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scuffy b
climber
Eastern Salinia
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Brokedown,
Zander's, Gary's and mine are all adjustable.
How big? As big as you can, that is to say, FULL HEIGHT.
Go for at least 2 ft in depth if you can. Things get pretty strange
(really specialized) when they're wide and shallow. Esoteric, not basic.
Threaded rod (Allthread) is used for adjustment.
The stiffer the structural menbers, the fewer rods necessary, meaning
easier adjustment.
I've never heard anyone complain about adjusting being too hard, though.
When you need to make a change, you'll do it.
One consideration is whether to go for a straight-in crack or offset.
One possibility is to make it straight in with modular additions for
offset.
Having some face on the outside of the crack is desired.
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Ah, the friendly ghost. I forgot, I was thinking Gillette or Cheyenne, for closest despot.
What Scuff sez, depth is key!
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Alexey
Trad climber
San Jose, CA
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Jaybro, what is the name of the horror movie you just posted? And who is owner of the hands?
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Brokedownclimber
Trad climber
Douglas, WY
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 9, 2010 - 05:45pm PT
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Makes me happy that I'm off of Coumadin now!!!
Do you guys keep transfusion supplies on-hand at these "evening get-togethers?"
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BASE104
climber
An Oil Field
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Yeah, blood thinners and Throbbing Gristle would be bad. That Josh rock is pretty sharp. You ought to go over to widefetish and watch the videos of everyone on it.
It would be a new one for me to hear about a climber bleeding to death from gobies, though.
I think that off-width and speed climbing need to be married somehow.
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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"transfusion supplies" = beer.
Tom Kingsbury's structure could double as a children's play apparatus.
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Brokedownclimber
Trad climber
Douglas, WY
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 9, 2010 - 06:26pm PT
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Well, I figure that those of us who no longer have "svelte" physiques can stuff our fat a$$e$ into OW cracks. I HAVE watched several of Ed's filmed clips on Vimeo: Bongs Away-Center, Chingando, etc. as linked from Widefetish.com.
I've always regarded myself as a face climber, but that takes more finger strength than I have now.
This could be my "Winter Project!"
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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It would be a new one for me to hear about a climber bleeding to death from gobies, though.
True but I bet Shanti (above rookii) has come closest; she bleeds freely, and has the least mass, this side of Lydija P, anyway....
"death by exsanguination" - cool route name
Edit, that weld-it knows where to search, and quickly, whomever he, or she, may be....
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BASE104
climber
An Oil Field
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I look at all of those photos over at widefetish.com and it looks like training to escape from prison.
When they put in this huge open area for the gorillas at the zoo around here, they hired a couple of climbers to try to escape. They bouldered right out at mid-5.12. They didn't change anything and the gorillas haven't figured it out.
If they only had small enough fingers to type in widefetish.com they would be free. Maybe I will take a laptop over there and show them climbing videos from youtube through the glass.
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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How do you know they aren't already on Widefetish?
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Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
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BASE104 is probably fitting them with squirrel suits, and teaching them to base jump.
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Prehensile toes make for a wider, tail sail, but mass is an issue in the world of soaring simians.
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scuffy b
climber
Eastern Salinia
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Materials:
For 24 ft of crack
Minimum 6 sheets plywood. Using 3/4" is worthwhile for stiffness.
If you strip to 30" you could have two 9" strips for facing.
Unknown amount of dimensional lumber or engineered (TJI).
Lots of screws.
Gary and I used 1/2" allthread. You can use 3/8" but I only found the
big square washers in 1/2", so I went that way.
Texture: opinions vary. Some people like slickness but I think texture is
good for OW cracks.
If you want texture, the way to make it durable is to use epoxy paint
(high initial cost but probably pays off.
Sand works well. Liberally (totally) cover freshly painted surface, press in,
brush off excess after drying. Sparse coverage will feel nasty.
Use the finest sand reasonable, it will feel coarser than you expect.
It sounds like you'll have 16ft of vertical then some steepness.
No roof with lip a la the Kingsbury wish list, but he's on a different
level. Keeping the crack close to your existing structural members will
be essential for minimizing construction headaches.
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rwedgee
Ice climber
canyon country,CA
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A very easy to maake and low cost alternative if you don't have the space. You can't get very far inside it though.
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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I do realize how fun the parties are and also constructing---even varying, fiddling with---the structures. But It takes a bunch of work and $ and space too. For me bitd of course, buildings were the most amazing offwidth training opportunities and I gobbled them up like no one else. Here in the Bay Area and in Santa Cruz. I mean it just didn't stop. Offwidths that were even tiled with glossy giant ceramic tiles. Shallow offwidths that might be like 5-8" wide but only 2-4" deep. Offwidths that went on for more than 40 feet on dead vertical walls but could be TR'ed. Weird contrived ones between trim pieces. The variations are plentiful. Seems to me it would be better jumping on buildings in all their variety than grunting out a structure that takes so much time and money to produce a small collection of possibilities. I think buildings provide more opportunities than actual climbing can with a give amount of time and energy. So many important real off widths in the Valley are part of something much bigger, often kinda inaccessible even, and so on. And not, I repeat, not training situations.
I guess I am also thinking of all the other cool things to have that often and in fact go unused: in-ground pools, saunas, hot tubs, backyard skateboard parks, backyard motocross tracks, pool tables, private tennis courts and similar courts. And so on.
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scuffy b
climber
Eastern Salinia
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Points well taken, Peter.
But...
1. He says he's got a great site.
2. He might not have the great selection of buildings that you had.
I use the past tense, because at least two of the wide cracks from
the old days in Berkeley are not there anymore--the Center Street
Crack at the Schwinn dealership, and a corner climb in the back of a
parking lot on Milvia or Bonita.
3. Getting caught by cops is probably more dangerous nowadays than back
then.
Making sure the thing gets properly used is turning out to be a challenge.
SO MANY people want to climb it, but the excuses are myriad, even given my
oh-so-inconvenient location.
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Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
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All true Scuff. Our man must form a Wide Fetish satellite group for Wyoming. brrrr. Too.
Oh and worse now gone are the long Stadium cracks. Aren't they redoing the entire stadium? Up near Frat Row?
"And this climb’s crux was a polished off-width, making it utterly loathsome, terrifying to most. The holdless slippery impossibility of these dramatic formations would soar above me like a fatal riddle to which only I and several other brothers world wide knew the secrets. Proud mastery of these techniques resulted from many years experience, and I felt powerful, playful and creative with them."
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Brokedownclimber
Trad climber
Douglas, WY
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 9, 2010 - 10:31pm PT
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Peter-
scuffy b is correct. I live miles from NOWHERE in SE Wyoming. Buildings? Where? What are they? I have a huge (6,600 ft^2) metal building that is now mostly unused except for storing CRAP. There is a concrete floor for a solid foundation. Could buy some gymnastics mats to cover entire area around the base for safety. I envision either a 18 or 22 ft structure which should make me barf pretty good, at first.
scuffy-I lived in the Santa Cruz area until 1976, up in Bonny Doon off the Empire Grade. I was a postdoc at UCSC.
Rodger
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Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
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Broke, build it and we will come visit. Especially me cause I got family near by.
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Brokedownclimber
Trad climber
Douglas, WY
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Topic Author's Reply - Sep 9, 2010 - 11:55pm PT
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I'm currently working to clear out the 16 years of accumulated CRAP from the building. This will be a big project, I now see.... be patient.
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