JosephH

Beacon was definitely never worth the drive from Seattle even before the gas prices shot up...

It might entice them to shit on the most popular ledge at your favorite crag. Given I was out there at the time and nearby it could also just mean their aim was bad...

You could tell from yesterday's crowds of folks unfamilar with Beacon that high gas prices are really starting to bring in folks on weekends we otherwise wouldn't see. Some of them are prepared to deal out there, many were not. Could get ugly before the season's out. Hope we don't end up with a bunch of accidents.

If the fact that both kevbone and I climb there doesn't by itself deter most folks I'm not sure what will...

Total shithole, moss, choss, poison oak up the wazzu, we've have near continous rock fall on every side, trains that make climbing intolerable, overgrown routes, a clutch of resident psychos, and shit flying down on you night and day. Go elsewhere, please...

Rad, Malcolm is only speaking for Trango and about the Cinch, not the grigri which is fine. It (the Cinch) has some of the same issues as the Petzl Shunt relative to the amount of pressure can apply to the rope. Again, this is due to the counter-rotating nature of the design. I sometimes anchor off the first bolt if nothing else is available, but as Feck points out it is less than desirable, better to set up an anchor or use a close tree if either could be had. Dmuja, nothing big so far. My sense of it is you really need to match the diameter of the rope with the Eddy to get the right mix of the rope running through it, yet still catching when necessary - around 10mm seems about right. Need to set up a test spot somewhere and give it some more formal testing one of these days.

Yep, right smack in the middle of the dirt instantly after the first root. The guys who were up there when I got there had covered it up with dirt and rock. I ended up getting a plate-sized piece of moss from above the ledge, getting it all up, and then launching it between YW and Stone Rodeo. Sucked big time. The cig butt thing has been bugging me for several years and it's a really unbelievably inconsiderate, self-centered, and childish deal as far as I'm concerned. Lord knows I don't give a damn if someone wants to smoke, but leaving butts all over is just disrespecting the rock.

As far as setting up the hard route, that's sounds like a reasonable approach as any. But please use a grigri, an Eddy, or one of the other soloing devices - the Cinch isn't appropriate to the task due to the sissoring action on the rope. Trango and Malcolm have specifically asked folks not to solo on it as well. Here is what I do on the roped soloing front. I'm 'Healyje' over there on rc and my post is most of the way down the page (with the pictures). Be aware this is only what I do and what works for me; every roped soloist needs to figure out what works for themselves and what works for me may or may not work for you or anyone else.

Yes it does, but when it happens on the SE Corner's Tree Ledge or any other ledge at Beacon you need to clean up after yourself. It doesn't matter how - wrap it up in your shirt if nothing else - but pack it out with you. And if you have the slightest doubt about whether you can make it up a route with without this particular problem occuring then you need to either do something short, bail, or take a bag to pack it out with you if the unavoidable happens. And in the case of the SE Corner Tree Ledge especially, don't dump right where everyone clearly sits and steps - take it on the other side of the tree towards the outside of the ledge for god's sake. Changing anchors I don't mind, but folks need to gather a enough self-respect to clean up after themselves when an event like this takes place. And while the bitchfest is in full swing and we're talking stinking butts - whoever is tossing their cigarette butts all over the place needs to stop once and for all. I don't really don't give a shit who you are, and you're clearly out there a lot, stuff the damn butts in your pocket and pack them back out. - The janitorial staff

Thanks Ivan, she's on a plane by 11am. She knows she should have posted up a week or two earlier to be sure on have something lined up next year.

Hey, are any of you folks available this weekend (Sat all day or Sun morning as she flies out in the afternoon) to take a friend from TN up something at Beacon? Raquel comes to town every year for a computer conference and has been up the SE Corner and YW. She'd like to do one of those again or something comparable. She's solid at 5.9. I don't know if I'm going to be able to get out or not, but wanted to make sure she does while she's here. Give me a shout or pm if you'd be willing to head out there with her...

After twenty years of doing it because of chronic sinus infections I agree salt water irrigation is the answer - but you do have to get to where you do it on a regular basis and especially as and once an infection gets going. Does it take some getting used to and knowing how much salt and what temp? It does, but once you get the temp/salinity down and get used to the feeling then it should become a habit. I do it regularly and at the mere hint of any sinus/respitory infection. Antibiotics by and large don't work on sinus infections because your sinuses are an exterior body cavities / environments which antibiotics internal to your body can only deal with them in the most limited fashion. I'd say you need to get the irrigation thing down for the first few goes when you aren't in the middle of a flareup... As far as antibiotic resistance goes it's a broad combination of factors: overpresrcibing, not completing them, and their use in animals/foodstocks. Beyond those problems there is also a very complex web of gene swaps between human pathogens and common soil and water-borne bacteria which is severely exacerbated by the way we deal with industrial pig and chicken waste (think of common soil bacteria as a fast random number generator which can crack the codes of antibiotic protection).

