JosephH

========================================== Upfront disclaimer - I despise the stuff and usually only use it [sparingly] when temps get above 90, on particular sloping moves on hard routes, or I'm on slick, white Valley granite. ========================================== <Rant ON> In a short week since opening the routes out at Beacon Rock have been literally slathered with the stuff. A judicious dip now and then when it's truly needed by a few people that sweat exessively is one thing, but it was certainly completely unnecessary on the trade routes out at Beacon yesterday or for the week for that matter. From what I saw it must at this point be an desparately obsessive pychological crutch for many, many people. Also, to have routes chalked up to the point where it's climb-by-the-numbers(dots) just adds to the mental crutch. Just for fun sometime consider leaving it at home and climbing without it and see how you fair. Or at least consider using it judiciously, and only when it's really necessary. Slathering it everywhere unnecessarily just sucks... [and 90 percent of the routes out at Beacon don't need any 90% of the time...] <Rant OFF> I'll get flamed on this no doubt, but it really just completely degraded the whole experience to a degree I haven't experienced in some time...

Everyone just needs to keep watch at areas where new route development is going on and note whether fixe rap rings are appearing. The ones out at Beacon are either stamped or will be Saturday for ID purposes so if they show up anywhere else we'll be able to figure out who took them and if we track down anyone hustling gear the result won't be pleasant. As for the choice of webbing and rings, we've been in a long process of working with Washington State Parks, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the Beacon Rock Climber's Association along with discussions with other climbers; the combination of WDP's and WDFW's desire that Beacon, as a habitat, remain as natural as possible and consideration for Beacon's history and traditional anchors, the consensus was webbing and ring anchors best met the objectives and are in keeping with that history. Also, given many of the rappel points are used to rappel multiple routes the equalizing webbing and ring anchors are far better choice so chains and all other bright hardware are being swapped out. We're also still looking for darker gray version of the webbing.

Did another work session today hitting the anchors in the Windsurfer area. Still had no lighter so if anyone is heading to Beacon take one and melt any cut ends you run into...

Ah - it was a #2 then - yours is the one we found then. That is now the last free pitch of "Lost Warriors".

It's open in the morning, Jim and I spent another day out there today and in the end we really only have it about 70% overhauled and will be trying to get to the rest over the next week. Do us a favor - take a lighter with you and melt the ends of any of the slings that need them on the remediated rap anchors - we ended up with a dead lighter today about half way through that we'll get to during the week. Some anchors were moved today mainly because of the conditions of the bolts, but two because they were simply badly installed or badly arranged; so you will see some dust from drilling at several stations that will be gone after the next big rain. Jim will be out tomorrow so say hi to him - I have other obligations so enjoy and hope to see you all out there soon... Joseph

