JosephH

It's both an adjustable leash and a shock absorber; more the former than the latter.

Yeah, especially when the 'box' consists of state and federal laws. Maybe consult your attorney wife about your options regarding that 'box', but it's not too tough to figure out what she'd tell you. Yes, it should be, but it ain't going to happen. So you and others can lose another 14 years to relentless whining over that lamentable fact, but I for one have better things to do with my life.

================================= Beacon will be open Wednesday, July 14th ================================= Sunday and Monday saw all day pre-opening work sessions to clear both the site of the high rockfall scar and also numerous ledges and chutes across the South Face. A significant additional tonnage came down during Monday's session and that made the carnage on the [ex-]trail significantly worse and wreaked even more havoc on all the trees as well as creating / worsening big craters in the impact zone. Also, both the initial rockfall and the cleanup effort launched many large rocks which broadly and unavoidably rained down across the SE flank when viewed from above. While we did successfully clear the entire high rockfall scar of all loose rock, we didn't get 100% of the rock on the wall down below the site of the scar, or anywhere else on Beacon for that matter. You will still encounter some rocks and fragments while climbing - PLEASE DO NOT THROW THEM OR ANYTHING ELSE OFF - instead, temporarily stack it somewhere safe off to the side and out of the way for a followup cleaning in the next several weeks. Do, however, feel free to do anything you think is appropriate to help create a new path through where the trail used to be and to clear debris from intact trail sections on either side of the destruction zone. Beacon has always been a relatively serious place to climb and this incident, while rare, highlights that fact all the more. Be careful out there, don't throw anything, and helmets are highly recommended especially for anything within a 'stones throw' of either side of the SE corner of the rock. Oh and a big thanks to all those who pitched in on the cleanup effort. Hanmi Hubbard Marco Fedrizzi Gordon ? and young son (a friend of Opdyckes) Justin Pattison Kenny Allen Larry Jennings Jim Opdycke Bill Coe New Head Ranger Karl Hinze and the BRSP Staff Hanmi got a bunch of good pics of the action from down on the tracks and hopefully she'll post them up when she gets the chance. [ P.S. The pin was re-placed in the high SE Corner ridge notch - please leave it as we'll be doing follow up checks on things down in the rockfall scar and will need it when we do. ]

You could also use a miniTrax which works fine as well. But given a backup knot doesn't run with you, just using a grigri and yarding in the slack every now and then micmics the behavior of a backup knot just fine. Microscender above, miniTrax or grigri on the harness - pretty much a six of one, half dozen of the other sort of deal from my perspective. All will provide reasonable service as a backup.

Place thine protection well lest the ground rise up to smite thee.

Pink, I believe Steve here is calling your NW route dangerous, scary, and shite because someone took a dive on it when their pro pulled. Well, that's the whole victimal thing in a nutshell. I have complete sympathy for the climber in question relative to the fall, but it wasn't the rock's fault. In the world of climbing I come from the name of the game is personal responsibility - it's a 'guns don't...' sort of deal, just sub 'rock' for 'gun'. With the exception of a very few objective hazards, like non-climber initiated rockfall, 98% of the risk and danger in rock climbing is entirely subjective - e.g. the rock isn't dangerous, the climber may or may not be. Climbers choosing to leave the ground on mossy or loose terrain are making either a wise or unwise decisions, but a decision regardless. Hey, lots of people die in the Valley, is El Cap and the Nose 'dangerous' and 'scary' or is it the climbers who leave the ground that make it that? I could be wrong, but I just don't see Chris rushing to press with a "Yosemite Safe Climbs" guidebook anytime soon. You have no idea what you're talking about here. None whatsoever. And again, rock doesn't get "exponentially" more dangerous other than based on who is standing in front of it looking up. There are no 'safe' routes - anywhere - only climbers who are competent to the task at hand when they leave the ground. Period. You can always go to Smith to practice those things just like all the guys here have been doing - but be forewarned, those routes aren't 'safe' either. No, climbers do not deserve better, free lunches, good jobs, great rides, and / or stunningly beautiful girlfriends and wives. Again, you talking completely out your ass. First (for the millionth time) - the BRSP has ZERO control over the closure. Got that? ZERO, so don't waste your breath trying to talk with them about it, it's not their deal. Second - the WDFW's closure is well within the limits of Raptor closures accepted by climbers and the Access Fund across the country. Make a legal and / or scientific case for why that should change and I'm your friggin' huckleberry. Until then, STFU with the incessant, victimal wailing, or maybe just head for the Valley.

