Coldfinger

Always goes over well if you use good professional coordination in setting up interviews, so where, what, whom and how long are good pre-interview q's.

Going to agree with the above. I'd expect more from someone posing as an expert in survival and as a writer as well, no? Best to all of you in the storm, lost climbers included.

Well I don't know what else to call that, Choada Boy shows up and in two posts totally pummels the dude to the point of digital extermination!

Probably got choadized, it happens.....

Well sorry. I lost count! Do think they were smart enough to want a spare frame for hauling all that weight up that distance. They probably wanted to start with the one that had protection from snow and light falling stuff, but found it made it harder to control (or broke it in a small way), and had to bring the spare up and left that one at the base.

No dude! I really am LMAO...........

BTW since you finally shared with us the key detail, i.e. frame w/o motor. I'd say they had a spare frame and found/blindly chose that the one frame w/o hood was better for hauling and use. Would think the cowling could cause wind resistance problems when handled and especially hauled in high winds. If they built the frame locally, there is no reason to think they didn't get enough material for two due to cheapness and more importantly that they were designing the exact configuration in the field. Besides, I'd want a spare frame for fear of breakage while hauling it up all those pitches.

Best reply ever!

All right, you think somebody else hauled the thing back up there? Some kinda shill for the tourists like a bear or old faithful? As for mention of exactly what an expedition would have for its total inventory of gear I wouldn't even think a complete Customs declaration would show it all, particularly items that for weight and/or cost are better acquired locally. So they easily COULD have spares. Most expedition literature doesn't mention exact amounts of TP, but that doesn't mean they wipe like NOLSE's. PS Was pulling your leg, you did ask, I really don't care about this question of the effing frame that much. Dude, why is this bending your mind? It is interesting but is dwarfed by the climb AND the chopping. Guess I'd rather see more mention of what you all think of the two and what kind of accomplishment and/or statement this is. It was a big one no doubt, they deserve a lot of credit. I for one am very impressed by the climbing they did, and it did in a sense earn them the right to chop. I'm still shocked. Just kinda came out of nowhere after the whole Lama thing.

Well sobo two quick thoughts: Gee, maybe they brought a spare. Anyone who has worked with small gas engines before might be inclined to have a back up plan, especially operating the fing thing in Patagonian conditions. Weight wouldn't be an issue as there were several of them and they had mucho weight--ropes, gear, etc.--anyway. Gee, I'm not surprised that an under (right?) employed engineer would find a compressor confusing. Facts do exist outside their comprehension. Besides seems this is a small (very) part of the picture.

Worth reading as background, Reinhold Messner's 1971 essay partly in response to the Maestri's technique on the Compressor route: Murder of the Impossible

Congratulations on success!

I have to wonder what responsibility for the chopping lies with David Lama who wrote (ironically): "In the end, everything is easy. As I’m standing in the headwall on Cesare Maestri’s legendary compressor, I know that today nothing will stop us from reaching the summit of Cerro Torre." Linky No doubt the compressor was re-anchored, pics make that look like very modern static cord. Remember there's the weight of the compressor, the weight of rime and wind (nevermind folks standing on it). Keep in mind this is the SECOND time the route has been chopped. Colin's linky That blog makes it very clear the route was a defacto via ferrata for local guides sheepherding paying clients up the hill. I have to think Lama's overbolting (on top of Maestri's) was probably the tipping point as the chopping debate has gone on for years.

ur gonna need a longer cheater stick now

Still there? Well it was on the headwall before the boys went chopping. Linky

Sometimes a subtlety turns the whole argument....... Maestri himself wanted it chopped, but as in everything else he tried on the Torre, he failed. Remember that Maestri himself chopped bolts on his way down from his summit attempt, as the story goes, because he had a change of heart after coming so close to the summit and wanted the mountain to be inviolate. The evidence points to this: the loss of his friend Egger drove Maestri to lie about their attempt and drove him to try to redeem his honor and his friend by any and all means (compressor, fixed lines, bolt ladders, etc.) in his second attempt, but in the end perhaps he relented after he had spent all of his wrath on the mountain. Seems like a fitting end to the story, and a tribute to both Egger and Maestri, that their part of the story of Cerro Torre has now run its full course. What was a stain on Maestri's honor, and done in the name of Egger, is now undone. Kinda seems like a happy ending to me.

That's what Maestri did, get it? He didn't climb the route anyway, so how is it his? You merely try a route and you own it, that what you're saying? So Maestri should've put red tape on his compressor?

Two thumbs up! Good question by "Pass the Pitons Pete" on the taco: "Were Maestri's bolts just chopped off with a chisel? Do we have any before and after photos? And I'm knott criticizing, I'm merely asking. I have seen some damned ugly chopped bolts. As per buddy's question below, if you "chop" a bolt with a chisel, the bolt remains in the hole, and you are left with an unsightly hunk of metal. Now on a sunny crag, it might be unsightly. On a frozen wasteland like Cerro Torre, it might well be invisible. So just askin'...." And Rolo's answer, also from the taco: "in response to Pete's questions, the bolts are "preassure pins" of sorts, a sort of glorified rivet. When you hit them from the top with a hammer the whole bolt comes out like butter. Three to seven blows is enough." Wonder where the compressor is myself.

Geez Gene, didn't know you've been working on a drill rig lately!

Throw the empty Bourbon bottles out the window & aim for the oncoming VW bus! Reason being the cops are going to be all over the hippies and will ignore you......

Dane did a write up on his "Cold Thistle" blog.

Yeah kinda like the tire dude in the poster, also noticed he spilled his wine so hard the glass broke. Seriously.... don't worry about it most of us know darn well you couldn't and wouldn't do it anyway. (Credible trolling I mean) Later MP!

Nice!!!!! Like the tire dude with his napkin hangin out of his mouth.

But..... The Michelin man is French!!!! And he speaks French, no good, ask Newt Gingrich!!!!

How about taking Dean Potter's new FREEBASE solo technique to it's logical conclusion---into a crevasse!?!?