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No hordes here

That route on the lower right's a sandbag!

I'd say no is the general answer. Generally speaking, people climb mountains (including Rainier) all the time and the odds are that they'll make it back safely. But those are still just odds. Odds are that the snow bridge will hold. Odds are that the rock won't fall. Odds are I won't slip on the hidden sheet of ice above that gapin crevasse. Increased skills give you better odds. Speed. Perfect self-arrest skills. Self rescue skills (assuming you survive an unroped fall into a crevasse). Knowledge of every aspect of the climb as apposed to relying on the shared knowledge you'd have with a team. Same goes for judgement.

Picked up the SP and took a few nose dives off the rock over the weekend (I'm not a literal person - my 1st grade report card said "Little Timmy likes to make up stories and actually believes them."). Thankfully, it worked fine The first fall was pretty close to the anchor though - a hard stop! Should have expected that I guess. I was thinking it might slip a bit but it locked up solid with a 9.8 rope. A few more leads at the crag and I'll take it into the wilds on some easy stuff. Thanks for all the info and the linky.

At one point Matt had knocked so many off the brush, the ground was crawling with them. We took my wife's car and she had a fit when she saw the damned things on me. I spent much time sterilizing her car. Next time I go, I'll take a bug bath before and after and put my climbing clothes in a plastic bag dragged from the bumper. Maybe even shave my head just-in-case. Damn I hate tics

I think it's poor etiquette to plan a trip based on putting others on the spot by asking to hook into their team. Of course, I don't have a great understanding of this "etiquette" thing and may be way off Still, would be much better to use a resource like say...CC to round up another partner ahead of time rather than travelling all the way up there and hoping someone will want your company for the day.

Thanks Joe and Bigbro. Heading out this morning to play with the new toy.

How are you dealing with the slack that builds up on the anchor side of the rope..or is that even a real issue? I've got some 2mm cord I thought might be good for that - tie the rope to the pro (biner) with the cord as needed. I'll check out the lowering capability of the SP at the crag but the manual makes it sound like a real pain. Do you lower with it - if so, what do you think, painful? I've heard of people using a screamer at the anchor to help reduce the load (Rope in parallel but with enough slack to let the screamer work)..sound useful? Thanks for the info. There's some easy routes at Post Falls I think I'll use to get the kinks worked out.

I only lead 5.8 trad on a good day and 5.7ish the rest of the time. I can follow on some 5.10 or even higher with a Z-Pully, set of ascenders or a bolt ladder It's nice when someone like Matt is willing to drag my scaredy-cat ass up those more challenging routes though.

The manual for the Silent Partner is pretty specific on how to set it up and climb on lead. I'm curious to know what has worked best for people who've used the device or similar ones. Specifics like how many backup knots pre-tied, where you attach them to the harness, how long you tie them (hanging length between knots), and so on. Any other tricks you've learned along the way that made you more efficient or safer getting up the route. Yes, I know "Don't climb solo." I'll take that to heart.

Anyone up for an easy approach and climb ubber early Saturday? My wife's new car gets 40 mpg! Could leave Spokane Friday evening and back by Saturday early afternoon. http://www.rockclimbing.com/routes/North_America/United_States/Montana/South_West/Blodgett_Canyon/Blackfoot_Dome/ [ADDED] I gotta get off my ass, outta this town and up some rock this weekend or I'll go nuts.

I hope so Mine was a stab at dry humor as well.

Keep looking. I'm not the kinda guy that likes to get tied down. Besides, I'm nothing but trouble.

The mechanical kind Anyone got one laying around they wanna make a deal on (cash or maybe trade)? [Added] Sorry, wrong forum. Meant to put in Yard Sale.

Cool TR. Sounds like you did the "have fun" part right I'm looking forward to getting up the NR for the first time myself (can hardly wait for mid Aug). We came down the Cascadian after doing the West Ridge last year and other than the crappy cold bivy, I really enjoyed it - cool colors, neat rock, flowers, just a really neat setting. I'm told I'm odd though I don't recall any flagging but we did head towards the right after some 3rd class scrambling and quite a bit above the brushy creek. There's a brushy though well-trodden trail through the trees that keeps you from having to do the bush whacking next to the creek. Would you change anything on your listed rack if you were to do it again? How many runners (in doubles and singles) would you recommend? Nice work and congrats

I like my BDs except for the button locks on the lower sections - they're very difficult to collapse to begin with but on a cold outting they're nearly impossible. Might just be my particular poles (lemons?).

No yes

Very nice! Impressive looking rock.

Or someone who took advantage of a sale or someone who likes a certain manufactures products or who likes the idea of quickly identifying gear size based on color. Just a few of the other possibilities.

Like you said, I bought a full set of draws for sport then move the biners over to runners for trad.

Here's a more recent pic someone from NWHikers ( cinnamon )took. West ridge of Stuart looks really good:

What's the shuttle distance/time MOL?

Doesn't make any sense to me either. I'm sure they just doinked the story up somehow.

That last pic looks pretty cool. Sounds like a fun trip other than the skeeters.

10th! Very nice.