gosolo

Thanks, aside from the one route, I had no problems with Rock Quality there and intend on going back. Hell, it was fun to go up and get scared. The Fan is a good route and climbs through cool features; however, due to the rock type and small basalt columns, future ascents in years to come must be wary.

Cool Pics...Thanks....some of the jokers on here are funny as hell....

Oregon Coast Permit? OK, fine I can deal with that if they install some f***ing heat so the women will start bearing some skin.... Honestly, there are way to many damn fees. At Timberline last winter I parked, walked up and bought an annual snow park pass got back to the car and I had a ticket already! I didnt pay it but I sent them a letter with a photocopy of the pass and explained the problem....

You dog! Have fun and check out the "calcite" on the N Face of Castleton. At the top of the first pitch the rock is glazed over by this stuff. It is really cool. Excellent route and not to bad. On the crux I liebacked it and I just saw a pic somewhere on the FFA where he jammed it. I have read on here where you like wide cracks and you get a little taste of that on the third pitch....but nothing like the dreaded EAR, thank god.

Cool....Nice job and thanks for sharing. Makes cragging seem so wimpy.

Tieton River – A Day at the Crags – March 6, 2005 My girlfriend Tatiana, who had climbed one day at Joshua Tree wanted to go do some more rock climbing. I had been climbing for about 27 years but hadn’t done much the last three years so I was up for it and we went up to Tieton River. I was a little bit alarmed when she wanted to climb Goose Egg Mtn. I mean, usually beginners are not quite that gung ho. Since she is from Russia, communications can sometimes be challenging but she was visibly upset that I was unwilling to climb anything and everything. Not having a guidebook to the area I had spied a good looking wall down lower in the canyon. We parked and I noticed one other car of climbers. We hiked up along the cliff and there were several bolted lines but the rock looked pretty chossy. At the furthest west location of the crag looked like a reasonable climb. Because of her lack of belay ability I gave her a grigri, 5 minutes of instruction and my philosophy was that I was essentially free soloing, which at moderate grades I could deal with. The climb was about 5.8 and she made it up no problem. We then did the next route and it was cool, again 5.8 and no problem. We hiked down the cliff further and the other climbers had just done The Fan, a really cool looking line that goes at 5.8 to the first anchors. We climbed that and she liked that one and had no problem following that one either. She wanted to do another one and earlier I had tried to explain to her that she needed to let me pick out the climbs. We hiked along the base and I said, how about this one. She said no she liked another one. The climb she pointed to went left of a cave at the bottom of the cliff and through a roof near the top of the climb. It looked a bit out of her league but she most definitely wanted that climb so I said ok. I was used to going to areas and simply climbing and not too worried about difficulty in the past. I mean if there are bolts what the hell, even though it did violate my rule about being able to solo a route with an inexperienced belayer. I started up the route with a little trepidation. Up to the third bolt it was not too difficult, then it got pretty hard. That was ok, but the rock totally sucked. Edges crumbled, all holds had to be cleaned off and many holds were so loose that they were useless. Ahh, this is the kind of climbing that gets your adrenalin going, more like a hard trad route than the sport route it was supposed to be. Not quite what I had in mind for a beginner. I got a little freaked, grabbed a bolt and made sure that Tatiana could hold me. Ok, there is some degree of confidence, but I should have anchored her to a tree. The holds were mank, the climbing about 5.10 and I thought about bailing but the climbing eased a bit so I went for it. The rock up there was totally chossy and I have climbed on a lot of rock known for its unreliability. At the roof, I looked around and knew the moves but the holds were mank. I went for it and the foot hold crumbled a bit, my hand hold was also giving way sending down small rocks. I did those moves ok but there was a fair runout to the belay and the rock was still terrible. I chose to belay her from above since there was a good ledge at the belay. She tried, I will give her that, but because of her inexperience she knocked down a whole lot more loose rock than I did. She eventually and wisely, quit and I lowered her down. We did one more route that day and she climbed until dark. There was no quit in her! A couple days later I bought the new guidebook, curious about such a chossy route. The guide called it 5.10b X and said “(Don’t) Climb the line to the left of the cave…..” Route requires extensive cleaning and bolts…At first I disagreed with the X rating (mostly it was well protected with bolts), but I guess as a guidebook writer that is one way to inform climbers of the dangers. So, don’t assume on a new bolted crag that you are ready to go! I do find it kind of lame to bolt a line and leave it when it is really a choss pile. I decided to climb the thing and it is totally my responsibility to pick routes to climb. But hey, in my book, when you start bolting on rappel and you are cleaning a route like that, finish the job. The new guidebook seems to be well written and there is a whole bunch of good looking stuff in the Tieton River Canyon, next time I think I will head there… PS - The Fan climbs through some cool features of Basalt, but someday, some of those columns are going to fall off. Be Careful!

