David_Parker

All Thumbs, if you don't get it, you don't want to...trust me!

I admit, I shop at REI. Not ALL my gear comes from there. I like the prices and they have more selection for my kid. But I also like the Mt. Constance Shoppe in Bremertion. They know customer service. Sometimes I feel like a walking catalogue for LL Bean. They invented customer service. But, hey, I'm from Maine and I guess I still have loyalties. I'm totally with Eric on the abuse the return policy which by the way was introduced by LL Bean, NOT Nordstrom! I've personally seen this policy so abused it makes me puke. A person dies and family members clean out a life times collection of LL labels and return it. People shop thrift stores and garage sales and return stuff. It's your own mountain karma if you wear something out through use and abuse and justify returning it in your own mind. But there are also time when things DO wear out or self destruct prematurely and then I'm glad I bought it where there are no questions asked. Surprisingly though, there are smaller stores too that offer the same policy. Unfortunately, they suffer a much higher percentage of lost capital when people abuse the system. So in my opinion, if you don't like REI being the Costco of outdoor gear, shop the smaller stores but DO NOT ABUSE the system so they don't go out of business! That indirectly supports the REI's! I love to check out gear in stores from Italy to New Hampshire. If I'm climbing out of my area, I have found by actually buying something locally in the town I'm in, you might meet someone who opens up a little and the next thing you know you get some good beta on where the good stuff is. My $.02

OK, now that we have lots of suggestions on where to practice crack climbing, how about some tips on technique from some of you masters. Fingers, hands, fist, offwidth? Thumbs up or down? Move hands and feet on same side up or use opposite? How high to reach? What about tape? Why do I feel like my hands are slipping all the time? How to keep from pumping out on steep stuff? Etc, Etc....

I think I was a climber before I knew it! Once when I was 4, my neighbor called my mom on the phone to ask if she knew her son was out on the roof. I was supposed to be napping, but confusing my stride-rites for rock shoes, I was seriously flailing on the comp roof! Of course that would be my first free solo too. I lived. Next was serious bouldering in my friends huge barn. If my mom knew about that, she would have killed me. We scared the shit out of our selves way high in the rafters. And that white shit wasn't chalk either but swallow guano. Later I enjoyed seeing how far I could go along the shore (in Maine) at high tide without falling in. I brought a friend once and he locked up on a traverse and could only cry out "I want my mommy." I took my brother "rappelling" once. It was a water tower on an island. In college I spent more time on the roof of my dorm. There was a great view of the girls from up there. Also a good place to launch water balloons. See, all you really need to know you learn in kindegarden! Then I moved out west! Started rock climbing in Little Cottonwood Canyon. I think I climbed Schoolroom 8 times to teach myself how to place pro. Then we started aiding the roofs. In winter I had to beg and beg and beg for Dirty Dan to take me ice climbing. Pulled his ass out of retirement. My first climb was in leather (Becky) boots with smc strap-ons and 30 cm teradactyls! We did Briadalveil right and I was the coolest dude on the planet. Then I came to Washington. I spent every weekend in the summer of 84 and 86 in the Olympics or Cascades. We taught ourselves everything. We used to camp at the base of Classic crack and TR it. We went home bloody, but happy if we made it. I prussiked in trees before I climbed Rainier. Once in France I had to teach the guys I was with how to set up a Z-pulley before we went on the Haute route. We went up on the Boisson Glacier and practiced for a whole day on seracs. My dad never took me on any adventures. My six year old has already had more adventures than I did by the time I was 20. Be the parent yours weren't!! You guys who learned from your Dad should thank him! Let him know how much it means to you. It's the nicest compliment you can give him! Cheers, David

I'm in. Save the ending for the shindig! That way you have to show up to hear it!

Not to bring up an old subject, but what kind of knife do I need to fend off snaffelhounds? What the #%$&*^ is a snafflehound anyway? Don't stray too far here...keep the real beta coming!

Anyone been up either of these recently. What about knocking both off in one trip? Info on availability of H2O in early to mid August too? Any tips/beta much appreciated. approach, time, pitches, descent etc? DPP

I'm going to reintroduce the idea of Mazama. 10 acres with plenty of room for camping, firepits, barbques, guaranteed good weather, allowed to make as much noise as you want, swimming in the river and it's free. I'm going to show Eric when we go over to climb Chianti or Burgandy Spire. Preliminary feedback requested!