======================================================= BEACON ROCK OPENS EARLY - OPENING ON SUNDAY JULY 10TH ======================================================= David Anderson of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) has certified that this year's Peregrine Falcon fledging has taken place and, after consultation with the Washington State Parks (WSP) and the Beacon Rock State Park (BRSP) Staff, that rock climbing can re-open on Sunday, July 10th. We should all recognize that this is a result of some committed effort by both David and the Park Staff relative to the work required to open climbing each year. The opening requires the dedication of a lot of hours of Falcon monitoring, trailwork, and changes to the parks signage, website, and phone system - all at the busiest time of the year for the park. And this year the Park Staff has been executing on some major construction projects on the West side of the park that include a major parking expansion, launch area and rip-rap maintenance, and new access off Route 14 (to begin soon) so it really has been an extra effort on their part to get all the work done for the early opening. As Bill Coe has mentioned above, he, Jim Opdyke, and myself (Joseph Healy) have re-formed (and reformed) the Beacon Rock Climber's Association and we have been working for most of this year to re-establish positive and productive relationships between the Portland area climbing community and: WDFW Biologists (David Anderson) BSRP Staff (Rangers Erik Plunkett and John Ernster) Washington State Parks Resource Stewards (WSPRS - Lisa Lantz) We have also been coordinating and working with the following organizations: Access Fund (Kelly Rice, Leslie Brown, Andy Fitz, Matt Perkins, Matt Perkins) American Alpine Club/Oregon Section (Bob McGown, Tom Thrall, Tom Bennett, Jeff Alzner) Mazamas (Barbara Wilson, Co-Chair, Conservation Committee). We will be setting up a website, forum, and Paypal account for the BRCA and begin a recruiting drive over the course of the summer and work with the American Alpine Club on a Beacon Rock fundraising party/presentation (with a mystery speaker) as soon as we can. Also as Bill has mentioned, we managed to organize a gathering of the clans (WDFW, WSPRS, BRSP, BRCA) on July 7th and launched the first annual Pre-Opening Safety Check. This is a particularly significant achievement on everyone's part and is the first time a formal joint effort has been assembled to conduct a thorough pre-opening review of Peregrine nesting activity and a climbing safety working session. Many of these essential tasks have been performed on an informal basis over the years by Jim Opdyke and company, but after a decade of ad hoc caretaking a great deal of work was deemed necessary after a full review the overall conditions on the South face. But don't let Bill kid you, both he and Jim have been humping heavy loads up the tourist trail, rapping all day with them off their harnesses, and basically working like dogs out there to clean up the loose rock situation that has developed over the years. We are also into day three of what will end up being a fairly substantial top-to-bottom, East-to-West remediation effort to check and upgrade fixed belay and rap anchors across the South face. This effort has entailed a technical, safety, environmental, and aesthetic check of each station/anchor area and all necessary remediation work (when deemed necessary). The technical details of anchor replacements when they have occured is: Camoed, heavy duty Metolius Rap Hangers, Two equalizing, X-crossed 1" grey slings, and two Fixe 50kn stainless rap rings. These Metolius Rap Hangers can be rappeled off of directly with no additional hardware if need be in the case slings were ever damaged or missing. We have also epoxy patched dozens of drill holes; removed all extraneous hardware not deemed to have some meaningful utilitarian, educational, or first ascent significance; camoflauge painted many protection bolt hangers, and did substantial maintenance on the Peregrine Falcon's traditional nest site (even though it wasn't used this year). Only one new anchor as been added, and only after much discussion and in consultation with the Park Staff coming to a decision to avoid the use of trees for anchors/rappels. We added a belay/rap station at the small triangular pillar-top below the tree on Dodd's jam and reconfigured the use of the tree on that route. All old webbing and the rap rings have been removed from the tree and replaced with a double loop of webbing around the tree with a single fixe 50kn ring for climbing protecion and backed up immediately above the tree by a Lost Arrow piton. Please note that we special ordered grey webbing for sling replacements to help alleviate some of the visual clutter on the rock and it is supposed to be the color it is; it isn't weathered so additional slings are not necessary on any of the remmediated anchors. We will have approximately 90% of the work completed by opening but some of the more obsure anchors and hangers will be reviewed and remediated over the next several weeks. By the time the work is complete we will have acummulated close to 50lbs. of scrap off the South face (photos of the cleanup effort will be posted here and on the BRCA website sometime in the next week or so). We and the BRSP Staff would also like to extend many, many thanks to both Metolius and the US Outdoor Store for their contribution in extending equipment discounts on hardware for this effort. When all is said and done, and after all the discounts, the cost of this year's cleanup will be roughly $500.00 from the BRCA and hence why a fundraiser will be announced sometime in the next few months. Again many big kudos to this year's supporting sponsors Metolius (Brooke Sandahl) and the US Outdoor Store (Gavin Ferguson). On the Peregrine front, the Beacon Rock pair did manage to fledge at least one chick and put on a couple of stunning training flights with the parents teaching the young fledge how to hunt. But, again as Bill mentioned, we were never able to locate this year's nesting site, though we have some real suspicions that was very high up on the northern half of the East face. We had hoped to find the nest location as it would make next year's monitoring effort much easier. But as a 3-D monolith, Beacon presents some real monitoring challenges compared to your typical 2-D escarpment cliff. Though, now that we have some well-trained monitors the hope is we will find it during next year's monitoring season. Last but not least we are in the process of working with the BRSP Staff and Ranger John Ernster, who is rewriting the Climbing Management Plan, to come up with a more flexible formal process for new route development and anchor replacement. More details will be published once a process has been defined, but the first test of any new policies will probably be on development of routes on the Northwest face. In general, Beacon Rock has a long history as a trad climbing area and while several one pitch pure bolted lines do exist most routes have been establish with a mixed approach to fixed protection that can be summed up as: gear, pins, and bolts as a last resort. New routes on the Nortwest Face will likely necessarily be just such mixed routes. Again, we will keep you all abreast of developments on this front as they emerge, but be aware - no one is authorized to install fixed protection of any type without review and approval by the BRSP Staff in accordance with Washington State law and as implemented in the BRSP Climbing Management Plan. That said, Erik and his staff are completely jazzed about climbing at the park and over the years have been some of the biggest supporters of climbing a Beacon Rock in the face of pressure from multiple other groups and agencies to shut it down. O.k. - after all that - hey, we're about to be able to climb again at Beacon!!! Have fun, be safe, and if you have any questions at all about any aspect of the information presented by Bill Coe or myself here or about anything you see or hear out at Beacon don't hesitate to contact us. Bill Coe and myself can be PM'd here at Cascade Climbers or at RC.com and my phone is posted below. And of course Jim Opdyke is best contacted out at Beacon. Also, once we launch please join the BRCA and support climbing at Beacon. Joseph Healy Beacon Rock Climber's Association 503.704.9300 Joseph.Healy@gmail.com

