darstog

John, It's great that you've done all this work; it certainly strengthens the community. I'll make sure to cash in one of my Kitchen Passes to make it out this year, especially if you can get me roped up with some sharp objects in my hand...

It seems like the wasps that are in the upper (crack) pitch on Red Eye are franchising. Yesterday I was snapped at by a wasp who was building a nest on the jug below the crux on Pinhead. I pulled up the stick clip, killed him, and took out his nest. When I was cleaning the anchors, I also saw another wasp building another nest in the slot above the anchor bolts. Right now, that isn't a problem, but if it gets much bigger, it could become an issue for anybody trying to clip the bolts at the anchor. If I was a better man, I would have taken the anchor wasp/nest out. If I was an even better man, I would have found the central hive that I think is somewhere on the upper part of Red Eye and taken it out. I am not that man and I rapped quickly so that the car wouldn't be towed. Just an FYI--keep an eye out for wasps on Red Wall.

Wondering if anybody had recs for kids harnesses. I took the 4 1/2 year-old lassie to French's dome the other day and I built one out of webbing, but it would be nice to have a real harness. I'm debating between the petzl simba full-body harness (which I've used for belaying kids at a number of institutions) and a the BS wiz kid, a child's seat harness, which I've never used. I've never climbed in a full-body harness, but it seems like it would be somewhat bothersome to climb in. Then again, I want her to be as safe as possible. But if the seat harness fits (haven't tried it), why would it be any less safe?

So it sounds like a good selection for cascade mixed aid/free routes (colchuck balanced rock, liberty crack, etc) when you want stay pretty light is to go with one ascender, one gri-gri, a pair of daisy chains, and a pair of alpine aiders. This would be a light setup that covers all of the bases. I don't have a ton of interest (or availibility) in the big wall department at this point, but for the shorter sections of aid/cleaning/jugging, this would go.

I'm definitely going to be practicing. Sadly, I haven't jugged a fixed line in a couple of years. Any others who have used the easy aiders? What about people who are on the heavy side of things. I'm not huge, but I somehow seem to outweigh every other climber (other than Marcus) by like 40 pounds. So the legs are definitely going to have to do the work. I'm still interested in hearing from those who have used the frog system. And what about this thread from RC.com which talks about a gri-gri/jumar combo as the best for cleaning aid pitches (are those of you who use this using a drilled gri-gri?): "When it comes to jugging a free hanging rope, if you are using a system other than the Petzl Frog ascending system, then you are abso-frickin'-lutely nuts! It is just way too strenuous, dude! Do you LIKE to suffer?? All you have to do is invest thirty-some bucks on a Petzl Croll ascender, get yourself a bit of 1/4" bungy cord or some webbing across each shoulder to attach to the back of your harness, and you're in business! When I am soloing and fixing pitches, I usually jug up to my high point the first couple of days before I blast off. I have ample opportunity to compare my jugging speed to other climbers around me. [We're all jugging first thing in the morning...] Ordinarily, I am able to jug three times as fast as everyone else. I can do two hundred feet in about four and half minutes, assuming I have any reasonable degree of fitness. [This may be a huge assumption with me!] Cut that down by a minute after a week on the wall. This has nothing to do with me - I have just left the office for cryin' out loud! But it has everything to do with my ascending system. It is not uncommon for me to jug five times as fast as the guys who are really struggling. I tell you this to stress the importance of setting yourself up with the Petzl Frog system. When you are jugging a free hanging rope thusly, then you DO NOT TIE BACKUP KNOTS! There are two reasons for this: The first reason is because you do not need to! You are attached by two points of contact to the rope. If you cross a knot, and if you have tied your knot correctly - please click here to see the proper knot to join two ropes together - then you will clip into the knot with your cow's tail [that's a fancy cavers' term for a long draw on your harness]. You should always leave a clip-in point on your rope knots! Duh. The second reason you don't bother with a backup knot is because you want the weight of the rope beneath you so that the rope slides through the Croll ascender without you having to pull it. On a dynamic rope, you might have to get thirty feet of rope beneath you before it self feeds. A stiffy static rope might work after ten or fifteen feet if you're lucky. BACKUP KNOTS WHILE CLEANING Firstly, you do not clean using two jugs! It is way too difficult. The better way to clean a pitch on aid is to use one jug, one Grigri, and your adjustable fifi hook. The Grigri replaces the Croll ascender on your waist. Please click here to read how to clean a pitch on aid. You'll find a bit more information on this in the post above that talks about the Petzl Frog ascending system. Intuitively you would think that replacing your Croll with a Grigri would be stupid because you have to pull the rope through the Grigri, but you will only have to clean about thirty or forty feet before you will be sold for life! The benefits of being able to back off on the Grigri after you move your jug above the piece you are about to clean, and after you have fifi'd into your jug and put your weight on the jug above the piece, cannot be overstated. Never again will you fight with your lower ascender. Cleaning even the steepest aid is a piece of piss."

