LostCamKenny

Nice pics... looks like the weather was pretty nice up there.

The sleeping bag is designed to take your body heat and use that to warm the space inside - pretty common knowledge, I'm sure. By wearing too much to sleep you are doing two things (that I see): 1. Your body heat has much more to go through in order to get in between you and the bag, and 2. when your body heat does finally heat up the inside of the bag you will be wearing these extra layers that will make you even warmer and then the need to shed these layers will probably result. My advice: Let the bag do its job. Wear a base layer to sleep (i.e. long johns and a poly long-sleeved top, and a beanie) and see if that doesn't keep you warm enough. This is what I wear and I have never had a problem being too hot or too cold at altitude. Keep in mind, though, that people can react differently to the same conditions. The denali jacket was probably overkill. If you are a bit chilly when you first get all the way in your bag with just a base layer on, wait for a few minutes... your body heat hasn't warmed the space up yet. Once it does you should be ok. I'm not sure how attached you are to your down bag, but a synthetic bag of equal temp rating should keep you just as warm (even when soaked with sweat, water, beer, whatever). And the weight difference isn't all that noticable. Another little tip for sleeping/keeping warm at altitude: Eat something before you go to sleep - this keeps your metabolism going for a while, and thus your body is generating heat longer.

Yeah, so take that...!

clove both bolts and then clip your PAS to on of them - if you are multipitching. OR... Use one PAS and the rope cloved to the anchor. When I first started I had 2 PAS's, but that means that you have an extra biner clipped to your gear loop. 1 PAS is sufficient if you are cloving the rope too. But its what you are comfortable with... don't do it if you are not comfortable with it!

Agreed!

What an epic!!! Glad you were able to tell the tale.... looking forward to seeing the pics - no rush of course. Heal fast!

God, ain't that the truth!

Woah, that is some list! Call Next Adventure and talk to them and let them know what you lost. They buy used gear and if you could talk to them before they have a chance to buy any of what was stolen from you then you might see it again. Criminals are stupid. Cheers. Keep us updated on this matter.

Better count me out. Is it hall pass time yet? I was gonna call you tonight - I swear!

This friday through the following thursday, after 1pm - just give a call, Joe!

We all need encouragement - even if it is only on the computer.

You are sooooo clever

I'll start them off slowly - first I'll have them understand basic physics and the calculus behind the mathematics. Then once they've mastered that I'll teach them the medium they are working with and how to investigate the place where they want to place the piece that they want to use and the importance of making sure that the rock surrounding the piece is solid. Then they will begin by learning nuts - how to seat them, how to oppose them. (They won't climb anything yet: they are just learning the gear.) After a while of playing with the nuts, they will move on to hexes and learn the proper passive and active ways of using them. Being mathematically inclined will help them understand the great benefits of a camming hex and how strong they actually are. They still aren't climbing with this gear yet, but I'd let them hang on it at ground level to illustrate that it will hold when placed correctly. After they have a good solid base of understanding for the passive stuff then they will learn the similarities and differences of the active cams. I'll save pitons for later, since they are not used nearly as much as they used to be, but it is important that they know about them. When they are teenagers hopefully they will be able to lead me up some hard stuff. They will learn a rack the way I believe it should be learned - passive gear first, then the spring-loaded cams. Then they will go and clip bolts and establish 5.20!

Yet another brilliant reason to carry hexes, and using them to extend the range of passive nuts - that's just good use of your gear! BD hexes are good for bailing - that's the only reason I'd carry their hexes, but since I am not bailing all that often I won't be buying any soon. I use the three smallest rockcentrics quite a bit and when they bite they are better than ANY cam - BD, Metolius, experimental DMM, or whatever!

When I am working I am 5 minutes from Beacon and when I get off I head directly there. Will climb with almost anyone, so long as you are not a douchebag. PM me if interested...

Heathen! Pinky rules! What other piece has its own fan site? Pinky Yes, yes... pinky is the only tricam that makes it onto my rack regularly.

BD camalots - purple through blue; metolius tcu's - purple through red; set of nuts (mine are a random assortment from several manufactuerers); set of hexes (again, mine are a random assortment, though I have a full set of Wild Country Rockcentrics). As far as the hexes are concerned, I don't carry all the larger sizes on all routes but I do add them when I know I might need them. When choosing hexes I think it is important to understand the idea behind placing one. BD hexes are ok and work just fine, but metolius curve hexes (even if they are on wires)and wild country rockcentrics (served on slings) have curved sides to provide more camming action when they come under load, and therefore place a bit easier and set stronger. With the copius camming device choices out there I think the passive gear gets overlooked, especially the hexes. Many people think that cams are best because they can be placed quickly and they are very strong. Both of those points a valid, but what they also need to unserstand is that the cams have moving parts and thus they will walk if they are not slung with long slings - they may walk (and get stuck) even if they are slung with a long sling. I am speaking from experience, here - there is a reason I post as LCK. And as a general rule, four-lobed cams are stronger but walk more, and three-lobed cams (tcu's) walk less and are not as strong. Having a good set of nuts and a good set of hexes is the best start and then add the cams as you need them. And be careful who you ask about the perfect rack - if you ask an old timer or someone who has been climbing a long time (as I did) you'll get an answer like: "Aw, all we had was hexes and nuts and we did it - we never had any of these cams" Of course if money is no object the sky's the limit - get it all! its all cool shit anyway!

