JosephH

Jim will be sorely missed here and all over the West in all the places he's climbed so often. From our outing last week...

jlag's post was the only one visible when I clicked on the thread. This is surreal - I was just out with Jim the other day - you couldn't hope to meet a more competent and pleasant human than Jim.

After today's last few details the route is definitely open for business. Keep in mind unless you are absolutely sure your 60m rope is really a 60m rope then I'd either go with a 70m or take two ropes. The best approach to climbing it is to climb p1 up past the normal anchor 'Rythmn Method' to Bill Coe's old high point under the first roof. He and I moved his old bolt up about three or four feet with a new one so you can't miss the spot. There is pro there as well. Belay from this spot for the second pitch and just head straight up. If you can't pull the second roof for any reason you can take the bail line ('Rythmnwalk') diagonally up and left at about a 45-50 degree angle until you can turn the corner to the left and into the dihedral high above 'Boardwalk'. There is a rap setup there that will take you down to the 'Boardwalk' p1 anchor or you can also go to the 'Young Warriors' p1 anchor (just be careful and stay in the dihedrals all the way down). Both destinations can be reached with a 60m (even a somewhat short one). Otherwise the p2 line ends at the top of the vertical dihedral and moves left onto the face to the anchor. [ Note: A helmet is still advised for now. Oh, and the second roof sports a bomb #3 Ballnut (I whipped on mine five times before it was finally cleaned off enough to send). A small nut or micro cam would do - but if you ever wondered what ball nuts are all about then get a Trango #3 and have at it as a better placement can't be found. ]

The actually drill, pack, and blow up anything big. They general have to do it at least once per year. They've already moved quite a bit though Erik didn't give me and ETA.

Did a roped-solo up the new extension today (Sat) and did more cleaning both yesterday and today. It's all cleaned up pretty well at this point and open for business - but that's not to say there aren't a couple of fragile spots on the line so climb gently as possible here and there. In its all-cleaned-up state, the new pitch runs an old school 5.9 with somewhat technical moves and protection. Like many Beacon routes, once you know the moves and pro it feels pretty straightforward, before that time it will probably feel more like 5.10a or b to you.

I and Hamni will be out at Beacon in the afternoon, you can always join in with us...

That is by design. There are two views...Active Topics and Active Posts. Click on Active Topics and you don't see "duplicate thread listings". Then please make 'Active Topics' the default for the 'Past 24 hours' page.

And a bible-thumping, religion-touting America would fair any better...? Fundamentalists suck regardless what their women wear.

Thanks, now if you eliminate the duplicate thread listings it will back to what it was before - perfect.

Hey, the new "Past 24 hours" deal is way less useful than before. I don't want to see every post from each thread - just want to see what threads had activity. It's now gone from that very efficient mechanism to basically wading through a bunch of stuff I have no interest in... Also, on that same screen - either show the buttons or the links, but don't show both for the same thing.

Of p2? Probably 10a or b with the understanding the moves can be a bit technical and feel a bit runout or with minimal pro in a spot or two. The next pitch through the roofs to the upper half of the line will likely be hard 11 up through 13 and possibly some aid - no telling yet (but I have hunch I need to lose another ten pounds...). P.S. Oh, and hurrah for the Return of the Stewart!

The University of Edinburgh, Scotland - dodgy ice climbing all over the place.

