NateF

Thanks Bill. With this stuff out there, I hope people cancel their debit cards and just use credit. You pretty much have to be nuts to use a debit card these days, too easy to get money sucked directly out of your account, not sure how easy it is to recover. It's a bit of a pain to get your credit card hacked, but at least you can just deny the charges without $ ever leaving your account or having your funds tied up while it's sorted out. Had both debit card and credit card #s hacked a few years ago, luckily they weren't able to use the debit card, but they spent $5K in Vegas on my credit card. Now I go to the bank and ask the teller for cash, I don't want some card number providing a conduit to pull $ out of my accounts.

good idea curtveld. that made me think of the little ski area in Leavenworth, it would be a fun spot to get your turns on for cheap, with apres-ski burgers and table tennis. i forget if they have a rope tow or a poma.

Seattle is perfect if you want to have a decent job and a social life while being close to lots of outdoor recreation opportunities. But, you will drive about an hour or more each way to go climbing, skiing, mountain biking or hiking after work. If rock climbing is your passion, and you want to climb every day somewhere besides a gym or manufactured outdoor wall, I'll do you the favor of recommending you don't move here. If the job is important to you and you're OK with gym climbing, sea kayaking, road biking, or sailing after work, and would love to take weekend road trips and vacations to check out the volcanoes, alpine crags, glaciers, old growth forests, and phenomenal wilderness and variety of the PNW, this is your place. You may find something here that you love even more than cragging after work. There are plenty of great climbing opportunities within 1-4 hour driving range, and there are tons of climbers here willing to spend the time in the car, it's not difficult to find partners. It can be difficult to get out enough unless your schedule is flexible.

Looking for ski partner for tomorrow, thinking s.side Rainier will be best bet. leaving from seattle.

ah, the angry, the bitter, the assumptive. great attitude. someone will appreciate your good deed yesman. i'm 2 for 2 on sticking ropes there. no, i haven't left one there, but i can see how it might happen.

Mark's approach may be open to criticism, but I can't believe everyone is supportive of people camping out on a route, expecting others to politely remind them that someone else may want to climb it. I would prefer if the etiquette were the reverse - if a group is hoping to tie up a route for hours, they could ask those around if that's going to work for them. The mounties at least have the courtesy to warn people when they plan to tie up a crag, and they get the bejeesus bashed out of them for doing it. Here, the majority seems to be promoting the sort of thing most people really hate about cragging, probably only because Mark made some stigmatizing comments about the "cell phone generation" and "respecting the leader" etc. Simply conceding the best crags with the best access to whatever circus may arrive seems to be a poor solution to a population boom which shows no signs of reversing.

These people are just people who don't happen to be driving cars at the moment. 90% of them will only offer you as much courtesy to you as is demanded from them. I would feel free to give them a few toots from your horn to let them know you're there. Camping out on routes is disrespectful to other climbers, even if you offer them your top-rope. This sort of situation is a lot like American politics. The world will devolve into the worst-case you're willing to accept unless resistance is applied. Speak up, try to get what you want, it is possible to turn the world around you into a place you want to live in.

That was a separate incident

Due to the amount of traffic the route gets I can imagine another anchor would only increase the clusterf*$k factor if 3 raps became the descent standard. No need for a third bolted anchor on the route.

First thing comes to mind is Silent Running on 3o'clock rock in Darrington. More like 5.9ish slab, but cruxes are very well protected. There's always Condorphamine Addiction, which also has well-protected cruxes and some easy pitches that are very comfortable to lead.

Skinheads climbing cracks to smashing pumpkins... and a bunch of grumps nitpicking and belittling them! This is awesome! Seriously, that's pretty darn good video, must've taken some effort.

That is really sad, what a terrible accident. Very good people, I'm really sorry to hear this news. Tom & Lucca taught a WFR course I took about 8 years ago or so. Tom was a great motivator & educator, he reached everyone and established a really positive environment for the class. During breaks he'd play hackysack with the students. Condolences to family and friends, I'm sure Tom made a difference in a lot of people's lives.

You mean the version of the story told at the party and then posted 3rd hand on the internet wasn't factually correct! No freakin' way, I feel so FOX newsed.

Clearly all three should have been sequestered by NPS staff, held in restraints at camp Muir and fed pudding until some time in July. It's difficult to disagree with some of the points made about foam pads and such that may have made a difference, but the site really comes off as judgemental know-it-all-ism, and leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Kind of spoils any of the potential positive educational possibilities they are striving towards. Hopefully they are as welcoming of constructive feedback as they are willing to dish it out!

nice. i think the norm is to belay just below the last bulge, then add a very short easy pitch to top out. sounds like this may be avoidable with a 70m rope?