Go real fast... How many times have you guys done it to get it down to that time, I wonder...

Sounds like you guys had a real kick-ass time! I think you should take a few more pictures though Will Beacon ever be exciting for ya again?

Very nice! Now - I wonder - if either of you had injured your strumming hand too badly could you have flipped the guitar around and played it with the other hand? That would really have added spice to your TR if you could have reported that...

Eastern Oregon, about 18 miles from the North Powder exit from I-84

Don't know if anyone is still following this thread - or if anyone cares anymore, but beacon is "scheduled" to open on the 22nd after 8am... five weeks late! Make that 5 months late WTF?!? The birds have been flying for nearly a month already... F#@king politics!

I must admit that I am not computer-saavy enough to know how to do this... suggestions?

Yup... that guide led us way off course the second day out climbing and we didn't find the lower and upper parker creek walls until late in the day when we were tired from hiking and searching all day. They fail to mention that you need to hike over some low angle slabs before you can access the trail up the gully. We hiked about a mile and a half out of the way and around in circles looking for it and when we came out further around by the sw end of Hoffer Lakes we finally saw it - since it wasn't blocked by the slabs. I'm still going back to get lee's and angel sometime. Jensen climbed the slabs out there? Did not know that... As far as being an unwitting victim to the guide book BS, I lucked out. It was a birthday present in 2005, so I never paid anything for it And I broke up with the broad that gave it to me Makes my day to know this now!

Trip: The Blues: Adventures with Yeti and Prairie Dog - Zig Zag A Roof Date: 7/3/2009 Trip Report: I'd been reading about Oregon's most accessible granite for several years now in a guide book that I've had for quite a while now, and it was just going to be a matter of time before the idea to make a pilgrimage across the state to investigate this little-climbed area became so over-powering that I had to go. Con-vincing Dan (aka Prairie Dog) to sign on for this rediculous quest wasn't hard since he is desparate for rock - considering that he is locked up in his gym nearly 95% of the time Originally, our goal was to climb all three of the routes on these, the unknown Oregon granite slabs (oh how I love slabs ) but snow blocked our approach to two of them (Angel Peak and Lees Peak) and we were not prepared for a snow approach, so with regret, we resigned the plan to another day and went forward with the plan to climb the most accessible of the routes, which lies on Gunsight Dome: The objective from camp The forgotten lines: Angel Peak on the right and Lees Peak on the left - you can just make out the slabs in this pic There was even snow at the base of the route we could get to - damn, I knew I shoulda brought my axe and boots but instead I was stuck with my approach shoes that got soaked anyway As we studied the guide for beta we discovered that the route was much easier than either of us realized. The guide described three pitches, but we scrambled the first pitch before Prairie Dog suggested we rope up for the runout second pitch on a diagonally situated seam that had no/little pro. I placed what I could for Dan on the follow before coming to the intersecting crack and a bent-over pin that I reluctantly tied off. Yeah, that boulder is just sitting there on the slab as Dan gets ready to traverse below it - it was scary looking up at it and even worse when you got above it and looked down Above the pin I was able to find a suitable spot for an anchor... And above the anchor I was thrilled to discover that there was route booty (look closly in the shadow), an old .5 U-stem camalot. It came out easily and I was shocked when I put in passive gear in three spots right around it. Lazy climber who lost it obviously didn't take the time to set a hex or a tricam (I had both and they were more bomber than the cam - I was jumping on them!) or they wouldn't have lost it in the first place. Oh well... ...it's still in reasonably servicable condition so it will take its place as a bail piece on my rack The last pitch to the top was interesting but I forgot to give Dan the camera when I took off so unfortunately there were no pics of this part but we did top out and after a celebratory Bridgeport IPA... ...we admired the view of the lake from the top of the dome. It was a disappointing trip since we only got to do one of the routes that we wanted to do, but a disappointing trip climbing is better than any day in the office! Gear Notes: We had two bags of grass, seventy-five pellets of mescaline, five sheets of high-powered blotter acid, a salt shaker half full of cocaine, and a whole galaxy of multi-colored uppers, downers, screamers, laughers; and also a quart of tequilla, a quart of rum, a case of Rainier, a pint of raw ether and two dozen amyls. Approach Notes: A mile or more, or maybe less... I really didn't keep track of the trail time or mileage - it was irrelevant once we could see the route. There's snow in late june and early july - DUH!