cycling_mike

A few more pics Traversing from Illumination Saddle Colin getting amped Skander on the summit ridge

Reid was in the best condition I've ever seen. Skander and Colin were as usual fun to climb with. I was fuckin tired because I partied 'till 1:30 (left p-town at 2:30) Here's a pic of Skander descending the hogsback; I'll post more soon-ish

holy fuck; thanks for reminding me why I rarely put TR's on cc.com you guys. Who knew that two little fifth class slabs could be the focal point of so much bullshit. This aint the fucking eiger. We went there because it was the only spot in the NW that wasn't getting rain that weekend, and I'm glad we did. Colin and I got to explore a part of the state neither of us had been to before and we climbed a couple things; good times. No "hordes" no fucked-in-the-ass-via-guidbook or dangling dicks. I mean jesus fucking christ almighty what a lot of bullshit. ...fucking unbeliveable

Hey folks, I wanna climb with a couple friends who are out a smith but (alas) don't have a ride. Surely someone heading out there this weekend has room for one more...? Benefits include gas money and my stellar company sweet! smichaelgriffin@gmail.com

My buddy & I and a few other climbers are driving a full sized yellow school bus to Red Rocks from Portland. We're leaving the weekend of the 21st and returning the 27th or 28th. We urgently need more folks to come along! we're fun, climb at all different levels (.9-.12) need more participants in this adventure ok, lets do this -Michael smichaelgriffin*at*gmail 7O62O71612

Just fyi, there are some sketchy variations you can seek out / get suckered into near the top of the h.w. if you're so inclined / visibility is sufficiently bad. Head left 100m or so below the top and tackle the big rime mushroom; there's even a "fixed" anchor assuming the creaking chunk of andesite we slung hasn't tumbled down. buena suerte

PM sent

sweet; nice job guys!

Ah yes, cheers to living. I'd done the reid a couple years ago and thought it would be a nice consolation prize since we weren't able to get over to the sandy. The route very different than the last time I was up there; a lot more ice and a bit steeper in sections. We sort of wandered our way up, climbing whatever seemed cool until a couple hundred feet below the top of the ridge where it all turned to loose and melting rime. Climbing though this, the "horrifying pitch," was one of the most challenging leads I've done anywhere. At one point, under a bulge of hanging icicles, I stopped using my tools cause everything I swung at was collapsing. Fortunately my liner gloves stuck to the ice pretty well. By underclinging my way up the icicles I was able to pull over the bulge and mantle/squirm like a beached whale as my feet cut loose. I whimpered and whined a lot. Colin (WageSlave) and I both kept our shit together, figured out how to descend safely and made a good team overall. I learned a lot from the experience. ...and I will never climb melting rime again.

I wanna get a workout and do a fun but not-to-long route on hood. Looks like conditions might improve over the weekend...who is with me? I've done other routes, am safe, competent etc. smichaelgriffin-at-gmail-dot-com sweet!

So I recently bought a #6 camalot for an attempt on Salathe. Now it sits in the closet laughing at me. I need to whip on it in the worst way; can anyone hook me up with a tick list? Harder is better.

Broughton Bluff 10s/11s. I want to be back in town by 4/5pm so an earlier start would be better. 7O62O71612 Michael

Re: Joseph Thank you for maintaining a good relationship with WSP. We spoke with Vivian and Ben, both were reasonable, professional and supportive of climbing. About the Big Ledge: I totally agree with you; my buddy was shall we say, in crisis mode as people were milling about at the base of the crag, so he aimed where he wouldn't immediately ruin someone's day. In keeping with a self-sacrificing climbing ethic that would make Messner proud, we used all our drinking water (3 qts.) to "flush".

okay pink, so someone told me it was 10c. It felt hard for me and it can be for you too: First have a weeks worth of late, debaucherous nights, next rack up with haul line tangled with double shoulder slings containing all the gear you and a partner own, mix with a bullshit cocky attitude that comes from doging up a couple of overbolted quote-unquote 5.12's, put on some painfully sporty slippers and make sure to jam a huge cam in your nuts while thrashing awkwardly. I'm sure you can successfully turn 3rd class into 10, hell, even 11c if you follow this recipe.

