dbb

On that note, last time I checked Barrabes had the Degrees for like $115. tack on 10-20 bucks shipping and there's a deal!

I SUFFER FROM A RARE DISEASE CALLED VOICE IMMODULATION!!! [This message has been edited by dbb (edited 04-17-2001).]

Tom you troller... All you guys flaming him can remember that when you clip in to the solid belay bolts on town crier--he put em there.

What is the deal with people getting all up in arms, ready to go out and chop bolts? If the thing is there, LEAVE IT. you scar the climb more by chopping bolts off (and perhaps eventually the cycle will repeat later). I in no way support adding bolts to existing routes w/o the First's permission for a nasty runout or such, but going to chop on someone's project just because you don't like their style? That's wayyyy lamer than the boch-wielding bolter. As for the sport-in-the-mountaineering-area debate: get over it. If you don't like the style of a total clip up, don't climb it. Don't go to exit 38, don't climb all bolt lines, and don't bitch at the people who do. We're all having fun in the mountains, and I doubt that those bolts are degrading your experience when you're not even on the route! If mad-bolters want to "murder the impossible", that's their perogative. What are you going to do? Pick em off the wall with a .22? Exactly... we have to find a middle ground where the two equally valid groups can co-exits, and this does not include chopping!

go teach someone to climb?? Can migrants do this or only locals? Your thesis seems to imply that you want less people in the mountains, not more. true? <yikes, I'm posting in spray>

Rock Empire is made by HUDY Sport, the same people who make trango's cams. I have a set of the "microflex" cams, and they are good pieces. The trigger is actually aluminum (though it looks like chinchy plastic), and the action of it is pretty smooth. The only draw back to these is that their range is nearly 1/2 that of aliens or metolious 4-cams. They say that the microflexes cover roughly 4-5 mm, where as most cams are 7-8 mm. The larger "robot" cams look solid too, total metolious ripoffs with one key difference: They have a 1 fingered bar-trigger instead of 3. If you try to use the outside "nubins", you'll grate your fingers on the cables. overall, I think they're solid gear, but not my first choice for a primary setup. dave

I'm sure sombody on this board has done Snake Dike on Half Dome. So, any tips on what style to do it in? A long day? Where to camp? When's the best time to "beat the crowds", as it is.

check out MEC, they have a nice set of g-tex bibs, as well as pants I think, that are quite cheap. I bet they would still mail they're own stuff to the US!

oops.. thought we were talking about dmm cams here. Haven't had any experience w/ the trangos though I don't think that they fall in the same league as the camalots. [This message has been edited by dbb (edited 04-05-2001).]

is regular ol rope or 1" webbing preferable?

Also not mentioned about the Tikka vs. the P-T is that the Tikka is way lower profile. It easily fits *under* the helmet, as well as into your pants pocket. The low profile lamp is the way to go. In terms of bulb replacement, the Tikka costs the same as a replacement LED bulb from P-T, so just buy a new Tikka when it craps out. Also, I don't buy this "not as bright as a regular bulb". Sure a LED is dimmer than a halogen, but who the hell uses a halogen while alpine climbing?? You get all of two hours battery life?? The Tikka is plenty bright to climb with, and is far brighter than a Zoom with a regular bulb. People will also tell you that the Tikka is a "secondary" kind of headlamp, a backup to your larger models. I say it can do it all, and my getting-dusty Zoom acounts for it! The other nice thing about a tikka is you'll never think twice about carrying it tiny weight. my .02$

After having a fun time this weekend with the little buggars we all call ticks, I was wanting to hear some other people's stories of hair raiseing discoveries on your body. Here are a few of mine to get you going! A few years ago at Smith I was climbing the West Face varriation on the monkey face. After missing the obvious rap-bolt anchor startion (damn natural colored hangers!) I ended up setting an anchor on a comfy grassy ledge. My partner started following, and about 5 minutes later I looked down from the scenery to see that I had tons of "little spiders" crawling all over me! Freaking out with my left hand and belaying with my right, I managed to knock them off. Unfortunetly one sneaked around behind me, and I pulled it out of my scalp that night in the tent. We burned it proper! This last weekend after climbing over in the Royal Columns area, I had brushed a few buggars off during the day, but felt pretty safe for I hadn't been sitting in any grass. About the time Phil and I rolled into Yakima I was looking around a turn and Phil spied a tick on my head above my ear. We proceeded to pull over and jump out of the car, looking like monkeys searching for tasty treats. And we thought the drunken locals looked wierd! The found tick was also sacrificed on a funeral pyre. anyone ever had one crawl into your pack? I'm a bit worried about unpacking now.

