention to the drill position relative to the rock for the first 3/4 of an inch or so. Hand drilling on lead - kudos - you do the best you can, just try to keep this in mind while you do it. Also, take a moment before drilling for a good look at the [micro] terrain and do it from several perspectives to insure you have some references for drilling perpendicular as sometimes it can be hard to judge - set the drill in place and then double-check it from several angles before pulling the trigger and keep checking it until the bit is driving home on a course that can't be changed. And I second Bill's advice; if you're going to bother at all and value your new line, then pop for stainless bolts and hangers - plated stuff is going to have to be changed out way too soon and borders on lame at this point in the game.

Those donuts will still be good for the next move...

It was the best of stuff; it was the worst of stuff... People dribbled into Jim's place one-by-one yesterday afternoon until a sufficient quorum of the odd was established and a UHaul secured. At that point everyone sprang to a general confusion of what was staying, what was going, and what was mank. It was an understandable cunundrum, and even Jim had to look at some things twice. The move was coming off like a broken clockwork when the matter was further complicated by the arrival of his ex-landlord who proceeded to make [senile] accusations of us making off with many of the Pardee estate's crown jewels. Jim was kind, however, and explained at length how either her children or the new buyers had previously fallen upon the manor stripping it like Piranahas and that we did no more than sift through the rubble trying to distinquish Jim's non-video valuables from the general debris. But she wasn't having any of it at first until Jim went all Christian on her and she eventually relented, departing empty handed and complaining she didn't even know her children had sold the family home. Now this wasn't your run-of-the-mill "move to Beverly" operation, oh no! It was logistically masterful ballet - think Leaf Cutter Ants working in a syncronicity of flurry and fodder to recreate the moulding for a new subterranean colony of one. We were dedicated and efficient, only occasionally stumbling over each other and the various assembled and disassembled artifacts d' Opdycke. All was going well until we stumbled upon the 800lb. trove of large mountain graphics archived with care since the last move. With a full UHaul and a stunned realization they had not been mulched long ago we sat addled, I mean idled, until Kenny charged to the fore rearranging his Volvo to accept the mighty load. Once we and everything were loaded, we piled into our rickshaw caravan and struck out, zig-zagging on a NE diagonal that cut across grain and grit of SE portland, heading for the Eastern slopes of far Mt. Tabor. That's where Jim's cousin, Tom, lives in a nice neighboorhood with stunning views of St. Helens and Mt. Hood. Jim has rented the basement apartment there and it turned out Jim, Geoff, and Kenny had (thank god!) already moved a significant percentage of Jim's boxed treasures in the days prior to our swarming over the last remains of the Pardee manor. On arrival we conducted our ballet in reverse with equal confusion around where things that weren't broken in the move should go in the new abode. Jim once again lept in to direct a choreography of the absurd and inspite of all our best efforts we completed Jim's decamping without incident and retired to Tom's patio for well-earned beers and smokes. We remained there on the Group W bench for some time before realizing some late stragglers might be marooned at Jim's old place so we launched ourselves out of our stupor and back into the caravan for a last round of tall tales told in the hedge-lined front yard of Jim's old homestead. Just as we were getting into the good lies Arent showed up with perfect timimg to join the the post-move glory with tales of his own. All in all it was a successful event - mission accomplished even though still I haven't the slightest idea how to get back to Jim's new quarters. Thanks to Kenny, Geoff, Kyle, Wes, Bill, Arent, and whomever else has been helping Jim get the job done.

They'd scratch your eyes out...!