FFSummers

Thank you! I'm hooked on the view and am already planning my next trip in 2 weeks.

Haha! Seems so obvious now. Thanks guys. That didn't even occur to me. Gosh, I am new.

Is that horrible shit smell coming from the toilets down at camp Muir? All we could smell for the final 1000-2000ft was crap. My friends thought it was probably up drafts from camp Muir. Anyone else notice this? We weren't even climbing together but we all laughed about the same weird smell when we got back to camp. I didn't see enough crap on the route to justify that strong smell, plus I'd think any crap up that high would be too frozen to stink. The smell was pretty strong........and, No, I wasn't smelling myself.

I'm not looking for a back and forth rant with anyone, was just stating how I felt about it. I think falcons are cool too and like them just fine. I also want nothing to do with giving climbers a bad name or affecting access. I will totaly and completely follow any closures, voluntary or mandatory. My belief is that these rules are silly and it's just another bird doing it's thing, but I will follow them. JoshK, not too stoked you called me a whiny bitch

http://www.king5.com/news/Peregrin-falcon-nest--148616405.html Darn it! I'm assuming this will only grow from here. First come the porta poties, then rules and regulations, then there's "not enough money in the budget" followed by closures. Damn birds are just going to speed up the process. I was a rock crawler/dirt biker and went to all the ORV parks for years. Then one day a porta pottie showed up at our favorite offroad destination, followed by environmental impact studies, then rules. It was closed to everyone within the year. Do-gooders volunteered their time, restored trails, donated money and followed the rules. All of which made no difference despite their optomistic approach. I knew that trail counter installed on the tree at the trail head was a bad sign. I'm not a do-gooder and don't really feel like doing what they want me to. We willing go along with this one and then they know that we'll just roll over and take the next closure they have lined up for us.

Riding dirt bikes made my hands stronger than anything else I've ever done. Holding on for dear life will do that in a hurry. Weight lifting is super good for hand strength too. Palms up Tricep pulldowns on a pulley machine is a quick fix to a weak grip. I'm sure campus boards help but I always end up getting sore finger joints instead. Squeeze handles or balls would probably help but they get boaring. Try doing them in the car when your driving to pass the time. I think climbing more would be a good fix too.

We had the pleasure of climbing one of the new routes on the left side of Deception Wall last night, Derailed 10+. The one with an easy lower pitch that leads into a cool overhang. Fun moves on excellent rock up above. The upper portion was just so much fun, I give that route 4 stars! Thanks to the bolter for the new development, great addition. The 11a to the right was sweet too, just need some more time before I can send that one. Rads new routes on the hill side above were all great too. We climbed those 4 last season and had a fun day. Macbeth I think is the name of one of those? Cool little crag. Lucky's 5.9+ on deception wall is seeing lots of traffic too. Very popular route with people happily climbing it all the time. Hats off to you guys for the hard work! Noramly we wouldn't even climb this area but these new routes all seem great. Keep on bolting fellas! These lines are neither contrived squeeze jobs nor worthless choss. They are good lines seeing lots of ascents.

I work with the guys who responded, never did get any credible reason as to how or why he fell so far. It happened at the Far Side area of exit 38, at a crag known as "the plank" or right next door to it. It's well protected with bolts and I think that area was developed by the guide book author, maybe he got some info we didn't?

Local Fire was dispatched to a "possible" plane crash, they didn't know what they had at first. Neighbors had heard and seen something hit the mtn. King County PD saw it to which made it more credible. I heard the guys from station 87 had to hike up there to look for it, long hike for dudes in fire gear or a firefighter in general. SMR made it to the scene and removed 3 bodies. They carried out one and flew out the other two. Area is still closed to the public last I heard. I was in a hurry so my details were givin to me in passing, I'm sure we'll hear more later. It sounds like the plane just missed little Si and hit the rock wall on the side of Si. Random and very Sad.

Ive stayed mute on this issue, mostly because I will probably never find myself climbing there and haven't really earned the right to an opinion. Although if "out of towners" came and chopped at my local crag I would take issue. But, I've been reading all the talk on the forums and articles, and now with Lama's ascent and the latest news of the "choppers" it's getting interesting. Are they really being detained by Police? This is getting good. I like the part about the 40 dudes in a bar looking for mob justice. It will be interesting to see how this ugly foot note will go down in climbing history. Will they be vilified or hailed as forward thinkers? I'm guessing even though their intentions might have been good, ultimately this will go down as an example of how NOT to handle yourself while visting someone else's sandbox.

The Falcon guide by Smoot? I will look into that, thanks! I know it's not in Wa Rock or the 32 guide.

Thanks for the info guys. So it was a 12b but should be 11d? I have the current guide book but not that pamphlet from 92. After seeing that route it's on my "to-do" list for this year for sure, gives me a goal to work up to.