I should add that the one we found was also blown at the bottom of the clipping loop. 2kn is not a hard number to reach and I likely wouldn't bounce or hammer test a #1.

Bill Coe and I found a fairly new #1 BD stopper with a blown wire on a route last year. Looked like someone had an unhappy experience on it. Not sure exactly what "pull tested 3 times" means mechanically, but it is quite easy to blow these pieces. I've typically used a pre-sliced Air Voyager (pre-Screamers) when I'm using these sizes of pro. In general I wouldn't test these babies very hard.

Nope, Texplorer got it before leaving PDX for LV...

I had an Orange Alien from a batch that had bad stainless steel woven sleeves that blew. I sent it back to CCH and they had it for a couple of months and eventually sent it back repaired free of charge, but I did have to bug them a few times with email to get it back...

The green harness got retired in '87-88 or so after I moved to Oregon so as not to embarass my partners. It's still works fine and is comfy. On a family trip to NYC last summer I took the girls up to Gunks/Mohonk for a day but as it was a family trip to the city mainly I didn't bring any gear at all. But walking on the carriage trail watching some folks I finally asked if I could take a ride. The leader of the group I ask said, "sure, but you don't have any shoes..." and I said I'd climb barefoot and grabbed the rope. He then said, "but you don't have a harness...", but I had already tied one from the rope with a double bowline on a bight. As I started to climb he said, "but you don't have any chalk..." and I explained it wasn't hot and I didn't need any. They apparently had never seen anyone climb old school and my wife was just cracking up as the conversation progress. The route was great, I had fun, but you'd think I was Martian or a Yeti by the way they reacted (actually they were fabulous and very nice...).

Here's a picture of my old harness I used for about a decade made from 2" on a friend's Singer with regular cotton/nylon thread. It put up a bunch of .10-.13 FA's back in the day, and held an endless stream of nasty whippers with no problem at all. It had no no belay loop and I still don't care much for the things. I know on one hand these are serious discussions, but sometimes us old guys crackup over the level of concern and nuance around such topics as the gear now is just so much better than before with comparatively huge margins of error. Should you know how to use it, sure; but trust me - you are about a million times more likely to screw up then than have your gear fail. For that matter, for the first five years we just tied into the end of the rope or used 1" swamis... On the ropes...

NOLse, You really do have a suicidal obsession with CP don't you. Of all the climbing activities the NW offers it's hard for me to imagine ever wanting to climb CP. I simply abhor choss on that scale and not so much for the objective danger as the quality of the climbing itself is so subordinated to staying alive as to take all the joy (such that it is) out of the movement over that stone - but to each his own... As for DT I'd say have at it on any part of that pile, though I think you will be magnifying your risk by applying increased localized pressures/loads on the rock from a pick compared to hands/fingers. It will also reduce your feel somewhat I suspect. As for drilling - ditto if you can really get anything solid in up there have at it...