Not to state the obvious, but dope is weigh lighter than brewskis or licker! Just don't use aluminum for the pipe unless you want to die. After my 5 day trip with a fairly serious "light meister" i bought platypus bottles and a 3/4 light thermyrest for my six year old today. I told him I would "borrow" it from him if he wasn't coming with me and he said "sure Dad!" That's all I could justify. I do like my comforts too. It's a balance thing, nobody's right or wrong. Fortunately my knees still work like a 20 year old. I'll tribute that to tele skiing only. I'm going to second beach this weekend with my son. I'm going to sea kayak there instead of hike. Way more luxurious!! 300 lbs (if I want) vs. 60!!

I'm a contact lens person all the way. I wear daily wear because I don't believe it's good to have them in all the time. More suceptable to infection, irritation. Pus Daily wear "breathe" better and I don't need to add drops as frequently. But if I fall asleep in them then I need a putty knife to get them off......so on trips where I think it will be majorly inconvenient, I also have extended wear. Then I don't have to worry about dirty fingers or putting them in in freezing cold at 3:00 am. Each Contact lens person has to know what works for them because everyone has different issues with dryness. I always carry tiny little squirt bottles for rewetting. I also always carry one spare set of glasses. It's funny but my common sense says just get lasik, but I'd rather lead out 50 ft on a rusty 1/4 inch bolt than take the chance! I can't explain why I'm such a pussy when it comes to lasik! This new inplant thing sounds cool. Think I'll wait another year to see what technology arises! DPP

Thanks! I will contact you all directly but know that I am glad you responded and my son (Jordan) will be fun! I do have a climbing wall in my garage and he is pretty darn good....but plastic is plastic and not what I want him to think rock climbing is all about. He hasn't learned to be selective about the holds so I think he will have his eyes opened when they are much more limited! This will be fun! DPP

Wow, nobody out there with a kid who wants to try rock climbing? Maybe I'll go to Peshastin to see who I run into. It would be fun to make a plan though. You can email me directly at dpparker60@hotmail.com

Just wondering if anyone out there has a kid who wants to get on some real rock. I have a six year old son and thanks to a couple of very generous guys on this website, he now has real shoes. I was thinking of a weekend in L-worth or another place where you can camp and be close to some moderate top roping. I thought it would be better to hook up with another Dad and son/daughter so I could actually climb too! My son doesn't weigh enough to belay me.

Great subject and I just learned alot from my 5 day Challenger traverse. Wayne was the "master!" His pack was 38 and mine was 51. He had Aluminium crampons, super light ice axe, single wall bibler tent, no extra clothes, 2lb sleeping bag. Funny thing was, he had a much heavier food bag than me at the start. We carried one stove and only used one medium size bottle of fuel. One titanium pot and all meals only required hot water. We ate mountain house freeze dried for dinners. No cooking in the pot. I threw out my own bivy sack at the start but in retrospect could have thrown out the sleeping bag and kept the bivy and worn my down jacket and all my clothes. 3/4 thermarest lite was much lighter than my full length with chair setup. Know what group gear you need and don't duplicate. Many of the items mentioned in the above posts are "group gear". If you are like me, you have some older gear that you just can't justify replacing at high cost to save a few oz or lbs. Don't worry about it too much. There wasn't much I could do about some of the stuff. One thing I will immediately replace are my Nalgene water bottles with colabsible Platypus. We brought 1 water filter which frankly was worth the weight over iodine. We drank tons of water! I heard this once: On your living room floor get out all the things you "think" you need for the trip. Go through the pile and throw out everything you can do with out. When done with that, cut the pile in half! If in doubt, throw it out! Good Luck, David

