ryanb

After reading the high strength testing PDF I bought a bunch of the 6mm (red) mammut pro cord. Almost as thin as the spectra, handles much nicer and doesn't have the disturbing strength loss characteristic. Good Stuff

I didn't mean to insult, more to encourage you to try some harder routes at index. I checked your TR's and they are rad but I didn't see any attempts on anything harder then 10- which eliminates most of the climbing on the lower town wall...I can only speak from my own experience, but I was stuck doing those same routes until I got somewhat serious about bouldering/gym climbing and developed the strength to do the harder stuff. If you are already bouldering harder then you lead by the widely accepted conversion you should ask what is holding you back when you tie in, not assume the ratings are off. There are tons of really fun 11 routes at index. With decent crimp strength by gym v4 standards and a good pair of shoes (anasazis, miuras or kattans. Not mythos or other shoes that can't edge) lots of them are totally doable, even onsite-able...

The gym just seems easier because you do it more. If you can cruise most v4's in stone gardens at the moment you have plenty of strength to climb 11+ and make a good effort at 12- at index. Both Shrilly and climax control have short hard sections that are probably stone gardens v3 or easier in terms of physical effort, just insecure and heady. Full P1 Japanese gardens has two distinct two move cruxes that would probably clock in at v3 and a bunch of 5.9 crack climbing with good rests every 20 ft. Lots of people just get bogged down in the 10's and never bother to try the harder stuff at index ... the moves aren't unreasonable, some of the holds are just small. Some of the 12's (not to mention some of the 11's and even some of the 10's) I've been on there are stupid hard but I'm not exactly a solid v4 climber in the gym (though i've climbed a fair number of 4's and 5's outside) and I'm pretty sure that I'd do a lot better if I had the crimp, lock off and core strength to send some of the v4's in the front room... those little plastic crimpers with no feet are brutal!

I had the monster 9.8 and loved it...I just retired it after a couple of years of hard use. The middle marking system is the best out there. Just picked up their 9.2 but haven't used it much yet. They have soem 60m's on clearance atm: http://www.metoliusclimbing.com/close-outs-specials.html

I've been wondering about the g3 onyx. Seem like a cheaper, maybe burlier alternative to the dynafit but i hear rumor of them failing in the field. Any one here have any experience with them?

Head injuries from lead falls seem to result when the leader inverts. In general there are two things that are very likely to cause this: the leader getting their foot caught up in the rope and the belayer locking off and giving a hard static belay that flips the leader and slams them into the wall. Both of these thing are more likely on easy climbs where the leader doesn't expect to fall. In particular, in particularly it is quite easy to get ones feet caught up in the rope on hands or wider cracks in the 5.8-5.9 range... I see inexperienced leaders doing this all the time usually while being belayed by someone who seems to have never caught a lead fall. People on harder routes tend to be more aware of their feet hand have more experienced belayers...the risk of flipping on a hard sport climb with a good belayer is low. I do tend to wear a helmet on harder routes including sport at index where you re often required to make moves with your feet directly above the last piece of gear which I find slightly unnerving but I feel it is reasonable to not wear one at a steep sport crag provided the amount of loose rock is low.

Pic Bump

They ran an ad similar to an absolute vodka ad, got sued and disbanded. The founder then started Revolution Climbing which offers a lot of the same designs as cordless/pusher.

I used to work right by the Ramuta family's downtown shop before the rock shoe operation moved to montana and got hooked on fresh c4 perfectly glued by expert hands. I've tried other resolers but ramuta keeps me coming back...i've had some shoes (miuras, mocasyms) go back for multiple resoles till I wore holes in the uppers and stretched the leather beyond usability. Good stuff.

Its great. I grew up out there and used an older edition of it to scramble a ton of peaks in high school...rout descriptions are generally accurate and easy to follow. The newest (4th...pink/purple cover) edition has a lot of new info so get that one.

Index: Istanbul, Magic Fern and Battered Sandwich at Private Idaho all involve some wide crack climbing... it would be some work to TR them but could be done (are their bolts at the belay on magic fern?). Another man's car (left of lamplighter on the upper wall) looks vaguely intriguing but I haven't tried it. The thing left of Timberjack (also has a short wide that can be layed back) on winki dinky cliff could probably be TR'd as an off width. Bring a broom. Behind the 8 ball (inner wall) would be good if you were really determined to find a walk around. There are also some short off width boulder problems at swift water north including a cool thing where you invert and heel toe out a short roof crack (on the boulder up hill from premium coffee).

Metolius (who imports lanex ropes and adds an awesome middle marker) is my current favorite rope brand bar none though I tend to buy cheap and buy often since I put a lot of abuse on my ropes. I just put one of their 9.8 70's into semi retriement (could chop the ends and keep using it but then it wouldn't be long enough to lower off thin fingers etc...) and have a 9.2 in the bag waiting for use on long routes this summer (replaces a POS petzl 9.4... petzl does almost everything they do right but they need to rethink the rope line).

I should have stressed that I had no knowledge of where the ropes came from more. If they were as you described, I apologize for 'causing a stir and thank the op for hauling extra weight out of the mountains.