Dear Friends- Please help spread the word to anyone who may be interested in big wall gear: I'm cleaning out the closets and selling all my extra climbing gear on ebay, collected from over 30 years of climbing, lots of unique specialty stuff for big wall climbing. Chaeck out: Deuce4 Ebay Auctions Thanks! ---- John Middendorf POB 3580 Pagosa Springs, CO 81147 BigWalls.Net

I'll take the following: Lowe Balls -- #1,#2,#3 plus racking biner Yates Scream Aids -- 5 brand new -- $35 Lost Arrows -- #4, #5, #6 plus biner -- $12 BD Ovals -- 20 BD Ovals -- $40 -- Do you have a paypal account?

I bought a set of trinuts to check out and they are pretty much worthless except in rare specialized placements. To be fair, to some extent you have modify your pro worldview to really use them to their full potential. Not to be a [complete] ego-maniac, but I'm pretty fair with pro after all these years and those babies went on ebay the night after I took them out the first time... DMM WallNuts - hmmm, this one really steams me! The lame, weak [slim] bullshit that passes for a WallNut after the grand re-design destroyed what was best about them suck as well. The old design was infinitely superior, but they had lots of complaints about them getting "stuck" too easy (obviously by folks that set their stoppers relentlessly). Thank god I got two sets of them before they were offed. If any of you folks fall into the "hated them" category and have old, fat WallNuts, give me a shout as I'll take them all. Oh, and new DMM Wall Nuts compared to Metolius Curve Nuts - hands down the Metolius every time, any time - in fact, I'd take original Chouinard stoppers before the DMMs.

I checked a set out and plan on getting one or two sets - they are great, 4-6k is fine for what they are free or aid.

Wanted to get some swaging work done and wanted to know if any of you PDX folks are set up to do it.

July? Probably here - getting in shape for when Texplorer gets back...

PM me...

From a new thread of the same title on SuperTopo.com : 10 April 2005- Patrick Wang (last name unconfirmed) died after an attempt at glissading off of the MR top couloir. A group was camped at Iceberg Lake when 3 men descending the MR came and asked for a phone. They informed the group that one of their partners had gone over the NW face cliff after trying to glissade off the steep section just above the notch on the MR. One of the party members walked out to a point where they could get reception and phoned for assistance, which eventually came by helicopter on the morning of the 11th . Inyo SAR dispatch confirmed the recovey operation near Arctic Lake (Sequoia Nat'l Park side). This is the SAME spot as last months tragic accident....!! ======================================= from summit post- "The climber's name was Patrick Wang. An outstanding photographer, poster on this site (patrickwang) and member of the Portland climbing community, who will be greatly missed by all of us." his photographic work can be seen on his site Patrick's Gallery RIP brother be careful out there, everybody

Have to admit the thought has never really crossed my mind. Seems as though one would have to be ill-equipped or otherwise in a bad situation to resort to such measures. I certainly wouldn't buy cams based on that criteria.

how do you aid 10a slab climbs? with suction cups? You don't, you run them out... French Freeing (A0- [my minus sign]) is aid as was said; when speed climbing in the valley all bets are off and getting up the rock is what it's about. Texplorer here has done a one day ascent of the Nose - ask him about it. Such an ascent is quite a different beast from Lynn Hill and Brooke Sandahl freeing the Nose... Equivalents? Surfing with a tow in less than very large waves comes to mind...

Yep, down at Smith you can actually watch them set up for and make some pretty big leaps. Going to be one of the worst tick years in history - everyone watch for ring rash...

In the [way distant] past we climbed on ropes until the duct tape wouldn't go through the biners anymore. And I just replaced my 11mm soloing rope after about 11 years and somewhere between 15-25 falls (and half of it was magic markered every 15' for that 10 years). Yeah, old ropes will fail a rigorous sharp edge tests and if I climbed on granite I'd probably be more concerned, but today's ropes are way better than any that we ever had in the past. That said, today's new "skinny" ropes are probably milking strength/durability/capacity that in that past would have been what we got by on. I certainly wouldn't stretch out the life of one of today's 9.2-8's, or even a 10.2 for that matter (though I suspect my Supersafe will last more or less forever).