JosephH

What's embarrassing is it took this long for someone to go clean up Maestri's mess. Oh, and love the commercial tourism argument for 'vandalism'. Gotta remember to donate some epoxy sticks to the cause.

Great news, shouldn't someone let Dave Anderson know then, given it isn't going to happen without WDFW approving it?

Why? Has something changed about slacklining or tightrope in the past 36 years that I missed? Can't think of anything off hand...

I don't doubt what you say, but particularly in my high tensioned rigs I prefer the clean symmetry of ovals relative to how and where the ropes / webbing lay in them. With pear biners rope / webbing can load strangely in the wide end if you aren't careful and I suspect that played a role in this broken one (other than just being a flat out cheap and cheesy piece of gear). Petzl locking ovals are 24kn and whatever their Oxan steel locking ovals rate at they are more than burly. Again, to each his own I suppose, but the for my own purposes I find particular comfort in the symmetry and clean rope / webbing lay in ovals and that opinion is born of thirty six years of rigging all manner of tightropes and slacklines without ever having a line failure.

I'd say it's most probably an open gate failure. I would also comment that's probably not the best choice for a slackline rigging biner. I've always used locking ovals for my rigs and locking steel ovals in high tension ones because I'm wary of potential weaknesses associated with the asymmetries of pear shaped biners for these applications.

I've been walking for a long time and never met anyone who ever took this analytic approach to anchors in either climbing or tightrope. Not really of any interest to me either - I take an 'Edisonian' approach to such affairs and if I have the slightest doubt around the setup relative to the tension I want to walk at then I go bigger on the components. Also, the tension I walk at isn't really a negotiable / optional attribute of the rig - it's either tensioned 'right' or it's not worth doing. That's particularly so in my case in that I don't walk webbing, but rather heavily-tensioned 10.5mm rope. The forces involved are substantially higher than your typical slackline and I also walk at 9 feet up so it's not a situation where failure is an option. To each his own I suppose...

'Let it sag' generally isn't an option for slacklining and tightrope - you want it tight or it isn't worth doing at all. So rather than 'let it sag', I'd say when in doubt - beef it up - go steel as suggested and beef up every element of the system you can if doing longer lines.

That's not sand, it's cat litter...

Be sure and explain that to the nervous Marines who are just arrived or deploying for a tour in the Helmand Province which, by the way, was actually calming down before these crackers got all GoPro. The only thing we know for sure is it won't be them dying because of their video. I think it was the romans that said "Offenses against the Gods are the business of the Gods." The Marines you speak of have every right to be outraged on their own behalf anytime one of their own - or someone ten thousand miles away - makes choices that needlessly increase the risk to them. If they've nominated you to be outraged on their behalf for the risks that they, and not you, will have to endure as a consequence of their fellow marines' action then let me know. Otherwise feel free to criticise what I've said for your own reasons, but spare me the presumption that you're entitled to criticise something I've written on their behalf. I haven't written anything on behalf of anyone. I've only spoken to the lamentable facts on the ground as they are about to unfurl. More of our troops are going to die as a direct result of these morons' action while folks who have no way to personally relate to those risks spew political and intellectual dreck online. In this case the value to your post count far exceeds any other contribution to the matter thus far.

Be sure and explain that to the nervous Marines who are just arrived or deploying for a tour in the Helmand Province which, by the way, was actually calming down before these crackers got all GoPro. The only thing we know for sure is it won't be them dying because of their video.

it's not irrelevant if one is oncerned with understanding a situation beyond knee-jerkism. The "knee-jerkism" in this case is thinking motives, attitudes, or societal beliefs matter a wit. What matters is these kinds of incidents wholly undermine the entire effort in concrete ways that have broad and far-reaching consequences both in Afghanistan and the entire Mideast. even if i agreed, what is the point of your point? meaning: "ok and then what?" It's equally irrelevant whether you agree or not - the damage is already done. My "point", is that in an Internet age it's pointless to get involved with protracted occupations involved with 'nation building' in countries where the cultural void with our troops is so sharp that one youtube video can sink the whole affair.

It's pretty much irrelevant whose feelings they might embody or even what four guys were thinking (or not) at the time. The point is that since Vietnam the State Department and military have steadily been losing control of the media and diplomatic message. This and several similar incidents represent a complete loss of control of the message and the consequences are such that, with regard to what we are buying for our dollars invested in a decade of war, in the end four dicks have as much control over that outcome as two presidents and congress combined.

Gotta love the internet. Now a couple of jarheads with a iPhone can wipe out a decade of work by the state department and the entire military establishment in a matter of a few minutes.

Hard to believe it's been nineteen years since I was there last. From google earth it looks like the place is quite different now days - mainly that anyone stays over at Tonsai which wasn't the case back then. Because of that you could safely swim from Railay to Ao Nang tower and back without worrying about getting cut in half by a Longtail boat - looks like there'd be regular traffic across that path now. It was a lovely six weeks at the time, but I was so out of shape and fat it took four weeks of twice daily swims over to the tower and back along with a diet of mainly rice porridge before I could even think about climbing. Probably also the first and last time all the thai locals got an extended bout of trad climbing as well. Assuming it's still the blazing party scene I'd be curious if other, quieter and low key climbing areas have been developed. And does Sam Lightner still have a place there?

