JosephH Posted March 23, 2011 Posted March 23, 2011 Every winter we leave some fairly heavy ceramic / red clay pots out on our deck. We've done this for years with no damage to any of the pots. Now while this hasn't been a particularly hard winter in PDX, something unusual occurred earlier this winter - all the pots on the deck either fractured or exhibit odd layer splintering / delaminating. Pots cracking, yeah, once in a blue moon, but this was a specific and sharp event that cracked and delaminated pretty much all the pots. It has left me wondering if some of the more fracture-prone rock in PDX might have been similarly affected - places like Ozone and Broughton come to mind, particularly with respect to delaminating flakes. Anyway, just a heads up as we launch into spring that you might want to double-check fragile holds / flakes that have been solid in the past... Quote
ivan Posted March 23, 2011 Posted March 23, 2011 seems to happen every winter to the big ceramic pots i have in my back yard - eventually i got rid of them all after my son scrapped against one and needed a half dozen stitches Quote
billcoe Posted March 25, 2011 Posted March 25, 2011 Speaking only for myself, I will be extra careful when climbing over Ivans fence that his pots don't attack me....Last Saturday, I was only following but with my left handhold snapped off a rock which broke into 2 pieces. I didn't fall and hung onto the large part but the small one peeled right off down the cliff and caught the belaying Plaidman in the chest after a single bounce. He was fine but I felt like shit. This is why I'm not climbing at Cathedral:-) I had figured it was me pulling too hard and fast, not paying attention, like a noob..... but maybe this is a better explanation cause then I can ignore my own culpability...hmmmm, I like that:-) BTW, side note for anyone who cares: Timetraveler Steve rules! Not only that but he insisted we leave the poison oak (still scratching now) and slick mossy cracks and meet him at a dry warm high friction place where he then ropegunned all these sweet easier bolted routes which we caught a free ride on till the ibuprofen started calling:-) Yeah! Quote
ivan Posted March 25, 2011 Posted March 25, 2011 i need to climb w/ you more bill - mike and i tried our hardest to convicne ourselves to muck about on the rock sunday, but in the end settled for a storm-ridden, skull-adled sortie up mt hamilton Quote
stevetimetravlr Posted March 25, 2011 Posted March 25, 2011 Thanks for the kudos Bill! I lead 5.9 real good when I got em wired, ha!! That was a good shot with the rock, I couldn't believe i had forgotten my helmet there, lots of rock been shedding off that crag lately. I think Joseph is on to something, with all the moisture and freeze/thaw cycles, we have a extraordinary amount of loose rocks this Spring it seems in the Gorge. Hey,bring it on out Ivan,I got 3 days on the rock this week and 1 day in the gym, pretty stoked with myself. The sun has been shining out my way, but looks like it is back to rain for the weekend. Bummer, just when I was getting all fired up.. Quote
ivan Posted March 31, 2011 Posted March 31, 2011 it took you a week to figure out photoshop kenny? why's terri gross being so mean? Quote
rob Posted March 31, 2011 Posted March 31, 2011 Cracking/delaminating clay pots is pretty common in the winter. They are porous, and water gets into them and you get freeze/thaw. Whether the crack or not depends a lot on local conditions, especially what's IN the pot. Empty pots do a lot better. Did you recently water them before this happened? When I was a kid, my mother made me winterize all her clay pots by transferring the plants out of them, cleaning them out, and wrapping them in bubblewrap to keep moisture out. They're OK to freeze, as long as they're not wet. Quote
kevbone Posted March 31, 2011 Posted March 31, 2011 - places like Ozone shhhhhhh....its still a secret. Quote
stevetimetravlr Posted April 5, 2011 Posted April 5, 2011 When the rain finally quits this year, it is going to be the mossiest chossiest summer ever! The weather is crazy. 18 inches of new snow at Timberline this morning, with tons more on the way, and the temps are dropping rapidly, supposed to be snow down to 1000 ft. by Thursday in the Gorge. Quote
miker Posted April 7, 2011 Posted April 7, 2011 My forearms are currently flaming with the oak, along with a few red spots scattered about my body, the sacrifice we make for trying to 'develop' something new on Beacon's North Face. The main vine stretching up the wall and our crack was as thick as a babies arm. As for holds breaking, I am with Bill, I don't have to blame my enormous mass, I can just tell Mother Nature it was her fault, along with the poison oak. I am in LA for two weeks, glad to hear I am not missing any prime climbing weather up there... Quote
