JosephH

That's your IB TR?

It would be a grey area at Liberty Bell, at Beacon it's all black and white - no routes are altered in the process unless nature alters them first. The railroad has all the power out there, no loose rock is worth the risk of an accident involving a train if it can be prevented. It's only as grey as you make it and it sounds as though you don't climb anywhere where such constraints or considerations matter.

It's actually more of an access issue at Beacon and there are some fairly unique circumstances at this crag. Primary among them is one of the busiest stretches of railroad tracks in the nation goes by about forty feet from the base at its closest point. The rail traffic significantly vibrates Beacon 24x7x365 and thereby is constantly [and unnaturally] contributing to the significant loose rock load there - particularly after winters with heavy ice loads. Our arrangement with the BRSP is that we will annually, and in emergencies, notify them of any rockfall hazards. Any rockfall hazards that threaten the railroad in particular need immediate attention and are addressed in coordination with railroad personnel. If someone gets killed, or track or a train are damaged, by an [identified] rockfall hazard there would be immediate and serious threats to access. Monitoring rockfall hazards and doing controlled drops in cooperation with the BRSP and railroad is very much a smart, pre-emptive approach to dealing with a particular class of potential access threats at Beacon. Your attempts to play games in a contrast to climbing-related bolting are a stretch too far under the best of circumstances, but in the complex regulatory situation out at Beacon it doesn't hold water at all.

Definitely no bolt is required there - there is a bolt below and a perfect cam in the slot above, no need for anything inbetween. If anything, when is Jim going to authorize the removal of half the bolts on p1?

Yeah, it's definitely spicier and I now undercling a flake to complete the mantle and I suspect it will have a half-life of about a month unless folks are real careful with it...

Can't do it, would never had even thought of it in such a way except hearing it from you guys and I still don't really get how such a great feature and pitch could end up with such a moniker. Probably plays no small part in the reason I don't jam it like all you guys...

======== Safety Note ======== [i[Young Warriors p2[/i] - a significant flake was loosened yesterday and was reported to Jim Opdycke as "about to come off". The top of this flake formed the righthand side of where you stand when you first arrive at the small ledge below the main A-frame feature (also colloquially called the 'butthole' by some, but I can't quite bring myself to that moniker for such a lovely sequence). This flake also acted as the right side of a double mantle for many folks coming up through the first of the two mini-cruxs on p2. Bottom line now that it has been removed - p2 is now a tad bit spicier than it was. [ Note: Many routes at Beacon occasionally use flakes, both big and small, for holds; please do not pull outward on any such flake - pull only in-plane with the flake (parallel to the wall), as many are fragile - this remains especially true for much of Young Warriors p2. In general, always moving as lightly as possible over the stone is a good idea out there... ] SE Corner Route Anchors and Raps - Please do not add slings and rings to any anchor or tree out at Beacon - especially the SE Corner p2 anchor or the SE Corner tree. In fact, please DO NOT RAP FROM THE SE CORNER TREE at all - either don't go up to the tree and at the top of the slab instead go straight ahead to the Young Warriors p2 anchor. That or continue up the route to the standard descent raps from the Grassy Ledges. Also, the anchor hangers in use at Beacon are "Rap" hangers and do not need slings or rings in the locations without them; you can safely rap directly off the hangers. Hangers with slings and rings have them to provide directional options and/or optimally extend the rope for an easier pull in situations where friction can be an issue. Loose Rock - Loose rock is constant condition at Beacon. And though an effort to deal with the worst and biggest of it is now made before each year's opening, there is simply no way to eliminate this natural condition. From the time you leave the ground until you return to it please tread lightly and be aware of every foot fall and where your rope is running to avoid knocking rocks off. Tricks such as draping your rope in bushes or clipping the branch of a tree to keep the rope off the ground when traversing ledge paths can make a real difference in this regard. If you do come across loose rock - please do not throw it - stack it off to the side somewhere and it will get cleaned at the earliest opportunity or in next seasons pre-opening work session which will be sweeping the ledges looking for such caches again. If you discover something of any size that concerns you or anything that appears newly loose or dangerous please pm 'billcoe' and myself here on cc.com, email Beacon.Rock@AvaSys.com, and / or tell Jim Opdycke if you see him out there. Failing those contacts, or if the situation is an emergency, please contact the BRSP staff at the Rangers' office or leave a note / voicemail for them if it is closed.

No problem Jon. We just think completely differently about that pitch - everything is as solid as it needs to be and the moves are lovely. That stuff might come off is more about a climber's ability to move lightly than about the rock itself. If you're yarding up through stuff like that it will repay you in kind. Still haven't seen the jacket, but would be nice to have it for fall.

Moved to head of the queue...

However tall the Bastille Crack in Eldo is than that's one of many perfect lengths for a route.

On a purely technical basis pins and bolts are both fixed pro, both require maintenance. Beyond that it's a matter of working with the rock from my perspective. If a spot needs fixed pro and the rock is amenable to pins and will take a medium or long pin (Bugaboo, Lost Arrow, or Soft Spade) then I will fix a pin. If the rock is not amenable or it will not take a medium or long pin then I'd go with a bolt. Those are my ethics relative to working with the rock. Gear > fixed pins > bolts as an absolute last resort - but it's very rock-specific. Outside of an alpine setting, pins should be fixed and not removed except possibly to be reset as a part of being maintained every 8-10 years or so. And I personally don't feel angles or short pins of any variety are appropriate for fixed pro and would say use pro in lieu of an angle and a bolt in lieu of a short pin.

