B Deleted_Beck

the advancement in capability is what i like about the Spot Connect... like i think has been said in this thread- if you're going to be a day late, but are otherwise OK, it's good to be able to send that to the wife/roommate/mommy/boss and avoid wasting SRT's time looking for somebody who just had his map upside down.

let us please not turn this into another beacon v. no beacon thread derailment. that topic has been done unto death so many times, and it has nothing to do with the OP.

i've done self-reliance. i'm 30- i spent the first decade of my back-country experience without ANY way to contact rescue/civilization. i'd tell somebody i was leaving, and give them a multi-day time-frame for when i might be back. fortunately, i somehow survived it all, despite a few close calls. now that i'm responsible family-man/business owner/smarter/have more money- it would be incredibly irresponsible of me to head out without any backup. i think the idea that people use their PLBs and Spot devices for splinters is grossly inaccurate. obviously some abuses have been reported, but i'd be willing to bet my next paycheck the vast majority of emergency PLB/Spot calls are for bonafied emergencies, and are, per capita of experienced enthusiast using them, very rare.

somebody might commend your purism... and if you'd presented it differently (without the elitist/extremist attitude), i'd temper my own opinion of that mindset- but i'd just call that "stupid," myself. i don't want to DIE and leave my wife and 4 boys without a husband/father because i broke my ankle egressing a blizzard 5 miles from the trailhead. can we all assume you're a free-soloist too? self-reliance.

i agree. locate the ceiling joists, and secure a 2x6 header to the ceiling with "ledger locks," long mostly thread-less shanks with FAT threads on the end- they have sheer strength and actually anchor shit into their base, rather than just screwing it together. two per joist. sheet rock is super easy to patch, if you're just talking about ledger-lock holes.. fill in with light spackle, run a damp sponge over it so you don't mess up the texture, let dry, touch up paint- totally invisible.

i don't know how much it costs, but spot connect looks pretty useful... lets you send actual typed, specific messages, rather than just pre-qued shit or generic, non-descriptive rescue requests. i have zero experience with any of this, though... there's always cell service everywhere i climb

well sounds like they're pretty much perfect for me, then. backup for alpine ice. is the problem mostly that they just dull up and/or don't cut for shit?

i did some searches, and couldn't believe i didn't find a thread on these... now i'm sort of leery about giving away a good secret... wondering about opinions on NW Alpines mystery screws...? http://nwalpine.com/hardware i'm sure i'm going to get the typical mixed bag of opinions ranging from "you saw the disclaimer- you gonna trust your life to that?" to "hell yea, i use these all the time..." with the inevitable disclaimer, from both camps: "but you just have to assess for yourself and decide what risks you're willing to take." so, for clarification- does anyone actually USE these, or at least know of them being used?

awesome. i know the feeling... can't possibly make it, don't want to continue, gonna be sick, super dehydrated.. just keep moving, you'll get there, and descent is easy. then, at some point on descent, you realize you're having fun again, and so happy you made it. good job

the lame part is that i promised my wife i'd quit when i burned through the last of my current batch.. half of the last of my current batch is in that pouch. >

wow.. busy mountain even on a late-season weekday, eh? how was the snow? pretty hard?

that'd be the one.. fuck that route.

RB is a way BETTER crag than it gets credit for. im continually shocked at the way dirt-bag climbers turn their noses up at it. i obviously dont have a whole lot to go off, but its my opinion that RB's full of very high quality climbing. great place to learn, in my opinion. and as my niggah chad said above, dont pay attention to the numbers- i disagree with some. there's .10bs out there i have no trouble with, and a 5.8 i STILL haven't sent (Robotics, on video- what the hells up with that transition from crack to flaring dihedral?).

that's awesome, man.. thanks.. i don't think it's She's Breaking Up Captain, though- that must be the crappy crack/diagonal dihedral thing to the left of the route in question. unless it's broken apart so much since the day it was developed that it's become a much more difficult route.. ?

and to tell you the truth, i really, really like having the mountain entirely to ourselves.. so well worth it to have things a little steeper and sketchier.

im sorry for your loss.. putting down my pal Buck remains, to this very day, almost 7 years later, the hardest thing, emotionally, i've ever had to will myself to do. unconditional love is hard to kill. what his name? i'll raise a glass for him tonight..

actually.. i think i do.. not a great shot- all thats visible of the route in question is the start to the overhang on the left, and the arete above it.. upper ledge, SBB

in my noob inexperience, there's absolutely no reason nor excuse for roping up on steep snow/ice without bomber protection. solo those parts, or use GOOD protection and belay. if the slope isn't steep enough to blast pro (falls not necessarily causing immediate terminal velocity down the slope) then snow pickets seem reasonable for minor OOPSY!s, but otherwise- if you can climb it, you can solo it. it's not like rock where you have nothing but gravity keeping you attached to your holds- your 'pons and axes give you the ability to be STUCK to the wall with a minimum of 3 points at any given moment, if you're really scared.. it doesn't get much better than that, and i'd really rather not have somebody else yank me off of that. i love my teammates, but no so much i care to follow them into the bergshrung/fumerol/into the void.

and here i thought somebuddy actually found mine pouch...

howdy yep.. another RB thread. that's the only crag i ever climb.. wondering if anyone has a rating/name for the route on the upper ledge of silver bullet to the left of Sundance Kid and Panama Red... i'd sort of projected it over the course of two trips out there, thinking it WAS sundance kid, .10a... kind of wondering why i couldn't get it (i'm no beast, but i should be able to send any 10a on TR with multiple tries).. i just looked in the book, and see that PRC lists it as "______________." un-named, un-rated... anybody know? -ben i did finally send this, BTW.. i'm poor at rating things, but i guess i'd call it a 10b, for the tricky hidden hold move above the overhang.

did you climb? how was it? anybody else have any beta on shasta this time o' year?

i apparently lost my tobacco (yes, tobacco) pouch about halfway down south side on hood... is black leather, has two compartments, one shaped like a pipe.. contains 6 pipe cleaners, a small black lighter and about an ounce of pipe tobacco. would be happy to pay for shipping back to me, or meet up somewhere... how about the summit? -ben bkb0000@comcast.net

PM me what kind and what route, and we can arrange getting it back to you (climb?) :-D

pearly gates was out, just a thin crust over regolith above a gaping double crevasse. we cut across the fumerol gully to the left of the hogsback and did a WCR variation. good stiff snow for front pointing and tooling, got up with only a few "ROCK!"s that went wide.. rapped the same route back down, had a blast anchoring on boulders and digging out snow bollards. good practice, great day on the mountain. definitely not ideal Hood conditions, but we sent it fine.

leather, tan, right hand only... looked like a real nice glove.. new, but had some raps on it. found at the base of silver bullet, about 20' out from the start of Bite the Bullet, among scattered leaves and twigs of the same color, as i recovered my dropped helmet.. brought it up, put it on a rock at the bottom of Bite the Bullet- and there you shall find it.