Moof

I'm pretty happy with my 7mm static as a second rap line, and as a tag line for aid stuff. YMMV. FYI, even 7mm can be a pain in the arse in the wind, or if there are a lot of chicken heads (red rocks), so adjust accordingly.

I snuck onto the list for the free booze, and to stalk you of course... I was the other guy at Alcatraz with a red beard, if that narrows it down enough. Didn't know you were climber. I don't think I qualify to be called that anymore... It's a small world...

As soon as they send out the link, I'm posting pics of you dancing at MJ and Tuna's wedding!

I think John Long's "Close Calls" had a couple noteable stories. One was a guy on the Lost Arrow spire getting ready for a tyrolean traverse (you pre-rig the far end before rapping into the notch to do the 2 pitch climb). He saw a hiker looking at his gear and started going apeshit at him, and calling out his questionable parentage. The hiker, realizing his strategically strong position flipped the bird and cut the rope. The dude had to wait for SAR to bail him out. There are also plenty of equally scary tales of tourons hucking rocks off the top for grins and giggles, not realizing anyone is below.

I've either done the front loader at the laundromat (doubled over and daisy chained), or done the bathtub boogie. Woolite seams to work, as does Sterling Wicked Good Rope Wash ($1 a pack at Nomad's so I still have a stash of the handful I grabbed a few years back). I think I prefer Woolite overall, as one dose of the Sterling stuff just isn't enough for the my ropes... I wash off the loose stuff just running the shower over the rope until the water runs clear. I bung up the drain hole and use warm water with woolite or rope wash and soak the ropes (I usually wash a couple at a time due to the hassle factor) and stomp all over them with bare feet to agitate, with lots of flipping and thrashing. Lastly I do a couple cycles of shower and soak with clean warm water to get all the soap out. For drying I loose flake them onto a few towels and leave a small fan aimed at them for a couple days.

Just to add to the big wall poop bag. As stated, start with a shopping bag. Pre-inspect these when packing to make sure there are ZERO holes, many do. Bring a small bungy cord. Making one out of ligher bungy from REI or where ever is preferred. You can bungy it in place and go hands free! Wet wipes rule from there!

Yep, Judge, Jury, AND Executioner. After all, there clearly are an excess of folks who feel the need to make a 12" cairn next to the middle of a well trodden 6' wide trail for no apparent reason. I think it is the boy scout mentallity gone astray. In this case the fancy cairn was about 2.5' high, and had a note in a zip-lock baggy (more littering) at the bottom saying it was in memory of so and so who died here a year ago. I was glad to see it was gone by that spring. "I think you should take up peeing on roadside shrines too." Nothing quite like seeing a moldy Teddy Bear next to a dusty white cross on the side of the road to remember someone by. I really wish the bereaved would clean up the mess after a few months... It just gets sad and ugly after a while.

"It wasn't just "some chick." And it wouldn't have mattered if it was. Good thing you withheld the urge, jerk." We all turn into grease spots eventually. Excess cairns in the back country are a nuisance, and a form of litter. Unless the cairn is there for a good reason (impromptu memorial barely qualifies) then I kick them over. When I go I expect shoulder shrugs at best, no biggie. We willingly do a potentially life ending activity, so I don't see the need to get too upset or suprised when the odds catches up with one of us. I wear my helmet on that route however.

My 2 cents: Solo-aid: Works great for self belay top rope using a simple chest harness (just used a double length sling in a figure 8 over the sholders). Running up slab with that was the coolest, as it was maintenance free and was like fear free free-soloing. For leading it is a big PITA. You basically gotta pile slack at your feel before a cruxy section to avoid having to feed rope mid-move. For Aid it is OK, but things like lower outs are less than stellar, and it does require frequent frigging. Silent Partner: I never liked it for top rope self belay, as you have to fall fast enough to lock it up. Basically there is no equivalent of "take", just "falling". For leading it works pretty good, though I always get screwed by backup knots. I hate the lack of inspectability, not sure how well you do with the heebee jeebee's when sketching out with nobody around to hear you whine. For aid it is the least hassle for leading, though is like hanging fuzzy dice off your already clogged belay loop. It sucks for lower outs, you basically need to rig a belay device below it to lower out. Not sure what you'd have to go through to lock it off for a penji... *** My silent partner freaked me the frick out a few years back when it failed the thumb spin test AFTER a day of aid. Basically mine went wierd in the cold, and would not lock up within an arm's length of slack being ripped through it if it had been sitting at the wrong angle at <40F (reproduceable at home in the freezer). I think the grease was to blame. I sent mine back to the factory and they found nothing wrong which was not what I wanted to hear... Gri-Gri (unmodified): Top Rope: Works great with a newer skinnier rope, but with a 10.5 fuzz job ou'll be tending to it a lot. I use a steel quick link to avoid the cross loading concern with a simple biner. Leading: Works OK, about like the solo-aid. Best to pile slack at your feet before a crux move. Aid: Works great! Lower outs, penjis, rapping back to the anchor all work pretty damn easy. Feeding rope is pretty easy, but a two hand job usually (one to thumb the cam, one to pull slack). That's all I've used.

