JosephH

That was Jim Opdyke's new roommate and he just had a head of steam up and got a bit ahead of himself after Jim talking so much about what a great route it is. He is new to Beacon and I suspect the experience will temper such scenarios in the future. Beacon has seen a lot of solos over the years, but the bottom line remains that a lot of stuff out there is loose and can/does come off on you. Case in point last Saturday: I've done YW a bunch of times and it is pretty much a romp for me at this point, but right off the p3 belay I laid of what I thought was my usual flake, but it wasn't (confused by the cold) - and this one exploded into a large mass of shards that along with me went raining down on Jim who fortunately was off to the left a bit. Probably because of the cold day, but for whatever reason, I happen to place a Metolius #2 just above the belay which I normally don't do, which turned out to have been a wise move this time. So yes, someone did do it (and he is a nice guy), he didn't really know where he were going, wasn't familiar with the rock, and by their own account they almost died - so take it for what it's worth.

dberdinka, Sorry about not posting the rating it was in the link from another post... Michael is just having some fun with you - it's a 5.9. Actually a lot of 5.8 with some 5.9 moves throughout - but it is technical here and there, with a lot of subtleties associated with many of the moves and the first time through it will likely feel more like a lot of 5.9 with some 5.10+ moves...

Climb: Beacon Rock-Young Warriors Difficulty: 5.9 Date of Climb: 12/18/2004 Description: p1: It starts a bit before the trail meets the corner down by the RR tracks; Look for a short, steep little side trail that forks off the main trail with an upsidedown "Y" with a rock in the middle of it and a small tree on the left side leading to a little platform - the route starts off towards the left side of it angling up and a bit left. p2: At the top of the first pitch you'll get to a set of chains - the route goes straight left there around a block. You'll actually be probably be better off belaying from the ledge left of the chains on the other side of a large block. It then goes left and up towards an obvious shallow "A" shaped feature and meets the SE Corner route above that. But go straight right where it meets the SE Corner along a 1 foot ledge to a belay station - do not go up the the SE Corner ledge with the tree. [Caveat: This block is potentially loose, or someday will likely be, do not yard on it in any way! Use it very gently to just step around it to the ledge.] [Note: Some folks run these first two pitches together, but I wouldn't recommened it for anyone going up it their first time.] p3: Go straight up from the belay and just keep going. As you top out on the third pitch do not stop at the first arete hump/ledge you get to (and especially do not go down the other side) - instead continue back and up (west/left) 40 feet or so to the next higher ledge. You'll know you're on the right ledge because it is quite posh and has a ratty old square hanger to welcome you and a couple of hidden pins in the wall towards the back (your next belay). You'll probably want a sixty meter rope on this route because of this pitch. If it's windy be prepared to signal through the rope. p4: The next pitch goes out and up the obvious arete that forms the back end of the ledge. Enjoy. You may at one point about halfway up this pitch see some large old right angle anchors - they are not on YW - and if they aren't off to your left if you do see them you are off route. The pitch ends up over a slab and up a shallow dihedral to a ledge. Set up anchors with pro. [Note (p4): the route does not go up the either the big dihedral at the right (east) end of the ledge or the very back corner - again it goes out and up left (south) to get up on the spine of the arete and then straight up.] p5: The route goes right from here up a ramp to about four feet short of the arete and then up and back left a bit. Climb a short distance up and over into a [indistinct, small] notch in the rocks at the base of a long ramp heading up to the trees. Stop in that notch and belay (or can also bail of this pitch and climb up around to the left arriving at the same place as well). [Note (p5): Oh, and no doubt Jim Opdyke would have me remind you to do the final fun slab move to the left to finish this short pitch, rather than the imminent cop on the arete to the right...] p6: Go up the ramp and when you run out of obvious good rock, stop! Bring up your partner, unrope, and walk off up and right through a bit of talus to what will become a small but obvious trail up through the trees to the trail railing. If it is really blowing east winds and you decide to either climb up the ramp with a belay, or 4th class it trailing the rope without a belay, be sure and put in a couple of pieces of pro on the ramp to keep the rope from blowing off the left edge making life very unhappy for your second. [Note (p6): If you somehow keep climbing up past the ramp in a straight line and find yourself surrounded by trees, you've gone too far - stop immediately, bring up your partner, and head 45 degrees up and right to the trail and get away from the edge.] [Caveats: If you develop any interest in bailing from the route you should do it either at the top of the first or second pitches (or on the second by going up to the SE Corner tree ledge) - after that you are better off topping out. Depending on when you start and your experience level, this time of year (winter) you may want to bring headlamps just in case, though you shouldn't really need them. As with any route at Beacon, even though the route is quite clean, be particularly cognizant of both your physical movements and rope handling/travel to prevent rock fall at ledges, at the top, or anywhere you happen to spot loose gravelly rock.] P.S. You can rope solo the route in three very full 60 meter pitches, but I'd recommend breaking them up unless you are familiar and comfortable with the route. Gear Notes: Bring a trad rack - stoppers and cams.