yep, jon pretty much has it there. Like when wacked out family members was to "go git 'em". My advice is if you want to go search, by all means go and do it, just don't let the sherif know. SAR can be pretty frustrating with all the varying experience (more often than not, the lack of), and this causes sherifs who don't climb to be conservative. Maybe too conservative. This leads to a lot of sitting around and half-assed searches that hope to "get lucky". If you actually sent a fast and strong team of 2-4 climbers in who know the area, I bet you'd have better luck. For some reason most searches never go into overnighters. My guess is that these climbers are a little farther away than a day's hike! Obviously what the sar people are doing is important, and often does yield good results, but don't think that because you don't wear the blue hat that you can't go out and look yourself.

yep, I was skiing on hood during the warm period last week and there was an amazing amount of ice falling down. Everybody was turned around on the South side except some gruff determined guys (without helmets!). We ran into a group who had broken an arm when a basketball-sized chunk made contact. however, the snow was super solid ice crust, which would be great for climbing if it cooled down. Though I wouldn't push my luck with all this new snow on top of crust in a terrain trap like that.

well, to toss my two pennies in... I had a 1/2 resole from Dave that delammed slowly for 6 months, and then gloriously ripped to the ball one day at leavenworth. Lucky for me Dave is a nice guy and resoled them nearly a year after the first job (it was shoddy to begin with, but I was lazy too). One thing for sure, if you get a bad job done by dave, he'll redo it for free.

put in an order a couple of weeks ago to them and the stuff came in 5 days. Very reliable, very fast, very cheap! Did get hit with a duty from DHL but it was only 2.9% I plan on ordering again soon!

anyone know how the conditions on hood have been lately? thinking about a ski climb/descent.

psssh... he didn't do the east face of Slesee? What a cop out..

so when you enter the real world and start working the mandatory 40, does that limit real trips to the once-a-year expedition? (assuming normal vacation) yikes. Any tips at how to live @ camp 4?

I'd second that oppinion. When I did the S route in winter last year we left all snow anchors and tools and the base, and sorely missed them on the 2nd pitch. You could probably count on slinging some trees, but I recal a rather steep section of snow leading up from a steep wall w/o any foliage for anchors. A short tool would be good to carry. In the kind of conditions we've been having, as well as most years, the S route wont get much or any ice on it (just snow). Who knows about the NE slab route in the new Nelson book... It may come in next year.

I used to train against shin splints by standing strait against a wall and lifting the toes up as high as you can. Do this is reps of 10 for as long as you can. It become quite painful quickly, but works those muscles. Something we learned back when I was running track.. Dave

Alpental ice is still in and pretty fat considering... Things were getting a little slushy, and the spindrift avalanches caused by wind and skiiers weren't ideal, but still the best conditions I've seen in WA in the last month. Best bet is for stuff on the east side of the valley, obviously.

Miles Smart will be giving a slide show on Monday March 5th in the HUB Auditorium on the UW campus at 7pm. Miles will be giving his "Light and Fast Adventures" show which covers some of his speed climbing in Yosemite as well as big walls in the Trango Towers. Admission for non-UW students is $6, and $3 for UW students. Tickets will be sold at the door. The show will start at 7:00pm. and is in the HUB (Husky Union Building) on the East side of the University of Washington campus. Parking is readily available in the E1 Montlake parking lot ($2.25 in quarters) or any street parking for free. If you need directions, goto www.washington.edu and look up the campus map to find both the HUB and the Montlake parking lot. The show is sponsored by the UW Climbing Club. If you have questions, email us at climb@u.washington.edu, post one here, or check out our website at http://students.washington.edu/climb/

Actually secont bounce does have a website: http://www.secondbounce.com/ though I'm not sure how often they update it.

I was hoping not to be free falling into the falls!