Rodchester

You mean the terrorists, or the French?

Mostly correct. The chroming of the barrel was critical to its effectiveness. The 5.56 round of the Vietnam era is no longer in use my the military. The powder behind the round changed mutiple times in the testing phases (early 1960s) and then again once the rifle was fielded to line troops. Another major, yet rarely discussed change, is the revolution ratio of the round. If I recall correctly the older Vietnam era round was a 1/11 ratio. This gave the round the ability to tumble once it hit something, say hitting a man in the arm yet exiting his chest and tearing up bone and flesh in the process. The theroy was that the tumble would make up for what it lacked in knock down power. The problem with this approach is that it would also tumble when it hit a small branch, or most anything. It simply lacked penetration power. Accordingly, its accuruacy in combat was greatly effected. Also, the round itself was not a dumb-dumb styple round designed to seperate on impact, only tumble. The newer round adopted in the mid to late 1980s (Standard NATO Ball) still has the high velocity, but at 1/7 revolutions it is a maximum stabilty round. So, it does not tumble nearly as much as the Vietnam era round and it will not do as much damage. However, it is more accurate (in combat) and it has FAR greater penetration. In fact I workled with FN on upgrading the M249 SAW in 1987 and during which time we tested the 5.56 (SAW) against the 7.62 (M60) ands concluded that the 5.56 actually had better penetration on steel at 200 meters and roughly similar on wood at 200 meters. This really surprised me. The new round when fird from a SAW can be accurate on "area" targets up to 700 meters if I recall correctly. As many here have stated the M16 is a good weapon with a good round. 300 meters really is nothing. Most of the older M16s have been refitted with 1/7 barrels.

This is NOT a fun or beautiful peak experience. It has little if any worth while views and the trail is steep and not fun. Granted it is a GREAT work out peak, but that is all that it is. Have fun.

To clarify: Do you want to learn multi-pitch trad, or multi-pitch sport? There really is not that much mutli-pitch sport climbing, at least in the PNW. Either way, I wish you luck and have fun!

Which one, Czech or Slovakia. They have been two differnt countries for, what? About 15 years now? Two different peoples.

reid...but I'm not very good at judging how good looking guys are, any chicks or gay male climbers have an opinion?

Already been posted....but it still rocks!

Raiiiiiiii....neeeeeer Beer

Whisp Lightweight (21 ozs. ) and very compressible. None of the really lightweight shells used in the newer bags are VERY water resistant, sure they have DWR on them, but nothing like dryloft or something comparable. Those weigh too much to be used on really lightweight bags. Good luck....

Thanks

Alex: Curious about the general snow conditions up the "approach gully." I have done the route before and plan on taking a fairly new climber up it soon, so I was wondering how much snow is left in the gully? Feel any need for crampons? Ice axe? I think the route is a fun introduction to alpine in a great area , though mostly scrambling. Thanks in advance.....

Call Tim at First Descent . A really good guy running a really god company.

Agree on Shrikes. There is a strong argument on steeper ice using two hammers, because if a tool pops the adze could really do some damage to your head. However, I have one of each.

Top roped? Wow. I guess you mean that a leader lead it and then belayed each of the 8 followers up? Not that he actually set a huge ass top rope...right? Just imagine what a 400 foot or more "top-rope" would look like.

shapp: I guess what I'm not getting then is why they would do it in a horizontal crack, but not another crack? Am I misunderstanding you? If its a flexible mono-stem cam, say like BD or Trango, then the type of loading you mention (causing a tweak as you say) would occur whether it is in a horizontal crack or another crack...correct? I'm just trying to understand what the signifigance of the horizontal crack is in this instance. Also, if you took a fall big enough to put enough force on the stem (tweaking it/bending it or whatever) what would the same force do to a Forged Freind in a horizontal crack where one would be using a tied in sling or cord? Just curious.