mountainmatt

Ohhhhh, that is what is on the screen!

I can't vote, I just think its ok.

I had a similar experience as you goatboy on the Bastile in Eldo. We were making our way up the last pitch when (as I was leading) a french team came up and started cliping my gear. I stopped mid route and told him to unclip it. He pretended not to know english. I took my sweet ass time to finish the pitch just to frustrate him since he couldn't get by (small bit of revenge).

I'll have one special please.

That roof looks pretty sweet! Nice work

Oh yes, traveling...

What about the donkey?

Went as Jesus last year and my girl friend went as the devil. It was a good time at the party for sure...

Where are people meeting up?

Totally agree with Minx. If you don't like 'em, don't clip 'em. The holes you left behind after choping don't help anyone. At least the bolts allow some of us "moderate" climbers with a short pitch to climb.

First off, that stuff sucks and getting it off your climbing gear is a pain. For soap, just avoid bleach in the soap and you should be ok. Generally a milder detergent is better. With climbing shoes, I have found it useful to brush on the soap by hand as to avoid the leather shrinking and getting funky in the washing machine.

If at first you don't succeed, try, try a gun.

I also use an olympus with a Li battery and have had no problems in cold temperatures. There are several tricks to keeping your camera working in cold temperatures. Obviously put it in your jacket inside a ziplock bag (to avoid your perspiration from freezing up the camera). Another trick is to take a handwarmer and put it near the battery. This will ensure that you get more photos before the battery dies. Make sure that you have several batteries if you want to take a lot of photos. Another thing to watch for is how easy the camera is to manipulate through gloves. If you are going to expose your flesh just to work the thing, you might want to find a different model. Good luck!

The video has been removed, anyone have a copy?

Thanks for the complmets Otto, it was definitely a good outing. As for the use of hooks, I can only speak for the pitches that I led (OlympicMtnBoy can add his own comments). I used cam hooks on both pitch 1 and 3, but if you are crafty with offsets and brassies, you could get away with no camhooks on these pitches. I personally like cam hooks (once weighted, they feel pretty secure to me) as long as its not on sandstone. I used the cam hooks partly because I like them, and partly because they are much faster than tinkering with a nut placement.

Climb: Index-Green Dragon Date of Climb: 9/27/2006 Trip Report: OlympicMtnBoy and I took a leisurely drive to Index, making sure to stop at the bakery along the way, arriving at the base of Green Dragon around 8 AM or so. After taking time to rack up, we got started around 9 AM. I took off on pitch one, and not having led aid in over a year, I didn’t set any speed records. Not big deal, neither of us was in any rush, we just wanted to have a nice day of aid. Hit the ledge in the sun and baked as OlyMtnBoy jugged the line. OlyMtnBoy led pitch 2, and made quick work of the first half. The second half was a little more challenging, but he pulled through to the chains. I led pitch 3, and was moving pretty slow. I made the mistake of not bringing a water bottle on the lead, so I was getting pretty dehydrated. My forearms were cramping as I looked through the rack for the next piece. OlyMtnBoy took off on pitch 4. At this point the wall went into the shade which we both welcomed. We were running low on water now, and neither of us had really eaten much all day. After getting about 15 meters out, I realized that OlyMtnBoy left the tag line with me. Not a horrible problem, but it did make jugging a little more of a pain. When I hit the anchors I was totally drained. I was supposed to lead pitch 5, but due to the time of day and my exhaustion, I passed the pitch to OlyMtnBoy. He made quick work of the lead, and we enjoyed the sunset from the top of the climb. We made 4 raps down and hiked out by headlamp. We touched down at 7:50 (again, we were not trying to set any records here). After getting down, we enjoyed some nice snacks at the Index store and headed home for a beer. The beta: All of the pitches go clean (no need for any pins or hammers as the Sky Valley guide book suggests). Make sure you are comfortable hanging in your harness, there are four hanging belays. Pitch 1 – Straight forward. Starts with a little free climbing until you hit the crack. First section starts as very straight forward. The last portion of the pitch gets a little harder using some offset brassies and nuts and a cam hook or two. Pitch 2 – Crux pitch. Starts out with a couple cams to a few bolts and moves into a crack system moving off to the left (away from town crier). There are several fixed pins on the pitch which appeared to be in good shape. Offsets and Lowe balls were helpful here. Pitch 3 – An awkward pitch. Start up a big flake (the top of which is fragile). Move into a crack to a small roof. Mixture of cams and offsets were helpful. Move left into a seam that combines two fixed pins, offsets, a cam or two, and cam hooks. The second pin is complete crap (rusted out and creaks when you step on it). It will need to be replaced soon or bring a cheat stick to get the bolt (~10 feet away). Finish under a roof. Pitch 4 – Fun. Move out from the roof with some cams, moving up the crack. Get a hook placement in and then hit the bolt ladder. Use one more hook to connect to the last bolt and the chains. Pitch 5 – Dirty. Move up the bolts to a fixed head. The head is still there and in good shape. However, a cam or possibly a hook could be used when the head finally pulls. Move into a crack and then head left up a dirty corner to the chains. Gear Notes: Brought - Rack to 4”, small cams, offset nuts, offset brassies, cam hooks, hooks. Wish list - More water, 2X10 board to stand on at the hanging belays Approach Notes: Descent – Rap pitch 5, combine pitches 3/4 and 1/2 with double 60m lines.

Thats what she said

Took a cruise to Canada for the weekend. Nothing like kicking it in the hottub, watching the sun set over Rainier, while sipping on a Pina Colada... (and moving slowly to Canada)

Good point. I figure this is one that would better to wait it out for a while and see what happens. The important thing is that I can still climb, its just that my feet hurt.

Thanks for the info Michael. That was what I was thinking, but I was confused why it was still hurting on the outside of my ankles. I guess I will watch the injury a little longer before biting the MRI bullet.

I was leading a route at the exits about a month ago and took a short fall. My belayer did the right thing and pulled in real hard to keep me off the deck, but as a consequence, I slammed in the wall, flexing both of my feet back towards my shins. I lowered off, and we headed back to the car (actually limped). The next day, my ankles were both very sore (especially the left ankle) and I had problems walking. Two days later a great deal of bruising appeared on my left ankle and a little on the right. The odd part was that as my feet healed, I found it very hard to point my toes. Over time I have managed to recover and I can point my toes again. However, I still have pain on the outside of my ankle and on the top of my foot. Recently I stopped wearing flip flops and started wearing tennis shoes. My feet and ankles now hurt almost constantly. I am starting to think that something more severe is going on here. Any thoughts from the Med people out there?

Hope you recover well and can get back out climbing soon!