JosephH

Muffy, when the soil at the top gets even slightly moist it is a very large and extremely dangerous Slip-N-Slide setting the stage for disaster unlike any I have ever encountered elsewhere. The fact that it is in an urban core makes it doubly dangerous.

No friggin' way! Could you tell us what happened? I've been climbing for 33 years and RB is far and away the most dangerous place I've ever climbed.

My wife and I took a drive / walk around Rocky Butte today. I stopped and peered over the edge of that main overhanging route just off the road; the one next to the tree with the big chains on it. Well, the view was pretty ugly. Someone pitched a stripped engine block and a diswasher over the edge - both are sitting at the base of the climb. Bill, looks like some good two-lift rescue practice for you and your RB crew...

Talk to Bill Coe here...

Be sure and use an MLU on the date in any case, you never know...

I'd say the only real question left then is whether you should light up before meeting him. However, I personally think stoned blind-dating is way, way more dangerous than leading in the same condition...

Typically on Channel 6 Evening News...

I'll have to say I don't like even the idea of this "practice" regardless of how you rig it. Again, the issue is with the hassle and judgement involved with pulling up enough slack in the top rope for it to only act as a backup to the lead line in a fall. That means for each faked lead fall you'd need to either be at a great rest or be on aid above the piece you want to "test". And because of the force involved in backing up a blown piece it means you have to use a grigri or knot on the top rope line and vice-versa for your lead line - again, the whole deal would be a contrived clusterf#ck, prone to misjudgment, and a royal pain in the ass. I'd really encourage you to either solo aid or just get yardage with partners instead.

I personally wouldn't recommend such an approach as you just have a bit too much going on and the falls would be way too contrived. If you have a fixed top rope then to fall on a lead piece you'd have to get above it and then give yourself enough top rope slack so the top rope would only kick in if the piece blew. That would be a lot of slack and a pretty good fall on that fixed top rope. If you do decide to use this technique anyway, be sure and use a grigri on the fixed top rope - don't use a minitraxion or ascender-like device - you don't want to end up taking what would essentially be a lead-like fall onto one of those devices. In general the best way to learn to lead and place gear is by seconding experienced climbers. In lieu of that the next best thing is walking around the base of a rock placing gear and testing it with an aider or slings. And off course, aiding (solo or with a partner) is a superb way to learn about placing gear. [ Edit: Reading your post above I'd say just get out and swap leads with more experienced climbers and get some serious yardage in. And do some aid climbing to get intimate with the pro. In your case as you describe it I'd definitely skip all the rope shennanigans with the possible exception of solo aiding (minus the top rope) ]

Just a note - drunk and stoned are not remotely similar, performance on alcohol is a well-documented curve where it is often enhanced up in that 1.5oz range and then deteriorates fast and furious at 2oz and beyond. No such standard performance curve or chart of direct physical/mental manifestations exists for THC on anything remotely like a 1:1 relationship with alcohol. Stoned is one thing, drunk or imbibing alcohol to excess and getting near a rope I have a serious problem with.

There is no data of any kind on this that relates to climbing in any valid sense. This sort of blanket claim is ridiculous. Thirty years of experience with climbers operating at a fairly high level of [trad] performance clearly illustrates a differing reality. And just a note - pilots perform instrument landings far better on 1.5oz of alcohol - and those are from documented FAA-sanctioned studies that go back to the sixties.

I'd take a stoned belay from someone paying attention as opposed to most of the belays I see in the gym and at sport crags where socializing among straight people is nearly always taking precedence over belaying. Also, I'd take a stoned belay from a all-trad climber anyday before a straight belay from a person who is primarily a sport climber and used to drifting off while someone is dogging extensively on them...

It's taken decades, and god knows it still isn't easy, but gosh darn it when I put my mind to it, I can climb straight. True, I am a bit slower and think a bit too much, and the knots are all harder to tie, but it's good to know I can get by when it's simply unavoidable. To paraphrase Loudon: "Climbing on acid is easy; climbing on acid is fun; but the next time you feel like tripping - hold out for mushrooms instead..." As Bill points out, competency and performance are not negotiable - if you can't stand and deliver, then by all means do yourself and everyone else a favor, and don't.

Is this for a film? We could rent you Opdycke by the hour, but you have to block book him in 72 hour blocks at $82 per hour. Short of getting Beckey he's as old and snargly as they come. He's going to want his own trailer though - and nubiles...

don't neg on him because of assumptions. I'm not. I just tend to trust my instincts on matters like this and I've been around long enough to get a reasonable feeling for the difference between exploit and addiction...

I am enormously impressed by what Reardon has accomplished, but I question whether he controls his free-soloing or whether it controls him. I strongly suspect the latter and that significantly diminishes my respect and admiration for him as a climber. I feel folks like Bachar and Kauk never let it get to the point of the out-of-control addiction I sense from Reardon as I did from Hershey as well. As for awards - awards of any kind for climbing are weak as far as I'm concerned, but if you are going to recognize folks for their accomplishments then it's just plain weird to lump free and deep water soloing together.

Maybe we should charge motorists for the cost of having police and fire depts respond to traffic emergencies and accidents...? Wouldn't the payback be much bigger?

That unit above is what I used to melt webbing cuts out at Beacon in wailing East winds. It costs about $20 bucks and uses the rectangular Bic-type lighters without the thumb wheel (you can just buy the regular ones and rip out the wheel). Like all piezos it can take a take a few tries to get it going, but once going it rips...

You poor victimal white guys are the ones doing all the whining...

You poor, poor white man. Who else is abusing you? Are you a member of the Minute Men? A Father's Rights Group maybe? How about Alumni Against Affirmative Action? At this rate I'm sure I'll wake up to a rant about the ho-mo-sex-ual harness designers who are after your manhood. Be sure and check under your bed tonight for other minority boogeymen threatening your quality of life - I'm sure it's a long list... P.S. My Wife would like her country back or at least that the U.S. Government begin to honor treaties made over the past 150 years. Oh, and maybe stop raping and mismanaging Native accounts to the tune of about $100 billion dollars...

I wasn't suggesting people not go up in bad weather, I was suggesting people be informed of what weather they will encounter, and be prepared to manage the attending reality that goes along with it. If they aren't and still want to learn the ropes they need to head up with someone who is experienced and competent in the expected conditions.

Get one of these down at Winks hardware if you're in PDX, they're butane mini-torches.

As I said - victimal, white males who tend to be sexist, chauvenist, and not-so-closeted racists - let me guess, if they had been black victims of black perpetrators, you wouldn't be posting about this crime. You two are sad, and even worse - transparent...

Here's three simple links for Mt. Hood climbers: 10 day forecast for Government Camp, OR - Weather.com US Jetstream - Intellicast (note it's on top of us...) US Pacific Sattelite Loop (Note the yellow and red blobs...) These three links taken together are capable of rendering a very realistic weather scenario for 1-3 days so you don't have to rely on 'optimism' when facts are readily at hand.