I most certainly appreciate your desire to give back to the crags by removing abandoned gear but, be aware that their are anchor replacement and moss removal efforts going on at Index and other local crags due, in particular, to the bolt failures that occurred last year. Someone may have left the ropes there after a saturday ascent so that they could return on a rainy day to replace bolts or clean moss etc. It is considered bad form to remove such ropes because we all benefit from these efforts. If the route was Davis Holland or another route in that area then there is a particularly good chance this is why the ropes where there since the bolts that failed are below that route. If you must remove such ropes it is considered polite to either wait a while to make sure they are abandoned or leave them neatly coiled near the route or many climbers would feel you had stolen their gear. I don't mean to offend and I want to stress that your desire to do some crag clean up is appreciated but I do want to let people know that their are (in my mind) legitimate reasons that ropes or other gear may be left fixed, particularly at this time of year.

Oh man, we were pretty close to them over at the left end of the country...when I heard the bang of the shoot opening and saw some glimpses of the grey shoot falling I was pretty sure something big was falling down out of the quarry. I've never seen them jump from that spot...anyone see where they landed? Edit: they jumped from near the high point of the quarry.

I doubt they will get you killed (provided you stay off snow) but I think you'll be happier avoiding FriXion in favor of ... really anything else. It certainly is more of a liability then a selling point. Sportiva lost a lot of my loyalty with some of the low end crap they have been rolling out, I'm sure their high end mountain boots and rock shoes are still great but ... I mean wet logs/rocks/stream crossings/steep dirt aren't really uncommon on approaches I do in sandals all the time (Inner wall, forest land, perly gates, zelda boulders, castle rock) and the sportiva shoes i have had were relatively sketch on all of them. After sliding all over a bunch of snow and rock scrambling Jen was sold on in cheap running shoes I actually gave them away to a guy who had forgotten his rock shoes at one of the crags out near quincy with the warning he shouldn't be tempted to use them for any actual approaching... I just picked up a pair of patagonia flip flops off steep and cheap for 8 bucks that seem like they work pretty well. Any how, sorry for the rant, I'm just pissed I dropped any money at all on those damn cirque pros thinking sportiva was a reputable shoe maker.

I wouldn't call sportiva's "FriXion" rubber exactly sticky. A better description would be soft. It grips great on dry warm granite slabs but wears out quite quickly and, even new, makes standing on wet or cold rock feel vaguely like standing on a layer of ball bearings. I would not, under any circumstances recommend it for any sort of cascade approach that might involve even minimal snow crossing and found it sketch even on the upper wall trail in dry conditions due to the rapid loss of tread.

Most stuff dries in 24 hours of sun with some wet spots lingering in cracks for a bit longer and the usual early season dirt and lichen on less well traveled stuff.

Exactly Rock climbing at crags now is a sign you need to move out of the NW. Agreed, Nov-April is prime bouldering season.

Are those wool mits on the last pitch? Dave Macleod is a beast. There is video of this and another route in his most recent blog post: http://www.davemacleod.blogspot.com/

Just saw that BD is putting all ice gear 20% off this weekend starting at 3am: http://www.blackdiamondequipment.com/en-us/journal/climb/knowledge/20-off-all-ice-climbing-gearthis-weekend-only

How did the boulders look in leavenworth? GNS gets sun at the end of the day and I recall the first little pitch of aires having water running down them on one night time early season ascent...it is possible to get to the mid slab anchors avoiding pretty much every crux and then top rope stuff from there if you don't want to lead at your limit in damp conditions. Stuff in the country tends to get sun earlier in the day but I find the scramble to the first anchor on gm can be sketch if wet.

check out the sherpa khushi hoodie written up in this report from OR as well: http://www.rockclimbing.com/Articles/Gear_and_Reviews/Outdoor_Retailer_Winter_Market_2010_Wrap-Up_1082.html $90 bucks, Merino Wool

He's buying a commuting bike.....not racing across the country..... And you're buddy's experience is not the end-all-be-all experience on panniers, trailers, messenger bag touring. Everyone has their own personal preferences, which run the gamut. Oftentimes speed is not the point in bike touring, or riding to the store for groceries. But that's a whole different topic altogether. He said he wanted a bike that will help him commute faster then his existing set up. He said nothing about touring or shopping for groceries. I am describing my personal preferences and the reasons I feel they speed things up a bit on my commute. If you feel your setup offers advantages for the use he describes please share the reasons behind them so he can make the best informed decision. I am not a particularly fast rider and have never raced but I do appreciate the ability to get low on the one long down hill/flat bit that always seems to have a headwind on my morning commute. I know people who go with packs and people who go with panniers and, in general the pack people tend to be faster. It probably isn't the most comfortable system but isn't bad compared to a normal climbing load.

I would avoid racks and panniers. Riding with a smallish pack is more efficient (less wind resistance because it stays behind your torso) then an equivalently sized pannier. A friend of mine went self supported from new york to texas on a race bike living out of a timbuktu bag with a bivy sac and a laptop to blog the experience ... (he was moving and shipped most of his stuff) ... he had toured with panniers and trailers before and felt this let him cover the most millage, with a trailer being the next best option and panniers by far the worst. On a separate trip he had a trailer and a friend with panniers just couldn't keep up when their was a head wind or on the long down hills down the easy side of the rockies. I prefer drop bars. You can get lower for wind resistance, and they are narrower for tight spots like bridge sidewalks or squeezing between parked cars to get to the sidewalk. A new bike will need to be adjusted as the cable's stretch but the shop should do it for free.