"Because it's there."

[veryblueeyes]

Yeah, I thought you two would enjoy the video and Dinosaur Jr just freaking rocks.

Also, I am teaching a new friend to rock climb. Indoor, that is. He is taking baby steps, though seems to dig it. I have him on the beginner climb. He wants to go to western NC and climb a bit. I told him that he is a ways off from that. He is so anxious to learn to climb. I think it is great. I am trying to teach him what repelling is and how to belay himself. Do you guys think that is the best way to teach?

 

[Saint Peter]

Let him fall.

Nothing teaches better than that.

 

[veryblueeyes]

Let him fall.

Nothing teaches better than that.

Petey Pie, you are just jealous that you don't get to watch my butt while I climb the wall.

 

[Saint Peter]

Petey Pie, you are just jealous that you don't get to watch my butt while I climb the wall.

This I cannot deny.

 

[veryblueeyes]

This I cannot deny.

Finals over?

And one day, you shall see my butt climbing a rock in CO and then you get to tie me up in your basement.

 

[Saint Peter]

Finals over?

And one day, you shall see my butt climbing a rock in CO and then you get to tie me up in your basement.

Four exams and a big project to turn in next week. Then I am free as the wind.

 

[veryblueeyes]

Four exams and a big project to turn in next week. Then I am free as the wind.

Party at Pete's!

It's finals here as well. Good luck, sweetie. *huggies emot*

 

[Saint Peter]

Party at Pete's!

It's finals here as well. Good luck, sweetie. *huggies emot*

Thank you! This has been a long semester and I am looking forward to being done.

The same wishes go out your way even though I am sure you could have aced the exams without even reading the book.

 

[veryblueeyes]

Thank you! This has been a long semester and I am looking forward to being done.

The same wishes go out your way even though I am sure you could have aced the exams without even reading the book.

Babes, you will do great. "huge hug emot*

And you give me too much credit. It is not just me, though the students that I support with my job that are going through finals right now. I really crunch in my studies when I can. *whew* I see their faces and just remember what it was like when I was facing finals in my first undergrad. I smile at them and wish them all the encouragement that I can.

 

[Peregrinator]

Yeah, I thought you two would enjoy the video and Dinosaur Jr just freaking rocks.

Also, I am teaching a new friend to rock climb. Indoor, that is. He is taking baby steps, though seems to dig it. I have him on the beginner climb. He wants to go to western NC and climb a bit. I told him that he is a ways off from that. He is so anxious to learn to climb. I think it is great. I am trying to teach him what repelling is and how to belay himself. Do you guys think that is the best way to teach?

I'm not sure what you mean by teaching him to "belay himself." Rappelling is definitely a good skill to learn early on. I think the essentials are getting the basics down, the safety systems, and then letting the movement happen naturally for a while. If he's a reader/bookish type at all, John Long's series of books is an excellent overview.

Oh, and regarding Western NC...Looking Glass has a bunch of easy toprope sites that would be a great place to take a beginner:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v649/Peregrinator/Temp018.jpg

 

[thør]

Petey Pie, you are just jealous that you don't get to watch my butt while I climb the wall.

I think that a video is in order......

 

[veryblueeyes]

I'm not sure what you mean by teaching him to "belay himself." Rappelling is definitely a good skill to learn early on. I think the essentials are getting the basics down, the safety systems, and then letting the movement happen naturally for a while. If he's a reader/bookish type at all, John Long's series of books is an excellent overview.

Oh, and regarding Western NC...Looking Glass has a bunch of easy toprope sites that would be a great place to take a beginner:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v649/Peregrinator/Temp018.jpg

Put it this way; he did not know how to belay. Meaning, with a two person climb, how to hook the belay to the harness. I know I am using the wrong terminology, though I am cute and can get away with it. *teasing*. So sorry for the typo on spelling rappelling. *blush*

I know of many cool places to take him to in Western NC. He is young and eager. I want him to know the essentials. How to hook a belay is an essential, IMO.

Thanks on the recommedation. I will pick that book up for him.

 

[Peregrinator]

Put it this way; he did not know how to belay. Meaning, with a two person climb, how to hook the belay to the harness. I know I am using the wrong terminology, though I am cute and can get away with it. *teasing*. So sorry for the typo on spelling rappelling. *blush*

I know of many cool places to take him to in Western NC. He is young and eager. I want him to know the essentials. How to hook a belay is an essential, IMO.

Thanks on the recommedation. I will pick that book up for him.

Ah, I gotcha. Good for you; that should really be the first lesson of all, well, maybe after "how to tie in to the rope." I used to teach kids to belay by having them climb trees and belay each other.

Sounds like you're grooming a boytoy. Take pics for us? *laugh*

Long is a great writer, keeps it simple, teaches excellent fundamentals. I'm not sure if his first book in the series is still in print, but even an outdated copy will still be 90% applicable. Mountaineering, The Freedom Of The Hills is the one-stop book for everything from walking to ski mountaineering by way of rock, ice, alpine, snow, and high altitude.

 

[veryblueeyes]

Ah, I gotcha. Good for you; that should really be the first lesson of all, well, maybe after "how to tie in to the rope." I used to teach kids to belay by having them climb trees and belay each other.

Sounds like you're grooming a boytoy. Take pics for us? *laugh*

Long is a great writer, keeps it simple, teaches excellent fundamentals. I'm not sure if his first book in the series is still in print, but even an outdated copy will still be 90% applicable. Mountaineering, The Freedom Of The Hills is the one-stop book for everything from walking to ski mountaineering by way of rock, ice, alpine, snow, and high altitude.

Honey, he is 16 years old. "Boytoy" would be not in the works. It is my friend's son and he has taken a liking to me being an outdoorsy chickadee.

