Chris Clarke > Forum Messages

Oct 4, 2023 I've started to appreciate the folks who climb with radios. View Message

Aug 24, 2023 Upper East Face of Southern Pillar.  Pretty much guaranteed to have it to yourself.  Have fun getting up there, although there are now good directions in the new guid… View Message

Apr 26, 2023 It did not. View Message

Dec 25, 2022 Frey. View Message

Dec 7, 2022 I climbed a lot in law school (pre-gym era) and still did pretty well.  I graded-on to law review and had my law review note published in the journal of international law… View Message

Sep 18, 2022 I'm 58 and still enjoy skating mellow country roads in the mountains. View Message

Aug 20, 2022 Moses Tomahawks. View Message

Aug 14, 2022 Touching the Void has the most realistic portrayal of mountain climbing that I've seen.  Not Hollywood but still a big budget production. View Message

Aug 2, 2022 So I've climbed 13a a few times but definitely would never say I'm a 5.13 climber, especially not now.  Basically during my 40s, I climbed a lot of 5.12s (more than a hund… View Message

Jul 27, 2022 I had FAI surgery and was squatting 300+ lbs for reps 8 weeks later.  At 16 weeks, I won my age and weight class in powerlifting (squat, bench, deadlift) at US raw nationa… View Message

Jul 26, 2022 Dead Painter's Society at Fern Point. View Message

Jul 19, 2022 I really like my Cilogear WorkSack.  I think that I'm using a version of the 40B.   It has survived 12 years of regular use from adventure cragging to about 100 route… View Message

Jun 27, 2022 Hi Beltran,Seneca Rocks Mountain Guides offers guiding at Nelson Rocks which can include single pitch sport climbs.  They also offer a course on transitioning from gym cli… View Message

Jul 28, 2020 I had a total hip replacement about three years ago.  I can do all of those climbing maneuvers without significant limitation.  It took about a full year to feel conf… View Message

Jul 5, 2017 Southern Pillar is open tomorrow and, given the pouring rain now and lack of smoke earlier, the whole thing should be open Friday.  View Message

Jul 28, 2015 Alain Mesili's 2013 Glaciares y Guia de los Principales Nevados (Guidebook for the Bolivian Andes) is the most recent English climbers' guide that I know of. It has both Engli… View Message

Jun 27, 2015 Don't know about the Santa Cruz Valley specifically but my friends who are guiding there now are getting up a bunch of the classics without any apparent issues. I heard the c… View Message

Apr 4, 2015 Eric Horst's guide to VA, WVA and MD covers some crags near Harrisonburg. Hidden Rocks is pretty good and generally easy to TR. It won't be crowded unless things have changed… View Message

Dec 26, 2014 The person involved in this accident is a good friend of mine and it really happened. He's going to be fine. View Message

Nov 13, 2014 South Face of Hermit Spire in the Needles area of CA is a very fun Beckey route. View Message

Nov 10, 2014 I use the Cold Thistle hammers on my Nomics and they work fine for placing pitons. Not as good as a real piton hammer but good enough for placing pins on practically every mix… View Message

Oct 29, 2014 And remember not to fall while leading ice. :) View Message

Aug 27, 2014 I broke mine 35 years ago. Like a lot of people above, I thought it was sprained at first and went at least a month before diagnosis. I spent 19 weeks in a cast and then retu… View Message

Aug 18, 2014 Hi Mike, I'd be happy to meet you in La Paz but I will be in the US until early morning on the 16th. I'm free after that until mid-December. I'll send you an email. Che… View Message

Aug 14, 2014 I'll be in La Paz then. The last three years have had a fair amount of good climbing weather October-December but who knows about this year. View Message

Aug 2, 2014 There is something like this at the local training crag here which was put up maybe 20 years ago. It's an easy 5.12 route as is but could probably be climbed at mid-5.13 witho… View Message

Aug 1, 2014 Out of law school, I worked a few years for a big NY law firm which was plainly not sustainable for me. Then I went to work for a not-for-profit for a little less than 20 year… View Message

Jul 27, 2014 I remember using trees that were pretty close to the edge of the cliff the few times I set up a top rope there. View Message

Jun 7, 2014 I'l be in La Paz in August but I can't commit to three weeks of climbing. I could do a route per week though. I know the area pretty well and have some ideas for new routes. View Message

Jun 7, 2014 This might change the way the tools swing in a bad way. View Message

Jun 7, 2014 Yesterday, Gregg Beisly, Roberto Rauch and I made a new route on the south face of Pico Milluni (18,000') in a longish day from La Paz. We called it Ya Pues (M5, AI3) which ba… View Message

Jun 3, 2014 I had a similar experience as the shmuck about 15 years ago. I had a mountain bike accident and returned to racing on the road very quickly (mtb was a lot slower coming around… View Message

Jun 2, 2014 Hi USBRIT, It wasn't my intention to insult you. I just wanted to point out that my preference for top down bolting, where feasible and consistent with the local ethic, is… View Message

Jun 2, 2014 USBRIT, Believe it or not, there are a few multipitch routes in the Andes where I climb. The walls here may not match the towering cliffs of your alpine paradise in Great B… View Message

Jun 1, 2014 I had the pleasure of spending 10 days doing a guiding course with Anselme Baud over the past two weeks. I am happy to report that he is still climbing and skiing very well, w… View Message

Jun 1, 2014 I've used both to bolt on lead and prefer the lighter one if I have a choice. But I also strongly prefer bolting from the top down if possible because I think it generally pro… View Message