Trip: Beacon rock - this and that Date: 7/5/2008 Trip Report: So my buddy Tyler and I have been amping for Salathe wall late this summer, and since I've been clipping bolts all spring and he's been occupied with other adventures we figured it was time to kick the wall training into gear. We did bit of adventure climbing around lost warriors, then hit Free For Some where I took a couple of falls before figuring out the pinky-finger-killer crux as I have decided to call it. After a few laps on FFS we did windsurfer before heading back to PDX for beer & BBQ. Saturday we hiked in a stupid amount of food, gear and beer and Tyler aided up pipeline while I worked on wall training (basically pushups, crunches, squats, lifting big rocks, tagging up beers to Tyler, etc.) while occasionally tending the grigri. I did a couple laps on Pipeline to get a pump going then we had to make a beer run. Armed with more beer we planned to haul two bags up to big ledge and bivy. I took both our racks and the haul line and lead up free for all to dod's jam, intending to make a rope-stretcher pitch up to the anchor by the tree on dods. Pushing through the 10c off-width on Dods was a hell of a lot of work as the rack(s) got tangled in the haul line and the damned #4 got somehow wedged in my crotch as I grunted and bled my way up. On the ground, Tyler was getting chewed by mosquitoes and was wondering what was taking so long. Eventually I untangled everything, placed the #4 and pulled onto the belay ledge like a gasping beached whale. Sweet! Then the true crux kicked in. I'd forgotten my ascenders and pulley so planned to haul through the grigri. Surprisingly enough, this method is even worse than it sounds! Since I was out of slings I used my belt as a prussic to get a 3-to-1 going on the haul line and through mucho grunting was able to lift the bags a few inches at a time. whew! Fortunately Tyler was in a cheery mood and after he jugging up to the belay we replaced the prussics with ascenders and both got to work on the hauling. Somehow we managed it with more suffering than I would have thought possible. Another 50 feet of handcrack got us to big ledge where we were able to enjoy a luxury rarely seen on the wall: beer in bottles and plenty of 'em. The next morning we were informed that Tyler's car had been ticketed for "overnight parking". Not letting this ruin the day, we hung out on the ledge bullshitting with whomever stopped by (i.e., Ben and Mike) before cruising Dastardly crack and rapping with the bags to the ground. Anyway, about the parking ticket: We talked to a couple of rangers who were very understanding and informed us that, while is is O.K. to bivy on the wall, we needed to pay $10 and get an overnight parking pass. They are working on a climber specific overnight pass, but for now are requesting that climbers use the envelopes from the campground and write a little note explaining that the car is being left overnight due to a planned bivy so that they don't call for a rescue. Anyway the upshot of the whole deal is that they wanted us to pay the $10 and spread the word, and they weren't actually citing us for the $125 "violation". All told, it was a good weekend and awesome to get away from the bolts and crowds of smith, ozone, etc.

Hi There! I and three other ladies are planning on summiting Ingall's Peak near Ellensburg, WA this weekend, and my partner has an injury and can't make it. I can drive (I'd get a flexcar). We'd go light, do the easier (east) face in one day and hike down. I've actually done the ridge traverse once, so I'm very confident. I need a partner to ride, share costs and belay. I hope it's you! My email is RachaelCate@gmail.com and my number is 4234322240. Contact me anytime until Saturday morning, even though I have Friday off too and would like to climb then as well. Have trad rack and rope etc. Thanks! Rachael (I'm posting this on friend's account because I'm having problems with registering)

NICE! good job stewart.

I'm interested in the pad if you're in Portland

thanks, I'll ask him.

Looking for a bouldering pad in Portland and I'm not too picky. Thanks!

IMHO big angles are too heavy for alpine; actually the only use I can think of is flaring kitty litter/loose jingus cracks or blown out pin scars you should be climbing clean but then you get scared and hey whats one or two more taps with the hammer anyway. I'd ebay 'em unless you wanna get into some pretty twisted stuff.

So my thumb joint hurts when I'm pinching narrow holds and, if I'm not careful, when I do pushups or curls. It doesn't hurt alot, more like a dull ache below the thumb (palm area) and between thumb and 1st finger. It's been happening off and on for the past couple months and it seems like my pinch grip is weaker. Anyone have any ideas?

glad to hear it. I thought I was gonna have to give up protecting pin scars after I lost a few of mine...either that or take a grinder to some stoppers.

I've done a fair amount of soloing over the years and always come back to the clove hitch. It costs nothing, weights nothing and is IMHO as bomber as it gets. I've found it's best to clip the clove into my harness with the biggest belay biner I have and use either an inch thick cross-section of old bike tube (imagine a super wide & tough rubber band) or several wraps of tape to pinch the belay loop tightly around the biner and avoid cross loading. Soloing with a clove involves a good bit of reading the rock and sequence planning, as I generally feed out enough slack for me to reach a ledge or good hold/jam and then go for it. With this method I usually solo routes well below my limit and focus on technique while enjoying the solitude & self-reliance.

I attached a biner to the handle of my nut tool w/ hose clamps years ago and it has served me well: *when seconding I sometimes leave the tool/biner clipped into the rope so that I can clean gear without unclipping & clipping the tool every time *the biner is much more comfortable to push on than the bottom of the nut tool, and makes a secure handle when using the tool to self arrest on a steep snowy approach