dberdinka

Good points. One point I did not clearly make is that in the realm of bigwall free climbing, particularly in the alpine, there is no such thing as a ground-up free climbing ethic. No ones pulling their ropes and starting over everytime they whip and no ones onsighting 5.13 (well consistently at least). Rather they are rapping in or if thats not an option aiding climbs then working them for the redpoint (sometimes out of sequence). As Drew points out Kurt Albert and company put up numerous hard routes including Eternal Flame on Nameless Tower where they partially bolted cracks. Presumably those bolts when in before they freed the pitches which means on rappel. Todd Skinner also established a free line on Nameless Tower using similar tactics, aiding to the top first, adding bolts as needed then freeing the line.

What the Red Bull team did last year pissed off the locals due to what they perceive as local ethics being violated. I can't speak to what abortion they might be or might not be planning this year. Do you recall a couple years back when some Americans went down with the intention of chopping the Compressor Route? It also created a big shitstorm because the locals demanded that the route remain. Which way do they want it? Not to mention it's a bunch of north americans ranting about it right now....

Seems to me that if your ethical standard is dependant on some sort of aesthetic quality of the mountain you're standard has become highly subjective, i.e. meaningless. What David Lama did last year, convenience bolting an existing route, can no doubt be considered wrong based North American climbing ethics. What he plans on doing this year, presuming he was straight up with Haley and company, is considerable different and I'd argue long accepted by the climbing community in general. That is rap-bolting free variations to an existing aid route. That horse is long out of the barn with hardly a whimper. If you look at modern bigwall freeclimbing a majority of standard setting rock climbers have choosen to minimize uncertainty in exchange for maximum technical difficulty. The ground up ethic as applied to high end free climbs is dead if it ever existed in the first place. Look at El Capitan. Almost all (if not all) the free-routes have required bolted variations to go free; The Muir Wall, Dihedral Wall, Zodiac, Lurking Fear, The Nose, and now Mescalito. My understanding is that very little of this has been done on lead. The accepted style for freeing these routes is to rap in and work them on TR. Closer to home consider Thin Red Line on Liberty Bell. Certainly Liberty Bell is a mountain. A big, beautiful, well known maybe even famous mountain. Freeing this route required the addition of a well bolted variation to P4. Maybe someone with more intimate knowledge than I can chime in, but based on its appearance it certainly looked rap-bolted to me and furthermore rap bolting it with a power-drill would have been well within the accepted norms of route development at Washington Pass, at least over the last 15-20 years. The Bugaboos, another beautiful and iconic set of mountains, has seen the significant convienience bolting of rap anchors at the very least. The peaks around Banff have had their share of rap-bolted routes established. No one seems to mind that (at least any longer), yet it's exactly what Lama is proposing to do on Cerro Torre. Sure CT is one of the most iconic peaks in the world, but when we gladly accept rap-bolting on our own mountains I don't see how we can apply a different set of ethics to peaks elsewhere in the world. IMO: A plan that involves climbing a 30 pitch route on Cerro Torre without fixed lines and then have an adequate weather window to suss out, hand drill and then free what sounds like a 4+ pitch variation sounds ridiculousy optimistic or not the plan at all.

gorilla tape on pole (lots) 18 gauge flexible wire (~6') small tube of 5-minute epoxy small hunk of steel wool extra binding screws multitool w driver for screws tent stakes (semi-circluar are best) work great for pole repair It doesn't weigh that much

