tvashtarkatena

Sweet looking chap. I hope you find him.

Doesn't seem like too big a deal - plenty of pilgrims do it. You've got a top cable to clip tightish to, and that big fat heavy cable's not gonna sway too much. Walking = better pics. Particularly if you biff and winding up straddling that action. Wear sensible shoes.

You can take whipper after whipper on biners clipped to tiny stopper cables and bolts. A body weighted fatty cable is benign in comparison. I wouldn't even bother with the glove, personally. Just clip some borrowed biners on that thing and start pulling.

Cut a couple of fingers from an old leather glove, slip em on your biners, tack em in place with a bit o the Gorilla, Tyrollon, my brother. Your biners won't even notice.

I've had great luck finding good partners here - still do. I've known a number of beginners who share that opinion, so that experience doesn't seem to be limited by level of expertise. Necessarily anecdotal data, perhaps, but blanket implications that seeking partners/mentors/tuan tuans is a waste of time seem counterproductive on a forum that is expressly designed to make such connections happen. In contrast, a Partners forum seems like less fertile ground for stoking an argument. Just stoking seems like a more natural fit here.

Review: I've had flexor tendinitis (trigger finger) in my ring finger of both hands for just over a year now. It was pretty bad early this fall when I was remodeling. It is hugely better now. My observations and experimentation so far: Partial immobilization: Coindidentally, I had a common wart on the proximal (affected) joint of my right ring finger - so I froze it and wrapped it in 3/4" wide Gorilla tape, as you do. I accidentally discovered that this was the most effective method for immobilizing the joint enough to prevent triggering without losing use of the hand for typing, climbing etc. Both affected joints are wrapped this way now. Accessorize with black fingernail polish when clubbing is on the agenda. Joint Support Supplements: The science is mixed, but I began NOW's chondroiton, glucosamine, and MSM joint support supplements about 2 months ago (iHerb.com seems to be the cheapest source). Both hands got much better. Activities: Having said that, I also finished the remodel about the same time as I started taking the supplements. Strangely, rock climbing doesn't seem to exacerbate the condition, but full grip activities (power tools, etc) certainly does. I've put most of my current home projects on hold until this thing's resolved. Steroid injection: I got one in the left hand only, which remained worse than the right, a week ago. Hard to tease out causality because I'm doing so many things at once, but that hand is now on par with the right. That is all.

Remember the good ole days when you had to go to a church to find a preacher?

It's a Dog > eDog world out there.

Thanks for showing us the way, Joe.

If I'm actually in the thread I think I'm in I call that victory, buddy. For you fellow coots out there, I switched from tely to AT at 52 - self taught telier without much downhill skiing experience save watching others and a few downhill turns on corn - the transition turned out to be surprisingly quick and easy. Goodbye tely - wish I could say I hardly knew ye! Will Rogers nailed it: When you're done learning, you're done.

Littler, anyway.

you hardly want to try to learn how to ski in 'real' conditions. that'll take you about a century. Groomers for getting the basics down, fo sho - a lift ticket will accelerate progress 10x. Formal instruction's even better. Why make it any harder than it needs to be? And why get unnecessarily injured early on? Never had a patroller say a word when skinning up at the resorts - so few people do it that i wonder if any resort even bothers to have a policy about it. just stay to the side, keep your eyes upslope and don't become a piling. Many patrollers are BC skiers. Not a big deal. Sorry, Alex - but that's some crap advice, yo.

Some prefer mentsulation with a high R factor.

Somewhere out there, the Rainbow Warrior is looking for its Governor.

Speed bump or Jersey Barrier?

you can get from A to B a number of different ways, but a good mentor will get you there many times faster. Books are great, and you'll do most of your climbing with your peers, as most of us do, but an experienced hairless monkey can cook things down to the nutty center so much more effectively - often simply by example. I'll shoot you Fred Dunham's contact info in a bit.

Good time of year to do it. Check the park website for current route info - that route's been changing a fair bit recently, with generally more threatening seracs, open crevasses, and mid season route alterations, but it's much more of an issue later in the season than in May. Conditions change all the time, but you can expect anything from icy death carrots and big sastrugi up higher to postholiness down lower. The Interglacier's usually OK for skiing - it corns up fine depending - the stuff up higher anything goes. For typical conditions, starting your descent around 11 or so works out OK. Ski crampons recommended.

Tiblocs use the same camming action as ascenders to grip a rope - except its a passive system based on the offset pull and leverage of the weighted biner rather than an active spring loaded cam as on a regular ascender. Tiblocs have have more aggressive teeth than regular ascenders because they don't have the benefit of that spring loaded cam to catch the range of rope sizes necessary. The teeth simply catch the rope's mantle to initiate the camming that actually holds the load - they do not hold the load themselves. If they did, the load would be supported by the rope's non-structural mantle, rather than the kern - with predictably undesirable results. Boat applications typically involve a lot of shock loading - anyone who has towed anything that floats knows what I'm talking about. You never want to shock load a Tibloc, or any toothed camming device for that matter - it can and will damage the rope's mantle - Petzl's pretty clear about that in their instructions. In contrast, a mountain rescue Z pulley should undergo little to no shock loading - no slack, no shock loading. In short - if one uses Tiblocs for what they were intended - non shock loaded emergency applications, your ropes will hardly notice.

I think that's why they call them emergency ascenders. They won't shred your rope unless you use them inappropriately. The guy's talking about prusiks, not El Cap.

Conditions - wetness/ice - will affect your prusik more than dry treatment/whatev. A pair of Tiblocs renders these questions moot. Master of the obvious - never lead climb on a static rope.

It seems to come and go.

Running Google Chrome. The top banner ad blocks the My Stuff pull down. Foreground/backround issue.

Fleece, capilene - most anything will work, but the more time you spend out, the more comfort in all conditions adds to your overall quality of life. Things can get tough enough without adding unnecessary discomfort to the mix. And the difference comfort and performance between the natural stuff verses plastic is pretty stark. I haven't known anyone who's gone back to plastic once they've had a taste of sheep. Trips tend to get more demanding as one rockets towards the grave - the big packs of youth (I actually started out with a really light pack cuz I didn't have fuck all to put in it) are no longer a viable option at some point. Finally, the good stuff, merino etc, seems expensive until you compare it to the cost of a motor sport. Cut down on beer - problem solved.

i think merinos more comfy, def less stinky, but not as durable as fleece. for a baselayer in cooler wetter merino outperforms synthetics no contest-but it will cost ya. nderarmour makes a good T for warmer conditions. UA undies are nice too

$35 on craigz with a do not climb on warning. theyll be gone same day. boaters, etc