Cat, you are correct and failing to mention not using singles as twins was an oversight on my part in the post above so I've edited it, thanks...

There was a similar conversation on rc.com recently and the quote below is my post from that thread. Also, Tuesday night I and a friend were working on a [currently] fairly dicey r/x-rated (due to sharp, fragile, and loose rock) FA and doing the reverse of the OP's inquiry - we were climbing on two Metolius 9.8mm single ropes using them as doubles. When a marginal piece blew at our high point I ended up taking a pretty substantial and glancing ride onto the wall below the roof we were attempting to push. Not sure how far a fall it was for sure until I get back up there next time, but it was into the realm of real business and falling on two singles used as doubles was not only completely fine - it was very comforting. The reverse going the other way isn't the same sort of deal - I would never use a double as a single, or a twin as a double. [Edited both here and on rc.com per catbirdseat's comment below - My oversight in the above is whereas using singles as doubles is fine, using them as twins is a bad idea and can introduce some ugly loads on your gear and produce a harder catch for you.]

No, I don't think either of us was up to that as Dave had already done Dods the night before and YW that morning. We rapped and Dave went home, I then did a roped solo lap on YW and took off myself.

No, it actually bordered on casual once I got over the fact that I've never gotten it first try of the season because I'm always quite fat and out of shape - not so this year. That, and because I only do a single jam at the bottom to get started and then it's a pretty straightforward layback.

Did Dods to Big Ledge yesterday and didn't see any blood or excrement anywhere...

175 - gotta get that down to 165...

Kevin, dude - Just noticed - 9,000 posts? Man, and I thought I was busy! Makes my finger tips sore just contemplating it. Do you chalk up at the keyboard? I know mine gets slick and greasy after just a few posts.

Kevin, the FFS mid-anchor was the last anchor replacement of last year on the way to hitting the couple of anchors above the Arena. It was replaced in lieu of removing it all together which has been a controversy in its own right for decades - Henry Barber bitched up a storm about that anchor being there. But the anchor was only there because of folks rapping on 50m ropes from various different anchors higher up. I was on the side of not removing it in case someone rapped down needing it. Some, like Mark, and 'Hot Henry' did and do consider it an embarassment. I feel it is as well, but am inclined to err on the conservative side of things on this particular anchor regardless of my personal opinion on it. There has also been discussion over the past two years of doing a complete Beacon anchor review and optimizing a few of the anchors by adjusting one side of the anchor and removing the slings/rings altogether; that, and possibly removing some anchors entirely (check with Jim and Bill). The Rise Up anchor slings and rings are gone as you only need the Windsurfer anchor to rap out off that ledge. If you want to TR Rise Up just throw some draws on it if you don't like the feel of TR'ing directly on the rap hangers, otherwise it's a lead anchor. The FFS mid-anchor is for rapping though I'd say feel entirely free to TR directly on those rap hangers (I have) as it won't feel any different than draws and you aren't going to wear them out (and if they were to wear, I'd replace them). The anchors over the Arena, on Flightime, and a couple off of Upper Grassy Ledges will be the last ones replaced along with checking the two short angles high on Stone Rodeo. Other than that I will be continuing the effort to clean out the South Face column routes that have languished and grown over in the past decade or so. Flying Swallow and Flightime will be getting a thorough going over - any and everyone is welcome to 'adopt-a-column' and clean one out themselves, I have plenty of tools for the job folks can borrow. At the end of the year we should go after the poison oak which has taken over the good lines like Lay Lady Lay and Rip City to the left of Jensens Ridge (this year for sure!). The blocks missing at the top of the slab as you turn to head up to the Tree Ledge on p2 of the SE Corner were yarded loose by a very large beginning climber in a threesome ahead of me near the end of the season last year (good thing that's all he ripped off). They were very loose and detached about an inch or so and had to go or they might have done someone in on YW. The rockfall mentioned in the safety notice, on the other hand, is coming from somewhere up by the top of the wall by the trees high and directly above the SE Corner start.