You are so gay

Wikipedia and the BBC agree that it's ok for you to use the term gay as a pejorative. Generalized pejorative use When used with a derisive attitude (e.g. "that was so gay"), the word gay is pejorative. While retaining its other meanings, it has also acquired "a widespread current usage" amongst young people, as a general term of disparagement.[27][28] This pejorative usage has its origins in the late 1970s. Beginning in the 1980s and especially in the late 1990s, the usage as a generic insult became common among young people.[28] This usage of the word has been criticized as homophobic. A 2006 BBC ruling by the Board of Governors over the use of the word in this context by Chris Moyles on his Radio 1 show, "I do not want that one, it's gay," advises "caution on its use" for this reason: “ "The word ‘gay’, in addition to being used to mean ‘homosexual’ or ‘carefree’, was often now used to mean ‘lame’ or ‘rubbish’. This is a widespread current usage of the word amongst young people... The word 'gay' ... need not be offensive... or homophobic ... The governors said, however, that Moyles was simply keeping up with developments in English usage. ... The committee... was "familiar with hearing this word in this context." The governors believed that in describing a ring tone as 'gay', the DJ was conveying that he thought it was 'rubbish', rather than 'homosexual'. ... The panel acknowledged however that this use... in a derogatory sense... could cause offence in some listeners, and counselled caution on its use. ” —BBC Board of Governors, [27] ... Shortly after the Moyles incident a campaign against homophobia was launched in Britain under the slogan "homophobia is gay", playing on the double meaning of the word "gay" in youth culture.[30]

I think it's socially acceptable if you just substitute "ghey" for "gay".

To early for an end-of-the-year thread? How about posting up your singular best climbing photo you took in 2010? I'll start. Two pitches shy of the top of the Nose. Nice photo and great moment.

Artists Point -> Ptarmigan Ridge -> Hadley Peak -> Chowder Ridge is a great 2-long or 3 day one way tour with generally moderate terrain.

Dude! I want that. Lets talk it's been to long anyways......

Great deal on a really well made (in the USA) pack. It's not the lightest pack out there but it carries and climbs far better than any other large daypack I've used and the clamshell zipper is a nice relief from drawcord tops. Sale here - reg $139

Wish I didn't already own a Snake Charmer. Thats a steal for one of the most useful pieces of aid soloing gear out there. Ivan should be eating it up? Whats the manufacturer on the russian aiders?

Not mine. Just saw them and figured someone over here would get a big woody over these things. Good luck. 3 Aermet Picks

Where as all other major glove manufactures seem to have identical sizing to one another, RABs seem slight off. Which is GREAT if lgs tend to be to large and mds tend to be to small. Been really happy with my RAB Latok gloves, there modular mitss definitely seem very well made (and fit me great with good dexterity).

Thanks Jake. "next piece" was the imperative words I glazed over. A long time ago my daisy clipped to the "next piece" actually saved me from a factor 2 fall right through my portaledge when my first piece of the belay (a pin) blew out as I placed a second pin. At that point I figured out I was in an expando corner. I've also blown a pin after testing only to take a pendulum daisy fall onto a bathook! that kept me from going 30' or more. Ridiculous and unlikely shit.

Do you mean being tethered in tight to piece your on, so that should the piece your testing blow your held tight to the piece you're on? I've been relying on my fifi and my grip to prevent falling off the piece I'm on though I can see that as being a weak point in the system (it's worked for me plenty though). You can't be meaning real daisy falls?! What style of testing do you use on hard aid Jake? Aiders, daisy? Something else?

I second Seans advice. After climbing a few walls this season using all types of techniques this is by far the safest and most efficent. Still have two daisies on my harness for jugging, backing myself up at anchors and for climbing when there are consecutive hook moves or on very steep terrain. Other than that the second stays out of the way. The only purpose of the daisy to keep from loosing your gear and etrier when testing and before clipping the rope to the piece. Yes, this means your etriers aren't always tethered and you could possibly drop them but you won't (do you tether all your gear when freeclimbing?) and if you do hopefully you're packing a spare. The main advantage is avoidance of daisy falls. Really if the system your using can result in static falls on gear your probably doing it wrong. It's also much much faster and far less of a clusterfuck then dealing with 2 seperate daisies. Gear: 2 or more etriers (on easy aid I use 2 full length and 2 subaiders which are 3 step shorties, but 2 works fine) 1 daisy (I use an adjustable as its more convient at anchors and while jugging) 1 fifi hook tied in pretty close to the harness (see Chris Macs video about how to high step if you have a fixed length daisy) General Principles: The daisies only purpose is to keep from loosing gear when testing Don't use the daisy at all on bomber pieces C1/C2 The aiders float, i.e. they are not always tethered with the daisy The objective is to hook fifi into the biner on the etrier. 1) Place piece 2) If its a nut or fixed piece clip a quickdraw to it 3) clip your aider into piece (below biner on quickdraw) 4) clip rope into piece your currently on then unclip daisy from it 5) clip daisy to aider if it's not obviously good (I clip it to grab loop) 6) test piece if it's not obviously good 7) get into aider, remove other aider off lower piece (fifi into a step if you need to hang) 8) keep moving until you can fifi into aider biner then one step further repeat Similar process described at MP apparently taught by Hans Florine http://www.mountainproject.com/v/big_wall_and_aid_climbing/speedy_aid_rig_nirvana/106704262

