Rodchester

my 2 cents... I think the Mountaineers and clubs like them provide a good service. Seriously, can you imagine what it would be like with them all roaming around the mountians without some structure? Fuck, it would suck out loud in stereo!!! Talk about rescue!!! I also know many very accomplished climbers and very competant climbers that started out in the basic course. Then they usually leave the club once they have the basics down. No shame in that. I will say that the mounties are not the only group with that rep. I was in the north Wind River Range with some bros a few years ago and we ran into Ted Lowe....first thing he said to us was..."you guys aren't from NOLS are you?" Silence until we realized they have the same problem as we do with the mounties here in the Cascades. We laughed and said fuck no. We went on venting about running into NOLS groups and how they say that their way is the only way. I do take exception to the way they run many of thier outings and I am very unhappy with some just-passed-the-basic-course-so-now-I-am-an instructor telling me I am wrong. Sure if you see someone is not clipped in and they think they are, you should politely point it out...but most are just saying do it the mounty way. Additionally, because the school environment has so many to teach, it simply cannot teach more than one method. This approach is fine if it is tempered with the idea that: we show you this way, we want it done this way...but there are other ways that we will not show you here today. Too many graduate the course and believe there is only one way, the mounty way and that all others are wrong and dangerous. I rarely have problems with them because I avoid and ignore them. Accept it though...if your are on the tooth you are going to have to deal with them...so deal baby, deal. Leugo!!

Yeah...that is the one. I'll be damned I just couldn't recall the name. Thanks. But by the way....Peru ROCKS!!! I loved my trip there, the mountains are just incredible...so much better than Ecuador. Food was excellent and the people were pretty cool too. Enjoy if you go.

Sorry Cavie....but you have got to admit this is just crap.

There is a fairly well known one at the entrance to the Huascaran National park into the Huandy Group area. There actually are known to be quite a few others many with lines never even attempted (Cordillera Blanca and Huayhash spelling?). I am not a big wall guy...but a buddy has his eye on a line down there so I hear about the areas. I have also sen the big wall at the Huasacaran entrance area. Climbing had an article on it a while back...fairly recent...say past two or three years.

No shit...I was mnot around during the thread on this one...that is just bullshit. I am not a big sporto guy but the wife and I have fun at vantage and this is just bullshit. Was it Osama Bill?

If you need a GPS...you need to stay at home.

This might sound stupid...but sharper is better...and sharpen them when they need to be sharpened. Sure they will wear out if you sharpen them...but if they need to be sharpened, they need to be sharpened. I agree the key is to find the balance between sharpe and durable. Good luck finding it.

BD Express...hands down. I will never buy another type again. Grivel 360 are decent but the machining on them is only mediocre, when compared to BD. No screw places as smoothly as a BD. Smileys actually are really good for the money. The are very well machined and place very easily and are priced to sell. The little "turn knob" is not very good and they do come off, no matter what the store says...they do...trust me they do. [ 12-20-2001: Message edited by: Rodchester ]

Cut 36 inch SMC pickets in half...so now I have two 18 in pickets. Work GREAT on spring and summer snow routes.

Intersting one...well....years ago someone gave me a candle lantern. At the time I thought...cool. Now I am not saying it is the worst piece...but I never use it. For climbers and mountaineers I say it is worthless.

Is the ice in yet? I doubt it is.... But let us know!!!

I have both but use bibs the most. If there is only a low chance of bad weather and it is warm, I take the pants. In winter I always take bibs. Bibs Pro = Comfort, full coverage (no plumbers crack), warm, easy to waer harness either on top of or under bibs Bibs Con = Heavy, bulky, can be to warm, Pants Pro = generally lighter (less material), generaly less bulk to carry, cooler than bibs, Pants Con = Plumbers crack, less comfortable (unless you get an amazing fit), can be a bit tricky with harness If only owned one, bibs. I really hate plumbers crack, drives me nuts. good luck. Let us know what you get and how you like them.

Sometimes climbers become so focused on their own climb and feel so removed from the "day hikers" that we do things that we should not do. We shouldn't cut trail just to save time or effort. Getting off trial is different, if you are getting to or from a route, or exploring a new route. Cutting trial on snow...no problem what so ever. There are many enviro-Nazis out there....screw them. I think this guy was just making his point about protecting an area that sees a LOT of use. Point well taken. I really wouldn't worry about it or him. If you feel you cut when you shouldn't just don't do it next time. It didn't sound to me like you were plowing through the undergrowth like a heard of elephants, so no worry. my 2 cents [ 12-02-2001: Message edited by: Rodchester ]

Because a ti-block does not have a true cam, it uses a biner, it can be misapplied much more easily and thus cause considerably more damage to ropes. If used properly they will still cause more wear than a Jumar, but are still safe.

