JosephH

Christ, still working the Chinooks hard forty years later I see. They were the workhorse in Vietnam and I logged quite a few hours in them at the time and they felt creaky as hell then. Well, at least we're getting our money's worth out of them. Hopefully the army pilots try to do less batshit crazy aerial tricks with them than the marine pilots bitd. Somewhere I have a sequence of shots out the open back ramp as one nutjob tried to see if he could barrel roll one - not fun as an occasional rider. Definitely go for those Blackhawks if possible...

How many 2000 foot unclimbed cliffs did Kukuczka or Steck stand at the base of, then just climb sans rope for a free-solo first ascent of the highest grade done with a rope at the time? And Kukuczka used oxygen for Everest which pretty much blew his o2less streak. Hard to imagine anyone calling or holding an opinion of Messner as 'overhyped' - it's like calling John Bachar overhyped. Kukuczka and Messner were / are monsters.

I don't know, I guess I don't really consider getting to your first piece a [technical] 'ground fall' situation per se, or if it is, then I go back to it likely being an error in judgment even getting on the route. What I do consider a real groundfall situation is finding yourself any distance above the first piece with that potential - i.e. once you're officially established on the route proper. But just getting established on the route? I'd say that's kind of stretching the traditional use of the term. Getting established on a route is more a matter of bouldering with the accompanying proviso of picking your poison wisely (in that 'don't leave the ground if you aren't prepared to deal' sort of way).

I have to agree by and large in that to me a runout is a calculated risk; staring at a groundfall is almost always either a mistake, an error in judgment, or both.

R U runned out when ur free soloin'...?

It isn't about what's in the article, it's about what's being practiced on a daily basis by the executive. Nothing I've said is based off of the article, but rather the realities of Whitehouse policy implementation across two presidencies.

Irrelevant. One man's willy, is another man's life and when nilly is sitting at a predator console there isn't much exaggerating going on - just a lot of convenient apologetics.

This is quite an exaggeration. That's not really how the NYT phrased it. That is no exaggeration of any kind regardless of how the NYT worded it. It's a direct consequence of the Bush administration's steady push for an increase in executive powers - suspension of Habeas Corpus, designation as enemy combatants, targeted assassinations of U.S. citizens, and a low bar for 'state secrets' prominent among them. Obama / Holder have held fast to those enhancements to executive power and that's the risk of such enhancements by either party - once presumed or granted, they are very difficult to restrain or revoke. Aside from the ever abysmal Roberts and Alito, the enhancement of executive power - almost ruling by fiat - is the worst of W's and the neocons' legacy. Bottom line is if executive decides they don't like you, they can designate you an enemy combatant and detain you indefinitely or assassinate you. Fighting it in court is similarly next to impossible while the executive can shield all pertinent evidence behind a judicial shield of 'state secrets' which prevents such cases from coming to trail. And that's what makes Roberts and Alito ever abysmal - their ardent support for expanded executive power due to their experiences in the Reagan administration.

I've met folks who've had the opposite experience and are bolder later in life than when they were younger. I've been pretty consistent over time and, under the right circumstances, still more or less willing to whip my age for another year or two.

What is 'runout' to me is highly dependent on my physical and emotional shape at the time of the climb. It's also highly dependent on the characteristics of the route - availability and quality of the placements, quality of the rock, type of climbing, and who my partner / belayer is. Sometimes 10 feet seems runout and other times, like Bill illustrates above, you can go and go (even when it may or may not be a good idea). Somedays I feel great and can't be bothered with too many placements, other days I sew it up any sections that make me nervous. And sometimes you really have to do a balancing act between hanging out dicking around with so-so placements and just climbing on to a better stance / placement even if you don't necessarily feel like it. But overall, set distance rules around placements seems counterproductive to learning to respond to what you find when you get on an unfamiliar line.

Nothing worse...

