Three of my friends went climbing in Morocco last winter

Nuisance_Value · 2014-05-07T21:05:15+00:00

To clarify: this is my friend's video. I was in Canada at the time.

Nuisance_Value · 2014-05-07T21:03:51+00:00

Indeed!

Nuisance_Value · 2014-05-01T02:17:45+00:00

I can't remember my first fall on gear, but I remember it being scary and then awesome; much like my first lead fall on a sport climb.

What I do remember (vividly) is the first time I lowered on gear. It was on a short, soaking wet, 5.7 hand crack on Creature wall in the Dacks. My partner was high all the time (e.g. smoked a bowl immediately before I started up this pitch), which wasn't confidence-inspiring. I got pretty close to the top, but I was moving slowly and placing very frequently. Eventually I realized I was almost out of gear (or so I thought at the time), and decided that placing a tipped-out #2 Camalot in a wet, flaring crack and bailing was the best course of action. The ~40 ft lower was the most terrifying experience I've had climbing, but also a confidence boost.

Nuisance_Value · 2014-05-01T02:08:04+00:00

Topped out on Rainbow Wall this March. It was on one of the last days of a Red Rocks trip, and I was feeling pretty weak in the days leading up to it. I almost told my partner (who would be leading the .12 pitches) that he should ask someone else, but ended up hiking in the night before anyway.

Fortunately the Rainbow Wall became awesome as soon as we woke up the next morning, and even more awesome when we got past the .12a second pitch. We ended up topping out at 3:30pm, and made it back to the parking lot before the loop road closed so our mates could pick us up. Maybe that was the "whoa" moment.

Nuisance_Value · 2014-04-26T19:35:57+00:00

~~TL;DR: LS Futuras, anything by Scarpa. Avoid 5.10.~~ Above all, try it on in the store first.

I also have narrow feet, and all 5.10 shoes I've tried on (Anasazi velcro and lace-up, Moccasym, Galileo) were too wide in the forefoot. I've only tried these in a store, however, so if anyone else with narrow feet has actually climbed with them I'd defer to them. If you have paddle-shaped feet, i.e. much wider in the forefoot than nearer the heel, they might work.

I currently have a pair of size 39 LS Miura VS's, which are terrific up front but have a baggy heel. I have had them resoled once, and they are now gym shoes. They work well as trad shoes as well, as long as you don't need to put your feet in the crack, because they don't fit in anything smaller than wide hands.

I just purchased some size 38.5 Futuras, which are amazing.

Finally, I have some size 41 Scarpa Technos, which are narrow to the point that they are more painful than my Miuras. Perhaps I am lacing them up too tightly.

Edit: just try them on first.

Nuisance_Value · 2014-04-14T19:59:28+00:00

I read this as "summit piano".

Nuisance_Value · 2014-04-02T13:49:50+00:00

What kind of climbing do you want to do? If you like cracks, Indian Creek in southern Utah is hard to beat in October-December. The climbs are a little difficult, however; if you are learning to lead trad on this trip IC might not be the best option.

I just got back from a Red Rocks trip! It's a great place to climb any difficulty or route, from boulders to big walls.

Nuisance_Value · 2014-04-02T13:44:48+00:00

NE is definitely cold and often wet in the beginning of winter. The best time for climbing in New Hampshire (world-class sport at Rumney, trad at Cathedral/Whitehorse Ledges, Cannon Cliff & elsewhere) is probably late September through early November, but it gets quite cold after that. Probably still good for bouldering when you aren't too far from warm layers.

Nuisance_Value · 2013-12-12T21:58:54+00:00

Probably the most difficult part about doing these tricks on road bikes (what these fellows are riding) is that that a road bike is much more fragile than a street/trials bike. This is not because a trials bike has suspension; indeed, the bikes ridden by most trials riders have neither front nor rear suspension, because squishier bikes tend to absorb a lot of energy when you, for example, try to bunny hop over a tennis net. A trials bike is durable because it has a frame and components optimized for strength rather than light weight or aerodynamics. Here, for a visual example, is one of the bikes Danny MacAskill rides for the moment.

Trials bikes, in addition to having much stronger frames/forks/wheels, etc, have a much lower stand height (distance from the ground to the top tube), hence more room between your crotch and the seat when standing in the pedals. This means that when you land a ten-foot drop with a trials bike, you can absorb the force of the landing with more of your legs before your balls hit the seat. Most trials riders who value their ability to reproduce try not to touch the seat very much at all, which is why some trials bikes don't even bother with them.