Jerry, Just got back as part of the traverse party. We concluded the better appraoch is from Hannegan. We also sort of wished we had gone OVER Whatcom from Whatcom Pass and easy walk down to Perfect Pass. It looks really good right now. Drop down off easy ridge and head for the base of a large butress coming off Whatcom. This is the high traverse and after crossing some small, indistinct gullys you'll end up at a bench with a tree above a significant gully. Up and left is a ramp which you may wish to rope up for. There is a rusty old 1/4 " bolt to mark you're on route. It's only about 50 ft and then you drop into the gully (all snow right now) and continue up and across another 25 ft. Then traverse onto the slabs on the other side and work up and right to where the waterfall is just about to pour over the drop. Continue up and right to snow and follow snow, heather, scree and loose rock to Perfect Pass. The alternative is to drop much lower (maybe another 600 ft) than the base of the butress and climb easier slopes up to where the high traverse meets. The glacier is a piece of cake right now. Dave

Ok we need to start voting on the place to paaaaaaaartee! But before we choose between icicle creek or Tacoma let me throw out one more choice. Private cabin in Mazama on 10 acres, woods and field, lots of camping sites, big deck, furniture, barbeque grills, fire pit, pick nick tables , all on the methow river (a short hike) for swimming and washing. It's not mine but I have free use as long as you don't steal things or burn the place down. Anyway it's a great place and you won't have to worry about any rangers telling us to tone it down! Besides, it's even further for Strickland, but closer to Wash. Pass!!

How about reserving eightmile campground (or another campground up icicle) for about 25 and having a weekend bash. Friday and Sat night and put it way out in August or Sept or Oct so people can plan. Suggest bringing significant others too. It doesn't need to be a show off fest, but maybe an opportunity to climb with the girls too and show them we are not all obsessed with our own agendas. Girls just want to have fun! This internet stuff is a disease and is totally contrary to what climbing is all about. In Europe, people of all ages who recreate at all levels (from wheelchairs to multi day wall climbs to alpine extreme to regular 5.9 climbing) all meet in the huts either for the day or to spend the night. They do in person what we do on line. The whole thing is really cool because you meet so many interesting people in real life. Talking on the internet is good for beta, but is not social. Personally, climbing is more than just the climbing. It's the car ride, the music, the drinking, the smoking, and meeting other peole with similar interests and interesting stories with alternative points of view. I'll help Eric if the feedback is positive. Eric, perhaps your idea of a party was bad timing because it was winter. Lets try again!!!

Like Rainier, the Grand should never be under estimated. The year I tried to guide my Dad up we were scheduled for july and postponed to August due to ice above the upper saddle. There was still too much ice in August, but apparantly it was an "off" year. If you have never been on it, even the OS can present route finding issues. To do it in a day, it would be good to be familiar with the mountain. If you decide to camp and enjoy yourself a bit more, I suggest the morraine not the lower saddle. MUCH less windy and only a little bit more climbing. Sometimes you get the morrain one night and can move up to the saddle for a second. We got the morraine because the saddle was full and we were GLAD! Good luck on the permit thing... mid week is better!

After skiing off the summit of Adams and coming down to the top of the South spur, I was amazed of how many people were coming up with dogs. I love dogs, but snow sticks to mine so he can't come on trips on snow. Anyway, it was a bluebird day and I was wondering if they could go snow blind or get seriously damaged not wearing sunglasses?

Hey Retro, does your 4 year old belay you when you lead? Or does he lead? Seriously though, maybe I'll start a new thread about climbing with kids. Other than top roping, it can be tricky. For my first real rock climb with my kid, I tied him in on top rope about 3-4 ft. in front of me while my wife belayed. That way I was close by for moral support and technical help. My hands easily reached his feet. I also did a rapell with him dangling from a runner from my harness. He loved it. I'd be curious to know some other climbing with kid techniques that work.

Snake dike isn't in Tuolomne?! Shit I must have been on something!! Just tell me I was in California...right?

So where do you buy these? Do climbing shops have them or do I go to Dave Page or like? I want to make a pair of climbing shoes for my kid. Suggestions on type of rubber too! I assume they come with the glue.

Don't forget Snake Dike on Half Dome...classic 5.7 (only one move) and killer view from the top. Try it on 'schrooms on a full moon!

The resole of old tennies sounds good if I can't find cheap ones. Now, where do I buy soles and glue? I'm quite sure I can manage the belt sander thing! Dave

Will, check your email!