I like the idea of having the gri-gri kept on so you don't have to tie backup nots which are never fun. Does the weight of the rope (once you get above a certain height) then pull the rope through the gri-gri or do you have to pull through yourself? Isn't that a ton of shit around your belay loop?

Despite some 5.8 searching (not at my best today), I couldn't find a good thread on this. So I'm going to try to use all of the words I searched for in one thread so that some other fool will have better results: If you were to start from scratch, what sort of system would you assemble that would be the fastest, most efficient, best way to jug, jumar, ascend fix lines and follow aid pitches? Setting routes in the gym, I've tried the two ascenders and two aiders system as well as the ascender and gri-gri system. Didn't particularly like either. Has anybody used the Metolius Easy Aiders? There's a video on their site that makes it look fairly easy, http://www.metoliusclimbing.com/easyaidervideo.htm but it's probably totally propoganda because there's a pro climber jugging the rope like it's nobody's business. And you only see her go like 9 feet. What about the frog system? And Russian aiders? What sort of systems do speed climbers use in the Valley (or elsewhere)? I think I covered it all

I've thought a fair amount about the double-bag lately. Your idea sounds pretty savvy, but I'd echo the commercial viability and the degree-rating overkill concerns of others. 1. Is there enough demand for this bag to make it commercially viable. In other words, is this something you would consider buying? I'd say not many people out there would be willing to buy this bag. I've tried to talk my main climbing partner into the idea of a double bag and he thinks I'm nuts. Secondary partners have been astounded by my genius, however. I would consider buying this, but not as a 0-degree bag. 2. Are there any features you would like to see added to this bag? The aforementioned stretch-hugger idea would be good, licensing the patent from Montbell might not be viable. The idea for the bag might go from good to amazing if you could toss an eVENT shell on the bag (so that you could possibly leave a shelter at home and bring maybe a tarp to throw over your head in case of rain--and what about welding seams, is FF going to go with this tech?). What about independent controls on the neck baffle, so that if you're hot and your buddy is comfortable, you could open your side of the entry a little ways? 3. Are there any features you would like to see removed from this bag? I think having the bag as a zero would be way overkill. I don't do a whole ton of winter stuff, but the coldest bag I own is a 15 because if it's going to be that cold, I'm already carrying a ton of layers. Why not make the bag uber-light, have one model that's like a 30 degree (how light can you make that--maybe that would have more appeal). One of the issues I'd have with this is the fact that it's (don't get too offended, I'm about to order a Volant jacket) a down bag. A double bag rated for cold weather without zippers seems like it might turn into a sweatbox. It would be less than ideal to be carrying a double bag on a multi-day trip and not be able to dry it out. One more reason to make it like a 30 degree bag. If somebody gets hot, take off a layer. Then again, I'm not doing anything in the Alaska range anytime this life. How much would I pay for this? If the snowbunting (FF 0-degree, full-featured) in epic goes for $469 and you gotta think this would be at least another 50% more expensive (pulled that number out of a hat), then you're looking at around $700. Which goes, again, to commercial viability. With all the money in the world (and a sponsorship), would I pay $700 for a bag I may use only a couple of times?

Though I don't own, nor have I used, the WT epic windshell, I've been very impressed with the epic fabric, as I have it on a belay jacket, a tent, and a bivy sack. I do own the Marmot super-light windshirt and I've been impressed with that, too (it's really similiar to the Patagonia). Essentially, the WT and the Patagucci are fairly different jackets, with the WT being more of a shell then the Pat and the Pat more of a UL windshirt, not designed to hold up to wetter snow, rain, sleet, Seattle. I think when it's uber-cold and snow will stay in it's not-liquid state, the Pat would be fine. But for most NW conditions, the Pat will wet out if it's exposed to too much H2O. The WT will not be as breathable, will be heavier, but it could all but replace a heavier shell for many trips and conditions. If you want a windshirt, rei-outlet has the OR hooded 3.5oz windshirt for like $46.