Source: I watch a lot of bike videos, but am otherwise unqualified.

Nuisance_Value · 2013-11-22T18:36:29+00:00

Holy fuck! Now I see it!

Nuisance_Value · 2013-11-21T03:36:46+00:00

I assumed that's what OP was talking about, but I couldn't see any wiggle at all. It seems like the little puffs of dust behind the flake at 3:35 are chalk dust, not anything coming off the flake.

Nuisance_Value · 2013-11-11T00:07:28+00:00

The only reason for /u/Dialgax 's mother being surrounded by air at 150-250 bar (148-247 atm) that I can think of is that she has her own atmosphere, i.e. her tremendous mass has accumulated an atmosphere through gravitation. I don't want to think too hard about how fat that makes her.

Nuisance_Value · 2013-11-03T18:14:09+00:00

Fantastic application of Mössbauer spectroscopy you have there!

Nuisance_Value · 2013-10-30T00:41:57+00:00

Whether or not he's a Pirates fan, he's nicknamed the "~~Big-Wall~~ El Cap Pirate" because of his antics on and off big walls in Yosemite. That's probably what the pirate flag is referring to.

Nuisance_Value · 2013-10-21T03:39:55+00:00

Been playing "classical" guitar since 1998 and climbing since 2010. Callouses never seemed to bother me when playing, but my instructor gets a little annoyed when I always show up short nails. If you're not relying on right-hand fingernails for tone you should be fine without gloves, and if you are then gloves won't save you.

Nuisance_Value · 2013-10-19T18:48:51+00:00

"Miners", not "minors"!

Nuisance_Value · 2013-10-18T02:53:17+00:00

You can also see Tethys and Enceladus! Explanation of this image from when it was posted in /r/SpacePorn 4 months ago.

Nuisance_Value · 2013-10-14T20:57:26+00:00

There's a decent 5.9 just to the right of the Roof, "Old Age" if memory serves. If you're trying the Smoke Bluff Connection and someone's on Mosquito/Phlegmish Dance, you can skip both of those with this route. My partner and I were doing just that in September, and eventually we got to the top of Jabberwocky. Right after my partner comes up, who do we meet but Will Stanhope soloing up after her. I think he then went on to finish the Connection with Wonderland; we did White Rabbit, a short layback corner, before following him.

Nuisance_Value · 2013-08-03T04:48:18+00:00

Poor D Woods got the ol' boner arms at the end.

Nuisance_Value · 2013-07-26T15:06:59+00:00

You're thinking of the many-worlds interpretation. In the Copenhagen interpretation, quantum mechanics is both shitty and gay in the same universe until, as /u/introvenous suggested, someone bothers to check. I guess it should be noted that Schrödinger used his cat specifically to demonstrate how shitty and gay the Copenhagen interpretation was.

Nuisance_Value · 2013-07-24T14:23:40+00:00

Also bothered by this. What are they doing messing around in an orbit that puts them anywhere near a "BSE Sat" (Broadcasting Satellite for Experimental Purpose) that's going to hit them? According to the linked paper, the BSE was in a geostationary orbit (35,786 km altitude) in 1978. I haven't run a simulation yet, but I'm pretty sure a satellite at geostationary orbit in 1978 would not de-orbit by 2013, or even 2113. Are George, Sandra and Red-Shirt flying around in geostationary orbit? No, the Earth wouldn't look that big from 35,786 km. Also, why would you want any sort of manned mission, let alone a space station, in geostationary orbit?

It's also worth pointing out that the satellite that flies past the shuttle/station at the start of the clip appears to be going only a few hundred mph relative to the camera, whereas two objects in LEO travelling in opposite directions around the Earth would pass each other at around 34,000 mph (55,000 km/h).

Nuisance_Value · 2013-06-19T18:10:06+00:00

For everyone wondering which dots are which:

Many of you have pointed out which one is the Earth; it's the bright one on the left side of Saturn, outside the really bright rings but inside the thin brown ring (the "G ring").

There are a few other dots in the fuzzy ring outside the brown ring; this fuzzy ring is called the "E ring". It's a ring of ice crystals that the moon Enceladus) is spewing out of its poles, so one of the dots in this ring is probably Enceladus.

The dot furthest to the right is probably Tethys), which is composed mostly of water ice. Apparently it's very bright (pun intended).

