hafilax

I'm surprised nobody's jumped on the bolt ladder on the 6th pitch. Apparently the slab under the crack goes at 10c or so but I'm not sure that anyone has freed it yet. It's hard to imagine good climbing coming out of something called Crap Crags. If it isn't nice it will be hard to keep the Europa name attached. I just hope the monumental effort involved is worthwhile and that it doesn't turn into a White Elephant. Jeff must have felt that once the project was started that it must be completed. I hope he gets some of the $6000 back. There's no way I would ever take out a loan to clean up a route but to each his own...

I thought this was going to be about Leroy Jemkins.

I've been looking at the Petzl Mini Traxion for solo top rope, light hauling and as a crevasse rescue tool. They're quite pricey though.

I lived with a couple of Akita-lab crosses and they barked at everything that moved. They also ate the house. They chewed the sofa, the living room chairs... I came home one night from the bar and the dogs had torn apart my roommates pillows and comforter and were getting to work on the mattress. Albeit, this was in university and the dogs weren't getting the exercise and attention that breed requires. I guess my point is that the watch dog breeds tend to be jumpy and intelligent which makes them both easy to train but extremely demanding of your care and attention. If you couldn't tell, living with those dogs has really soured my opinion of them as pets so take that into consideration. From a dog breed website: "The Akita craves mental and physical exercise every day. It needs to run in a safe area or on leash for a long jog. The owner of an Akita should be an energetic and consistent disciplinarian in order to handle this large and powerful dog breed. With sufficient exercise and training, an Akita can be a quiet and well-mannered house dog." I can't stand the watch dog breeds because I loathe the sound of barking but if that's what you're looking for... Some people don't mind it. It depends on the dog of course but it usually isn't that hard to get cats and dogs to cohabitate.

What about the space suit? Those guys on the moon weren't exactly doing the Fosbury flop. Better get some serious gaters. Slashing your pants could be fatal.

It's especially interesting because it's solid CO2. I wonder how well ice tools will work on a CO2-fall? Who will be the first to climb CO2I 5?

If you bring ESS then all farts can be blamed on the sandwiches both before and after consumption. Win <-> Win

Friends of mine were doing the Widowmaker Arete and left their car in the Grouse parking lot. Let's just say it took them a while and the police found the lonely car. Turns out the police, repeatedly called his cell (which was off), contacted his landlord and property manager to gain access to his house and searched for phone numbers of people to call and find out if everything was alright. THEY're looking out for whether you like it or not.

If you look at the Beal Joker, it has single (8.2kN), half(6kN) and twin(9.5kN) impact force ratings so it can be used in each of those applications with trade offs. As expected the twin has the highest impact force but the half is significantly lower than the single. The measurement system is as follows: * Values required by the CE standard: • Single rope: Impact force lower than 12 kN holding the first factor 1.77 fall with a mass of 80 kg. • Half rope: Impact force lower than 8 kN holding the first factor 1.77 fall with a mass of 55 kg. • Twin rope: Impact force lower than 12 kN holding the first factor 1.77 fall with a mass of 80 kg on 2 strands. They seem to assume that some impact force will be absorbed by the half rope system. Either that or using half ropes makes you 25kg lighter.

I went searching for some further insight to this perplexing issue and the first hit from google told me (mildly NSFW). So are lesbians allowed to climb with their SO? I see them at the climbing gym from time to time.

Firefox 2.0

There was a spray filled discussion of The Path in the Gripped forums that even prompted Sonnie to respond to the criticism on his blog (you'll have to search through to find the relevant posts).

I just noticed Bug's signature.

Well when you have multiple wives hens that's a different story

all replies were directly related to the idea of climbing with a SO you made it personal here Go mark those labs, the kids need to study them for the upcoming tests I was trying to subtly point out the pitfalls of projecting personal experiences by doing the same from the other point of view. Next time I'll be more explicit. Back to the labs.

I'm mostly arguing over language. I know these are all your own experiences but you are projecting them on to me when I read them so they are an attack. I therefore respond defensively. My point is date whomever the hell you want. Just don't tell me who I have to be with. In truth, I don't really care. I'm just avoiding the stack of lab books I have to mark.

I agree with this part. You people really don't want to date people with common interests to yours? Where do you draw the line then? I don't understand the rationale.

Boy, all those professional climber couples must be miserable. Poor Josune climbs with her husband which means that work, hobby and husband are all combined into what must be a living nightmare. Now I see why you guys are so hostile to new female posters. They're all sirens calling you to a life of anguish.

I'm guessing you don't want to get the new TLT Vertical Rentals. http://www.telemark-pyrenees.com/shop/product_info.php?cPath=1_48_50&products_id=3112

The USA seems to have done pretty well in the ISSF events over the year although China seems most dominant. Switzerland has had some strong competitors. I guess American shooters don't like to XC ski. Maybe if it was on horseback?

I don't know how people can make general claims about relationships. That's just arrogant and ignorant. Every relationship is different. There are plenty of perfectly happy climbing couples. "Hey Beth and Tommy, you seem so happy together and climb really well but honestly I think you should break up because climbing with your SO is stupid."

Technically I think that rope manufacturers recommend using 2 biners when clipping both doubles to a piece. That is a PITA in my experience. I read a recommendation, somewhere (on supertopo I think), that you can start off clipping them as twins and switch to doubles but you should avoid switching to twin after clipping as doubles. When using doubles with 2 seconds you often have to clip both ropes in order to protect both followers. Using 2 biners on each piece would be heavy and take for ever. All just rules of thumb of course. You do what you have to do.

It doesn't matter.

Maybe your SO. I quite enjoy climbing with mine.