I used the BD Lightsabre for a 7-day canyoneering trip in SE Utah. I was remarkably impressed with the epic fabric. With even the slightest breeze there was no condensation, even if I had the door entirely zipped. When there was no breeze and I had the door zipped, there was some condensation, but there's no real need to zip the door when there's no wind, so that's sort of moot. I think the bivy could stand some improvement. First off, the canopy is too small to really make much of a difference in comfort. If it were just a few inches larger, there'd be enough room to sort of sit up or wiggle around a little more. As is, it's not that great to have such little room. It's nice that the canopy offers more surface area to dissipate condensation and you can hang a headlamp from the poles, but it's not that much nicer than being in a bivy without a pole structure. You also can't sit right up in the bivy. To sit up, you have to zip it open and then scoot down before you sit up. Then again, it's nice to not have the fabric on your face all night. If the poles were just a little bigger, you could really reap the benefits of the poled bivy. The BD is light, but it's not THAT light; my Wild Things bivy is lighter. If you're going to carry the extra ounces, maybe make it a little more worthwhile. The zipper on the opposite side of the entry could go all the way to the floor, giving you the ability to sleep on top of the bivy with your head underneath the canopy. Also, the more durable fabric on each end of the bivy could be extended a couple of inches. I had the bivy on a tarp each night and I still managed somehow to put a small hole in the sylnylon right beneath where the more duarble fabric ended. All-in-all the BD gets a positive review. With a few changes it could be a worthwhile buy, but as-is is sort of a nice niche product.

The Rab Summit is supposed to be made in eVENT, but if you look around on-line, the "Summit Extreme" by "Outdoor Designs" looks exactly like the Rab, but it's made with the "new" Gore-Tex Exchange-lite material. If I put 2 and 2 together, does this mean that gore is finally putting their eVENT purchase into their lineup?

So what, then, does Cordes have on his pad? It sounds like space blankets have little use in the climbing world. I've heard of other people relating John's experience with space blankets being ripped to shreds in the wind. What's this HVAC tape stuff?

Sounds like a good idea. Is this your personal ad? I didn't see your height/weight/favorite color.

No, as it's pissing rain on my local trail run right now, I'm actually choosing to waste my time by becoming more and more anal about gear. Sounds like more fun than running in the mud again.

In the Patagucci ad where Cordes is "trying" to melt water with his lighter on Azeem ridge, I noticed that he had a space blanket of sorts taped to his pad. Would the extra weight (1.5oz or so) of taping half of a space blanket to the top of your pad be worth it? A hardman pad (Evazote), will reduce conductive heat loss, but won't (unless I'm mistaken) reflect any radiant heat loss. If you add a space blanket designed to reflect radiant heat loss back, how much warmer would your pad be? Some of you with experience in thermodynamics should be able to help, right?

Unless, I'm mistaken, the elevation of the big E is of some dispute and is no longer thought of as 29,028. Also, the summit is rising at a very small rate. Therefore, Capt, you may have to stop at the official elev, and then post once every 3 or 4 years. The wait for which would be unbearable...

I called around and an unnamed vendor is going to be producing the carbon fiber helmets. They should be avail early 2006.

We'll be at the circuit tomorrow (saturday) at around 12:30pm. I'll probably be focusing most of my attention on the little one, so for those of you who have younger climbers, bring them on by. Be good to get that whole community thing going.

Squid, Wait until next weekend, when the weather will be better, and meet me at smith. Welcome back.

Has anybody seen "K2" (or as I like to call it "K2: The Ultimate High") lately? I would venture to say that it's a fine film. A stunning cinematic achievement. There are so many issues raised in the film that continue to be relevant to this day. Alpine style vs. seige style mountaineering: "Fast and loose is not the way to climb K2" "Dallas is the best expedition planner in the states." "If I would have known that, I would have let him pack my bags for me." Oooh, just thinking about it gets my heart thumping. On belay, Taylor

The family just moved to Portland and we're trying to meet some new people with children and similiar interests. We have a 3 year-old girl and we all love to go to the Circuit gym (for those of you who haven't been, they're super kid-friendly--they have a boulder with a slide down the back that our daughter loves). Was wondering if there are any other climber parents with kids who would like to meet up semi-regularly to climb, get the kids together, watch them climb up the boulder go down the slide, up the boulder down the slide, boulder slide, boulder slide, ad nauseum. If you're interested, PM me or reply and we can maybe get a regular time together (it's best to be in there before 6, when it gets busy with the post-work crowd). Thanks.