Nice. I guess I will be a forever newby. My generalization is based on the fact that most routes that are set on trad climbs are generally set up to be climbed with a 50 to 60 meter rope and that would facilitate being able to rap the route with one rope. It has been my experience in the past, having had climbed at several crags all over the western US. I'll just mention the different States, Oregon, Washington, California, Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, and B.C. Canada It sure doesn't make me an expert but is has been enough to form my own opinion over the last 8 years. Plaid, there are no shortage of multipitch crags around the US where you have to have two ropes to rap. That you haven't been on many such routes is a different matter. Also, routes aren't "set" on trad climbs - they're just there. Look, don't get me wrong, I love your enthusiasm for climbing, and you've been getting more experience over the past couple of years, but I'd still recommend foregoing the generalizations in your media ventures.

Well, that's another poor generalization. You still have pretty limited experience in climbing to be making either of these generalizations. In this case, your numbered explanations serve your case far better than your attempts to generalize.

Being that 55 meters is close to 180 feet and if there is a bolt every 7 feet that would be 25 bolts. It would be reasonable on a trad climb if you were sewing it up to place a piece at your feet. Especially if you were on uncertain terrain. I think its apples and oranges Shapp, at Darrington what is required is confidence, verve will see you though and people do come out of long slab falls without serious injury. The explanation regarding breaking knobs and falling down merely vertical knob studded walls made sense to me. I would agree somewhat with Off relative to it's very dependent on the rock, but as some sort of generalized justification vis-a-vis 'sewn-up' trad climbing? Absolutely not. On multiple full-rope length trad pitches you are not 'sewing it up' to the tune of a piece per body length unless you are carrying more gear than I can almost imagine for free climbing. No matter how you look at it that's bolting to gym specifications. Now, as Off is saying, you may very well be able to justify it on the basis of rock / fall quality, but justifying it on the basis of 'sewn-up' trad over a rope length just doesn't fly - or at least I've never experienced it. [ P.S. If these are big, honking, Coe-like SS bolts then I sure hope the route is worthy of the expense involved with that bolt spacing... ]

Bravo! It would be hard to find a more succinct and exact summation of exactly why western and slavic cultures have compiled such an abysmal military record in the Mideast over the past several hundred years.

I never have really understood the appeal of going up that corner. The face is so much cleaner movement, faster and the pro is dead simple nuts. Went up the corner once early on, never again - too much of an awkward thrutch by comparison.

Replacing the anchors on LLL was definitely part of the secret agenda - unfortunately you'd have to burn the poison oak out of there to clean it at this point and maybe more than once. Mistakenly I had thought it was a single big vine that could be taken out, but it turns out to be a million individual plants rooted way back in it's entire length. After that evil plan to recover LLL failed is when I finally decided I loved not being able to climb for 6-7 months out of the year so much I set out scheming how to make the closure permanent if not year-round. I figured the best way to do that was to start 'sticking it to the man' every chance I could and leaving obscene phone messages and emails for the WSP and WDFW calling them cheap whores and liars. It took quite awhile, but at this point I pretty sure climbing at Beacon is history and isn't going to open at all this year - but WTF, the place sucks balls anyway. Suits me, I like doing the same couple of climbs over and over like groundhog day. P.S. Tyler is definitely my bitch...

Nicely done on the BLM's part! This is a significant level of active cooperation between climbers and the BLM compared to the relationship between the two parties in the rest of the country. Congrats on managing this side of the 'fledging' relationship...

Surely you need every bump you can get for a post of such purplessness...

The PRG/O has it all and then some (and thank goodness for that)...

only if u have a backpack full of gravel Well, it is kinda nice to have a little something to trade for early opens. But hell, I'm sure no real beatard would even consider climbing a day before July 15th if it meant cooperating with 'the man' once a year. Oh wait, that's right, you guys all just signed on to the big document enthusiastically pledging to do just that - never mind. And crikey, I can't wait for the BRCA to actually start picking up some of the slack out there as I'm gettin' kind of sick of doing it...

We actually used to do that with the all-woven, yellow MSR ropes bitd because they tended to get these weird 'hairballs' as they'd fray. We'd use them until the duct tape started getting stuck in the biners. It helped we had a duct tape factory at the north end of the strip some friends worked at part time. P.S. Nice rug...

Ah, thanks - looks like a smart piece of gear...

Hey, what is that? Aggregate? Concrete? And why is it in some shots and not others? Looks a little bulky for a drone launcher...

Glad things are livable, but you may want to consider not letting that alternate reality soak in too deep - don't want to end up off your game or guard despite daily rhythms and appearances...