JoeR

Skinner's Butte closure area has expanded to include all the columns until just right of the Main Chimney. There is a fence and caution tape marking the closure. The closure is indefinite pending inspection of the stability of Outer Column and other loose rocks in the area. Hopefully this happens soon, but with how tight the city budget is we can't expect too much. The rest of Skinner's Butte is still open. Please respect the closure boundary. For those who want to know what happened, the word on the street is that a contractor hired by the city to remove the last big rocks left over from the last slide went beyond the instructions given to him. Supposedly he went way overboard with the excavator and moved things around under Outer Column, which shifted "2 feet". If you have questions or concerns you can contact the Eugene Outdoor Program at The River House @ 541-682-5329 Noon-4pm M-F

This is one of the coolest projects I have seen on Kickstarter. Good luck to your friends, I'd pledge in a second if I wasn't broke.

Should take Mr. Tim Olsen a few years to do the editing work that PDubs Moolack guide requires before it is ready for publishing.

Super Slab, you can protect the 2nd pitch traverse with a brown tricam if I remember right. Left and right side of The Beard is a great idea. Bomber nuts, and left side will take some hexes as well. Be sure to wave to the fixed #8 Metolious cam while you're there. Cinnamon Slab is fun hex'n and you can get smaller gear in the horizontal midway up. Pink tricam is your friend if I remember right. I haven't done the second pitch on all passive yet, but it looks doable. Prom Night takes small gear, bit fiddly but doable and a short pitch. Much stouter if you don't stem, and the bouldering start turns some people off. This route is easily toproped by rapping in from the rim. The Textbooks are always a good time. Lycopodophyta takes great gear, mostly nuts. Bookworm and Rabbit Stew take good passive gear as well. I'm speaking to the first pitches here. Pumpkin Patch,Jurassic Park, and Winnie the Pooh on the Northern Point are 5.4-5.6, protect decently and are topropable. Full range of gear, and easy retreat if you aren't feeling it. Round River is a fun 5.4 mixed route with a great view, 3rd pitch is all gear and way easy. Link the first 2 pitches with a 60m rope. Placements are a bit hidden and/or fiddly for some peoples taste, it takes nuts and tricams. It gets an R rating in Watts guidebook, so might be worth saving this route for later. I hope you have fun, make sure to bang your hexes together for good luck. If I hear them I'll give a holler.

Locking gas cap, have there been issues with gas tampering or stealing?

Is access from the top gate still open or should we steer clear from there as well? I will put up a notice at the local gym and do what I can to let people know. A lot of people have been talking about trips to the Callahans

Agreed. Everyone screws up, good on you for owning it at least. A good way to avoid something like this is to get someone involved in your project whose only job is to give perspective. It is easy to get carried away when all you have is an echo chamber in the planning process.

You could address any mistakes I've made in the information Joseph. With the exception of my thoughts on their dispersal habits, all the information I posted was decently researched. Or you could spray/flame this thread and flog your ego. Depends on what your goals are really. Being the go-to ultimate expert on bird closures, what do the next 5-10 years have in store for us Joseph? Is there a double secret source of "real" bird information that only high-level closure operatives get to read? Drederek, I agree with you. If ecological resources need protection, they should get it. Getting ornithologists involved is a good idea, but most of the information is already out there. This has become more of a political issue than a scientific one unfortunately. Birds of prey have been one the poster children of the conservation and environmental movements. Frankly it was scary how close some of them came to extinction, but the recovery programs were amazing and have really worked. Complex, highly political issue. The BLM, USFW, and State and Federal Park Services are in a tough spot. Having to issue golden eagle kill permits to wind farms with one hand and dealing with angry Trout Creek climbers with the other has to be maddening.