So remember back to like 2002, when this company called Mad Rock came out with rock shoes called Phoenix, Mugen, Flash, etc. that were like 60% percent of the cost of "comparable" rock shoes? And we (or at least I) were all excited, because we all like to spend a little less on gear? And then we found out they were made in China? And we normally like things that are made in the US, or in Italy, Spain, or wherever because there's a noticable difference in quality, but we figure "well, for 60% percent of the cost of a similiar shoe, I'll take a look at them." And then they actually came out and they sold like hotcakes. And I took more than a few looks at the Mad Rock climbing shoes. And you could tell that they were made "offshore". The quality of craftmanship was far, far inferior to those of the domestically made rock shoes. And then do you remember what happened to the rock shoe industry? It changed dramatically. Since so many people were buying so many shoes almost entirely based on price, the competition had to lower it's prices and take some other measures to compete. So shoes like the 5.10 moccasym started being produced in Mexico so that they could be made a little cheaper. Did anybody ever see any of the Moccasyms that were made in Mexico? Good god were they awful. But I figured, all of these foreign made shoes are first-run models, the quality will get better. And then the quality didn't get better. And then Montrail came out with climbing shoes. And I've now had 5 pairs of Montrails (all of which were either given to me or I got for a few bucks off the rep) and all 5 pairs have delaminated and all 5 pairs climbed without the precision or the sensitivity of their competitors. And when I've talked to employees of the company, I've actually gotten the response, "you should see where the shoes are made," insinuating that I shouldn't expect much more. And quality of rock shoes was declining more and more. So now companies like La Sportiva make little or no money off their best selling rock shoe, the Cliff, in the US because they've had to lower their price a good deal and combined with the "strength" of the US dollar, it's not a real winning proposition. And then the 5.10 Coyote rock shoe came out and the 5.10 Sapphires that are being made entirely overseas. Great quality there, too. So now it's 2005 and this company called Mad Rock is coming out with this mountaineering boot, the Alpinist, and it's going to be like 60% of the price of comparable mountaineering boots. And some people are all excited, because we all like to spend a little less on our climbing gear... I don't want to be a miser, and although I don't know Layton, I'm psyched as hell that he's landed a deal with them because he's obviously deserving of it. But I pulled out my La Sportiva Trango Extreme S's this morning, just to make sure. And yeah, they retailed for like $350. But there on the label is "Made in Italy". And, honestly, they're amazing. They're so well made. They walk like a dream. I totally trust those boots, probably more than my ability on the terrain they're meant to handle. And today at the gym I'm letting a friend of mine borrow my Muira's. And dear lord do the Muira's climb like champs. Again, they're better shoes than I am a climber (Made in Italy stamped on them). And I'll probably climb in my Moccasym's (Made in USA), again footwear that performs better than I do. Or maybe I'll climb in my Evolv's (who have their uppers made overseas but do all the rands, soles, technical stuff in the US) and they're the shit too. Do the Montrail Karma, the Mad Rock Loco, or the Oversea Crapola, compare to these shoes? Not really. Am I a complete hypocrite and have gone through 5 pairs of Montrails? Yep. Are most of my clothes, etc, made overseas? Yeah, aren't yours. But I try to buy US when I can and I will only buy rock shoes made stateside or in Italy (didn't bother resoling one of my Montrails, though I have 2 pairs of sportivas and a 2 pairs of 5.10s waiting for resoles). Again, am I pissed at the people who wear Mad Rock shoes or do I blame Layton for accepting some gear from them? No, I've done the same. But if you ask me if I wish I'd never heard the name "Mad Rock," I might say yes. I think they've seriously damaged the rock shoe industry, I'm concerned about what will happen with Mountaineering boots if these take off (Don't get me started on the sieve-like Montrail Ice-9 boots, remember those?). I'll retract any and all of this if they're hiring.

As a young man, throwing myself over and over again at Coach's crack, poor as all getup, and dumb as hell, I never used tape. Now, as an old man, after having been accused of stigmata (good god, you're hands are always bleeding, man), and having seen the light, I now actually occasionally use tape, sometimes, almost always at the UW wall. Any tips to help build up leathery hands?

All good. And I am sensitive. My nano may not be as big as your ipod, but it's all about how I swing it, not about size.

Cobra, I got the Nano so I can listen to tunes while I ride my (13 year-old) bike to work. And I have a 3 year-old daughter. Feel like an ass? There being no thread yet on the Nano, I started one so that people could post/read about experiences with this little piece of technology. I've had mine for about 3 weeks now and really love it. It's the weight of a normal biner, fits into super-small pockets, and (based on my limited experience) is worth the money. 2 gigs worth of music is actually a lot of tunes, so I'm pretty stoked on it. The thing I'm most worried about is losing it. Thanks for the spray. Chris