BASE697

Gear found!

Hey Everyone, On Wednesday, 7/24, with a help of some great friends, I pulled off a little project I had of climbing 43 pitches in a day at Index. It was a great time and i highly recommend it! Unfortunately, there was some miscommunication and we ended up with some gear missing. I had a rack for the routes at the crags closer to the parking lot, LTW, Country, Inner walls, etc and we had another rack up at the Lookout point area climbs. After I finished GM / Heart of the Country I lowered off and left some of my rack at the base of the climb while 2 friends climbed and cleaned the route and then they climbed for a bit on Phone calls from the Dead while I took off to Private Idaho. When they finished up and rapped to the base of GM / HOC there was another party starting up and there was some confusion as to what gear was ours and what was the other party’s. It sounds like the belayer was a newer climber and thought the gear was her partners. So my friends left the gear there thinking it was the other party’s This was probably around 4pm. I looked through my gear and it looks like the missing gear includes: a .3 C4, new set of BD ultralights .5-2, set of DMM offsets, a yellow mastercam, 3 draws, maybe 1 or 2 alpine draws, a black BD rope bag and a petzl Williams locker. All my gear is marked with blue nail polish. Take care, Gabe 206-719-6970 base697@me. com

Check out Rainy Pass Repair on Stone way north in Seattle. Had a zipper on Mammut jacket replaced last year and it was a nice job. Gabe

I recently finished a paramedic program and a friend asked me what I thought was important in the backcountry. I just told him stop the bleeding, splint the fractures and get help. Most of what we'll encounter in the field will be trauma and environmental injuries and rarely will our interventions go beyond that of a BLS provider. I agree that the situational awareness that comes with training and experience can make taking care of someone easier and more efficient and although the tools are important, it's the knowledge of what you want to accomplish with those tools that can help you provide good treatment with limited equipment. Obviously we won't intubate with a camelback hose but we can splint, make a tourniquet perform other skills with many items at our disposal. Hell, just making sure no one moves the person, and that they don't move, could be the greatest thing one could do in the setting of a severe spinal injury. Just thinking of tools you absolutely need for the field, lugging around a liter of ringers definitely goes against the light and fast ethic , the only med I can think is an Epi pen if your partner or you have an allergy. Pain meds are nice but not ultimately life saving. I could see a IV cath for a flutter valve being useful but rare. I had a friend that had to dart a buddies chest down in Moab once. I would think that the medics in Iraq and Afghanistan probably have the best lessons that are applicable to a situation like the backcountry. Just my thoughts... Take care, Gabe

There are many established as well as potential sites out there and honestly more things have probably been jumped than most people know about not just in WA but everywhere. You only hear about BASE when something goes bad, and BASE jumpers in general used to be a secretive group and for the most part most WA jumpers are pretty quiet and actually loath youtube with its chest beating. Many people talk about the fatality list which is something I recommend anyone interested in BASE look at. Although it looks morbid it serves the same purpose of the annual accident reports put out by the AAC. Concerning the 15 fatalities this year, BASE has changed greatly in my short time (10 yrs). It's much more popular, accessible and acceptable. This is much in part to youtube and the like, because it looks easy, which it is til things go wrong and then skill is required. This has led to an increase in the world population of jumpers. There are no good estimates but 10 yrs ago there seemed to be 1-2 degrees of separation between jumpers. You could travel to europe and a person would know a friend of yours back home. I think it could be equivocal to climbing in the 50's About the danger factor and it's possible relation to climbing. It's all as dangerous as you make it. If you're participating in an activity, and are beyond your skill level and in conditions that are less than desirable then you have put yourself into a situation where nature might show you how insignificant you truly are and that's true in any activity. I still think that riding a motorcycle was the most dangerous activity I've ever engaged in. Someone mentioned more climbers getting into BASE which I think is great. One of the appeals of both climbing and BASE is the effort needed and the rewards of accomplishment, the scenery and yes of course the rush. I think many strictly skydivers don't appreciate the same things that most, especially alpine, climbers do and expect a jump to be handed to them in the same way a skydive is: pay $20 bucks, nap on the plane ride up, jump , land and walk bck to A/C packing area. Also currently climbers, Paragliders and BASE jumpers are learning cross discipline which is advancing all sports. As for the originator of this thread. There aren't a lot of us who climb and jump around here. I personally have taken it easy the last few years in jumping and focused on climbing (I'm started climbing years after jumping) and career. But that said combining the two is one of the most fun things I've ever done. Castleton tower was the first time I did that and it was a great time. To get into BASE go make a couple hundred skydives and then find someone to teach you is the standard answer. Although nowadays you can go take a course thru one of the gear manufacturers. Sorry for the rant but I always find it funny that anyone engages in activities that are dangerous and seem absurd to the general public condemn a 'Fellow" dangerous sport. No offense genepires cause it is dangerous and until you do something enough and understand it, it will seem more dangerous. I once said that ice climbing was too spicy for me but now with the knowledge, little experience and even less skill : ) while still dangerous it's much more palatable and fun. Have a great day! Take care, Gabe