I'm just left wondering how long it will be before most everything is closed feb-sept. As the numbers of these birds grows, they display classic dispersion behavior. Many are habituated to human presence to some degree. This habituation can only increase. They will continue to spread into active climbing areas. Birds of prey have few natural predators-mostly wolves, coyotes, and larger birds. There may be many areas to climb in Washington Mattp and Zimzam, but Oregon is pretty limited in climbable rock. It is conceivable that if this trend of bird closures continues we'll be S.O.L. most of the year. What happens when the birds build a nest on Shiprock at Smith? Or Picnic Lunch Wall? Are we going to quietly let the State Parks shut down The Dihedrals when a prairie falcon builds a nest in Rattlesnake Chimney? Kevbone, what has happened at Beacon is one of the reasons I am so concerned. I can't help but wonder what effect the shitshow of closures at Beacon has had on development in the PNW. Who wants to put the work in developing a crag when blanket closures are just a moss or bird away? Climbers are an easy user group to single out for closures. How do we change that? How do we stop this trend of closures? Maybe we get climbers into blm advisory committees. Audubon society, miners and cattle ranchers do this and move their agenda forward pretty well. BLM Advisory Committee

Beacon, Trout Creek, Tieton, large areas of Smith, Leavenworth, Mt. Erie, The Menagerie, China Bend, etc etc etc. These areas are being closed to protect birds which are not endangered or even threatened in many cases, some like prarie falcons are classified "least concerned" on the IUCN Red List . Bird of prey populations crashed hard and we almost lost many of them to DDT, but their numbers have recovered at an astonishing rate since it was outlawed. Birds like peregrine falcons are nesting in the middle of urban areas and building new nests very near to active climbing routes. USFW allowed falconers to take wild peregrines as pets in 2004. BLM closes Trout Creek while it investigates developing 2,000,000 acres for oil shale production and 431,224 acres for oil sands development. I'm not arguing about it being important to protect wildlife. I'm just wondering where common sense comes into play? Where, and when, does it stop? What kind of closures are actually appropriate to protect important ecological resources? This is an important conversation for the climbing community to have. Great things have been done when people get together and show up for public meetings and write the letters and make the calls. This trend of knee jerk closures is a huge threat to our ability to climb in the PNW. Can't we protect the birds without losing our heads?

All those layers signify ones age and experience, much like the size of an elk's antlers or rattles on a rattlesnakes tail. Hood layers until only recently played a large role in sexual selection and mating rituals in many primitive societies. Only the truly gnarly can attain the legendary 4 hoods. Though I've heard of people with more, it usually requires intense spiritual training and personal sacrifice on Mt. Hood followed by an apprenticeship in Nepal under the great Master Cowl. Other human groups display this layering phenomenon as well, as shown in this rare photo of the chief of the Brobrah Tribe of East New Jersey. [img:left]http://iamhilarious.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/collars.jpg[/img]

It looks like you've gotten some great advice. It really comes down to getting the mileage. Cracks are very much about jamming technique and body positioning, and the methods can be counter-intuitive if you're used to face climbing. Crack climbing often demands a different strategy. Figuring out how to rest and getting efficient movement down just takes time and top-ropes. I learned by flailing around at Skinner's Butte as much as I could. After years of flailing I'm still learning little tricks to make getting up easier, smoother and safer. Finding a mentor before you start leading on your own gear is huge. It is important to get a handle not only on the actual physical aspects of the placements, but how to approach the whole game of traditional leading. Finding a mentor should happen naturally as you spend more time in and around cracks. Also, participating in stewardship type stuff(crag cleanups etc) is a great way to meet people. I always get excited talking about crack climbing when all there is to do is pull down on plastic. I'm looking forward to seeing where you go with this. Keep the stoke alive and you'll be jammin with style in no time.

If you end up coming to Eugene I'd be willing to point you in the right direction at the columns if the timing and weather works out. PM and we can work out details. As far as Rope De Dope crack is concerned, took my first lead fall and ledged out on that thing. There are better routes at smith for learning gear and crack technique I think.