Haydar, Sketchfest is right, it was Jim Opdyke and myself on Young Warriors. It is a much favored route for many of us that climb at Beacon. I posted a description of it here: Young Warriors (5.9) *****

It is all dried out and will stay that way in this wind which is unusually blowing 24x7. As far as shoes go - there is no need for shoes that tight on the SE corner, comfortable shoes will be fine. In fact, shoes that tight are going to be cold. You won't need chalk either - every surface out there has been blasted completely clean (and large trees dropped in the process). Go warm and comfortable.

Don't bring gas cannisters on a plane either as carry on or checked luggage. Buy them on the ground when you arrive.

We were out doing Young Warriors Saturday just around down from SE corner - be aware that the east winds are howling and will be fairly blistering all week. Be sure to dress very warmly and I'd recommend going to REI or GI Joes and getting some air activated handwarmers - we used them in our [fingerless] gloves at belays (on the wrist) and had them in our coat pockets where we could get at them when climbing. They last all day and really make a difference. Also, stack your rope when belaying and pay attention to it in this much wind.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with this practice...

Those are all great photos - could you guys edit and label what they are of for the uninitiated - thanks...

I'm just going to be trying to keep up with a fraction of whatever Texplorer does next year...

Oh, and a Suunto watch/altimeter out a Beacon this past year. Also, A visiting (and very harried) med student left a green Mammut Supersafe out at Beacon late this fall at the base of Free For Some if anyone found it he could really use it. Thanks.

We scored a 60m rope a couple of weeks ago at the end of the 3rd class ramp on the top of Epinephrine - it was a tangled mess but only took us a couple of minutes to sort out and pack up so we figured the last party that did the route must have been caught up there at night tired and scared and so just abandoned it. Over the years I've scored ropes, cams, harnesses, full ounces of smoke, knives, and very cute girls hung up in overhung rappels by their hair. Of course all this was balanced out by me dropping, leaving, or forgetting ropes, cams, harnesses, full ounces of smoke, knives, and the odd girl friend along the way.

I'm with Dane on Dishman, but here I have to defer to Brooke who worked this route with his friends over a couple of summers. There wouldn't be a bolt on it if they felt there was any reasonable alternative (and their concept of reasonable would probably still be be pretty damn scary to most folks).