In the old purple guidebook the description says 5.7, and up in the topo there is a nice little "5.8" notation at the crux (well, what I thought was the crux, about 30' short of the first set of anchors). My opinion is that it's along the lines of Double Cross. If you are good at slab, it feels 5.7, if you are a gym gumby jug hauling noob, it feels 5.9 as you stare at your last runner 20' back taunting you with visions of the red smiley face you'll make if you peel and cheese grater down. Double Cross feels 5.7- to me now, but felt 5.9 the first time I hang dogged up it. A few years back we arrived at the base to find a big dry blood splatter on the approach almost plum below the first anchors. One party behind us turned back. 2 years back we found a big cairn with a not about some chick dieing there a year before. We held in the urge to trundle the cairn.

Checkout: http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=441042&msg=441072#msg441072 Here's another thread. I especially like the simplicity of the 3 section one. http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.html?topic_id=455460&msg=456078#msg456078

Check out www.widefetish.com Russ at Fishproducts.com put it up, quite entertaining and informative. Useful tips like buying wet suits for cheap at garage sales to cutup for armor, stuff like that. I wish we had a rig like the bay area crew has for their Wide Wednesdays!

Mine comes to $6.57. I'm actually surprised it was that much. I'm pretty sure I have it all now. What the hell did I buy there last year?

I run with a Bibler Big Wall bivy bag, since it also goes on my valley trips. I wish it had an angled entry, or a "L" pattern zipper, as the simple envelope style entry is a real pain to get in and out of in a portaledge, or heck even on some decent natural ledges at times. Live and learn... For a synthetic bag I have a 20 degree north face I got on sale that i've taken down to the low teens with just the bivy sack no problem. I also have a mountain hardware 45 degree bag I've been comfy in down to freezing or so. In both cases I went for what was on sale and not too heavy.

I was inspired by that system. However, as stated, I wanted horizontal. Mine was never meant as anything other than gear storage, and is not setup for rolling up like the mountain tools california roll. Next, I put hanging loops on the top setup for 16" center to center studs so I could just punch some burly screws into the studs and hang it. Mine is in a small storage room off of the garage that is about 5' tall, and it works OK. My main problem is I need to get some metal shelves to put the rest of. It just piles up and gets in the way. I also keep breaking the light bulb in there with the back of my head. Argh...

Hey moof, nice rack but what I really like is your rack bag/tarp thingy. Did you buy that or make it yourself? I made it myself. I had a couple retired 4' slings, and a few new widgets for my industrial sewing machine to try out, so that's what I made. Even more fun is making russian aiders (about 9 pairs shipped to folks so far).

Not quite up to Billcoe's immensity, but still more crap than I can carry in one shot: White bag at the bottom has all my ironmongery.

Obviously you screwed up the bubble test. Fill it up extra hard and stand on it in the bath tub to get extra pressure. Work it section by section till you find the leak. If it small (as it should be for a slow leak) the a dab of seam grip works real well (clean the spot as needed of course), even in the field. For bigger stuff they sell a repair kit with patches, a popsicle stick, and a boilable pouch of repair goo just for thermarests. Alternatively seam grip and a scrap of pack cloth would work just as well, though it might take longer to dry.

Howdy all. Just be warned that the novelty is rapidly wearing off, so pretty much once the weather starts getting decent I'm gonna stop making them till at least next winter. I posted full instructions, with pictures over on bigwalls.com as well. So if you have a burly sewing machine and have half a clue what you are doing you can readily make these yourself. Open source russian aiders on bigwalls.com I'm also working on some open source instructions for some aid trees (which I DO NOT SELL).

What a blast (of wind)!! We even got serenaded (badly) by Ivan! Titles included "Don't worry, be happy" (I wasn't worried, just fricking cold!), and many more.

And you're ordering Russian Aiders why then? I'm so confused...

Ivan, If the Sunday report holds up, I'll join you. I'll make sure to pack the aid gear as plan B in case of ickiness. Nothing hard though, I'm still doughy and soft in the middle (and the top, and especially the bottom).

I'm headed to Jtree for 2 weeks to climb with friends. Looking for someone to split gas and driving with. I don't mind partnering up with you, or sticking to my crowd (it is a laidback, pretty social crew we sually mix it up a lot). My intent is to blast Saturday Morning way early and do it in a push, starting as early as I can. Coming back would be similar, blast Saturday night, or very early Sunday. PM me if intersted.

MWK, I'm also busy this weekend, but next weekend (Nov. 10-11) I'd be available to do some trad at Smith or Beacon. I lead ~5.8 on gear, follow ~10- on bolts. Have a large trad rack, but do very little sport. I'm coming off of a year long break, so I am not climbing very hard yet.

I'm also looking for partner(s): Weekend cragging around PDX, trad or aid, I'll follow on sport, but it's not really my thing. I'd love to tag along with a crowd as I'll probably flame out before most, and I'd hate that to shorten someone elses fun entirely. Evening gym at PRG? Only been once, liked it, but really can only entertain myself so long bouldering. I'm pretty recent to the area, but had to take the whole summer season off due to wrist problems (Doc gave green light, at least says it won't cause additional permanent damage...), so my free climbing is sucky weak. Been climbing ~8 years, trad and aid. No dead partners (well none that I feel guilty about...). Monster rack.