Alpine Climbing

A day spent at Knob Lock in the Adirondacks with Simon Catterall and Jim Lawyer, two fine climbing partners. Climb with them if you can but don’t listen to them…

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So it’s the funny time of year. A bit of cragging to be had when the weather cooperates but for the most part the alpine is a little on the soggy side. Maybe hit up the seracs on Mt Baker this weekend.

What else is there to do? Watch movies on the internet. No not those sorts of movies.

A couple of things that I came across this week for your viewing pleasure…

Steve House and the gear he took on Nanga Parbat

Gym Jones workout videos

Have fun…

Way too nice a weekend to be writing much but here’s an article I wrote ages ago for High Mountain Sports magazine about a trip to Boliva I organized in the early 90s.

“Land of the Llama“

So I’ve had these for a year and a half and as you might imagine they’ve seen some pretty hard times. Too hard in fact. I had to retire one of them the other day when the cord started showing through at around the midway point on one of pair. The other one is looking pretty frayed in at least one place too. Now given they’ve seen me through trips to the Yukon and The Waddington plus a winter in the North Cascades and a couple of summer routes to boot I’m not exactly complaining.

The one thing that did concern me was the amount of sheath slippage that seemed to be occuring. Even if I’d not sliced one of them I think they were on there way out either way. I’d sort of hoped they’d be a bit more durable but they have seen a lot of abuse. The dry coating seemed to hold up OK too. They’re very thin so bear that in mind when rapping on them, it can mean a pretty quick rappel. You can put another biner behind the belay device to add more friction.

I guess my conclusion is that they’re really good alpine cords – very light and nice and bouncy for absorbing falls on sketchy gear. Just don’t expect them to last that long. You can have cheap, light or durable but not all three at once. I’d buy them again but would plan to replace them in less than two years.

Note: Black Diamond sells this rope also. BD ropes are Beals.