tradhead

Blueberry Route on Exfoliation Dome. Not sure about road access this year, though.

Costco has stocked (last winter, don't know if they still have them or not) a 3 pack of rechargeable 1 watt Motorola radios with VOX microphones for each. I think they were around $80 for the set.

PDX indoor mixed climbing festival?

The weather is kind of lame this afternoon. It this thing still happening?

I own the smaller version of the Cierzo. It has worked well as a climbing daypack. I had to add a compression shock cord but other than that it has had no issues. It only weights ~6 oz but has been really durable and carries well considering it lacks any padding. No lid, but it has plenty of capacity for an 18L pack.

Tony, I can bring a gas hibachi. This time I'll bring a back-up propane tank too (unlike the spring BBQ!) Will

I've heard it argued that clipping the anchor sling's top biners the bolt hangers is best because there are less components (i.e potential failure points) in the anchor. I usually try to TR off the bolt hangers if the biners aren't bound up or cross-loaded, otherwise I'll use the chains, as the biners are likely the weak link in the anchor most of the time. I second staying away from aluminum rings for anything other than rapping.

Sorry for lack of clarity in my previous post. I was merely recommending an easy way for someone you know to become ordained so that they can perform the service if you can't find anyone else. I assumed that you wouldn't be the one becoming the minister...

Check out Universal Life Church for becoming ordained on-line. I know several ministers from there and was married by one as well!

The red camalot always wanted to get stuck on my last climbing trip as well. I still have it, but not without a fight...

Anyone have experience using 7.5mm twins for alpine rock? I've heard bad things about rope life if they're used for anything other than ice climbing, but haven't tried them myself.

How do you plan to use it primarily? Winter or summer? Front or backcountry? Do you plan to melt a lot of snow or use it more for cooking? All of the stoves already recommended are top notch in their respective intended application.

I know a few people that have had issues with the BD poles bending very easily due to thin walls and lack of heat treat... The old-school expanding mandrel works well until you build up some aluminum oxide inside the pole in my experience; sand paper usually does the trick to clean that up. Just my two cents.

If you invert the fuel canister, the stove could have problems with cavitation at the valve. The liquid fuel will change to gas as it expands at the valve, which will make the fuel flow to the burner uneven. The valve is at the top of the fuel canister for a reason.

I have a Meteor 3 and a HB carbon. For cragging, I really like the Meteor 3, but it seems a bit on the flimsy side for the mountains. The carbon is bomber, pretty comfy, not horribly heavy, but no longer made. I saw one on Craig's List yesterday for $15. Seemed like a good deal to me.

Way cool, Porter. Hope people use this!

Has anyone ever tried pouring water on a stuck cam in granite or basalt to make it easier to clean? It works like a charm in SE Utah sandstone but I always attributed the effectiveness to softening of the surrounding rock. It makes sense to me that it would help everywhere as cams hold in the rock by friction and the water will reduce the friction coefficient. Was wondering if the theoretical physics work in practice?

This might have been suggested already. Blake's post on this subject in climbing partners gave me the idea... If it makes sense to keep posting ridesharing under Climbing Partners, that works for me too. It just seems to me that with gas pushing $5/gallon and most climbing at least 100 miles from Seattle, carpooling is becoming less convenience and more necessity.

Altitude is a cartridge stove's friend, cold its enemy. Good luck using one in without another source of heat to keep the cartridge pressure up if the ambient temperature is under 40 deg. F or so. Expansion of the fuel requires heat which cools the cartridge which reduces the cartridge internal pressure. Without an external means of heating or pressurizing the cartridge, it's a downward spiral - more use = more cooling = less cartridge pressure = less heat. If the ambient air pressure is low enough (at 7000M? and above) I've been told that this offsets the above issue, but I've never been above 15000' personally so can't say for sure. I don't see an advantage for cartridge stoves over white gas for the Cascade volcanoes considering that the thermal energy per unit weight for both fuels is pretty comparable. It all comes down to stove design/efficiency for the given environmental conditions in my opinion.

I put texture on the first panel of my home wall and haven't liked it much. It's hard on the shoes and doesn't really have any use that I've found. I don't know how steep your wall is; mine is 25 deg. overhung on one half and 35 deg. on the other. Maybe it would be better on a lower angle wall? As Ken4ord suggests, I think that putting chips up for the feet is easier and more effective than texture. If you do end up wanting to try texture, make sure you get a good respirator with a cartridge rated for VOCs. Otherwise, the polyester resin will make you so high that it will be difficult to work. Those fumes are horrible for you.

Playground point has a bunch of moderates that you can TR according to the guidebook. It's supposed to be a pretty nice picnic spot as well.

Wow, quite a lot of work went into that document. Thanks for sharing it!

I may be speaking out of turn, having not climbed the W Ridge before, but it seems to me that if you're concerned about the weight of boots why not wait until August or September?

If it were me and I thought I'd hit some bad weather, I'd bring a tarp instead of a tent. Way lighter and you can use it more places on-route than a tent. Maybe not as warm, but when I climbed the route in September a few years back a 40 degree sleeping bag by itself was plenty of insulation.

Yeah, the French are civilized enough to at least hose down their streets every morning to remove the previous day's worth of cigarette butts, dog feces, and garbage...