Let's be clear, the fact that a racist troglodyte intent on turning America's clock back to the days when robber barons openly plied their trade is the only one willing to state the obvious and even displays occasional signs of common sense is pretty depressing in and of itself. We unfortunately can't elect just the parts of the man we like and the irrational baggage that frames his worldview is too broken to ever be fixed up and paved over enough to be stomached by the American people who can't possibly be that stupid...

Not sure what to say here. I've climbed with alot of people. Although we all enjoy the feeling of climbing, I know the majority don't consider the possibility of accidents a plus. Falling is not an "accident", it's a normal aspect of climbing - it's what happens when when you mismanage the subjective (you) and objective (rock) risks inherent with venturing on to vertical environments. If falling weren't part of climbing I wouldn't bother doing it - it's rock climbing and not just another risk-free, suburban entertainment option. Competent people have been falling on gear for a long time. Maybe think of it this way - one of my climbing partners is a Svengali on guitar and he can pick up a toy guitar and make it do amazing things; I don't play the guitar worth shit and if you give me a fine, handmade guitar I will make is sound like crap. It's the same deal with gear. I can climb on ancient gear and fall on it with no problem; others may take the latest, greatest gear and be ripping placements all over if they fall on it. Most trad gear, old and new, is basically great and it isn't about the gear, it's about the placements. If you suck at placing gear or lack the knowledge, experience, and judgment to have confidence in your placements, then you'll probably be inclined to heavily [self-]limiting what you on rock. You will probably avoid falling at all cost and I wouldn't blame you for either. You miss the point with your "taking some load off" comment; 'taking the load off' isn't a viable alternative to, nor a reasonable or effective way to compensate for, poor or marginal placements. In short, there are no substitutes for solid placement skills and good judgment around what climbing / falling options any given placement provides. I frequently climb over placements most folks would consider 'marginal', but I have a solid understanding of every placement I make and just what it likely affords me in the way of it's performance. That feeds into my evaluation of the choices I have when moving past any such placement. Bottom line? Don't try to fix or change the gear or the way we use it; instead try to improve your relationship to the gear and it's use. I.e. become a better, more competent climber with solid skills and judgment. My advice would be to skip this kind of conjecture and step up your own game. That, and try to find as many highly competent leaders to second as possible.

Total bummer, and scary - could just as easily have been one of our Beacon rangers on any given day. Though I will say the Beacon crew is used to seeing a steady stream of random nutjobs (other than us) going back and forth on Rt. 14, so they are pretty alert when stopping anyone. And they and the state and county cops also tend to coordinate all their actions pretty closely when they do get a live one going. Condolences to the family, fellow employees, and to all law enforcement and park employees just trying to do their jobs... P.S. Just ponying up for a discovery pass if you use the resource is one small way you can take some of the stress off the state park rangers...

You are making many assumptions here, several of which are incorrect Have to go with num1mc here, you clearly have a lot of misconceptions around the question and even more around trad climbing. What some people do, though, is extend the belay down below the anchor to put some distance between themselves and the first piece (or to use the anchor as the first piece) - no devices of any kind required. Trad climbing falls are no particular problem and trad climbing doesn't need any "forces taken out". Also, if you want to spend some idle time pondering something then consider starting with this - "safely push trad climbing more..." - then maybe try to stop thinking about trad climbing that way. Trad climbing isn't 'safe' and why would you want it to be? If it were, it wouldn't be trad climbing. They don't call it a 'back belay' for a good reason, the rope should never by up on your lower back, it should be down on your hip. Pretty hard to stop falls if it's up around your waist.

Now, unfortunately, the real war for Iraq is commencing on sectarian lines.

Do you know where the Goldens have been nesting in the vicinity? I'm guessing they wouldn't be proposing it if they didn't know where they were nesting in the past. Would be good to know the facts so you could stand a chance of scoping any closures appropriately if they can't be avoided entirely. I'm also guessing Goldens would have some priority for WDFW and ODFW any time they had good info on nesting sites. See what you can do to find out where precisely they're talking about.

God knows there's basically nothing stevetimetravlr and I agree on, but this is one of them. The slings on Camalots and Master Cams are double looped for a reason. I suppose if you never fall, then what the hell, but shaving 2k off the pieces and mangling the loop plastic doesn't seem like a good call. And I'm not even sure what to think about someone deciding to prioritize racking convenience over falling considerations, but again, if you don't do much of the latter then it's not a big deal. To each his own and I'm actually more surprised anyone kept climbing on those gingus U-stem Camalots so long. They were really badly designed, time bombs waiting to explode or collapse (and yes, I've seen both happen on multiple occasions).

I've solo aided it a few times and if you haven't done a lot of aid then 1.5 hours wouldn't be at all unreasonable to get it sorted out, particularly in cold weather.

I agree with Dave - lose the larger tricams. And it looks like your trad draws are on the long side. I'd go with 22" 11mm trad draws and more of them. Beyond that a set of DMM Alloy Offset Nuts (#7-11).

As an old guy, the republican campaign so far reminds me of that old movie, "It's A Mad, Mad World"

My old partner from bitd wanted to give Sandstone Samurai a whirl the day after we did Epi. He's solid at the grade, but ended up backing off confused as to just where the hell it went.