dberdinka

Mmmm....rock pipes....that would make for a much more interesting thread. Are there any the Cascade alpine?

The Comb (can't remember which #) is much steeper than most of D-town. Excellent routes there as well that consist of off-vertical face climbing on knobs. Amazing 2 pitch bolted arete there as well that goes at what? 11+.

Sol was on TC or GD several years back when a large corner maybe 100' to the right exploded down onto the trail. You have to scramble over a big block now just before you get to the wall. That occured shortly after some very significant rainfall, maybe hydraulic pressure? The flake on PA jumped off unassisted with witnesses on the ground. Also recall a guy taking a block to the chest at the base of the LTC and being helivac'd out. Came out of know where. Anyway, spontaneous rockfall does occur, at Index more than elsewhere it seems.

Sol, are you saying someone was actually on it? and ripped a huge block off Golden Road? !!!

Cost of vehicle $$$$$$ Cost of Rack $$$$ Cost of Gas $$$ Costs of Gustavs $$ Cost of Camping $

Lets go bolt the shit out of it Gene!

This is a really great time to expand offshore drilling. I predict the navy's going to have to bomb it to get it to stop (seriously)

"(first climb to the right of the bolted 5.8)" So the first climb to the right (hangers have flaky brown paint) is more like 10c/d. And the climb to the right of that which is the classic 10a is petty freaking weird, sustained and hard for 10a. Ceratinly you can find many much easier 10a's in the world.

just google "comparitive testing of high strength cord". It's a very thorough and convincing analysis. If you can live with the bulk and weight nylon is better in all other regards it seems.

I recently went back to 7 mm nylon after seeing the research that showed all the high tech cords lost significant strength very quickly due to flexing. Nylon is stronger in the medium and long term, knots and handles far better and is way cheaper.

It's interesting how it's perfectly OK to cut the tails off sheep....

"The mice had their tails cut off, were smothered in Vaseline and had to be euthanized." They really do put rodents up their butts!

Found the following TR iin a random google search. Interesting stuff! Base Jump off East Face of Liberty Bell

if being on the UTW during a quake wasn't nearly as bad as rockfall on Half-Dome, WTF happened? Do tell. It sounds spicy.

PM sent

Some guy in California apparantly has climbed a few walls and has written a "How-To" guide on the internet. HOW-TO-BIG-WALL-CLIMB Lots and lots of good stuff in there. His advice of not using daisies while leading might seem counter-intuitive but on C1/C2 stuff it really does eliminate a major amount of clusterfuckage and you will climb (much) faster. Here's another description EFFICENT AID RIGof a slightly more refined setup that will get you climbing faster, lighter and safer (as it eliminates the chance of daisy falls). My advice for aid climbing is you need to treat it as a big engineering project. Break it into components then figure out an efficent process for each component that you can repeat over and over again. For example don't just clip a pile of lockers and cordelletes to to back of your harness and then fumble around at every belay station. Instead figure out a system (try googling "Alpine Cock Ring") thats strong, redundant and quick to build, then put together a set of designated carabiners and cordage that are used for that singular purpose. Also, create an ordered series of steps for building the anchor, tieing into it, organizing the ropes, hauling, reorganizing gear, etc. Then repeat in that order everytime. You can dramatically cut down the amount of time you spend at each belay. So on and so forth. Top Stepping is good to know but 95% of the time you'll move faster by not top stepping but just getting comfortably high. Offset nuts are a must. Master Cams are every bit as good as Aliens (and narrower in the small sizes). Double set of nuts and cams is more than enough for the standard UTW routes. A cam hook is nice to have. Grappling hooks seem more useful than a Cliffhanger. Don't waste to much time climbing City Park, as beautiful a line as it is, it's simply not reflective of 99.9% of aid pitches out there. Woah! This got long.

If it got chopped people wouldn't have anything to bitch about. In all honesty there are many other climbs in the world that might be better treated as a "destination climb". Have fun.

Unfortunately billcoe I think most people wouldn't want to climb that with or without bolts!

...The Pope.... ....drilling TIGHT holes in VIRGIN rock.... there's something good in there.... That new Bosch is a beautiful thing. How many holes out of the little ?1.2? amph battery?

That fall/death occured on a static rope.

Sound like a real f$&king control freak you lads got down there. The politics of Columbia Gorge climbing never cease to amaze.

Go Google "Arresting a self belayed fall: A Comparison of Hitches and Ascenders". Basically a fall factor of 1 will cut the sheath but not the mantle. The only time you're ever going to get even close to a FF of 1 is as you approach the anchor. It's pretty easy to jug up to an anchor and have a bunch of slack in your system (mantelling or stepping up on a nice comfy ledge) So...I'm. Always extra careful to keep all slack out of the system and clip in as quickly as possible directly to it. Common sense I guess but there's a good reason for it. I use a Mini, they're handy for many things.

Please delete this post before Billcoe sees it. Thanks.

I ment ugly in a good way. I still think Blake better watch his back.

Kim Schmitz is man, man! And a big ugly looking one at that. He might kick your ass for calling him a girl.