Did they take away your nonwoven dyneema?

Great Photos. Climb of the month evidently. The north ridge offers a nice 4th-class or low 5th-class completion after getting through the icefall. The rock, while not great, is plenty firm and much better than everything else on that mountain. Some stellar bivi sites on the ridge crest as well.

Those bolts should go. They are ridiculous.

Nice. He's 11 right? I wonder how he descibes that to his 5th grade classmates. I still feel bad about dropping rocks on your head.

That explains why the Forest Service seems to have taken a great interest in installing fancy new pit toilets at every trailhead and parking lot.

Thanks for all the serious responses. I would like to believe that a vast majority of climbers agree with the the above statement, I included. Hence the reason closures seem near universally observed in places like Squamish and Yosemite. My interest in more quantifiable information is based on the long and extensive closures that Zion NP puts into effect every year. For example the entire East Temple, a 2+ mile wide enscarpment is closed to climbing. My google searching came up with plenty of articles regarding human disturbance of raptors. Here's a quote from an article entitled "Recommendations for protecting raptors from human disturbance: a review" regarding buffer zones for Peregrine Falcons. "The median distance recommended buffer zones are as follows...peregrine falcon = 800m (50m - 1600m)" When estimations of buffers differ by a factor of x32 I don't think it's unreasonable to presume the scientists are making wild ass guesses which is unfortunate considering their supposed profession. After 30 years of carefully documented climbing closures for Peregrine breeding all over North America I wonder if there aren't sufficent data points to correlate breeding success to the size of the closure. Just a thought.

.HYDROLOGY... THE FIRST MAJOR RAINSTORM OF AUTUMN WILL PROBABLY AFFECT WRN WA THE END OF NEXT WEEK. THIS PAC STORM WILL LIKELY TAP INTO MOISTURE FROM THE REMNANTS OF TYPHOON FANAPI...CURRENTLY SE OF TAIWAN. THE MEDIUM RANGE SOLUTIONS WERE IN IN GOOD AGREEMENT THAT THE REGION WILL BE IMPACTED BY A POTENT PAC STORM...ARRIVING IN WAVES...NEXT FRI THRU NEXT SUNDAY. THIS SYSTEM WILL HAVE THE POTENTIAL OF PRODUCING TOTAL RAINFALL AMOUNTS IN EXCESS OF 10 INCHES ON THE SW FACING SLOPES OF THE OLYMPICS AND IN EXCESS OF 4 INCHES ON THE SW FACING SLOPES OF THE N CASCADES. Yeah

Killing raptors in fact illegal under some law passed in 1918, see the access fund report I referneced at the top. Here is a response on the Taco written by a Yosemite climbing Ranger this year... "As it says in the notice I posted, peregrines were de-listed in 1999 under the Endangered Species Act, and now are in a 15 year monitoring program. Neither the NPS nor myself have claimed that the species is still listed. I appreciate your right to opinions that the peregrines are fine, and that although we only had 8 breeding pairs in the park last year (a record during our monitoring) it sounds like you are saying these birds are actually fully recovered and don't need any more protection. Fortunately the National Park Service doesn't agree. The NPS is charged with managing the park's resources not only for recreational values, but to protect all of the plants and animals within. ...... Some climbers ask me to close routes because swallows or other birds with really healthy populations are nesting in cracks. I just got back from J-tree, and they were closing routes with active nests of raptors that have never been listed. The superintendent of any park has the authority to close areas for resource protection regardless of whether or not a species has ESA status."