boadman

There are some old limestone quarries on San Juan, but none on Lopez that I know of. There's an old sandstone quarry on Waldron, but the rock there is too soft to climb. I checked out Watmough last weekend. It looks like it has some potential, but would require some serious cleaning. I think it would require some negotiations & planning to get approval from the local BLM steward to put up routes. Isaac & Co has done some pretty cool bouldering problems on the beach.

Yep.

My understanding is that they're doing it that way to make it easy for people to use the gym for endurance training.

Anybody considered vibrations from a big freight train? I'm always freaked out when I'm on lead and one thunders by. It definitely makes some of the bigger flakes vibrate (i.e. sagitarius/jap gardens). If one of the corners was supported by some sort of pebble, I could see it rocking loose.

Maybe he fell after just above the ledge, before clipping the first bolt off the ledge? If there was a little extra rope out, there's definitely ground-fall potential. I always thought I would just land on the ledge and stop...

In the 10+ to easy 11 range you might try Cunning Stunt, Tunnel Vision, Angora Grotto, Leave My Face Alone, and Heaven's Gate. Others I haven't done but want to are Kite Flying Blind, Hairway to Stephen and Golden Road. They're safe so go for it! Nice list! I'd add: Dr. Sniff and the Tuna Boaters, Pressure Drop, p3 Japanese Gardens (11a fingers) and Death to Zeke ... man this is getting me stoked! There's also thin fingers, elvis nixon, zoom, heart of the country, sagitarius, etc...

What kind of rock is it? Soft sandstone like the chuckanut drive formation (and sucia/patos)?

i think the Vrating totally applies...don't forget that there are many many different styles of climbing and just because you suck at one style, it doesn't mean that the rating doesn't apply... I know kids that can climb steep steep shit in the V7-V9 range very handily that will struggle on a 5.11 crack climb because, hold on and open your mind here, they DON'T KNOW HOW TO CRACK CLIMB...duh...give them a week in cracks and they will tell you that Japanese Gardens has maybe a v2+ section...which corresponds to 5.11-ish, right? I don't really think the V-grade applies that well actually, I can barely struggle up V3, but I can usually climb 5.12.

If you get a chance, I'd love to see some photos of the rock. I might go check it out in a couple of weeks.

Seriously, climbing in the San Juans? I'd love to check it out too. I grew up on SJ, but haven't been able to find anything besides a terribly chossy quarry. How many routes are there?

I hate the BC C3s. I'll trade my green alien sized one for the equivalent size. It's definitely a little more used than the ones you've got. Oh, and I've got some trango small cams with the opposed lobes I'd trade too. They're even worse than the C3. I'll trade two trangos for one DMM.

Why were you aiding free-climbs? I hope there weren't people waiting for you...

I'm curious about the accident too. I assume that if it was someone I know I would have heard about it, but I'd like to know what happened. That doesn't make me a troll does it?

My son and I went into second ascent yesterday, and I couldn't say no when he asked me to buy him the used 10$ kids climbing shoes. He'll probably never use them, but you never know, right?

Spraying bad beta is even worse.

Ouch! Rental insurance?

A climber without a PLB can't accidentally shoot me with his forgotten PLB while I hike to a crag. Actually, kind of a gruesome story - A few years ago, I was climbing in Rifle in the fall when an ambulance rocketed up through the canyon. Later in the day, I asked a group of deer hunters if they knew what the emergency had been. Apparently, a hunter had nailed another hunter to a tree with his hunting bow. How mid evil is that?

$60 for flip flops? Seriously? Actually, I find chacos to be super heavy & bulky to clip on your harness for long routes. I like the 5 dollar super market ones better.

I was in china when I first started to get into climbing. I went out with some chinese climbing buddies to a granite area north of Beijing. On our hike in, we passed a black-smith shop in a little farming village. My friend showed him a lost arrow, and said, "can you make me one of these." Five dollars later, we had a whole rack of pins, made from cheap chinese steel out of the leaf spring on a tractor. On of my other friends was aiding a route and decided to try them out. He ended up zippering from 50' and breaking his back. It was probably a combo of user error and the wrong metal.

This looks a little sketchy to me: Stolen Gear? Redpoint?

I really like my Kona. They seem to have really solid, comfortable designs that are reasonably priced. I've got a Jake the Snake that I commute on every day, and it's awesome.

Wow, that's an argument for training hand strength rather than pullups right there. No offense, but if you've been climbing for that long and you enjoy training that much, you could be climbing 13s without too much trouble.

We stayed up in Pescadero, which is about an hour north of Cabo, but my wife and I left the kids with the g-parents and aunties for a day and went and bouldered around cabo. It was pretty fun. There was actually quite a bit of potential for moderate routes there. I'm surprised no-one's put a bunch in and started guiding the tourons. Cabo is a zoo.

I've never aided the route, but I've fondled the jams a few times when lowering down from Godzilla and the majority of the locks actually seem pretty good for my chubby fingers. The feet are impossible though. I don't think that small hands would make that much difference.

What's with all the cock blocking? You guys need to look out for your bros. Get her the information she needs!