Michael, I haven't checked in on the Dishman issue for a bit and am incredibly disappointed to find that the vandalism has been repeated. And given my intention of contacting the AF in regards to a review of access issues at Beacon I am somewhat disheartened by the following statement: It is somewhat hard to imagine a more [politically] tortured example of "access at all costs" struggling for a voice than this - regardless of the benevolent objective of solution finding. But, hey, when that "solution" embraces acts of deliberate vandalism than I have to suspect the motives of the AF or your interpretation of AF's charter. I don't know Dane, but I don't see many other folks standing up and giving clear focus and voice to the obvious. And if the AF can't articulate a clear, easy to understand, statement of what is acceptable ethics [at Dishman] then it is well on the way to espousing a deliberate bias which will result in a loss of credibility on the larger political stage of environmental/resource issues over time. This isn't rocket science, and it isn't about drama or ego, it's about common sense and collective self-respect. What's gone on at Dishman should not be open to compromise - it is wrong and unacceptable. It was vandalism before and it's vandalism now. If it comes down to accepting this behavior as part of a "solution" for the sake of maintaining access then we are prepared to sell our collective soul for access plain and simple and "Dishman" will become the very definition of "access at all costs" If the bottom line comes down to a bolt war perpetrated by irresponsible and unrelenting vandals or losing access to a closure - I have to take exception to both your's and Dane's position and vote for a complete closure. If these vandals persist then there is really no ethical alternative I can see other than cleaning it up one more time and shutting it down. Anything else makes the climbing community as a whole a part of the problem. - Joseph P.S. I will be contacting you and the AF about a review of the Beacon raptor closures relative to what is in effect elsewhere around the country. But that said, I don't mind sharing the cliff with them even if it means continuing the complete closure half the year...

Glad to hear you still made it out after I totally wussed out on you due to cold. So what was the deal? Weather.com said in the 30's until noon - what did it end up being temp-wise while doing Pipeline? What time? And was there Sunshine out there? Pipeline is pumpy...

Did Epinephrine on Friday 11/19. The weather was great and we had it all to ourselves. On Sunday the 11/21 there was an inch of snow on 160 heading up to Black Velvet and Epi was covered in a sheet of ice and snow. You really have to pick your window and jump on it this time of year...

I would have to say that both the belay anchor and the first piece of pro should be omni-directional or in opposition with another piece if necessary. I learned this the hard way on a low angle traverse I led once. On setting up the belay for my second after crossing an overhanging arete fin I couldn't really get a decent omni-directional or opposition setup (I'm pretty good with pro, but this was an FA and we were out of rope, and so I had to go with what was available). My second who is a very good climber none the less fell near the end of the pitch after he had cleaned the last piece of pro. If a notch in the arete hadn't caught the rope he would have swung in a perfect radius out over the abyss. Given my hanging stance we definitely would have both been pulled off once he swung 180 degrees to my opposite side. There wasn't much I could have done different in that particular situation as there was no belay point before that and in those days of stoppers and hexes the options were somewhat limited. The previous posters are correct in saying most accidents are from a bad first piece of pro (sometimes in combination with a belayer standing back too far from the rock). The actual belay anchoring should be about solidly securing the belayer omni-directionally as your leader could take a dive before getting a first piece in. Such a fall should always be in the back of your mind when setting up anchors on a multi-pitch climb.

My main climbing partner did his Masters and PH.d on risk perception. The study of what satisfies/excites us (individual serotonin management) vs. the actual objective risks we accept in our daily lives is quite fascinating. We all talk about "getting in your car...blah, blah, blah", but our perecptions of speed, vertical vs. horizontal, height, objects in flight, bodies (human and machine) in motion juxtaposed against frequency of experience makes for very interesting results when surveying "average" folk on what they consider risky behavior. These perceptions cross-referenced against actual death and accident statistics for various activities usually show people are a lousy judge of the objective risks they accept in their lives. We don't typically acknowledge the risks associated with high velocities in particular, probably because as a species the experience is so new we aren't really wired to chemically acknowledge the risks associated with it. As a side note: I once watched a woman in heels, a full length fur, and an red umbrella breach a police baracade and walk at a sanquine and regal pace on her way to Bonwitt Tellers in the base of the Hancock building in Chicago while 8-12" ice chunks from the thawing antennaes bombarded all around her (6+ per minute within 30 feet) - she didn't break pace for a moment (even with ice shrapnel spraying her feet) or heed any of our yells to "RUN!LADY!RUN" - but simply strolled into the store giving us a look of complete disdain as she crossed the threshold. If it were an alpine situation crossing a ramp, few climbers I know would ever have dared to make the same crossing...

