thedirtbag

Glad you guys dig this. Another cool aspect, this was directed by non-other than Mikey Schaefer, wallstein. Not a bad year for Mikey. You know between crushing routes and making films.

[video:vimeo]9733721 This is the first installment. [video:vimeo]10092464 the second [video:vimeo]10980209 and the third. Like I said early the last one will go up on www.arcteryx.com tomorrow. So pumped this project is over. I leave for the valley on monday.

Yeah, last I heard there are no plans of marketing these things. It was just Matt's attempt to keep climbing interesting.

In this case the flake moves so much, that if you were to place a standard cam and weight the lobes would push outward, moving the flake enough that the cam would pop. Essentially to climb it with out bolting, he had to come up with this new device. WE did five total episodes on the process. Essentially, it was really scary, but he didn't want to bolt this. Matt explains it pretty in depth in the earlier videos.

It was filmed two weekends ago. The fixed line stayed up so we could change angles on yesterday's shoot. That footage posts tomorrow on arcteryx's website. Matt was doing mid week attempts and we tried our best to keep every one notified. I took some whippers on the anti-cam when he was testing it but there is no way you could get me out on the flake.

[video:vimeo]11641154 didn't load the first time...sorry. Rookie mistake.

[video:vimeo] I'm kind of a lurker here on CC. I just finished up this year and half long video project. One of the characters we followed through the course of the season was Matt Maddaloni. He designed this new piece of gear (The anti-cam) and put it to use on a death flake just right of the grand wall. Kind of intense. We went down to the wire to get it filmed. Please excuse the self promotion...I think it's just a really cool story. I keep looking for flakes at Index to use it on. fitz

Dane, Awesome thought. How long will the donation box be open for? I'm away, but I know it takes a bunch of ovals to aid climb? Oh man, I was wondering if those things would ever get used again. I needed them so badly when I was 23. It's such an awesome sentiment, and I just spent the last ten minutes thinking through all the people that offered me a decent meal, or bought me a beer, or let me stay at their house, or loaned me a rope (seriously, I probably would have eaten shit soloing in Western OZ if a friend didn't pass along a rope). I remember I was at the bar near the base of the dirt road to the Needles(Cali version), pumping quarters into the pool table while it was starting to snow, and this guy walks up with the coldest, best pitcher of Sierra Nevada, puts it down on the table and before he turns to leave he says "That's for trying hard." The funny thing, he must have seen me that day, because I had been trying hard, I had been pushing it, way out there on the sharp end. The guy just walked out. I think his name was mark. That made me feel like part of the community. Dare I say it -- but maybe all the haters out there were never really at the heart of the community in the first place. They missed out. They are missing out. Thanks Dane.

Should be good. Awesome photos from Sarah's husband Jimmy Surette who has climbed all over the world.

A friend of mine of is writing a book about mountain folk. He's got a chapter that he wants to dedicate to creating a lexicon of sorts and wanted to include climbing lingo. There is the obvious stuff, but I figured I'd check and see if anyone had any humorous additions that I could pass along to him as he is frickin hilarious wordsmith. offwidth (n) 1.a crack smaller in width than a climber's shoulder but too large to jam fists. offwidthing 1. the act of grown individuals attempting to lodge themselves in a womb like structure. Most attempts are futile and typically capped by tears or loud swearing. maybe that helps. I was just checking to see if anyone else is as bored as I am on Tuesday morning.

I'm glad you all dug the trip. It was pretty fun and really not all that bad. It kind of ads this interesting element to it. Some of the other trips easily possible. Exit 32 -- this is pretty easy when you use the busses. It drops you off about a 3/4 of a mile from the trailhead. I also tried making that journey from Seattle without the bus -- just a bike. Not recommended. The pack definitely takes it out of you and it ends up being some ridiculous amount of miles -- it whooped me. Index -- From Seattle you can take the 510 or 511's up to Everett, which is almost as quick as driving. And the 270 goes out to Gold Bar...almost to Reiter Rd. Pedaling on US 2 isn't my cup of tea, but it's only seven miles from Index to the Gold Bar bus stop. Does anyone know if you can take Reiter Rd all the way to Index town walls? That would be more pleasant, but I haven't tried it.

Trip: 3-o'clock rock - silentrunning--car-less Date: 9/29/2008 Trip Report: I know the route has been written about plenty, but this is with a twist. After the truck went on the disabled list this summer, I got interested in car-less recreation. The catch was I usually only have time to squeeze in day trips, so the thought of using a bike and bus to make days count was a little daunting, but I ended up ripping some good mountain bike rides and doing some cragging. Something more substantial was in order -- how far could I take the bus/bike in a day approach. After studying bus schedules, a trip materialized from the matrix of timetables. Silver Linings -- in a day and back again. When I plugged it into the King Country trip planner, the computer fired back "Trip not Possible." It was so on. Besides, I've never experienced an unplanned bivy in the burbs... 5:30 A.M. It's all about the Washingtons baby... After a 4:30 alpine start, we took the 44 to the U District. We onsighted this, barely due to a fight between a slightly nervous mentally handicapped man who left his bag in aisle and surly drunk woman. 510 to Everett We didn't stick this first go. This transfer is the one of two distinct cruxes. If you don't make the 6:07 am bus...you're done. There were three bikers ahead of us on the first go. So we returned a few weeks later and stuck it. We did not use fixed lines. The 510 links to the 202 to Smokey Point. Here comes the second crux. The transfer to the 230 to Darrington. There's only three minutes to transfer and it's the last bus to Darrington that morning, so you'd be enjoying the 7-11 at Smokey Point for a while if you missed it for some reason. We stuck it. F three miles on the mountain loop to the 7(?) gravel road climb, which was actually pretty cruiser -- about an hour. We stomped up the trail, fired the route, and were down by 2:30 or so. look at all the jugs...it's kind of like thailand. Reversed it back to Seattle. The last bus out of Darrington leaves at 7:17 pm. We picked Silent Runnings just because we didn't know how long the bike ride would take, but really for a strong party you could probably rip something on exfoliation. We were just playing it safer. We were back at the Darrington bus stop by 4. pretty sweet. it makes the mundane task of getting there a little less mundane. and it cost... $8.75 for two. If you want more information you can listen to a story I did for my business by clicking Dirtbag Diaries Epi 21 here. Gear Notes: tworopesdrawsAcoupletcusandone3cam Approach Notes: FromI-5and45thAve510toEverettat607AmFromEverettterminal202toitsterminusCatchthe230toDarrington

Nice write up Patrick. I make my living in the climbing community and as the years have passed I've found myself slipping out of it. Growing jaded. Climbing with Ryan this summer was a breath of fresh air. Ryan was what was right inside of our community. Friendly. Humble. Motivated by adventure, friendship and an honest need to push himself. His first ascents will keep testing climbers, but the real legacy seems to be his knack for creating friendships and introducing like minds to one another. Last Thursday, Ryan managed to pry me away from the computer. The east face of Liberty Bell disappeared beneath us in a few cold hours. We lingered in the summit sunshine looking out at the peaks and mountain bike trails that were quickly becoming his playground. He pointed out the distant switchbacks of cutthroat pass and granite crags he wanted to visit. The joy he got out of being in these mountains was both obvious and infectious. At the end of the day, there were no blow by blow recaps of on-climb heroics or debating of grades. He simply asked "okay, what's next?" My thoughts are with Jen.