Maestro

Last year I had it in my upper arm and the doc said it was "referred pain" from bursitis in my shoulder. He gave me a steroid shot and eventually it went away. Now I have it in my elbow, almost like you describe only in just one arm. Maestrette (who is a doc) says it is probably developing tendonitis and has me wear a stretchy thing on it when I climb, which does help.

We expected to freeze our tails off, but it was actually quite comfortable on the rock, a little windy as you climbed higher up. There were 6 of us and Hanna wasn't there. We had a blast and even the drive over the pass was mellow.

A guest conductor was rehearsing the All-State band. There was one passage that the snare drummer just couldn't get right. Finally the conductor slammed down his baton and shouted out in exasperation. "Why is it that when a student can't play any other instrument, the teacher gives him two sticks and makes him a drummer?" To which, without missing a beat, the drummer shot back, "and why is it that if he still can't do it right, they take away one stick and make him a conductor?"

Edgeworks in Tacoma used to have the pea gravel and changed over to foam a few months ago. I think most everyone approves of the change. It was really dusty with the gravel and all the boulderers had gravel patterns imprinted on their butts! (I was going to put the mooning emoticon there, but it seems to have been done away with!)

Didja see that guy sneeze all over the holds on that route just before you climbed it? And right afterwards you rubbed the sweat outa your eyes and ate some candy, right?

Old habits die slowly. Takes effort to learn a new routine. Give it some time. Most everyone will likely come around and get used to it.

OK, I got a dozen years on you and my fingers are still intact. Yeah, they get a little stiff, but so far they haven't bonked out on me. I don't think your age has anything to do with your fingers. Overuse injuries can happen to anyone at any age. You just need to take it easy on them. When they complain, pay attention and back off! Tendons take longer to develop than muscles. It will be easier when they build up the strength they need to stay healthy, but I don't think it ever goes away entirely.

Indeed they are nice and are very complementary to their environment, but since they are held in place by rocks and not set in concrete, I hope some dipshit doesn't come along and rip them off!

I'm with cbs: I've got no idea what my favorite color is. Never thought I needed one!

Well, I said that because the few tubbies I've seen trying to climb huffed and puffed and didn't get far off the deck...but over on RC.com, it looks like they are in abundance: heavy climbers thread

Well, it seems that short has its advantages--you are more compact and can keep your cg under control easier--and tall has the advantage of greater reach, so they probably balance each other out. My spousal unit is very short and some moves that work for her don't work well for me (although I'm not very tall either) and vice versa. And tiny fingers are great for wee little holds and cracks that sausages can't use. As for weight, I've never seen a fat* climber any more than I've seen a fat centenarian. *edit: Oops, I can feel the flames coming. So if you are about to get offended, I don't mean a little plump...I mean !!

Well, then it should fit right in with most of what is posted on this board!

In medical school they have a saying about the teaching/learning of various procedures: "watch one - do one - teach one" There is nothing better than teaching to make your own skills stronger. They are teaching basic skills after all, not hardcore advanced alpinism.

"Great Falls" sounds like a helluva name for a crag

Being basically lazy, I will run it out if I am more comfortable with the climbing than I am fiddling around trying to get gear in while hanging on a crimper. I would try to avoid having that happen close to my limit though. I don't like to get into the falling is not an option situation either, but occasionally it happens.

Which route did you take on the summit pyramid and what conditions did you find?

OK, I am not going to make any recommendations one way or the other, but I have climbed the southside route (hogback) solo in late August and I will just report what it was like... Bring crampons and ice ax as the snow is very hard even when it is not icy. The climb goes OK up to Crater Rock, where you lose the snow temporarily and have to traverse really loose crappy scree for a bit until you get on the hogback. At the upper end of the hogback, the bergschrund is a wide open gaping maw at that time of year and quite intimidating to climb on steep snow above. You can't cross it: some go left and some go right. I traversed around it to the left, which looked to me to be more manageable. The snow above the 'schrund was hard and deeply suncupped, but not particularly icy. What it was was littered with hundreds of rocks of all sizes. That tells you something very significant. Get through there fast and watch for falling bombs. It is also very steep with that big mouth below you wide open to gobble you down, but the suncups somewhat mitigated that when I was there. At the upper end of the pearly gates--grimy gates at that time of year--you are back on nasty scree to the summit. Start early and get down early. It is a crapshoot, not safe, but doable. I met another solo climber coming down as I was going up. He had gone up Cooper Spur (!) and was coming down hogback. August is warm, even on top of Mt. Hood. I summited in a tee shirt. The warmer it gets, the more rocks will come down in that chute above the bergschrund. Going down is particularly dangerous because they are coming at you from behind. Good luck!

I used to live in the south and some friends I had who were natives of the city always pronounced it NAW-lins. Didja hear some joker on network TV pronounce the name of that state that some of us hang out in as or-eh-GAHN?

Well, for what it's worth, and take this with as many saltshakers as you want too, but I heard from a really hardcore cyclist that EVERYONE in Europe uses them. So if Lance beat them at their own game, he still wins fair and square because his opponents were beefed up too.

I once climbed the hogback route on Hood in August and discovered for myself why the "regular climbing season" there ends in July. The Pearly Gates aren't so pearly, it's all crappy scree up near the summit, but the real reason is in late summer that area above the bergschrund is a bowling alley and you are the pins! From the number of rocks lying around on the snow, and the size of some of them, plus the ones I saw come down (missed me!! nyahhh!!), I wouldn't recommend Hood in August to anyone, especially a noob. But next June, by all means go get it!

It seems to me that a separate belay wouldn't have been any help once that rap anchor rock cut loose! It would still have taken out the rappellers and either broke the belay rope or pulled the belayer down along with them.

At times like this, our inertia over action is due to us not knowing how to honor our dead with life. I don't understand this post I was trying to honor a friend by pointing out something that I knew to be very--I mean VERY--important to her. If you've got issues, lets take it up on another thread!

I totally agree. I never meant to start an inappropriate thread drift about whether or not parents with children should be active climbers, nor should I have spoken on behalf of two of the victims, one of whom I knew only slightly and the other not at all, but… Jo Backus had many, many friends in the climbing community and I consider myself fortunate to have been counted among them, so I can feel fairly confident in saying that the last thing she would have wanted would be for any of those friends of hers to give up climbing because of what happened to her. In fact, I believe to do so would dishonor her memory.

I guess if you are a climber, sooner or later it is going to happen to someone you know. The really hardcore climbers that go for the high stakes stuff all have a list of friends they have lost. For the rest of us, it is a less common, but all too possible occurance. For me personally, even though I have been a climber for more than 30 years, this is the first time I have lost a friend to an climbing accident, and although it is hard to take, we know that those victims wouldn't want us to change a thing about our commitment to the hills, anymore than we would want them to change it if it were us instead of them.

Nice going! Five hours isn't so bad, especially for your first time with bad visibility. Try to do it another time or two with a full pack before your summit climb. (BTW - Pebble Beach is in California: it is Pebble Creek )