One of our new climbing partners, Taylor, is visting PDX for a month as part of a medical residency and did a roped solo of Free For Some the weekend before last and now believes he left his Mammut SuperSafe (green) rope out there. It was in a black Metolius rope bag. His schedule is very hectic and he climbed with us this weekend hence the delay in realizing the rope was missing. Anyone help him out? He thinks he left it either down by the climb or up at the turnout. Please give me a PM if you know its whereabouts...thanks.

If Gary didn't suspend someone being deployed then I'd say that's pretty damn unfair (speaking as a Vietnam Vet). As to attempting to convey how the commercial financing works I'll back off that but again, the costing is unlikely to change so there's not a lot of point in belaboring either side of that one. Anyway, I'm getting happier with things...

I spoke with Michael today and he said he'd check in for the latest posts. And, hey, these are all great posts. Again, on the financial front I'm sure their options are somewhat limited given the debt burden. That would mean that free auxillary classes, three month on-a-whim suspensions, and large purchases of non-climbing exercise equipment would be pretty tough right now. That said, Gary has always suspended the clock for injuries and if someone was deployed with the guard or reserve it's hard for me to believe Gary wouldn't allow that as well though I don't know about the specific instance mentioned above where he apparently didn't - if that's really the case he should reconsider that decision in my eyes. Again, though, I suspect the "I want a year, but want to suspend over the summer" is unlikely and I wouldn't do it in his position either. I also notice the IWindSurf.com doesn't let you suspend annual weather access during the winter months... The punch card expiration is another matter - that should definitely be good for 4/6/9 months as far as I'm concerned; 3 months is way to tight for folks that travel for work. In general right now I think Gary is still trying to understand how to operate this new gym from a cash flow/financing perspective. The big problem versus a 24-hour fitness is there are just no economies of scale for a single location business like this, it's a expensive endeavor plain and simple and a bunch of it gets passed on to us. But trust me - he isn't getting rich on the gym and he isn't some big corporation or partnership syndicate - he's just a guy that's been grinding it out for years, stashing what he can, and finally built up enough cash and cred to roll it over into the new place. I also had some pretty long talks with him during construction about the HVAC/energy setup in the building and that was another total guess as far as heating/cooling cycles and costs that would take a year or two to figure out. Lead ropes at Stone Gardens - that's new since the 6 months I was up there last year; also highly unlikely and I haven't seen this in a gym but I don't exactly make the plastic rounds all that much. Lead certs definitely shouldn't be charged for, period - that is nickel and dime stuff. The yoga and pilates classes are probably somewhat hard to schedule unless you really get in a groove with an instructor or two that are reliable. I do recall Gary saying he wasn't making anything on these classes and in fact on a square foot basis was losing money. I also believe that it would be a great idea for annual members to guest someone in once a quarter or so and do it as part of a referral incentive program - like 2 or 3 extra months on your ticket if you bring in someone that joins with an annual. Keep'em coming...

I went in last night and they now at least have a couple of juggy routes up the big overhang so at least that's some progress on my main complaint. I wouldn't bemoan starting the thread, you probably woke them up a bit. We'll just have to see how much over time...

All good feedback, I'd say keep it coming to them as something hits you... Bill and I will keep giving them reminders to check in on this thread no and then...

So gang, aside from the cost, which I'm guessing even Gary has only so much leeway in given the financing, any more suggestions that the PRG folks can actually do something about? I think I noticed an attempt at new bike racks so they must be listening. And there is at least a reasonable route up the overhang even if it isn't a total laptrack...

Yep, most are double looped, but I'm going through replacing them with dyneema which makes for triple looped which I'm not sure I like compared with doubled, but oh well... [Real trad draws are hemp and hand tied with one hand as you need them...]