SEX CHOCALATE: NO such thing as world court and international law. The world court is without an enforcement mechanism, without a legislature to provide laws to enforce, etc etc. International law is the epitome of Darwinistic Capitalism. Seriously. Your view that we should somehow enforce our beliefs on others just because we can reeks of ethnocentrisity and arrogance. Many of these people just want to be left alone. And on the Palastinian isse, what are we to do? Do you have a workable solution. If you have ever spent any time with the man on the dirt street (Palastinians) the VAST majority say there is only one way, either we kill all of them or they kill all of us. Now I know the Palastinian leadership and thier maketing teams puts it differently, the man on the dirt street with a rock in his hand does not. There is no simple simon solution such as waiving a magic US wand that changes our policy, thus changing lives. To quote a close Palastinian friend. "In the mid east, if a dog farts, we blame it on the CIA. This lets us not accept repsonibility for our own actions." Lets climb....

Sexual Chocolate: I agree that this has been a good post....even though not the best place for it. You wrote: "The CIA trained, armed, and funded the soviet resistance in Afghanistan, which then became known as the Mujahedeen. Osama bin Laden was one of the characters who was trained by the CIA, as were many of the current Taliban." Actually, the Taliban and the Mujahadeen are very different. They battled it out recently (Mid 1990s) and the Majahadeen lost. Per the standard in the region, the looser capitulated and joined the victor. Usama bin Laden really did not do much in the war against the Soviets. At the time they realized that bin Laden was more valuable raising funds and lobbying well to do supporters through out the world. bin Laden's actual military training is very little and his military experience is even less. The CIA did virtually nothing to train bin Laden himself. It should also be noted that it was not until recently, 1998, that bin Laden decided to carry the Palastiian cause as his own. You see bin Laden is a wonderful marketing guy. He understands propoganda unlike any other Islamic fundamentalist. He has identified many down troden Islamic cuases and decided to carry their banner, only because it helps his cause. Addtionally, the majority of the cash used to fund the mujahadeen did not come from the US taxpayer, but from well to do supporters, large corporations in the mideast, and many Arab and Muslim governments. The Taliban is the brian child of the Pakistani inteligence community. The idea was to bring stability to Afghanistan which had known nothing but war for twenty years. To a certain degree, it worked and to a certain degree it failed. The Afghan people (the many nations that make upo Afghanistan) never fully embraced the Taliban. Many of them will embrace the Americans as liberators from the crush that is the Taliban. Contrary to all of the whining I am hearing, we are not bombing the Afghan people. Funny thing is, they seem to know that better than most on this site. Most get out of the way of the bombing and now that Kabul has fallen, they are moving back into town. If you run the numbers I am willing to bet that history will show that at no time in history has the tonage droped to civilian casualty rate been so remarkably low. well sorry for the babling and I truely did not mean to rip on Alpine Tom so much. I actually am an ardent supporter of a Palaitinian state. I have been so for well over ten years. Remember our friend Nevelle Chamberlain and we will have peace in our time!!!

Alpine Tom: I have generally agreed with many of your positions on climbing topics and found you to be level headed. However I stopped shortly through your last post in this thread when you stated "We’re now embracing nation-building, (having carefully learned exactly the wrong lesson from Daddy Bush’s failure in Iraq)" You have got to be kidding me? Where did you dig that one up? Come on. Where are we (USA) nation building? and when did anyone, right left or otherwise, EVER think or state in any forum that what we are doing in Iraq is Nation Building? NATION BUILDING IN IRAQ!!! HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA Sorry, I can't STOP HA HA HA HA HA. Oh man...that was good. Seriously don't take it too personal...I just can't help it on this one. Someone trying to say the US is trying to nation build in the secular state of Iraq!!! Good one. What kind of Nation are we building? Iraq is and always (modern history) has been a secular state with many nations within (multi-national state). There are various languages, ethnicities, religions, etc. Who's idea was this nation building in Iraq anyway? Old George or Clinton? Maybe it was that old lady Albright...or maybe Powell is finishng the nation building he began in the early 1990s. If that is how we build a nation we should all be very concerned. See Napoleon and Bismark on lessons in nation building. Oh man this was a good one I will share with my friends in the NSPS circles. Nation building in Iraq...oh man.... [ 11-12-2001: Message edited by: Rodchester ]