In that second from the bottom shot of your series you can see both of the big halves relatively intact just after the righthand one has hit and fragged, but just before the lefthand one does the same. Would be interesting to know which one blasted the crater.

Hopefully he didn't have to cut off his leg to get home.

Way better than climbing - and not technology or sex related - Jesus, I'm complete loser under those constraints.

It's nice to have the drop on one instead of them always having the drop on you. The rock in the photo is the smaller upper half of about a 6'x3'x2' triangular bullet sitting on a 45 degree angled ledge. The lower end of it was the only handhold at the start of an overhanging section on the last pitch and was incredibly tempting to use. On the FA Bill recognized it was a problem and everyone has been warned since on the few subsequent ascents it's seen. It came off with just thumb pressure on the wall when grabbed as that oh-so-tempting handhold. Glad to see it gone. Here is a pic of the frag pattern as it flies by LW p3: And one of Bill and Ivan working the Jill's block:

Give a shout and describe...

If you mean the one above the p1 anchor, then yes, Bill and Ivan did that one and it surprisingly went down about 15 feet east of the snag tree and gap in the rock you squeeze through to head over to the p2 anchor. It made a hell of a ruckus as well from what I could hear up on Lost Warriors.

Currently I'm too busy with the Texas Schutzstaffel to be bothered with the Gestapo. And given how racist bastards such as yourself bag on blacks and hispanics I don't really see how it's your business anyway - except possibly as a sourse of Nazi-like glee at the conflicting misfortunes of others. But, good to know all you victimal, white males are still predictably manipulable - and gosh darn it, there's nothing like a dose of Rovinal every two years for keeping a real man regular and stiff all over.

I'd like to second Bill's comments about BRSP head ranger Erik Plunkett - Erik went way out of his way tackling the railroad on this issue this year. He really got after them when they kind of changed the rules of the game this year and kept after them on his own off-hours time. Many thanks are also due WDFW Raptor biologist David Anderson who is the final authority on any early opens - he put in a lot of time at Beacon this year despite being pressed hard in getting EIS work done on a bunch of high profile wind power projects out East. He could easily have let the July 15th closure date stand given those high priority responsibilities. And let's not forget Bill and Ivan who did a great trundling job on the block that's been looming over the first pitch anchor of the SE Corner (from just right of Jill's) and then went on and swapped out all the signage for the BRSP which is why it could open yesterday as getting the signs changed can take the park a couple of days. And last to Hanmi Hubbard-Meyer who escorted one of the railroad guys (Gene) down to the tracks and did the spotting with him. He got to see some eye-opening trundling and Hamni really worked hard to get across the point it's a real win-win situation for the the climbers and the railroad to do these coordinated drops. She then went up and did a bunch of terracing and was a big help throughout the day. To repeat Bill's heads up - there still is loose rock to be wary of out at Beacon (there always is) and if you run across any on a ledge trail or route please stash/stack it somewhere off to the side rather than tossing it and it will likely get cleaned off during next year's cleanup when we'll do another thorough ledge and trail purge. And do stop by and meet and say hi to the BRSP rangers - they're always up for meeting climbers - the rangers out there are Erik, John (an ex-climber and our biggest supporter), and the newest ranger, Vivian.

Might as well stop by the Black and do something while you're both there being bad ass and all. Also sounds like you've got a good woman worth hanging on to as well.

I suspect many of the rigs from the original sliding-x thread would perform as well. We explored any number of similar equalizing alpine rig variants such as the ACR. Here is one of many that was looked at: This one linked in the ACR post is on the simpler side of the various ones explored. It's pretty much a standard alpine equalization rig with different ways of tying an extension-limiting knot on one leg which can be put to other uses. In general I don't find there to be anything particularly compelling about this design over a lot of the other apline equalization variants. In the end I still prefer the Equalette, Quad, and Michabich's modded equalette (below) over this 'ACR' design which still suffers badly on the extension front.

You should now be able to find both small and medium Supercams if you look around as I know they've recently made and shipped some mediums and there are still smalls around from the last batch of those they made. I'm hoping Larges will be in production in some capacity however limited by the end of the year...

Not nearly as big a fraud as either the Iraq War or our healthcare system...

You beat me to it - alpine aside, I'd pick Katoomba every time...

Got a source on this statistic? Suspecting from whence you may have pulled it, I hesitate to smell it. None whatsoever, there are no numbers for that. They would be fascinating to know. Like following the lifecycle of all climbers who enter a gym in 2007 - how long does their climbing career last in months? How many eventually make it outside? And what would the attrition rate be by month over the next twenty years look like. Pretty damn steep right out of the gate, leveling off a bit but still with big losses through folks twenties and early thirties would be my guess. Those numbers are my guess at the ratio of wholly bolt-enabled climbers for everyone who has 'rock climbed' indoors or outdoors in say 2006 or 2007. What's your best guess given that's all we have to go on...? You go to trad areas, see trad climbers, and base your view on that? If you go to trad areas you'll see trad climbers, but as a percentage of the whole nationwide? I think my numbers are probably pretty damn sound.