Yes I am bored and reading some very old posts, but this was a cool trip report as it catches the spirit of the Desert. I started climbing there in 1980 with one friend on the rack. Money (for Friends the only cams) and experience got me to Indian Creek in about 1982. No other climbers but "those who went before" and that usually meant Steve Hong. I imagine it is a different place now than it was then. There have been a couple guides out, one is 200 Indian Creek Climbs Select and it did show many of the routes. Back then we hiked a hell of a lot of Talus and said, awe great crack, wrong size, or ohhhhh good crack lets do it. Frequently, we would do a route suspecting a FA only to find a lone machine bolt with the initials SH on a homemade hanger. We usually backed it up and only rarely used the lone bolt to get down. I havent been there in about 15 years and it was changing fast then. Because as wild as the desert is, it is also fragile. The crypogammic (sp?) soil that takes many years to be able to hold the dust down. The cracks that can take a beating. For a while some companies sold colored chalk. for about 1 year it may have been in vogue, too bad someone cant come up with pigments that arent slippery as the chalk seems to be the worst mark that most climbers leave. Moses: good Climb Tex. I climbed (clean aided) the North Face route in 1983 and there was still a summit register there, we did the 37th or 38th ascent. I went back in 88 to do the Primrose dihedrals (about the 100th ascent of the spire) and it was pretty much as you described. No other climbers and getting to the topn of those spires is only halfway, I always thought that it would be a shitty way to go to drop the rapp ropes.....bad thought..... I can't imagine how many times the spire has been climbed now, but it is still a wonderful magic place. Wingate sandstone forces you to learn pure crack climbing technique and the desert seems to draw the best out of you if you have the patience and desire. I am very glad at hearing that the spirit of the desert is still alive and climbers are experienceing what I got 20 years ago. Makes my day.

Damn the Rock Gyms! Anyone care to guess why none of them have chimneys or off-widths? If you ever get to SLC UT, there are a lot of chimneys on the Granite. Granite or Sandstone are good rock types to learn this art as they do not allow "cheating" by using face features, and that is generally the first thing to look for is some way to avoid the struggle....

I have been climbing for about 27 years so have faced that decision many times. I have a rope about that old that I am just retiring, but it also has a funky spot. You can tell them by going over the entire rope and there can be flat spots, worn sheath, or other areas in question. I feel like I hang on to my ropes longer than many people. Generally, TRing doesnt place near the loads on it as lead climbing can. However, if you have to ask the question that means there is some insecurity on your part and that generally means time for a new rope....Personnaly, if it were used as little as you say, I would TR on it and get a new one for leading. Remember though, a rope is cheap compared to a hospital visit or worse....

Elephants Perch is awesome. Mtnrs Route is fun 8 or 9. Beckey and Fine Line are fairly stout 11.s. There is a route in the buttress behind the lake in the pic, cant remember hte name, it was 9 or 10 and a great route but one that requires a bit of experience for route finding on the crux, way cool. G PS - take the boat, youll like it...

Yes I am very familiar with RO. And, there were more than the guys you mentioned. Dave Jones for one and Smoot put up a few. I wasnt meaning to start a thread here but just to alert people who were interested....

If you care. On RC.com in AID Climbing you will find the most comprehensive list of stories of Zion FA's by some of the characters that put the routes in. Colorful and be forewarned, there is more than a little bit of animosity between some of them. Colorful history for color country.

Kewl, while you were out enjoying a great time I was slaving away all weekend......wish i were there. Any concern with crevasses with getting (ie Soloing) to Leutholds? thanks, G

Larry, I sent you an email if the one listed in your profile is correct. I can relate to the divorce thing too. Climbing is good for your head. Gary