I don't solo or even climb all that much, but I do appreciate alone time. Interesting comments from Sherri. I can understand that there are people at a whole other level of climbing, fitness, mental control, and who want to challenge themselves in this way, that they even feel safe in doing so. For me the occasional runout is the closest I will come to entering that sort of mindspace. I have had a euphoric feeling a few times climbing way out past that last bolt or piece, a calmness and feeling of serenity, the lack of options has a way of erasing doubts and improving your technique and trust in yourself. Seems it can bring out your best climbing. Alternatively, it seems quite easy to climb like a bumbling buffoon with the safety of a toprope. Ever second a pitch and tell your buddy, "wow, nice lead, that was hard!", and their response is "huh, I thought it wasn't that bad, you could easily lead it". I'm curious to hear from the soloists out there, does it bring out the best of your climbing when you're soloing something that is close to your technical limit?

Avoid climbing with cranky and bitter partners who are prone to negativity.

yeah! uhhhhm, which one should I buy? they're all different.

I have a Petzl Ecrin rock. Likes: will protect my noggin from dropped objects and rockfall. when asked whether my fatality could have been prevented by wearing a helmet, the answer is "no, he had one on". Dislikes: sits a bit high on the noggin', always bump my head on roofs. not fashionable in the least, an old bike helmet would at least qualify as shabby sheik. implies my status as a mediocre and not very hip climber at many crags. In other words, it's perfect for me! But I would get a foam jobber ala Petzl Meteor next time around, seems better for falling and smacking head on rock than the hard-hat.

Check Mike Gauthier's blog if you haven't found it already: http://www.mountrainierclimbing.blogspot.com/ It often has info or links to recent conditions.. I thought I read in there that Ingraham direct was opening up not looking too good a few weeks ago. I've only been up there once, but for what it's worth, guided parties left Muir around midnight when I was there a bit later in the season, I would imagine they may vary it depending on temp's, rockfall & avie hazard.

A friend of mine was involved in an accident descending the Emmons a few years back. They were quite slow, and I remember her saying she thought they should have turned around on the ascent instead of going up to summit. Anyway, on the way down, someone fell, taking the rope team down. I believe conditions were firm snow. Injuries were bad enough (1 had broken ankle & 1 had broken leg?) that some of them had to stay put in deteriorating weather. I think they had a sleeping bag but no tent. Fortunately for them, a few climbing rangers had been observing their progress and saw the fall. They headed up to help out and eventually got them out of there in a helicopter, I believe after a long night. My friend's opinion is that they would have died from exposure overnight if the rangers had not come up with a tent. Snow conditions are not always favorable for arrest. Sometimes too hard, other times too soft. I was descending a steep snow slope once on a spring morning. Conditions were softer than I would have liked, but I headed down anyway. A small amount of snow sluffed from underneath me and set me into motion. I got into arrest position as I began to pick up speed. I was digging my boots and pick in, but the surface snow was just too soft. All I could think of was the cliff a few hundred feet below - I had to stop. Lucky for me, there was a small area where the snow was firmer, and where there was a little depression in the snow, like a moat was beginning to form. My feet stuck into the lip of the moat and I stopped, only to watch the snow that had been entrained around me slide ever so gracefully off the edge of the cliff - now only 100' away. That little feature in the snow kept me out of the papers. Although my axe did not do much, getting stable in arrest position really helped me keep control when I hit that teeny little feature in the snow. Thank you little feature in the snow!

I see "experienced climbers" set themselves up for rope problems pretty frequently. As Marc mentions, this is usually when they are pulling really hard and only mindful of the moves or can not avoid the risk and are willing to take it. Sometimes it seems to be just plain ignorance of the problem or complete lack of attention. The gym may seem safe, but I see ropes draped over heels or people stepping behind the rope pretty frequently. As a belayer, I try to make sure my leader does not do this, and usually they appreciate it. There was a Tieton trip report posted here pretty recently with a few pictures of someone leading with the rope hooked all the way up at his butt cheek.

Sorry to hear about this accident whether the fall was intentional or accidental, on a bolt or on gear... I'll be curious to hear how the gear failed & what caused the flip.

Gotcha, I see what you're saying. I wasn't thinking in context with Korup's setup

Oops, Korup beat me to the Petzl link. Gary, I'm a little confused by what you're saying about the pulley effect. The 3kN (or 5kN as the case may be) calculated IS the shock load on the last piece. It is not half that value. Scary, but real.