JosephH

Dods would be good with me... Anyone else?

Who else is going to be going out there...?

Another thing to keep in mind is, once Ben is as deep into climbing as all of us, he's also going to be bummed about the place being closed half the year and will likely pitch in to do the monitoring on the Peregrines to provide data and local WSP oversight on the closure for early opens and the possibility of lifting it as we accrue nesting data (we have to document a verifiable nest change off the South face - which we [David and I] haven't managed to-date, and not for lack of trying...).

I'd been meaning to get back to Ben, the young, new BRSP ranger, about taking him up YW after he floated the Corner when I took him up it, but I was sick for a bunch of weeks and totally forgot to call him to let him know that. So yesterday I finally remember to do it and explain why I never got back to him and he says that's fine and he's been climbing anyway on his own. Huh? Recall that, when I took him out, he'd been to a gym twice and our trip up the Corner was his third time climbing and his first time outside. He proceeds to tell me when he didn't hear back from me he drove down to PDX and bought a rope, some biners, and a set of nuts (I only use a single set of six nuts for the Corner), called his brother, and headed back up the Corner leading all the pitches (chalk-less). He said it went fine and did it again with a friend a week or two later. So - lead all the pitches on the corner on your fourth time climbing and second time outside on real rock? He's ok in my book regardless of the fact he's chosen a career path we all might not have taken. I for one am looking forward to climbing with Ben again and personally think it will be a very good thing for climbing at Beacon to have a ranger there who loves climbing and Beacon as much as we do.

Well, I did say he was a character - can't say he's someone I'd be interested in being around outside the context of wirewalking. I'm not sure of the freesoloing correlation though. The reason for the pole is because long lines (of any kind), won't stabilize, or 'settle', under your body weight, i.e. instead of just walking a stable line, you are both walking the line in front of you and also 'riding' the longer wave movements of the entire line. The pole droops and has weighted ends which significantly lowers your center of gravity. This allows you to 'walk' the line with relative ease and concentrate more on managing the 'riding' aspects of the walk. On a sufficiently guyed line that can't exhibit a lot of 'long wave' movement, then just walking it with a pole is fairly trivial, though you still have to manage the mental / emotional aspects of a high walk. But given the choice of a highwire walk with a pole and a significant free solo - I'm taking the wire and pole every time.

He's a character for sure. I spent some time with him a ways back when he was in PDX to do a walk for the ceremonies to open the Schnitz Concert Hall. You do have to hand it to him, and a bunch of other euro long line walkers too. Not sure if Steve Wallenda is still living up your way or not, but he's another interesting guy having survived his uncle's legacy more or less intact. Making a living walking wires is about as far out on the fringe as you can get. I still get out now and then on 11mm cranked down real hard, and can't imagine having to walking on a schedule. Doing stuff like that when you want to do it is one thing, doing it for work and at times when you otherwise might not be into it is a whole other business.

Congrats on #2! Hope Maggie is doing well. Just shipped our daughter off to begin college at UW - start saving now...

ebay and I believe Theron who I'm working with on the A5 hammer project has been talking to Ed about picking up some of the products. Ed's busy with other things these days: http://silencingthefields.com/

Moira, I might add another, even if it may or may not have revelance in this case. And that is the need to tread lightly. This is a learned behavior about really distributing your weight well and wisely across all of the points of contact available to you, and lightening up on one point by bearing down a ever slightly more on the others. It's also a matter of 'flow' or momentum across the stone with the minimum necessary loading on any given point. Just being able to get out an 'yard' on rock feels good more often than not, but on our basalt it is a luxury that can come back and bite you. And again, this is a general tip - I'm not in any way saying it would have made the slightest difference in the outcome of this particular incident. I see this sometimes out at Beacon when someone moves to town who is used to climbing on granite - it takes them awhile to adjust to basalt and marginal holds sometimes suffer during the learning curve. This is especially noticeable on lines like YW where the landscape has been altered several times recently by folks new to Beacon and basalt.

You're doomed whatever size you buy! The very next time you go out you'll need the size you didn't buy! You may epic hard, but you'll become a better climber for it. Just ask Bill, he was once young and poor and he rose up a great climber (even if now he has quadruples of every piece of gear known).