I was glad to see the AF leaders finally say what their position was; however, I was still disapointed in them not taking a stronger stance as to what is right and what is wrong. I might not ever climb at Dishman but then again I might end up moving there and it could end up being my home crag. Issues such as these can affect every climber whether they climb there or not. As someone who has climbed for nearly 30 years and had routes retrobolted and had bolts they placed chopped I have seen and been involved in a lot of issues and been on both sides. It makes no difference how good you are it is a matter of right and wrong. Just like society climbers have their fringe elements. Just like the guy who vandalizes public or private prorperty the "climbers" (and I use that term loosely) who placed holds and chipped have performed a disservice and an act against the rest of the climbing community. I believe that it would be good to hear even stronger words form the AF and WCC concerning bolting on holds and chipping as these are the worst infractions against the climbing community. From the AF HomePage..............."Climbers involved in the placement or removal of fixed anchors have a responsibility to be aware of the implications of their actions on climbing access and the cliff environment. Chopping bolts and chipping holds harm the climbing resource and the climbing experience. The physical acts can permanently scar the rock itself, and often result in division among members of the climbing community. When such division becomes public, it tarnishes the image of climbers to the public at large and to land owners and managers." I think the AF would also be wise to update their stance on bolted on holds on natural rock. It would appear from this statement that climbers fighting amongst themselves pose a greater evil than bolted on plastic as I found nothing in their site that mentioned those hienous acts. I would highly encourage the AF to define acts of vandalism at cliffs.....and chopping bolts and bolted on holds should not be considered an act of vandalism but a dastardly response to an even more dastardly deed...

I think there is some confusion and rightly so. Arete as websters defines it is a "sharp crested ridge in rugged mountains". Cunning rock linguists started using the term to describe features on a crag so there is the confusion. I think I tried the Blade once too. At the time a friend? said we should try that as he had done the route years ago. I didnt make it too far. An awesome arete is Ionic Strength in JT.

Advice about stoppers is good. Take two to three sets and less on the cams. The tower eats great stoppers, you can throw those babies in there. If you are going to do the Durrance route, do it fast and early. Also there are variations that are slightly harder you can do to get by slower parties. If Mr. Clean is within your abilities and El Matador they are awesome. While the desert may have the most perfect cracks the tower has the most fun ones to climb...

I forgot. the weirdest piece I used was a friends "I" beam chocks for wide cracks. 20 years ago there was shitty and I do mean shitty pro for wide cracks. These babys didnt work well either and were an anodized blue color. Wish I would have kept all of that old stuff.

Nice pics but they are too shiny! I still have 80's era WC Rocks and Chouinard (you know b4 they became BD) curved stoppers. Got rid of my SMC Camlocks and Titons, well I always thought they sucked. The coolest thing I remember was a Clog nut. I think there is a company now that stole the design of those things and is marketing a similar nut today. Of course I also have some hexes and 80's era friends and some of those great sliders. I think the early sliders were made by the folks that started Metolius. I remember aiding on sliders in Zions and I learned why they call them sliders.....they also are a bitch to get out after weighting the damn things.

The best way I used to straighten a rope was to drag it across a stream on the way to an ice climb. Not only did the rope straighten out but it stayed straight just like a wire. No more kinks until it thawed out. You have heard of neverdry ropes right?

I was wondering if they also included some objective hazards like falling ice, extremely cold temperatures, maybe some warm days when you wondered if the ice will fall on your head. I think it may be missing most of the fun! Next thing you know someone will be gluing rigid foam up to some crags to have year round "mixed climbs"....It reminds me of when climbing holds came out and we thought nobody would be stupid enough to do that but.....

Hi, I live in Kennewick and am looking for partners for Vantage. 5.8 to 5.10 for starters, trad or sport, your lead or mine. I am very experienced but out of practice. I am energetic and want some mileage. I have a screwed work schedule but get many weekdays off. Maybe March 6,7 or 8? pm me. By the way, it has been great there this week, wish I would have had shorts. Lets go get some sun as long as we are having this kind of weather! Gary

"I am working on a research paper. My topic is: How Do Glaciers Move? Can you please tell me what you know about the movement of glaciers ? Here is the answer..... Glaciers feel best when they have one movement per day. Some glaciers do just fine with fewer movements, but when they don't have movements for a long time the result can be quite bad. Glaciers which move much more frequently tend to have loose and soft terminal moraines (also called rock piles). Glacial movement is almost always associated with the release of water. But sometimes glaciers release water without experiencing a movement." — Mike Garrison's answer. This is a quote I found on a kool website.

Which one to get? I have had three different ones and they all had their advantages. I have a pure force now and it works fine. There have been various workouts printed in mags over the years that are good. Stick with it regularly and you will definitely see results. There was a 10 minute workout that was published and it was killer. My ex gave me a fingerboard when she went off to europe to school for a few months. Her note said something like "it is not as warm or wet as me but I hope you enjoy...." hence, the problem with fingerboards...they are boring.

Kewl slideshow. I hadnt looked at his site in a long time, it looks like he has been working on it. If anyone is looking at the Nose in a day, or even trying to climb it efficiently, I can vouch for his rack and beta. However, in an old Climbing Mag John had a much better Nose Topo although the one on there now works. I climbed with him at a gym before he was giving a show and he really is a down to earth nice guy.