ryanb

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.

Great find John! "The truth that remains from all of this is that the best way to make large gains in fitness is to do the least fun, least glamorous, most boring kind of training: Long-Slow-Distance." -Steve House

I commute on a old cannondale cycle cross bike with fenders and touring tires and love it. Advantages of cycle cross: designed to be light and strong, almost as efficient as a road racing bike (with the right tires) but with slightly more upright body position better for going over bumps, better brakes. Some touring and hybrid bikes will provide similar advantages but some will be designed more for comfort and not be any faster then your mountain bike with a set of thin road slicks on it (have you tried that?). Surly has made some nice bikes but they aren't the only game in town. They used to be made in the usa but they have since moved production overseas and gotten adopted as the brand of choice of the hipster crowd. My suggestion would be to go to a few of the decent bike shops in town and test ride cycle cross bikes from a few different brands. Maybe throw in a few of the more performance oriented hybrid/touring models. If you really want to go fast get a proper road bike.

Lots of people have this problem. You simply need to take better care of your skin. Gyms build big hard callousses fast and big hard callousses slide around more, split more easily and generally suck. Get a pumice stone (sold in the hygiene aisle for sanding callouses off your feet) or some sand paper or similar and some good hand salve designed for hard dry skin (Badgers, Burt's Bees, Climb On all seem to work well for me...). Consider avoiding metolius super chalk or other chalk with drying agents in it in favor of pure magnesium carbonate (black diamond, frank endo etc...) More information: http://leashlessblog.blogspot.com/2009/11/dealing-with-bad-skin.html http://www.nicros.com/archive/faq/Round-23.cfm http://www.nicros.com/archive/faq/Round-3.cfm Edit: shoot for a flexible smooth layer of callous.

Why? That shit gets climbed so much its just as solid as any granite. I guess I was up there in early spring but there was much loose/frost wedged flakiness in evidence and not much continuous crack climbing. But hell, do what you want.

All of the methods short of immersion are based on averages which don't apply as well to people with athletic body types. You could probably figure something out with a spring scale and a garbage can full of water though if you really want to be cheap...

Not necessarily true, I have had a lot of days there where it has poured on us near Monroe on the drive in and then been a fine day with nothing worse then a few menacing clouds visible down valley. My theory is that the LTW can sit in a mini rain shadow depending on the direction the weather comes in. That said, we usually come prepared to continue on to leavenworth or go hiking if it is wet...and we are probably going to ski tomorrow.

I think hawk berry toped it out in something ridiculous like 40 minutes from the car in a pair of vans skate shoes, don't remember too many other details or round trip time. Looking at the big mountain talent in Seattle i wouldn't be surprised if it has been done in less. Shaving it down much beyond 10 minutes on that rock would be a fools game. Go find some solid granite.

Those super burpee's look pretty cool. The floor half is kind of similar to what the yoga crowd call a Vinyasa (see second definition here: http://yoga.about.com/od/howtospeakyoga/g/vinyasa.htm ... the Mixed Martial Arts crows call this a "hindu push up" ) but with the hop up to mountain pose (standing) included. I've been doing sets of vinyasa's alternating with sets of reapters ( http://www.beastmaker.co.uk/Grip-article.htm ) on the hand board, might have to try alternating them 1 for 1 burpee style and maybe throwing in a short toe touch stretch before hoping back down to plank yoga style ... pausing in plank with elbows at 90 degrees and body held off the floor adds a lot of intensity. In general I don't like to do a lot of pullups because my form tends to degrade and i feel like my elbows start to suffer from it so I like to do more holding off static lock offs like in repeaters. Also been working on the one arm lock offs this winter. Gene, definitely start taking the three year old out as early as possible. My dad started doing light scrambling/top roping with me when i was quite young and I am forever grateful. I'm off to the gym...

John, Lets try and keep this a productive discussion and not another flame war...I do believe that training for climbing should involve almost as much talking about training as actuall training to make sure you are doing the best stuff. Note that the training links I posted are from Will Gadd and Dave Macleod, too of the best mixed/ice climbers climbing today and Dave is no slouch on the gear either having done or established pretty much every hard rout in Britain including stuff well into the 5.14 r/x range. The programs they advise aren't specific to sport or bouldering or really any other discipline...they are simply great ways to increase grip and core strength in a fairly climbing specific way. Training like this alone won't give you success in every discipline but it will give you the basis you need no matter what discipline you focus on. In my own limited experience following a program inspired by theirs enabled me to start climbing 5.11 on gear at index and start thinking about the 12's. I'm not much of an alpine climber or an ice climber but I have lead 5.11 at washington pass and followed some hardish routes in each discipline including the passenger on sews and the cable at banks lake (actually my first ever ice climb)... Circuit training certainly has its place but technical climbing is simply much easier when the holds/tools feel huge compared to the tiny wooden edges you've been hanging off all winter. Perhaps the ideal home training program would be one that used state of the art circuit stuff like you advocate combined with free climbing specific stuff advocated by people like macleod and gadd?

Hangboarding Frontlevers System wall In fact ditch most of the rest of the circuit... http://www.beastmaker.co.uk/training%20page2.htm http://gravsports.blogspot.com/2009/03/training-sickness-not-good-kind.html http://www.davemacleod.com/articles/trainingforclimbing.html http://www.onlineclimbingcoach.blogspot.com/

On behalf of all of us desk jockeys who have been franticly searching the net for a glimpse of these things, thanks. What did you think of the orange one? Are the new parts compatible with old tools?

Helmet? yeah... Geek? well... I'm a fan of the foam all the way around the head bike helmet/special needs child style. I feel like little I do on the rock compares to winter bike commuting in terms of danger...

What happened to the thread started by the redpoint dude? Any one contact him about this?

Dane, interesting information as always. I guess I had assumed that patagonia was not a candidate for military use as (some of?) it is manufactured overseas? I didn't mean to imply that the DAS was the best parka out there, but you can't deny that it has been proven to work in challenging situations and can be had for a good price this time of year. My worry is that a lot of climbers will see this thread, and think all this eb gear is the best deal out there and end up with gear that looks good on paper but may or may not be that great in the field. I have done similar things many times in the past...Remember when people online were really excited about rock empire cams first intro to the US? I bought two sets. Petzl ropes? I dropped too much money on one of those... I would like to save others from similar wastes of money. There is no doubt in my mind that the most cost effective way to buy climbing gear is to buy proven stuff from reputable manufactures when it is on sale...you are probably right about the XV. If you are still raving about the it in a year or two I will know you are definitely right, but at the moment its performance over time in the field can only be guessed at. As too how long I have been climbing, I asked my dad over x-mas when he got me started and he wasn't quite sure. Something over 20 years anyways. He learned in the late 50's and 60's in CA and Italian alps and kind of got out of it for a while till he started taking me out on trips to my grandmother's in california. Meaning I learned to climb on twisted rope with hip belays and dulfershitz rappels and homemade gear and eventually got up to speed with modern gear and technique.