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Prod
Social climber
Charlevoix, MI
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Topic Author's Original Post - Apr 24, 2007 - 10:13am PT
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Short of yanking on gear to get past a crux that was over my head. But I am interested in getting into it. Read the Fish's sh#t on aid and big walls (pretty entertaining and insightful). Anyway I am looking for some good books and websites to gain a bit of a conceptual framework. I am also interested in Aid Soloing. Eventually I'd like to check out some big walls.
I am fairly experienced free climber, and have been at it since 89. Mostly trad in Eldo with Tarbuster, plus a bit of bouldering and sport climbing when I was out west.
Thanks for your help.
Prod.
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Steve Grossman
Trad climber
Seattle, WA
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Apr 24, 2007 - 10:34am PT
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Get that old school icon Tarbuster to show you the secrets of the thrashin' an a danglin'. Plenty of wall rats in Boulder just go find one. Beyond that, no single book on aid technique or wall climbing stands out. Jared Ogden's book seems to be the best thing out there so far except the plastic exploding inevitable (Chongo's tome). Castle Rock overhang awaits you.......
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Prod
Social climber
Charlevoix, MI
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 24, 2007 - 10:44am PT
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Hey Steve,
That broken f*#ker (Tarbuster) can hardly tie his shoes anymore much less pull down on aid gear. I now live in Michigan (for now), so the boulder crew is a bit of a hike. Back when I was climbing with Roy he never wanted to do any aid climbing, thought it was too cumbersome and not as aesthetically pleasing, or some sh#t like that. Really though he just wanted to juice every bit of belay slave out of me on his obscure tick list of Colorado and the desert, and had no time for aid climbing.
Prod
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goatboy smellz
climber
colorado
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Apr 24, 2007 - 10:51am PT
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Clearly your time in Michigan has caused you to go mad if you’re considering the dark arts.
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Todd Gordon
Trad climber
Joshua Tree, Cal
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Apr 24, 2007 - 11:06am PT
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Do aid,....get laid....
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Russ Walling
Social climber
Out on the sand.... man.....
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Apr 24, 2007 - 03:04pm PT
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oops... thought that said "I've never done a lick of acid". Back to the sushi threads....
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Crimpergirl
Social climber
Hell on earth wondering what I did to deserve it
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Apr 24, 2007 - 03:06pm PT
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Hahaha! I thought it said acid too. Wild.
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Euroford
Trad climber
chicago
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Apr 24, 2007 - 03:38pm PT
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since your up in michigan, what would it take for you to make the commute to devils lake wisconsin? some good practice aid routes and i would be fun for me to spend the day corrupting another person on the basic art of cheating.
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Prod
Social climber
Charlevoix, MI
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Topic Author's Reply - Apr 24, 2007 - 03:49pm PT
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Hey Euroford,
If I go up and over through the U.P. it is around 10 hours, going down to Chicago takes me 6 hours. I am guessing that you are more that 4 hours away? Planning on hitting S. Dakota and Devils Tower this summer, Devils lake could work as a link up. I am also not adverse to flying if there is a airport near by.
Prod.
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Euroford
Trad climber
chicago
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Apr 24, 2007 - 03:59pm PT
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ouch thats a hike! as i should have known, i grew up in michigan and get up to midland fairly regularly. seams like allot of trouble just to stand around in aiders at an 80' tall crag!
maybe you could make the road trip down to chicago on a friday, then i could take over the drive into wisconsin saturday morning. might be a good way to kill off a weekend.
eh well, score my email addy off the taco and shoot me one sometime.
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Holdplease2
Big Wall climber
Yosemite area
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Apr 24, 2007 - 04:25pm PT
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Jared Ogden's big wall book is outstanding...up to date, well illustrated, basic enough for total beginners, but with broad information so that just about anybody could benefit from reading it.
Also, its really well written.
-Kate.
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k-man
Gym climber
SCruz
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Apr 24, 2007 - 04:28pm PT
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I've never done a lick of acid
I think I saw the guy that did.
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Todd Gordon
Trad climber
Joshua Tree, Cal
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Jul 22, 2007 - 03:01am PT
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Artist's Tears, Colorado River Rd. Moab, Utah.
Try this on for size.
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Todd Gordon
Trad climber
Joshua Tree, Cal
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Jul 22, 2007 - 03:02am PT
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Todd Gordon
Trad climber
Joshua Tree, Cal
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Jul 22, 2007 - 03:15am PT
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wack-N-dangle
Gym climber
the ground up
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Jul 22, 2007 - 10:08am PT
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I have a copy of Climbing Big Walls I'll mail to you if you wouldn't mind mailing it back. Send me e-mail.
You can tie your own etriers. With a little work, you can make a pair pretty cheap. Get different color webbing if you can. Some use 3 or 4. I was just cheap. I used cut up milk bottles as stiffeners. I would double the inserts or add duct tape if I had to do it again.
Find someone to give your some tips. Church Bowl and the Boulder behind housekeeping were easy places to start. Maybe pay one of the SAR guys their NFS "living wage", and ask for a few hours of demos.
Then again, take this advice with a grain of salt. I didn't get very far in my aid climbing career.
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426
Sport climber
Buzzard Point, TN
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Jul 22, 2007 - 10:20am PT
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Prod PM me with yer addy, I got something (instructional) for you...
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Todd Gordon
Trad climber
Joshua Tree, Cal
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Jul 22, 2007 - 12:05pm PT
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Greig Arch, Cove, New Mex.
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Tom
Big Wall climber
San Luis Obispo CA
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Jul 22, 2007 - 03:23pm PT
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Apparently, an important tradition and history of activity, long seen as central to the climbing community, is slowly being lost. Inaccurate terminology is the just the first symptom of a malignanoma taking over.
For the record:
You DROP acid
You LICK toads
You EAT mushrooms
You PUKE peyote.
Got it?
There is an aid climbing forum at [url="http://www.rockclimbing.com" target="new"]Noob.com[/url] that has all sorts of information, tips and tricks. Some of it is "big wall theory" (i.e. crap) and some is quite good.
With all due respect to John & John, some of the techniques in their book are either dated, or otherwise not as good as other ones.
A conspicuous example is how they show retreating from a wall with the haul bag clipped to the harness, a painful method that doubles as a crude form of birth control. The proper technique is to clip the pig directly to the rappel rig, daisy yourself to it with some slack, and then ride it down.
Another technique not found in their book, but you should know, is the froggy-style method of ascending a steep rope. You use a petzl basic clipped low to the leg and waist loops (not the donut) and a single jug with a sling for both feet. Especially on free hanging ropes, this is much better than the two-jug Yosemite system.
PTPP, as editor of the notorious Chongo big wall-climbing book, gleaned and then disseminated much valuable info at noob.com
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