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Ice climbing etiquette


nolanr

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Maybe an interim solution is to implicitly, amongst ourselves, designate certain areas of Banks Lake as known "practice areas". One spot that comes to mind is the Devils Punch Bowl. It's already threatened enough anyway as it is.

Canmore, Alberta has a fat flow called "The Junkyards" where it is pretty much known exclusively as a TR or practice area.

No one gets bent out of shape about falling ice because everyone is there for the same reason. To train, practice, learn, whatever. The ice gets hacked and chopped and no one has any issues. Falling ice is just part of the day there, and since most everyone is TR'ing all you have to do is get out of the way or get nailed. The fact that there is 30m of Grade2 below you leading into a nasty tree runout zone doesn't deter anyone from stepping into the shooting gallery.

From what I've seen at Banks, The Devils Peebowl, and the next large flow further south are the logical suspects for designation. Most of the other flows don't really look conducive to TR'ing and should be left for leading. If you want to lead at DPB fine, go for it, knock yourself out (maybe literally).

What's the concensus on this? The ice here is a limited resource. Maybe we can all make logical concessions and have a tight well bonded community of climbers all doing their thing with respect for one another.

Fire away,

Mike http://alpinelite.com

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nuff of this. first of all i'm not sure why someone who states that we are beginners are climbing a difficult line such as the cable. last time i was there that route was not up to leadable standards, especially two parties. i have always worked off the mantra don't climb something you can't lead. with ice it is twofold statement, because the possibilty of injury or death is greater as we can't always depend on our ice protection. it sounds as if buddies are leap frogging the pitch, that might be an accepted practice on rock, but here in temperate maritime climate zone washington where the cable or any other route is going to crash down on us next weekend, that practice shouldn't be used. you can lead ice or you can't; don't get yourself over your head. easy to say(i know) but a real climber is proud enough or smart enough to know when he should or shouldn't be on a route. so when you are leap frogging a route or lowering down, then going back up to finish it, then maybe it is time to concede and move on to another route. using you better judgement is the only way that something is going to be resolved. we all know what is right and what is wrong. sounds like there is no inncocent party in this situation, not to say that anyone is guilty either. we all deserve to climb any route we choose, but use your brains and choose the right one. be safe cause anyone climb above me, if that is possible beware. I'M FROM TACOMA!

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Oh Brother- rolleyes.gif

Messner Jr,

I think maybe papa Rheinhold was referring to some more serious aspirations like Nanga Parbat or even the Eiger Nordward...

For us, the issue is something like 25m of grade2.

I promise I won't climb there as long as everyone agrees to let me fire my flame thrower in their vicinity. After all it's a service I'd be providing for your safety and my amusement.

How many more posts till retirement Tim?

Mike "Whillans" Adamson http://alpinelite.com

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That would be t minus 6 Mr. Adams.

I find it quite ironic that the title of this thread is "Ice Climbing Ettiquite". Frankly, there have been quite a few posts up here apparently penned by authors who have forgotten general rules of ettiquite while posting to the board.

I want to take a moment to remind everyone why Jon and I spent time (when we could have been in the moutains) putting up and maintaining this site. We wanted to create a place where NW climbers could gather, chat, post opinions, get beta, dream, and converse about the one thing we all have in common and cherish dearly.

I personally spend time in the mountains to get away from the ugliness of society that surrounds us all day to day. The hills are my escape from the gridlock of rush-hour on 405, they provide freedom from my 21' monitor, and fresh air for my lungs. The mountains and climbing brings me happiness, wether I'm wandering in them, gazing at them through a window at work, or writing a really cheesy post about them (case in point) on this site.

I realized that when we started this site, and added this board, that there would be some rather heated discussions. This is a given conisdering the varying views involved with climbing/ettiquite/etc. But recently I have noticed a large ammount of personal attacks in the posts. I have been rather busy at work lately so I haven't had a chance to follow alot of the BB posts, but this "flaming" was brought to my attention off-line, and it has me a tad concerned.

Basically, I just want to ask all of us that are members in this rather small "community" to remember our general ettiquite when posting to the site. Although I encourage healthy discussions, I hope that we would all refrain from attacking others opinions, ideas, and feelings about certain issues. So Please, keep an open mind when reading and posting on the site here. And most importantly, remember the reasons why we gather here, and that reason is to talk about the thing we all love. Keep it clean, and lets all be happy!

OK, it is time for me to stop this cheesy post. THREAD CLOSED.

-Tim

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