Just found this, moving to say the least. Such a magical place. [video:vimeo] one day I'll learn how to embed properly

Nice trip report, I'm glad to see people getting out there and having a good time. Thank you for sharing, trip reports are keeping me from losing it through all this rain. I would like to support my good friend Kirk here though. There are many people, including myself who have been frustrated with the Mazamas and their tendency towards large groups moving slowly and clogging up a route or summit with little consideration for those behind them. Add in the common refrain from members of these trips "Shoulda gotten up earlier *group laughter* " and you have the makings of a good amount of frustration. A little more diplomacy would work wonders, especially when the group has been clogging up 3FJ(for example) for 3-4 hours. A Mazama once humped our packs around Monkey Face and scored some major points, even hollering about trying to make up for Mazama route clogging antics. Coolest move ever, like a goodwill ambassador or something. I really enjoyed your TR, and I'm not trying to poo in your punch. It's just that for some of us the name Mazama is synonymous with standing in line for a circus.

This image springs to mind

A job so I can afford gas. No injuries or accidents. Climb some granite for once.

Way to get some stoke guys, and nicely written TR/storytime Kirk. Part of me wishes I had come along but then I get the shivering sweats thinking about "water-damaged horse hair plaster". Given your affinity for swimming crumbling sand dunes in lesser traveled areas of the park, comments about poor rock quality take on a whole new meaning.

Thanks Rad, looks like I should re-evaluate my drug use. Post edited to include your advice.

#1 cause of finger pulley injuries seems to be crimping according to the research I did on them a few years ago. This is caused by a number of factors, though 2 stand out at the top. #1 Most people are naturally stronger in a crimp position out of the gate, and tend to use it in exclusion of other techniques. Repetitive strain should not be underestimated! #2 Tendons take much longer to strengthen and develop than muscles. Combined with the unique stress that crimping puts on relatively small tendons this is a recipe for problems. So what can you do to keep a pulley injury from sidelining you and losing all those gains you made by training so hard? A few ideas which have worked for me, please keep in mind that I'm no orthopedist. Actively working to use an open hand or other grip positions whenever possible, doing a full set of finger stretches every time before after and during a climb. But by far the most effective training injury prevention method is including rest and recovery into your training plan. There are all sorts of solid training reasons to rest and recover properly, if you don't rest you WILL plateau and then soon after suffer an injury. Everybody is different in how they respond to training stress, so training schedules tend to be highly personalized. The best idea is usually to start with a very conservative schedule, then dial it in to your needs. A few days lost in training is nothing compared to a week/month/life-long preventable injury. Example schedules are available all over the internet, it is totally worth the research time to find one that suits your goals. Perhaps a good rest day activity yeah? Also doesn't hurt to mention the old rehabilitation standby acronym RICE. Remember it can also work as a prophylaxis. Rest Ice Compression Elevation Also check out this link on taping and finger injuries specifically. Finger Taping and Injury

I have had one BD pack, a 45L Jackal. Would not buy it again, one of the frame wires ended up punching through the bottom pretty early in its life. It is now used by my gf until I build her one or she ponies up the dough and gets her own. She doesn't really like it either, though this may have a lot to do with fit. My favorite pack so far has been my Gregory Alpinisto 35L. Tons of features and room for adjustments in fit. A great deal of thinking and design went into this one. I can't comment on durability yet as I've only had it for 2 seasons.

Speed climbing means more climbing in less time. Seems like something everyone can get behind. At least I hope everyone gets behind the idea of going faster. Every time I get stuck behind a Mazama cluster or a wanking party of social climbers I find myself wishing. Kudos to those pushing the limits of speed, may they never get stuck behind slow asses.

Don't forget the Fish Maxi Pad

Why is it that every time I read a thread about Smith people are STILL camping at Skull Hollow? Everything that is wrong with privatizing public land is happening at Skull Hollow. Fee $$ going out of state-Check Rules having questionable legality invented-Check Forest Service $$ paying for enforcement-Check Closures based on profitability-Check etc etc etc There is another option that doesn't send money to Utah. 1.Instead of turning into Skull Hollow campground, keep driving up the road. 2.You have to go a little over .75 miles up the road, past the cattle watering trough. 3.Pull into one of the many free and easily accessible sites. 4. Don't forget to wave at the FS employee that your money pays to patrol the road in the morning. The above will also work during the winter/early spring months that they shut down Skull Hollow as it is not profitable.