JosephH Posted April 8, 2011 Author Posted April 8, 2011 Cracking/delaminating clay pots is pretty common in the winter. They are porous, and water gets into them and you get freeze/thaw. Whether the crack or not depends a lot on local conditions, especially what's IN the pot. Empty pots do a lot better. Did you recently water them before this happened? These dozen heavy pots have never cracked or broken in 15 years on the deck and in one week they all completely crack and delaminate and it's not an unusual event? I don't buy it at all. I also just discovered the neck cracked and dropped off of the thick glass hummingbird feeder hanging in the back of the yard. Whatever freeze/thaw event happened was fast and dramatic. Want to blow it off as nothing out of the ordinary, cool? But I'll be checking any and all flakes I'm on as the weather turns nicer and I start to get out more. Quote
ivan Posted April 11, 2011 Posted April 11, 2011 Cracking/delaminating clay pots is pretty common in the winter. They are porous, and water gets into them and you get freeze/thaw. Whether the crack or not depends a lot on local conditions, especially what's IN the pot. Empty pots do a lot better. Did you recently water them before this happened? These dozen heavy pots have never cracked or broken in 15 years on the deck and in one week they all completely crack and delaminate and it's not an unusual event? I don't buy it at all. I also just discovered the neck cracked and dropped off of the thick glass hummingbird feeder hanging in the back of the yard. Whatever freeze/thaw event happened was fast and dramatic. Want to blow it off as nothing out of the ordinary, cool? But I'll be checking any and all flakes I'm on as the weather turns nicer and I start to get out more. were all the pots the same age? i imagine much of the serious freeze/thaw incidents are pretty locally specific at any rate. for my part, i've enjoyed the past few major rockfall events out at the big b so here's to hoping half the south side's big trees have been anhiliated by big old blocks coming down! Quote
Sol Posted April 11, 2011 Posted April 11, 2011 Contrary to what most people think about granite, Ltown granite becomes much more friable when wet (or not completely dry). Wet climbing seasons (when the rock seems and feels dry) can take a heavy toll on the stone. This season in particular has seem lots of holds breaking... and while that is part of the game, it is a bit discouraging when the key hold on your project breaks right before you were gonna send. Quote
EastCoastDave Posted June 13, 2011 Posted June 13, 2011 - places like Ozone shhhhhhh....its still a secret. hardly.... and wait until the new portland area climbs book comes out. Quote
ivan Posted June 13, 2011 Posted June 13, 2011 - places like Ozone shhhhhhh....its still a secret. hardly.... and wait until the new portland area climbs book comes out. done happened already! musta seen my name spelling 4 different ways n' everything Quote
stevetimetravlr Posted June 13, 2011 Posted June 13, 2011 yeah dude, Stone Soup got some press, wow! Lots of cool new routes in that book. Quote
billcoe Posted June 13, 2011 Posted June 13, 2011 yeah dude, Stone Soup got some press, wow! Lots of cool new routes in that book. Lone Wolf, the line Jim pointed out to Adam and I on the South side, got missed in the book. http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/915056/1 done happened already! musta seen my name spelling 4 different ways n' everything Hmmpf. "I V A N" ....seems easy enough to me. BTW, if anyone wants to order the new book, (includes Ozone, The Farside, Beacon Rock, French's Dome, Broughton, Rocky Butte, Carver, Madrone, etc). here's the link. http://www.portlandrockclimbs.com/ Of particular interest East coast Dave, if you haven't seen one of these is look at the masterpiece Beacon Topo. Lots of folks have bought 2 and framed them side by side front and back. As it's big, and colored somewhat, it is as much art as topo. Good stuff. Tim is planning a second book as well that will have a bunch of new areas in it. Quote
kevbone Posted June 13, 2011 Posted June 13, 2011 - places like Ozone shhhhhhh....its still a secret. hardly.... and wait until the new portland area climbs book comes out. It was a joke. The new book looks nice....there are some mistakes but that is to be expected. Quote
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.