Nah, nothing so simple. What I look for in first and foremost in climbing is a mix of puzzle and interesting physical movement; difficulty by itself is fairly irrelevant to me. I'm fine if a climb or roof has some jams on it, but when it's just a splitter it instantly loses all appeal - no more puzzle, no more interesting movement, and no more monkey. I prefer lines and roofs with single and double toe/heel hooks and hangs, knee bars and various locks, where the 'route' or moves aren't obvious, and where monkeydom is maintained.

Never have climbed on top of anyone on any route, it's not my deal. As for the climbing on FFA, it's a favorite roped-solo and I essentially do it without any jams at all and it is fairly dynamic that way. And as for difficulty, you're again more than welcome to get on any of my routes and you can assess their difficulty for yourself. As for the victimal, anytime anyone blames an accident or fall on a closure I don't know how else one can categorize such a claim. I don't and haven't denigrated Yosemite in any way; I've simply said it's not my bag (other than possibly the left half of Sentinel, the only thing that really caught my interest).

Ah, yes I get it now, subtle in that you-must-strangle-your-inner-monkey sort of way I consider tedious and anti-monkey. And yes, there are roofs in the Valley, but vertical or horizontal, splitter cracks are short on monkey no matter how you look at it and most splitter roofs look bland, uninteresting, and entirely without puzzle factor. SR looks to have a bit more texture and a puzzle at the end so might be worth a go though.

Technically not granite, but for the purposes of a sandstone climber it falls into that bag. I would agree for the most part, the proclivities of the majority of sourthern [sport] climbers runs to the steep edged monotony with little creativity. Our band's interests lay primarily around roofs. Movement over granite 'subtle'? Now that's a good one, in what way exactly? Again, granite is all but devoid of monkey. Absolutely, I climb to monkey and to have my feet higher than my head as often as humanly possible and for no other reason.

Were they sport routes, or ground up bolted and runout trad lines?

Well there you have it, we'll have to agree to disagree. It doesn't matter whether it's the Valley, Eldo, or the Gunks, or the North Cascades for that matter - heading there to sport climb is missing way wide of the mark.

I don't think the book will drive significantly more bolts in the near term, my comment was just that going to a trad area to clip bolts misses the point.

Off, it has nothing to do with the Valley per se. I've climbed Gunks, Cannon, Whitehorse and Cathedral, N.C., and RMNP as well. About the only granite I like is the Gunks and that's only because of the roofs and horizontals. Bottom line for me is outside of the Gunks, granite just has very little monkey compared to highly textured sandstone (or limestones, though I find them harsh in hand texture). I'd take southern sandstone over any granite area I've seen as for me the physical body movement over granite is boring by comparison. RR and Eldo make a good second call, though Eldo isn't particularly textured and RR is fragile with very undeveloped ironwork. In the end you just don't find monkey stuff like this on granite: And while I don't have that lovely stone to climb out here, it long ago defined my both my climbing and interest in stone. Basalt isn't all that featured either, but I've adapted to what's here in PDX and have found it enjoyable enough and even eeked out a bit of monkey here and there. Look, I have no doubt doing a sport/TR book was a great business decision for Chris given clipping bolts defines climbing for about 85% of the demographic and only few of them are ever going to buy a big wall book. This sport / TR book on the other hand they'll be buying - it could even end up his best seller by a long shot in the end. And hey, I like the guy, he always comes off as a nice guy and the shoes I wear climbing for about 95% of my climbing are courtesy him.

Yeah, yeah, from one enigma to another...

Check in with Steve Roti on this list: http://ozreport.com/docs/USHGABOD2006contactlist.pdf Steve's not a climber, but being from Bend flys with quite a few who are...

Just once and wasn't clipping bolts, but personally don't care much of climbing granite. The only thing I thought looked really interesting was the left half of Sentinel. But hey, I don't need to be a Valley regular to make the statement I did, it would be no different if we were talking Eldo or the Gunks - go to any of the three to clip bolts and you're missing the point entirely. Are you saying clipping bolts is what you go to the Valley for? Are you advocating for sport climbs in Black Canyon or on Cannon as well (oh, and please do feel free to take mod liberties with my forum name if it makes you feel better about the conversation or yourself). Either way it's pretty cute of you to leap in and champion someone who deliberately chose to be a complete putz in this conversation - personally I'd like to think it's not a matter of you feeling the need to 'stick together' with them, but who can say.

Done, Beacon will likely open on the 15th or 16th; have to clean up after the massize rockfall for the day or two before the open as stuff is raining down on YW p1-3.

You might not just be jacking off your mouth in this context if you could get up my routes, as it is you're flapping your lips. But then lately you have been coming off just like the sort of victimal, play-it-safe putz who would go to the Valley to clip bolts.

Going to the Valley to sport climb is like going to a whore house to masturbate.