Again, thank you for the advice on the book. "hugs emot".

 

[Peregrinator]

Honey, he is 16 years old. "Boytoy" would be not in the works. It is my friend's son and he has taken a liking to me being an outdoorsy chickadee.

Again, thank you for the advice on the book. "hugs emot".

Two years is plenty of time to groom him then. He's already fantasizing about you, guarantee it.

*kiss* cuzIcandothatcuzI'moldenoughandshit

 

[koalabear]

First Tweet From Everest Was Second?

http://www.newsoxy.com/technology/tweet-everest-5-23886.html

 

[Peregrinator]

First Tweet From Everest Was Second?

http://www.newsoxy.com/technology/tweet-everest-5-23886.html

Jesus fuck. I have so little interest in going there...

 

[koalabear]

Jesus fuck. I have so little interest in going there...

tweet

 

[thør]

Seattle times:

"A 33-year-old climber died after skiing into a crevasse Tuesday on Mount Rainier, according to a news release from Mount Rainier National Park.

Tucker Taffe was on the Nisqually Glacier at about 13,200 feet Tuesday morning with three others, said park spokeswoman Patti Wold. He fell 100-150 feet, she estimated.

Another member of his climbing party skied down the mountain for help and found a group of 12 climbing guides in a training session, said Gordon Janow, director of programs for their organization, Alpine Ascents International.

At least two of the guides climbed up to the crevasse and contacted park rangers by radio at 10 a.m. At least one of the guides descended into the crevasse to retrieve the fallen climber and discovered he had died.

Rangers headed up to Camp Muir, a base at about 10,000 feet, to wait for the climbing party to return, Wold said. The three climbers were expected to stay there overnight to recover, she said.

The climbing party was independent and had no guide, Wold said.

Wold said it's common for climbers to bring skis with them so they can ski when the terrain permits, especially on their way down the mountain. It's unclear whether the climbing party was on its way up or down at the time of the accident, she said.

A team of four climbing rangers removed Taffe from the crevasse, and his body was airlifted off the mountain by helicopter, according to the park news release. Taffe, who is originally from New York, Taffe, lived in Alta, Utah, and worked at the Alta Ski Area, according to The News Tribune in Tacoma."

 

[LadyAria]

Jesus fuck. I have so little interest in going there...

Tweet gold

 

[thør]

From the ADN.com:

Battling winds gusting to 70 mph, high-altitude helicopters closed in on the upper flanks of Mount McKinley on Thursday, aiming to rescue two climbers, including one with a broken leg who was about 800 feet beneath the summit of North America's highest mountain.

"It's very cold and windy up there," said Maureen McLaughlin, a public information officer at Denali National Park's Talkeetna Ranger Station. "Both of them are in harm's way."

The men, who names have not been released, were part of a roped-together team of three climbers and a guide that fell while descending McKinley's summit ridge late Wednesday night or early Thursday morning.

Besides the climber with the broken leg, the party's guide was suffering from what park officials believed to be a broken rib and was awaiting evacuation at the mountain's high camp at 17,200 feet.

A third climber made it back to the high camp and the fourth was last spotted at 18,300 feet, just above Denali Pass near a spot known as Zebra Rocks. As of early Thursday evening, he had not reached the high camp.

The climber with the broken leg is resting in a flat expanse called the Football Field at 19,500 feet, according to the National Park Service. He was helped there by the guide, who frostbit his hands and feet in temperatures as low as minus-30 but managed to get the client into a light sleeping bag.

After securing the injured climber, the guide started his descent to the 17,200-foot high camp to summon help, hoping to join the other two members of the party who had already started their descent.

"The guide assisted the injured climber, got him as warm as he could and continued down for help," McLaughlin said.

At about 18,000 feet, he fell and suffered what park officials thought could be a broken rib.

While not unprecedented, a helicopter rescue so high on McKinley is precarious.

"They don't get a whole lot higher," McLaughlin said. "It's been done before a number of times, but it's not done lightly."

It was unclear Thursday night exactly why members of the four-person party had separated.

After high winds prevented a National Park Service helicopter from rescuing the climbers early Thursday, the 11th Rescue Coordination Center requested help from the Alaska National Guard's 211th and 212th Rescue Squadrons, which dropped supplies high on the mountain.

The Rescue Coordination Center also enlisted the assistance of the CH-47 Chinook high-altitude helicopter at Fort Wainwright, an aircraft renowned for its ability to negotiate wind and high elevations.

The Chinook was in the air by 6 p.m., joining the park service's smaller high-altitude A-Star B3 helicopter.

McLaughlin said the pararescuers would gauge whether they could proceed safely -- or if the winds were too severe. She expected the operation to stretch well into the night.

"Wind's looking good now," she said early in the evening, "but it's all going to depend on what weather conditions will allow. It will be several hours before there's anything to report."

The park service declined to provide names or hometowns of the climbers or the guide. McLaughlin said that initially nine climbers were in the party, but as often happens on a challenging climb like McKinley, not all of them was strong or healthy enough to continue.

 

[Peregrinator]

That area is no joke. Alex Lowe was in part famed for having carried some stricken dude up to the Football Field. It was seen in all the mountaineering press as an effort of heroic proportions, one that not many were capable of.

 

[thør]

That area is no joke. Alex Lowe was in part famed for having carried some stricken dude up to the Football Field. It was seen in all the mountaineering press as an effort of heroic proportions, one that not many were capable of.

It's been great weather in town, but windy and that means wind on the mountain. At least, no clouds.

 

[Peregrinator]

It's been great weather in town, but windy and that means wind on the mountain. At least, no clouds.

Rough but clear season, then? Did you see my stuff on FB? The damn dog...

 

[thør]

Rough but clear season, then? Did you see my stuff on FB? The damn dog...

I did! LOL