I write this just to give you a personal story because I know that early last year I was searching everywhere for peoples experiences with this. Just to give you a success story of a scaphoid Fx, thus far, I Fx'd by wrist back in '03 while driving around the country living out of my truck and stopped by a VA hospital who said it was fine and to just keep wearing the brace that I had been wearing. At that point it took about a year to regain 95% use of my L wrist. Fast forward to Sept 07 and I crack my radius and they found the old Scaphoid with significant non union but vasculature intact. So after much review of countless studies on the future of my wrist with and without surgery, at this point my wrist was fine, I decided to have a screw and large bone graft placed in the gapping hole that was my middle portion of my scaphoid. That was Feb 08. I would say the three months of cast time sucked but as of now I have probably 95% strength and 95% flexibility and am climbing harder than I have before, which still isn't that hard. : ) There are random pains daily but that is to be expected nothing debilitating. What the studies show it that osteo arthritis is unavoidable but what the surgery should do is prolong the health of the wrist. Worst cause scenario with a non union is the scaphoid collapses and the other carpals all shift around and you end up getting a fused wrist. It sounds like your doing the right things and just like others have said find a good hand team that do a lot of these and take the time to let it heal. It seems like forever but it's worth it to still be able to have the full use of you hands. My Lessons learned: -Don't "walk it off", get injuries checked out. -Let yourself heal -Don't go to the VA -Lead with you face when falling : ), as per my hand surgeon.

Just wondering if anyone has been up since the heat wave and if snowshoes or skis would be advisable for the trail this weekend. Thanks, Gabe

Because these are moments we will remember all our lives, that come to us as we toil away in the everyday.. these moments become the record of our life. I agree with this statement to an extent but I think those moments give you the perspective to be able to realize that everyday is the greatest day of your life. To realize that just hanging out with your friends at the bar or chillin' watching a movie with your girlfriend are the moments your life is made of. Like the Charlie Brown bed sheets I had as a kid (ok I still have 'em ) said happiness is an ice cream cone, or whatever. It's those simple moments, simple things that give you joy, be it on a mountain top or just hanging out that contain the joy of life and isn't that what it's all about? Take care Gabe

As a BASE jumper with a mere 2 yrs of climbing under my belt I find this question to be always annoying. Because truly if you must ask you truly can never understand why we must do what we do. I must agree with Carolyn on many points. It truly adds depth to your life and gives you perspective. As a friend once said "BASE jumping doesn't shorten your life, it extends it by turning brief moments into endless eternities". This is obviously applicable to climbing as well. But beyond that you discover that the jump / climb is just a small portion of the sport(s). After loosing quite a few friends in BASE I've thought quite a bit about why I do these things. It's not about the adrenaline, I loathe the term "adrenaline junkie", but about the the people you share your time with, the things you see (who doesn't love a mountain sunset) the clarity you acheive, etc. Others acheive this thru other means and these are simply the means through which we do it. I recently had a freind explain to me his logic behind low pulls, pulling low as possible giving you just a few seconds with an open, flying parachute. He said if he could acheive clarity on a typical jump he could acheive even greater clarity by pushing it harded (much like solo'ing harder and harder routes). And don't think this guy has a death wish, he takes approach to his jumps. For many of us this is our meditation. Most meditative techniques lead one to a state of consciousness where one forgets time and looses the sense of the ego and feels oneness and nothingness simultaniously, and aren't these some of the feelings we experience. As one of the other post said "I do it cause I'm selfish" Well these activities are both extremely selfish yet also have a great sense of comraderie. You risk you life for your own happiness but would also do it to save your friend. So in that sense it is extremely selfish yet selfless. So why do I do it, cause it makes me happy and leads me to some of the greatest friends I could hope to share my meager time on this planet with. And that's enough for me. Take care, Gabe

Vantage as of 3 Dec still has some water flowing.

Hey just wondering if anyone can help me get in touch with the folks that put up "Vanishing point" on the N face of Baring. Thanks, Gabe

Yeah that was us locals having a memorial jump for Josh. Sorry if we spooked you we're horrible about yelling down. It was a beautiful sunrise with perfect conditions and great jumps. Josh's packjob even gave Todd a good on heading opening. We'll miss you bro.... Take care, Gabe