Plaidman

Here is some more crappy video from my phone of Rick McDonald-

WORD!!! The scene with the guy jumping across the void to the cliff face with ice axes was the best. I thought the least that would have happened if he had done that in real life was that it would have ripped his shoulders out of their sockets and then ripped his arms completely off his body. But I have to say that the scene where the guy sets his pack down for a second and it starts sliding down the mountain was a good reminder to keep track of everything around you at all times on the mountain. Losing focus even for a second can have dire consequences. Especially if you happen to be carrying nitroglycerin around.

Thanks. Ivan now I can finish it without having to get dirty. Good job. Plaidman

Ivan got there first Ivan got there first Ivan got there first Ivan got there first!!!! ps, don't stick your thumb into a munter while rapping with one. Is that your thumb Bill? I have only rapped with a munter once as an experiment to see if it worked. It works. I never thought of putting my thumb in it though. I can see it is a bad idea. Plaidman

At least it was shot in Hi-Def. Somebody was High ..... on the wall. Or it could have been from the paint fumes.

It is.

It is just the highlights. Get it HIGHlights. I love puns. Plaidman

Good Luck Ivan. I know you are going to have a blast. Plaidman

I lost my Triple X girl friend that way too! Plaidman

I stole the idea from several other people before you. I have not done the 2nd pitch yet. Plaidman

Try it now Plaidman

Right On Joe!

This is a video I took with my phone while solo aiding Ground Zero at Beacon Rock. It took some work to convert the files from the file format that my phone uses. I converted it to AVI file format. Then I was able to dump it into Sony Vegas. That is a video editing program. I hacked the several small clips from my phone into one 13 min short video. Then I had to get another program to burn it onto a DVD. It was fun project. Almost as fun as the climbing. Ground Zero Solo

Great answers to these questions all. Right On!! to the climbing community for being helpful to someone just getting started. You all rock. Plaidman

I'll be there. FO Sure. East wind bring it on this winter in the Gorge.

Kenny that is the one. Jim and I, Rick and his buddy Steve where out there yesterday (Wed.)

btw, scott, that's a great pic i almost didnt recognize it from that angle! Here is some more:

Because that was her first time she had been up and I wanted to assist her and make sure she could make the move over the crux. Communication being difficult from Tree Ledge if there is a problem.

The bulge under the roof just off the belay on the 3rd pitch to get up on to the slab after Snag ledge. Right under where Ronda is standing in the picture. There is a new missing block just below the tree everyone uses to protect the Traverse on Snag Ledge.

Jim O. and I noticed that in the last couple of weeks there are some flakes that are missing underneath the bulge just up from the belay for the 3rd pitch. At least 4 are missing there. The flakes have been loose for years, and need to be left there as the whole flakes system is like a puzzle. By removing the loose ones may degrade the system to the point that the necessary ledges to gain the horn at the top of the bulge will be more difficult to get to. If it is the seconds that are yarding on these flakes and pulling them off then leaders and locals need to instruct the uninitiated ones on what is what and show them how to pull down and not out on loose holds. Whatever is happening on this feature needs to stop if it is human caused. We also noticed that the block that is below the tree at the top of Cruising is missing on the Traverse on the Snag Ledge. Plaidman

While I am not working I can climb during the week and do other things with my weekends. Like travel to far places to climb elsewhere. We may be going to Leavenworth. But I will let you know. Plaidman

The wind will be light - Today: Sunny, with a high near 89. North northeast wind between 6 and 8 mph. NOAA Weather Beacon Rock I will have some eye candy out on the rock with me. And it is not me with my shirt off. Jim and I will be at The Land Of The Little People or the corner or around the rock somewhere. See ya Plaidman

Cool, when were you on it last? - Josh Portland, OR Last Sunday. I was told that a large hold at the bottom just fell off

If that is the case I am moving. Plaidman

Trip: Smith Rock Detour - Smith Rock Oregon - Various Date: 9/19/2009 Trip Report: The Smith Rock Detour is an EVENT not to be missed. I had the time of my life. Thank you Climb Max Mountaineering for putting together this unique event. You all did a fantastic job. I headed down on Friday night and split gas with someone to manage expenses. For the price of registration, the Smith Rock Detour was so way worth it. The Self Rescue Clinic was awesome. Our instructor from Timberline Mountain Guides Ben Randall was very knowledgeable and was clear and had great ways of communicating the voluminous amount of information. Escaping the belay, setting up hauling systems and transferring a load from one system to another were the topics covered. Knots, preventative measures, pick off were also covered. Ben would show us what to do and why. His demonstrations and explanations of the various systems were followed by hands on practice. Our team of three set out to build a 5 to 1 hauling system and ended up with an 18 to 1. Helpful if you are going to bring your car up to the belay to listen to tunes. Ben assisted us on how to build the 5 to 1 correctly. We all had a blast. After 5 hours of instruction I had info leaking out of my ears. Thumbs up to Timberline Mountain Guides. After all that I need to go climb. Two of the guys from the clinic jumped on a couple of routes and then it was on to dinner and hanging out with all the folks. Climbers are the most awesome bunch of folks to hang with. Then it was the Reel Rock Film Tour. WOW. It is a must see. Alex Honnold's solo of Half Dome was way off the sick scale. I shook my head in utter amazement. The assents by the North Face team and Chris Sharma were awe inspiring. Breakfast was great and then some more climbing. My partner led The Outsiders 5.9 At one point he said hey there is a birds egg perched on the ledge in this Hueco. It was further in yesterday. Somebody's rope is going to knock this off and make a mess. It is cracked though. So after finishing it I climbed up, and there it was a little egg. I climbed past and on the way down I thought I would remove the objective danger. And I as I started to lift the egg off the mother pigeon that was hiding in the hole almost peck my finger off. I sure was glad I didn't let go of my repel line. I dropped the egg and had to yell EGGGGG! Everyone ran away and the egg smacked the ground and my partner yelled "Hey the baby bird just flew away out of the egg after it hit the ground." Everyone said no way. He said was way. We didn't believe him. Man the mother bird was pissed off cause the next guy that went up yelled after the bird attached him when he tried to grab a handhold. The egg was cracked so I think the mother was pushing it out of her nest. I was just trying to make sure the muck didn't end up in some girls hair. Bad hair day at Smith. Not fun. Then it was on to the heinous start of 9 Gallon Buckets. I struggled for 15 mins. trying to get up on it. I then used the old stand on your helmet trick taught to me by an inspired climber trying to get on the Surf Board on Ancient Art at Fischer Towers Utah. I had always wanted to try that. It worked well enough to get me to the big Hueco on the next route to the right. Then I had to traverse over to Nine Gallon Buckets. Totally cheated and only made it to the first anchor. Dismal performance. I was told that the start now is something like 5.11. It is definitely mean and hard. I guess I will have to get meaner or lighter. Lighter probably. Maybe harder. The weekend was a grand adventure with benefits to be had from the new climbing partners I met, the added knowledge from the clinic, and the Reel Rock Film Tour are just the highlights. The Smith Rock Detour is now going to be on the list of must attend events from now on. Plaidman Approach Notes: Drive to the Park and have fun