There has been a rash of impromptu fertilization attempts this year. I chalk it up to high gas prices bringing in large numbers of folks who would otherwise drive on by to Smith. They arrive unprepared and are ultimately overwhelmed by the permeating reality of the place. It happens to me too, but I have myself trained to go off at first sight just as I come into range of the parking lot. First things first...

Oh yeah, now that you mention it, I do remember. You'll have to come out and do the next pitch sometime.

That was Bill and Jim as I understand it. I just replaced the anchor on it.

Kevin, the two one pitch lines around the corner to the right from YW. The dihedral on the left that goes on pro is 'Boardwalk' and the bolted one on the right (courtesy of Bill) is 'Rythmn Method'. Hanmi suggested 'Menopause' for the line above after Jim requested keeping with the reproductive theme.

Good to know - I missed that and would have shown up at the SE one if you hadn't just posted that...

Mark, I'd say by Menopause is a solid, old school (technical) +9 or -10 by Beacon standards (BSS etc) - Hanmi pretty much floats it. The first pitch of TF, on the otherhand, is way harder and far sketchier - more like 5.10c-d R. It has multiple difficult moves, on small technical pro, which have consequences to blowing it.

That's the bummer, I do feel better - until I climb, and then whatever it is comes roaring back about 80' later. Weird.

Nate, good job on the send... I still don't have time to respond to anything here other than to say there is nothing remotely 5.9 about the first pitch of TF and anyone - anyone - claiming otherwise is full of sh#t. I'm sick with something I apparently can't shake and only rears up when I stress myself, like when climbing, so can't really muster a bunch of energy, but I'm not so damn sick I don't know what a 5.9 is. And if the first pitch of TF is 5.9, then YW is a 5.7 and Dods Jam and FFS are 5.8s.

P.S. I can't be on here any more this afternoon, if I miss anything, I'll check it tonight - and I'll be out there tomorrow if anyone wants to talk about any of it...

New route approvals for now will still require Lisa Lantz / WSP review until she has a chance to come down and clearly demarc non-climbing zones with distinct documented boundaries. After that happens, she'll still want to be in the loop on any new routes, but approvals from that point forward will probably happen locally with WSP being notified of the disposition of all applications. As far as "bolting a new route" goes, if by that you mean new, bolt-only sport routes then that's going to be a different matter. Part of the point of the CMP and CAB is to protect Beacon traditions and to not see the replay of any more bolt wars. Mixed routes with some bolts, are one thing, sport routes are another entirely. I personally didn't put all this effort into Beacon to see it simply thrown open to sport climbing. Beacon is a trad island in an ocean of sport climbing opportunities and as far as I'm concerned it should stay that way. This is where the CMP and representation on the CAB gets dicey. You and others may want it thrown open to sport climbing - I and others explicitly do not. I'm certainly not going to sit idly by and see that happen without a fight.

Mark, I don't and can't. I have permission for anchor replacement, for 'Menopause', and for cleaning recently placed spurious bolts (mostly bare studs) [down Dastardly, under which 'Wind Walker' fell]. I in no way have any carte blanc to touch protection bolts at Beacon, nor have I, beyond removing studs (and helping you, which I still have to document for them). I in no way would simply go out and replace the 'Second Wind' bolts on my own without an application. Again, with regards to replacing bolts, the new application is primarily for documentation purposes so bolt replacement dates can start being established and tracked going forward. Bill, unless something is very, very strange with someone's request, approvals for replacement bolts will be exceedingly fast and done locally by the BRSP staff (like in hours or a day or two max). Again, working with the WSP, BRSP, WDFW, Gorge Commission, Railroad, and Tribes is NOT an ala carte deal for us - we can't pick and choose what we'll go along with and what we'll simply ignore - do that and things will quickly go back to bad relationships with all those guys and when the CMP Climbers Advisory Board is re-formed, we won't be on it - non-Beacon PDX'ers and folks from SEA will be running the show. Take your pick, but the 'go it alone', 'anything goes' ways of the past aren't going to bring you anything but grief going forward, particularly as Ben gets progressively more into climbing over the next decade and becomes the owner of all things climbing for the BRSP.