1-3) When you say "the owls i saw were much larger than barn owls", you're saying GHO's... 4) "i saw a large brown owl fly out" - these are both Barn Owls: The one out there now is also very large, but mostly white when flying and seen from below. 5) "now your saying that gho's do nest on cliffs - I said at Beacon they don't nest on the face, they nest in the trees around Beacon. 6) "that jerk off dave anderson" - WDFW and David Anderson are the only ones who can lift the closure so caring what they think is the only way it's going to ever happen. 7) "head-banger approach" - Get over it? I'd love to if it didn't bang it's head again every year like frigging clockwork. 8) "bolt the fuck out of it" - Other than the ones on my FA's, I've only replaced the existing anchors at Beacon - someone else bolted the fuck out of it. Hey, I'd be all for removing them all, including mine. 10) "talk about shennanigans" - Oh well, can't please everyone, it had a pretty good effect at the time... 11) "why are so obsessive dude?" - Because I do live here and I want the damn rock open so I can climb and I didn't see anyone else doing anything about it other than bitching. An auditable history of hard data is the only way it will possibly get out from under the closure. No point in working for that goal on any basis but consistently and being in it for the long haul. And 'climb the thing' is my only interest as well...

Most of my earlier active Beacon climbing in '80 and then again '87-'94 at which time I tapered off with family and work '95-'00, though I was still out a couple of times a month when I wasn't working in Asia or out of state. I repeatedly encountered what I assume was you and Ken - or two of someone with very long hair, one black, one blonde soloing for the better part of a day. In fact, all the times I encountered them they were soloing or rapping from soloing and I was roped-soloing. If it wasn't the two of you, I couldn't say who it was, but I will grant you they weren't particularly friendly beyond the odd grunt in passing. GHO's are not beyond making nests on cliffs or using Raven or Redtail nests, but did you see a GHO nest? Or did you just see a GHO? The GHO's in BRSP have shown no such proclivity and no one has ever documented or observed one nesting on the South face. Having now monitored in endless three-to-six hour sessions steadily over the past four years (while everyone else was climbing at Ozone) as well as repeatedly traveling over the South face during that period I have no problem saying in that period no GHOs have nested on Beacon. Whereas, I've documented evidence of Barn Owls doing so in three of the past four years. And no, I'm telling you all you've said was you saw a 'big fucker' - you'd have to get way more specific than that to if you want to talk to the big boys in the bird world and have it count for squat. They only operate on solid observational data and 'big fucker' doesn't quite cut it at that table. Can you do better than that description? Where on Beacon? How often? Did you see a nest? Did you see eggs? Did you see chicks? These folks operate on real data - no good data? Fuckin' oh well - zip changes then... I agree, folks clearly all gave up long ago when whichever among you told them to go fuck themselves when they offered a partial closure to let you do the first few pitches of the Corner. That would have left you there and in the game to work [honestly] on the situation. Since then no one has attempted a single meaningful dialogue with any of the land managers that wasn't also accompanied a shitload of bullshit and shennanigans behind their backs the instant climbers weren't [hostilely] face-to-face with them. Hey, from my perspective, the head-banger approach to dealing with the various land managers of record for Beacon and the closure was totally ineffective - zip got done beyond pissing off everyone involved. It was also backed by endless bad-rapping of the various folks you needed to deal with, not to mention relentless 'pirate' breaches of the closure. A real gem of a strategy which delivered nada. I've delivered four straight years of early opens and the only credible path to even a remote possibility of lifting the closure over the long haul. Anyone else who wants to pony up and try to do better has my blessing. Again, there isn't a single one of you dudes - not even Opdycke - who wants Beacon open year round more than I do. Got a better idea on how to do that? I'm all fucking ears...

Pink, pink, pink... Great Horned Owls nest in trees and not on the face so have no incentive to "get along" or "live and let live" as a Barn Owl might have trying to coexist on the same face as the Peregrines. But this particular Barn Owl is a very large one size-wise and looks more than capable of tangling with the Peregrines which are smaller. There are definitely Great Horned Owls about the park, but no one knows where the closest nest might be though there was some suspicion there might be one somewhere just west of Beacon.

Pink, you better get in shape as I am going to have to spank you hard when I get down there (maybe early next month)...! Climbers are, unfortunately a significant threat to Peregrine scrape site selection, egg incubation, and less so raising chicks to fledging. To adults and successful fledges, no, we aren't a threat of any kind.

As we speak I just got a response from David saying that Barn Owls are not a significant threat to Peregrines. I'd say that jibes with pink's observations that Barn Owls have been on the face all along during all the years the Peregrines have successfully fledged on Big Ledge.