Ade

Personally I'd rather see some complaints about "missing" bolts and longish runouts than I would overbolting and bolt-wars. I've not had any nasty surprises at Darrington although some of the pitches I've done there would have seemed pretty serious if I'd been leading right at my limit, but then I pretty much suck at slabs. Even then Dreamer is in no way hideously run out. That's the nature of the area and you have to bear it in mind when picking a route. I wouldn't want a precident set whereby additional bolts were added just to make the route that much easier for someone leading at their limit. I've done routes where more bolts would have improved my comfort level but I don't think that's the answer. There are lots of well protected routes, bolts or otherwise, at all grades. Imagine the result if everyone who did Dreamer got to add a bolt where they were sketched. It would be really sad to see some of these routes altered, as in retro-bolted. They seem to have been rebolted/equipped with a lot of thought to preserve the adventurous and sometimes bold character of the original routes.

'Tis true. Aren't I the self-serving little shit. Not completely true. The 5.9+ move has a bolt right next to it. Very convenient. All in all and excellent route and definitely a lot better than a day at work - but then what isn't (other than being kidnapped and tortured by Hezbollah)?

Anyone up for Darrington on Thursday. I'd like to do Dreamer on Green Giant Buttress. Tried it a while back and got upto pitch 6 before the water ran out and the heat got too much so I have the approach wired etc. PM me if your interested. I'm open to other suggestions if this doesn't fit your plans. Either longer trad climbs or a quick alpine day. Ade

I called W.C direct and they gave me the name of someone (sorry don't have it to hand). They weren't local though I had to post it to them. It was about $20.

Scottish winter routes are never bolted.

Park closures in BC may make Canada a bit more complicated if not impossible.

Looks like the forest fires are going to effect climbing in BC. In the last week at least one attempt on Ashlu and another on Redoubt (Chilliwack Lake Prov. Park) failed because the park had been closed. Here's a complete list of closures although as of Monday night more parks were being closed: BC Parks list

Be prepared to buy a new tent though.

So you're admitting to using a strap-on? Did you try Viagra first?

A few bolts right of Westward Ho make Matt's Topo but there are some more, but spacy, 40-50' between old quarter inch bolts. Looks like a fair amount of the original route is intact and there are certainly belay anchors etc. I'll be posting "chopped up white wife beater shirt" on Lost and Found. If it's yours then do us all a favour and learn how to shit in the woods or stay at home.

It's true. Shame on me for having nothing better to do but make things up. Shame on you for having even less to do and replying.

Check you're PMs. Call me and we'll go! Ade

I've been to the Altai but from the CIS not Mongolia (in 1990). There are actually a lot of established routes on that side of the range as well as trails and trekking camps. The Soviets ran a regular mountaineering camp at Ak-Kem Lake on the North side of Mt Bielukha (highest peak) which was still being run when we were there. Lots of climbing competitions took place putting up new routes, some of them very hard. I think Lindsay Griffin (Mountain Info Editor for "High Mountain Sports" magazine) has is accident and subsequent epic evacuation from the Mongolian side. There must be some good climbing there too. If it's max climbing for your money and time then NA is clearly a better bet. Mongolia or the CIS will involve a lot of dicking around crappy transport, crappy food and general bullshit. On the other hand you've got the rest of your life to road trip the US. I'd go back to the CIS side if I got the chance.

MIOX Pen Small, compact, probably expensive but... like the M203 40mm Grenade Launcher (11.79 pounds) it's used by the US military so must be good. First Need Purifier Large, bulky, but with lots of tubes. Can pump you with 1.8 litres a minute baby. Which would you rather shove up your ASS?MIOX Pen, because all those soldiers make me hot.First Need Purifier, because I Need it BAD!Neither this whole thread bores me shitlessBoth. If it will shut you two up.

Or a soundproofed cage ... yawn. Still at least Beck's gonna be easy to spot in the hills. He'll be the guy jumping out of his Chinook at the start of the route wearing a three pound kevlar helmet.

Ohh... Potty Mouth. My mistake. This month. Should be Wednesday 20th & 21st.

The weather may bail by the w/e so I was looking at getting out early to beat it. Lots of routes still to do... Forbidden-Torment Traverse for example. PM me if you have some free time and want to climb something reasonably big for a few days . Ade

I was climbing on Saturday at Exit 32 and my partner, who was hung over from a Friday night binge, puked up on my rope. I washed it off and other than the smell etc there doesn't seem to be much discoloration or anything. Does Vomit damage ropes? Should I retire it?

So what routes do you want to do? Ade

If you shoot like you spell then I'll have no problems . I thought you were a teacher or something . 32 today was fun. I'll be up for some more local mid-week climbing next week too unless I end up in the alpine.

Doesn't seem that great an idea to me... On easy ground you can simul-climb a 100m rope simply gets in the way as you have to coil almost all of it. A 100m pitch is not only going to have rope drag. Communicating with your partner is also going to be harder. He seems to be advocating a 100m single rope which is going to be super heavy. I've never seen anyone use one of these. I have seen 100m half ropes, at least then there is no weight penalty. The lack of knot will make rappels better but any rope can still pull loose stuff down on you so it's better but not perfect. 100m is going to be a mangement nightmare, however good you are with your ropes.

Shorter screws may be more work in the long run. Alpine ice often has a shitty surface layer that you clean off, at least partially before placing. The shorter your screws the more complete you're clean off will have to be. I'd also speculate that alpine ice gets better deeper in as the upper surface is often a lot softer (warmer) than the blue ice below. A longer screw will place more of it's thread into the good ice, unless you do even more digging to prepare the placement.

Just got back in town and need to do some climbin. PM me if you're interested. Ade

BORING!

Yeah. I like to save my arms as much as possible for climbing. What's your excuse?