If you're going to be doing such littering then those cheap SS draws of fendorfour's combined with area51's class camo'ing would seem like a good way to go [as chains are pretty sucky].

I wouldn't worry about them being that close together in normal basalt, but that stuff looks a bit sketch in that regard (hard to tell from a pic of course).

Correct. It does qualify, it just means that you don't want it to qualify and that you're lazy and / or self-absorbed. Not at all. But, if you are going to vertically litter (especially in a place it's illegal to climb) then at least camo your trash.

Rat Cavers take note...

Opening Info ========== Based on the data from monitoring sessions done Saturday, Sunday, and today, Beacon Rock will open between 7/13 and 7/16, the exact day has yet to be determined. The chicks were not flying Sunday, but two were today and likely took their first flight yesterday or we witnessed it today. One more likely chick is still not flying yet. The two that are flying are making short, ungainly flights and not so great landings to nearby ledges like the 'Flying Swallow' ledge, top of 'Blownout', and the SE Corner rap ledges. But, it should be noted that 'fledging' is not an event, but rather a process. Despite the oft [mis]quoted "once they're flying..." quip, Beacon never has and never will open on the chicks' first flight - it opens, and the chicks are considered fledged - once they've achieved sustained flight, can land competently, and so are in a position to be flight/hunting-trained by the parents. That process takes roughly two weeks which has been the consistent opening criteria both since the closures began and in all six years I've been assisting with the monitoring. Massive Rockfall Cleanup =================== A bigger issue at hand is that we'll need to do a significant pre-opening cleanup as a result of a massive rockfall that occured during the final significant winter storm in the last week of March. The storm ice-loaded the large 'bonsai' tree that was down about a 100' from the spot on the high SE ridge ramp where the SE Corner and YW meet. The tree sat atop the finish to the 'Lost Variation' and 'Lost Warriors'; it was old, had a very large circumference, and was well-rooted into a significant stretch of the lower SE ridge ramp high above the base of YW. When it was blown down in the storm it took out about a 30-40 section of the lower SE ridge ramp with it dwarfing the 2006 rockfall (at the base of the SE ridge ramp finish to the Corner / YW). In fact, so much rock came down immediately right of YW it clearcut all the trees from the YW base over to where the trail steps up on the rock under 'Stone Rodeo' and obliterated all trace of the trail through that stretch. And while the tree at the base of YW itself was somehow miraculously spared, a large portion of the rocks forming the rightside of the YW base and the base itself are also gone. It also rained significant rocks OVER the railroad protection fence wires onto the tracks. Pictures can be seen here: http://s124.photobucket.com/albums/p35/healyje/2010%20Lost%20Warrior%20Tree%20Rockfall/ Today's monitoring session with David Anderson and Carl Hinsley, the new BRSP Head Ranger, was from the wildlife refuge out from the SE Corner and, with David's spotting scope, finally provided a decent view of the rockfall scar. The good news is that the view of the scar with binoculars from out on Route 14 gave the impression of there being several large blocks that to trundle would require closing the railroad tracks, but on closer examination today it turns out to instead be cleanly sheared-off sections of stone. Again, good news, but there are still several fairly huge deposits of loose rocks on ramps hanging directly above the YW base which have to be cleaned up before the opening or trail repair work. The high cleanup work in and below the rockfall scar will be substantial, but will not require coordinating with the railroad which is a huge relief given Carl hasn't really hadn't had much luck connecting with them before today. Another reason it's great news is that the railroad just told him the Route 14 road work up at the 54 mile marker ended up shutting down the tracks for days longer than originally promised and that didn't go over well with the railroad. So now any work that has the potential to close the tracks requires signed agreement paperwork and four weeks notice - we'd have been screwed if we did need to do a coordinated drop. Whew! Carl is now lining up a copy of the agreement in the evenT we ever do need to use it in the future. So the plan as coordinated today is to do a survey of the rockfall scar two days prior to the final opening date in order to assess the scope of work and possibly set temporary work anchors (this possibility is also the reason Opdycke and I made the call to leave that pin up on the SE ridge notch which was removed, but happily sent back [thanks]). The day before the open we'll do the cleanup and rap / clean all of YW. The trail repair work will be done on opening day. We'll also probably take a shot at cleaning up Grassy Ledges while we're doing the pre-open work session so hopefully there will be less early season rockfall at the SE Corner base than last year. So that's the story and I'll post up here again when a final date has been set. Notes: ===== * The trail is still closed, and the BRSP has asked that folks wait until the opening and not go down to see the rockfall prior to that. * We'll do our best to thoroughly cleanup after this event, but this will be a very good year to wear a helmet on 'Young Warriors', 'Boardwalk', and 'Rythmn Method' at least until a few post-cleanup summer storms sweep through and maybe just a good idea period.