JosephH

I still have my old pair, last dug them out in 2004 and had them paved over with c4 for Epinephrine - worked like a charm and were totally comfortable.

http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2018/04/climbers_dies_in_fall_at_smith.html

Got them for my birthday as all-day, multipitch shoes; wore them six times on single pitch climbs with heavy socks. Never been a part of the cult of Mythos before and personally found the sole a bit thin for my taste on climbing in them. Great shoe otherwise if you like Mythos.

Seems like folks are settling into the new software. Good on you guys...

Yeah, falling rock is still an objective hazard rock climbing even if a rare one. Generally, you have a feel for the 'loose-factor' of a crag (hell, in the Sandias it's in the guidebook route-by-route) but not always. It is something you have to factor in even in rock climbing.

Unfortunate and sorry to hear that. Curious if that was alpine?

I would find those charts more useful in two identical sets by environment - one set for rock, one set for alpine. Muddle together they are somewhat less useful, but I still look at them.

My old climbing partner did his master thesis on the risk perception and concluded most people suck at it but that it's closely tied to our physical senses and what we can and cannot acclimatize to mentally and emotionally.

That pretty much sums up the objective hazards Alex was facing; pretty bounded and constrained comparatively. I personally don't believe so and think Bachar probably overestimated where he was at post-accident and Hersey probably had some inkling it could rain and went for it anyway. I consider those lapses in judgment - one around subjective risk, the other objective.

Compare differences once choices are made? Sure, but that's the difference between the assumption of subjective vs objective risk. The former is basically known and static and the latter dynamic and unknown. That's a big difference from my perspective. Navigating the assumption of high levels of subjective risk is a matter of judgment and skill whereas the assumption of high levels of objective risk unavoidably being a matter of gambling and luck. We had some of this discussion on ST and I put it this way: Assuming subjective risk beyond your limits is hopefully something done incrementally with small increments. Objective risks are just that and really aren't about you and your limits but rather a matter of how much you are willing to gamble and at what odds...

Hmmm. The one time I came microseconds from dying climbing (with the whole life-flashing-before-your-eyes in slomo thing going on) I mainly recall wishing I was sitting on the toilet reading a magazine. To each his own, but neither of those stark choices really appeals to me. I personally will find a by-my-own-hand method to deal with the former and I assiduously strive to avoid the latter. A lot of rock climbers I know, including a couple of the top climbers, made very conscious decisions not to do alpine specifically because of the upended ratio of its subjective-to-objective risk (i.e. chess vs roulette). Many of those same climbers have done a lot of free soloing over the years as well, but that's because it's a case of taking on high levels of subjective risk totally under one's control as opposed to gambling with the objective risks often encountered in alpine which are completely out of one's control. And to be honest, before moving to the PNW I'd met precious few 'mountain climbers' and once here met and [rock] climbed with a lot of them. In general, as a class, as rock climbers, I found them to be somewhat binary being either a) hypercompetent or b) surprisingly bold while at the same time exhibiting cavalier attitudes and less-than-stellar judgment/skills around protection. And over the years I've met considerably more of the latter than the former with few in between and I've always assumed their cavalier attitudes towards rock climbing was simply a side-effect of the fact that in alpine it must often be a situation of 'good enough and go'. I could be wrong in that, but it's been a fairly consistent pattern seen over decades and I really don't have any other explanation for it. Also, because I mainly know rock climbers I personally have lost only a couple of friends and acquaintances over all the years I've been climbing whereas a good friend who, over decades has regularly consorted with many of the top alpine climbers in the world, can recite a dreadfully long and emotionally wearying list of lost friends and acquaintances.

Had it happen three times on one rope down to an anchor - last time enough slack was left in the line that the cut end was out of sight over the edge, managed to see it, stop, and climb back up.

And then there's the curious case of Michael Reardon - basically eschewed roped climbing altogether and then dies from a freak rogue wave. Life is unpredictable. That said, there's no getting around the fact climbing mountains is fraught with objective dangers compared to rock climbing and the subjective/objective risk ratio is stood on its head. In fact, in many instances, it's tantamount to gambling and that's an individual call I for one will not second guess.

Yes, a staging environment would be a big plus. Beyond that I'd say that now that you've made the big leap you just need to focus on prioritizing and take anything that isn't absolutely on fire slowly and methodically.

https://invisioncommunity.com/files/file/8538-minimized-quote/

Used with socks as they were supposed to be my all-day, comfort shoes, but they're too thin a sole and too narrow for my tastes.

Here are some resources which collectively make for a pretty good picture of what weather is headed towards the NW at any given point in time. Taken together they can give you a good feel for exactly what's out in the Pacific all the way to Asia. It's particularly worth noting the jetstream forecast to see how strong it's going to be, if it's going to be sitting right on top of us, and if it's likely to be dragging along any bad weather with it if it is. In general it's good to know how big your weather window is likely to be before heading out as, for all the people that get up and down it safe, Hood has a long history of being pretty unforgiving to folks who've run into trouble while trying to sneak in a go with a 18-36 hour weather window and one storm after another lined up all the way to Japan. Take note the 'Stormsurfing' site is for surfers, so you have to read through the surfing/wave aspects of what they put out - BUT - these folks carefully watch weather events across the NW Pacific as far out as Siberia and it is well worth paying close attention to what they are saying about incoming storms. Intellicast Pacific Infrared Sat Loop Stormsurfing - Pacific Storm Forecast Stormsurfing - North Pacific Surface Pressure and Wind Stormsurfing - North Pacific Jet Stream Wind and 250 mb Pressure Intellicast - US Jetstream National Center for Atmospheric Research - Forecasts

Was out early Sat morning for a lap on FFA and did the same loop as Bill. It wasn't quite as bad a burn as I expected though still plenty bad. The stretch between just east of Multnomah Falls to the Ainsworth exit is probably the most completely burnt due to the high, steep ravines turning into blast furnace chimneys. The ravines all through the gorge took the biggest hits for the same reason, but there's still a lot of green over much of the burned areas.

The SE Corner definitely needs bolts - I mean, OMG! The absolute horror of those pitons so very hard at work escaping their cracks while biding their time to finally snatch the life from some poor, unsuspecting climber who is completely unaware of the malignant dangers lurking on their route to fame and glory. And let's put one next to every gear placement too; can't be too careful in these days so many really bad things happening that no one should trust their own choices, decisions and skills. And if we're really serious about safety and numbers we could all pitch in and pre-place pro on all the routes - hell, between the retrobolts and pre-placed gear and we'd all be climbing 5.13 in a flash. Crikey, we could even rename the routes once we did them.

bump

Get ahold of me if you want it back...

Still crankable after all these years...

Bold, but you guys need to get equipped with the latest russkie Choss & Moss gear if you're going to keep being as lunatic as them...

Remaining sale called off - donating it along with the Hilti drill and all the various tooling to Topher and the PDX rebolting crew...

Thanks Bill. Here's where it stands now: 1 - Petzl Pro Traxion Pulley (barely used) / $45 2 - Petzl Ascension Ascenders (used a couple times) / $80 (pair) 1 - Petzl Haul Bag Swivel / $20 1- BD Single Gear Sling / $10 2 - Metolius Rope Hooks w Biners / $5 (each) 22 - Petzl Spirit Biners / $66 (all or none) Nothing wrong with any of it, just a case of having only so much mileage remaining on the shoulders and what's left is going towards free climbing as opposed to jugging of any kind. The Spirits are all totally fine as well, but were just swapped out for wire gates.