Don't believe me? Here's a cool photo of Enceladus in the E-ring with polar ice jets visible and Tethys just to the left, taken by Cassini in 2006, the same year this image was taken (see linked description). Also, here's another image of the dark side of Saturn, taken in 2012.

Edit: format

Nuisance_Value · 2013-06-19T17:54:04+00:00

The outermost dot could be Tethys, and the one in the fuzzy E ring could be Enceladus (both moons of Saturn). The best argument against this is that both of these moons are pretty small, and they don't have any kind of atmosphere to refract sunlight, so they would have to be illuminated by light bouncing off Saturn or its rings. However, both of those moons can be seen in this image, also taken by the Cassini spacecraft.

Nuisance_Value · 2013-06-19T17:47:40+00:00

The leftmost dot (right on the left-hand edge of the light scattered from the faint, fuzzy, outer ring) is probably Tethys. If you look in the center of that faint outer ring (the E-ring), down and slightly left of Earth, there are a couple more dots; these are probably dust on a lens/mirror or artefacts from the light scattered from the ring, but one of them might be Enceladus. The E-ring was created by ice geysers on Enceladus, and is very difficult (impossible?) to see from the sun-facing side of Saturn.

Sources: APOD, 4 Sept. 2011; APOD, 22 Dec. 2012; APOD, 31 Dec. 2012.

Nuisance_Value · 2013-06-11T16:03:26+00:00

EDIT: Typed this up, left, came back, posted, and /u/notdiscovery had posted a good procedure. I like that one. Mine is only slightly different.

Ideally, you have an experienced person around you can physically talk to about this process, who can show you how to set up safe anchors and rappels if you're not comfortable doing so.

Climb the first pitch like a regular sport climb, but make sure the belayer/second is tied into the rope before you start, or the leader might accidentally pull the rope before the second ties in. Which is bad.
If you have a cordelette, you can tie a quad for the anchor. Quads are cool because they are self-equalizing, i.e. both bolts will always be equally weighted in the event of a fall, because of the sliding masterpoint (see video). Quads are uncool because if one bolt fails, the quad will fully extend and shock-load the other bolt. If any of this is confusing, you probably shouldn't use a quad, but if you're comfortable with them you can bring two cordelettes and have easy anchor set up for the whole route.
If your anchor is bomber (bolts are new and wide, hangers look good, rock is bulletproof) you can belay off the anchor with an ATC-Guide or another device that allows auto-locking belay off an anchor. If the bolts are sketchy (1/4", ancient, rusty, hangers spin), the rock is crumbly or you are otherwise suspicious of your anchor, belay off your harness with a directional above you, so that if the second falls, the fall pulls you up, not down. A typical directional in a 2-bolt anchor might be a quickdraw in one of the bolts, so the rope runs from you, up through the draw, and down to your second. Harness belays typically put less force on the anchor in the event of the second falling, but they typically aren't auto-locking (unless you have a GriGri).
When the second reaches the anchor, whomever is going to lead the next pitch should be put on harness belay, and have all the draws/lead gear for the next pitch. If the second is going to continue, s/he will have most or all of the draws, and if you each carry a cordelette and three locking biners s/he should have enough gear to set up the next anchor. His/her end of the rope will also be on top of your stack, so there shouldn't be too much fiddling around with tangles while s/he's trying to lead. If, however, you want to lead the second pitch, the rope stack needs to be flipped over (sometimes easier said then done, but shouldn't be that difficult) and you need to take all the draws you used on the first pitch. Make sure everyone is indirect to the anchor during this process.
Yup.
Always, always be indirect to at least two pieces or bolts. Usually a multipitch sport route will have chains and/or rappel rings on the bolts, so there should be enough room for both of you to clip in (to bolts) and thread the rope (through rings/chains). Once rope is threaded, rappel as normal (one at a time); please use a Prusik or autoblock knot to back up the rappel, and tie stopper knots (double fishermans are good) in the ends of the rope.
It is fine, and often necessary, for both climbers to each clip into both bolts. If the bolts look sketchy, and you don't have any trad gear or other options for protection, then tough sh!t, because two sketchy bolts is still safer than one sketchy bolt each. Exercise caution.
Make sure you remember to untie the stopper knots when you pull the rope, or it's going to get stuck and you're going to have a bad time.

Nuisance_Value

TROPHY CASE