Bill, thanks for being on the other end of line with me, again - and those are some great stories. A lot of folks have put in time helping out belaying and dodging both rocks and me coming down their way. Bill, Ivan, Jim Opdycke, Marco Fedrizzi, Mike Reddig, and Jim Anglin have all contributed to the line in turn. Jim O. and Marco both got pretty hard raps to their [helmeted] heads from my rack of cams during falls before we figured out a better stance to belay from for the second roof. I'm originally from Southern Illinois where we mainly climbed roofs so I've had my eye on the large, wide A-frame roof (up and right of the new p2 anchor) on this line for decades and seriously for about the past five years. The unclimbed face with more roofs above the initial big roofs is also a big driver. 'Lost Warriors' with Bill and Karsten was my first shot at poking around up that way and I had planned on working on this line next before getting side-tracked with the anchor work over that past several years. It's been good to finally get back to it. Close up of the new p2 anchor location The line has definitely been a challenge relative to all the moss, loose and weak rock in places, and marginal initial placements. I've chopped one lead line trundling the initial loose panel of rock that was the likely reason this line was still unclimbed. I also rained a steady stream of me, moss, dirt, and big rocks down by my brave belayers. Now it has been pretty well cleaned up and better holds and placements uncovered though one or two fragile or loose points remain. So far the line runs up past the traditional 'Rythmn Method' anchor on up to slightly above Bill's old bolt for p1. P2 runs straight up the dihedral which starts at that newly moved bolt. You move around and over two roofs on the way to the new p2 anchor on the face up under the big roofs. It's 55 meters in two pitches so far. The climbing now is about as Bill describes it in his post above, with the first roof about 5.9+ and the second roof about 5.10+, both are somewhat technical relative to the moves. It's a straight 55 meter shot and a clean rope pull from the base of 'Rythmn Method' First roof on p2 as seen from the p1 anchor Second roof on p2 as seen from above the first roof View from atop the second roof on p2 It's cool if anyone wants to head up and check it all out, but be aware stuff may still pull on you and a few ballnuts (#2 and #3's) wouldn't be out place on p2. Also, once above the first roof on p2 you can bail out up and left rather than doing the second roof. The bail line takes you up, left, and around a corner and to a point high in the dihedral above 'Boardwalk'. Again, you head up and left and turn the corner just under the right-angle roof you can see in the upper middle of the following pic. The rap from that point will take you down to 'Boardwalk' anchor with one rope (or to the 'Young Warriors' p1 anchor). Bail path to rap anchor above 'Boardwalk' A word to the wise to anyone contemplating departing the p2 anchor for parts unknown. The rock from this point forward is better, but anything loose up in the main roofs and beyond is very likely to be quite large. Also, on making progress through these roofs you likely won't be able to retreat without ending up hanging in space at the end of your rope unless you are tagging line whose other end is anchored into the p2 anchor. With regard to the ethic to-date, it has been onsight, groundup, cleaning and trundling free on lead with the use of protection following Beacon traditions - (and to quote Jeff Lowe's recent SuperTopo comments) gear whenever possible, pins if necessary, and bolts only as an absolute last resort - at this point I would expect that ethic to remain in play to the top of the line. P.S. I'm still always looking for folks to climb with so get ahold of me if you'd like to help out and take a closer look at it all.

Mike, great climbing with you yesterday. Man, that was a big help... (Anyone up for it Saturday, I'll be out and looking for a partner.)

The trouble isn't seeing the tick marks. I'm so inept with any color of chalk I always end up looking like the Pillsbury doughboy no matter how little I use - just opening the bag is a high risk venture.

Ivan, thanks. I left Mike a message saying I'd be up for a 3pm go if no one else is up for heading out earlier, and would call him and leave another message if something earlier does work out.

Anyone interested in playing hooky friday and climbing?

I do rarely on occasion use chalk, when I do I use the gray stuff from REI.

Human reproductive biochemistry as presented in the Manchester Study suggests females have evolved as not so much monogamous or polygamous as opportunistic. 'Opportunistic' in this case means establishing a long-term 'mated' relationship with the best male possible and then attracting and mating with superior males as opportunities present themselves. To the degree this isn't the behavioral norm today suggests modern relationships diverging from model likely indicate a significant cultural component to the structure of our mating habits.

Tomorrow's the day weatherwise - hopefully one of you lucky bastards can take advantage of it. I'm stuck until Wed. at the earliest but by then we lose ten degrees for the duration...

Someone could have tried anal sex with me at the time and I would likely not have noticed.

If you've had it you'd know. Basically all i remember is being in a face down, kneeling and rocking fetal ball with large-scale cramps cycling from my asshole to my throat at a rate of about once every three seconds. I remember telling the ER doc to either make it stop or kill me. Don't remember what they gave me; something for the cramps and something for the Giardia I believe. We lived in a little town of 400 in NH with a jury-rigged water supply and a lot of beavers - never a good combination. Never again.

Go see Layton just South of downtown I believe...

Also, I plan on climbing all day Wed. - can anyone else play hooky? Could possibly change that to Mon. Thu. or Fri., - Tue. is out for sure. And definitely plan on hitting hard next weekend both days.

So well spoken....I need to buy you a beer. Any time...