Daisey Cutters....yeah baby. Get it straight and make no mistake...they want to and will kill you. This is kill or be killed. No we should kill everyone...of course not. But we do need to kill all of them. Yes...we do need to look at the root cause of thier anger. But don't make the simple simon assumption that a minor or evn major change in policy will make it all go away. No fucking way. I seriously caution the simple simon comparisions between our ongoing experience there and Russia's (or even Britian's). Also camparisons with Vietnam are nothing short of comical and demonstrative of the intelect powering the thought. Russians were invaders and conquerers. The Russians openly attacked Islam and closed mosques. Communisim is godless by idiology. Also the Afghans got their clocks cleaned until they were trained and supplied with superior eqiopment by the Western world. We are not there to occupy. They have NO ONE to supply them with superior equipment. If you need a lesson on Vietnam...take a class. The differences are so many and so grossly simple I couldn't even begin to start. So to sum it all up. Hunt them down like dogs and kill them. Starve them and take away thier support by changeing bad policies...but do not aboandon good policies just becuase the might have some bad effect. Who knows what a daisey cutter is? We need to start using them there en masse. have a nice day...

Well I say that Whopper and I went inmto one place one night for a few cold ones and it was quite clear that we were not welcome there. We stood our graound had a brew anyway and left on our own accord. No fights...but is was painfully clear that we were not welcome there. Since that time we eat at the resturants and go back to our hotel room. No pub crawling for me in Lillooet.

You can always call Mountain Madness for info on Gary's course. Gary Guides for M2 and the course is an M2 coourse. They can set you up. I took it three years ago and learned a lot.

Does anyone know where you/I can buy some of those Arcterex Ice Devices? My buddy has these and they rock for racking screws. I have tried the Trango clips and they only suck a lot. I have tried the old bicycle tube on a bnet gate biner and it is OK...but those ice devices rock.

Dru: Ever read John Hunt's Conquest of Everest? No body hauled anybody's butt up Everst on the first trip. No body. Hillary was at the time and continued to be a very accomplished climber and explorer. I understand the ideas that he couldmn't have done it without the Sherpa argument, but the Sherpa wouldn't have done it themselves either. It took both. Tenzing Norgay is the man in the picture withthe flags on the summit. Hillary was VERY big on seeing to it that the Sherpa received all the credit they deserved.

Ropegun 2001, You wrote: "There are a few documented cases where the harness makers hold the harness user liable for not using the rappel/belay loop during a harness failure." Could you please explain and tell me where I can get the documentation? How can a harness maker hold a user liable? Do you mean the harness maker denied liability for an accident? Just curious.... I only use the belay loop and have heard many manufacturers state that the designa nd material dictate that the belaty loop is the only prescribed use. (BD, Trango, Metolious, & Petzl) my two cents.....

Whopper, The simple fact of the matter is that most people just do not understand the law and assume that there will be a law suit anytime someone is hurt. This is just not the case. Regarding suits that settle I know of one...that's right only one. Are there more...maybe. These settlements are driven by cosst of litigation analysis done by actauries at insurance companies and never reflect the actual merits of a case. Bill Robbins has taken steps that he feels protects this woman and her property rights. Ok, but fear a suit is unfounded on many levels. Acceptance of risk alone would control...but also the duty owed to a tresspasser is minimal to none. So in this case she bears no liability what so ever. Bill seems to imply that modifying the property with bolts creates a liability. The question to ask: Are bolts an attractive nuisances? Well that issue is untested before a court and I think it will not succeed. An attractive nuisance calls out to people. (Swimming pool is an example of an attractive nuisance). Does a bolt call out to someone? Well maybe a climber...but remember climbers accept the risk. Regarding Bill's question of whether or not anyone would help her with an attorney...the answer is yes. First off I would, as would a handfull of other attorneys around. Additionally, the Access Fund, AAC, and other groups often provide funding to educate landowners and help out in the few lawsuits that do arise. AAC and the Access Fund are GREAT groups to give to. Paranoia and simple-Simon assumptions often lead to knee jerk reactions as in this case. But at least Bill meant well and was actually looking out for others. he is however incorrect. If Bill would provide me with the woman's address and telephone number I would be happy to discuss any concerns based on the law and actual liability. Maybe we could take this as an opportunity to open the area to new climbs and make sure the home owner's concerns are addressed. Anybody agree?

They are right next to the Tractor Tavern on old ballard ave.