Kevin, real close! The thinking behind the Anchor Replacement Project, was first and foremost to show locals are willing to vest time, energy, and resources in the place - to establish 'ownership'. Second, to provide some functional working basis - along with the Pre-Open Work Sessions and Peregrine Monitoring - for a relationship with the BRSP (WSP, WDFW, and Railroad) based on more than just talk. And third, to establish in a concrete way, acknowledged by those agencies of record, that locals are the primary goto source on issue involving climbing at Beacon (by virtue of demonstrable active participation, currency of knowledge, and maintenance track record). "Manage the climbing area ourselves" is probably a little strong given the reality that WA state law dictates the BRSP manage climbing at Beacon via the CMP. Again, the idea from day one has been to [re]establish that locals are the goto partner in that respect - and not just because we're the 'locals', but rather by virtue of actively 'earning' a place [back] at the table due to our efforts to take a broad active role in the management of climbing out there. Revising the CMP has been stalled out due to BRSP staffing issues, but will be getting back underway and likely our new BRSP Ranger, Ben, will be tasked with some responsibility in that regard given his expressed interest in climbing. Some of the CMP groundwork has already been laid in the development and current use of a new 'Fixed Protection Application'. What has changed in this application (with regard to new routes) is that rather than an application for each piece of fixed pro - which is what the previous CMP required, the new application operates on a per route basis. You provide a digital photo with the proposed line marked up on it and a summary of it's location and likely use of fixed pro (with the idea Beacon traditions will be preserved) and then your proposal will be reviewed by the BRSP, Lisa Lantz the WSP SW Region Resource Steward (she 'owns' Beacon in every respect), and it will be peer reviewed by other Beacon climbers. After you put up the climb you backfill the application with exactly what fixed pro went in if any (I still have to backfill an application for what we ended up actually doing on the recent 'Wind Walker' maintenance with Mark). So far only the first two review steps are in place while the CMP is in limbo and until a Climbers' Advisory Board can be reconstituted and reconvened - the point of all my efforts has been to insure Beacon Locals have a prominent place at that particular table when the time comes. To-date, I (with the 'Menopause' line above 'Rythmn Method') and Shane (with 'Head Case', 'Siege Tactics', and a couple of other great NW Face lines) have both been through the application process and it's painless, relatively quick, and not an obstacle in any way to getting things done. Any 'new' activity - routes or individual pieces of fixed pro - need to be reviewd by Lisa Lantz, whereas replacement-only efforts of limit scope can be approved by the BRSP. A 'big' replacement program of protection bolts would require a serious sitdown with Erik and the BRSP staff and would likely have to be run by Lisa as well, but could probably be done if folks got organized and worked with the process. So on 'Second Wind', I'd say if you're serious, then you should fill out an application stating your proposal is for replacement-only of existing bolts on the climb, which I suspect Erik would approve almost as soon as he gets it. As Bill said, I'd be willing to help out and would also be happy to donate SS bolts and hangers to the effort. I am pretty good at getting the old bolts out and camo'ing holes if any are left behind. And seeing all the old South Face column routes back in action has been a big goal of what work I have done so I'm really psyched to see you guys getting after them all week in, week out - now that's the damn spirit!!! P.S. Ivan, those old buttonhead ladder bolts of McGowan's are incredibly hard, not sure what they are made of but those buttonheads will still be rock solid long after the hangers have rusted off them, and they are a monsterous bitch to get out, even with the tuning forks.

Pink, are you coming up next week?

Ha, those are my ancient CMI I-Beams and a couple of my old Forrest Chimney Chocks too. Yeah, I and a bunch of other folks around the world, keep an eye out for old stuff that Stephane is still looking for. The amazing part is he, Marty Karabin, and Ken Yeager of the Yosemite Museum are all folks with ordinary means of survival and yet have somehow managed to amass these just remarkable gear collections. It'd all be rotting in a box in my basement if it were me, but those guys track down the designers, do patent searches, and in general figure out the origin, ancestry, and stories of every piece in their collections. I'm just glad to be able to help out as someone needs to preserve this aspect of our collective history and it sure as hell isn't going to be me. And Bill recently donated his pristine Dolt Piton and a fat check to Ken Yeager and the Yosemite Climbing Museum so that sucker is now prominently on display in the Valley.