Yup, that sounds like the one. Nice traversing crack, it looked like a long hard route. It looked bolt protected from what i could see down low, but couldnt see the top of the route. Any beta on Pro? Just a few pieces?

Might have been a little heavy handed, but how would you feel if some dude just shot YOUR coworker? I'm sure they were very upset and, although I DO agree that we live in a police state, in this instance I think they were just doing their jobs in the wake of a terrible trauma. They weren't busting the crowd for dime bags, they were looking for a killer.

We followed the news at work all day, the local fuzz has black mourning bands over their badges, everyone is bummed for that brave woman and her poor family. My heart goes out to her kids and her poor husband who was also on duty. What a nightmare. I'm in for the fundraising climb. We do similar fundraising in the fire service. Like the Firefighter Stair Climb to raise money for the Leukiemia Lymphoma Society of Wa. Participants sign up and then are required to raise a minimum of like $100 prior to the climb. Or maybe we could run it like a walk-a-thon and have people donate a given amount for every 1000' climbed. just some thoughts

Can't seem to find any info on this crag. Is it even called World Wall 2? Please don't flame me, I am a local. I asked about Equinox once and was politely told that there was no info because the local ethic was to keep it off the radar, which is fine by me (i don't climb 5.13 anyway). Same ethic on this crag? Just a guess since it's not found in the guide book and I didn't have any luck online either. We checked it out while taking the old trail down Mt Si yesterday and, wow! It would be nice to know some ratings and it looks like a 70m rope is the way to go? Is the leftward traversing route with draws hanging found on the right side a 5.11? Should I delete this thread and keep it off the interweb? Are those the old draws from World Wall 1? Haha! They look similar. I am not posting directions or inviting all my friends. Just excited to stumble upon another crag in my home town.

One good trick I've learned (lots of tricks i could still learn) is that it's way easier to belay a follower if you move back from your anchor. If your clipped in with a runner or one of those PAS deals then you are to close to your anchor and will be taking in slack very slowly. Lots of talk about fall factors and those things going snap or hurting your back/hips, but they aren't right for the job anyhow. 4-6ft of rope on a clove hitch works great. If your on a 10' ledge, give yourself a 10' tie in so you can belay them from near the edge, way easier than being choked up on the anchor. And back up knots on clove hitches are probably a good idea but to each his own. Personal Anchor Systems are still great for when you rap the route or need to clip in quick at an anchor. IMHO of coarse

I'm guessing that you want to climb multi pitch sport, not trad? It's real straight forward in that case. Learning how to follow a trad leader is great but could be more than you need to deal with just to climb a 6 pitch 5.8. As long as there is bolted anchors all you really need to do is decide if your going to belay directly off the anchor (munter or atc in guide mode) or through the anchor and off your hip (atc). Rope management will come after you learn the hard way by doing it wrong. As long as your wearing a helmet and have good belay skills, you should be fine........ if applying common sense. That being said, trad will open a lot more options than sport when talking multi pitch, but you gotta start somewhere.

It's one of my favorite places to climb, even the drive out there is nice and has a remote feel. The approach to exfoliation dome convinced my girlfriend we were going to die! Haha! Everytime I climb there my toes go numb for weeks after. I thought fear of road rash ended when I sold all my moto bikes, gotta love running backwards on those slab falls! It's a wild and wonderful place with some sweet camp spots and scary leads. Totaly worth losing the feeling in my toes!

The petzel 9.2 is pretty sweet and light weight, better versatility if your thinking single rope technique only, in my humble opinion. As for rapping on skinny ropes, we use the 7.7 twins a lot and it's a non issue as long as you don't use the wrong belay device.

I solo using an USHBA, not the same at all but some points of interest: When I reach the top of a route I clip directly into the anchor, unclip from my USHBA (and my back up prussic) and then I thread in my ATC and rap down. One small advantage in using my USHBA while working a route, i never remove it from the rope, it trains down the rope nicely below my brake hand while I'm rapping. So at the bottum I just remove my ATC and clip back into my USHBA and I'm climbing again, makes for a good pump.

the tilted pillars are at the far end of the sunshine wall, to your right after you come out of the gulley, 5 min walk. fun routes there

Shameless plug?

I'm headed up to climb the Blueberry hill route in a couple weeks, has anyone climbed it since this latest slide? Has this altered the route much?

I'm aware of that incident at WW1, I'm pals with SMR folks and I'm a Firefighter. Fireman are great and have good intentions, but if I'm broken up on a mtn I want SMR rescuing me. If I have a heart attack on a mtn top, I want Fire/EMS working me. Both have their strong points. I think SMR is a good agency and does great work. Regards to the incident on WW1, I think they choose to trust their own anchors over bolts that they can't vouch for. They have liability that you as a climber never need to consider when helping out another injured person. I never did hear how this recent guy fell so far at a well protected wall.