TUCSON - Love your Orifice

Total amount raised = $705.00!!!!!

Wow! A very kind thank you to all who contributed to this fund. The climbing community here is amazing in terms of its generosity, support, and all around love of the sport, and the fact that we were able to raise so much money so quickly is a testament to that.

We will keep you posted as to when the Orifice hardware upgrade day will occur as it depends a bit on how soon our supplies arrive.

As Luis mentioned, a few volunteers to help us out will be greatly appreciated as there is a lot of hardware to be swapped out.

My original idea was to replace some of the heavily worn biners on Orifice Politics and Coup de' Tat with steel on my own as small contribution to the fun I've had this summer. I'm excited that many of you feel the same way, and that the idea has taken off so well.

Again, a huge thank you to all you have contributed.

Screw steel... we can purchase solid gold biners.

Let get some Alloy 1090 biners.

The hardest known metal alloy, and the hardest known metal in general, is a type of carbon steel, Alloy 1090.
source

Yeah... The hardest metal for the hardest climbers!!!

I've always said that I'll never go to the Orifice wall - too hard, I've no business climbing there, etc. - however, if y'all need a belay slave for the replacement operation, I'm in, provided it's on a weekend.

Update:
We have a large order of steel hardware on its way to Tucson.

To ensure there is enough time for it to reach us, we are planning on doing our upgrade day on Saturday, October 15th. If you are interested in helping out, please contact me personally so that I can coordinate.

I would like to again thank everyone who has contributed, as well as Fixe USA for their generous support of this project.

hells yeah!!!!

I could provide some food. Maybe a barbecue.

I'm going to have to rescind my offer to be belay slave - that's the day of my James Bond party, and we're going to be baking yummy treats all day.

When y'all get done, come on by and warm up in front of the fire, eat some awesome snacks, and chill with 007 for a couple hours.

OK Orifice People of the World. Last Friday we finally got all the hardware delivered, thanks to a very kind contribution from Fixe USA... so we are ready to go!!!

Please let us know who is willing to participate in the upgrade next saturday. We think that we can tackle this in one day, if we have enough hands to climb, and belay.

For those who can come, if you have a hammer, wrench and pliers it will be of great help to bring them.

A muerte!!!

What time you going to be up there? I dont think either Kristina or I will be able to help with the climbing but we can belay slave for a while if we are needed.

We have steel!!!!!!

If you would like to help on Saturday the 15th in any way please message me.

bling bling!

That's a lot of hardware! Are you painting them before Saturday?
I would love to help! I might be able to make it down Saturday, but don't count on me being there.

Eric, I sent you a msg earlier today. Is there anything I can bring?

Apparently I'm not getting any personal messages on MP :(

We are meeting at Le Buzz at 9am FYI

We are pretty set up with equipment although a hammer would be worth bringing.

Well done guys, be safe today!

Great work on this you all, thanks for doing it and I am sorry that I couldn't be there to help out (work...). If you need any more help let me know.

Saturday was a huge success. With the help of many generous volunteers we managed to replace the biners on Eureka, Hard Day at the Orifice, Granite of the Apes, Orifice Politics, Coup de' tat, Getting off the Porch, Oedipus Complex, and Disfigured Foreigner. We also replaced the anchors, and added chain draws to any gaps in these routes so you shouldn't need any draws save potentially for the first bolt.

All this work would not have been possible if it weren't for the kind assistance of the following people: (in no particular order)
Chen
Meghan
Neil
Steve B
Matt
Gerry
Adam
Christian
Pete
And of course my co-conspirator Luis

Fixe Hardware USA was instrumental in providing us high quality steel biners and chain draws at affordable prices. Their wire gate biners are not only well built, but very easy to clip, and perfect for application such as this.

Again I would like to thank everyone who contributed to this fund. I hope you enjoy clipping some of your handiwork next year.

I would also to put out a very special thanks to Eric Rhicard, for without his vision, dedication, and hard work this crag would not exist in it's current form. Eric has put in countess hours and many dollars to make this place the amazing spot that it is. Thank you!

A few notes:
The new biners and chains are unpainted. This is not an oversight. We opted not to paint them as they are all plated (galvanized) steel. Although they may seem a bit shiny at first, with time they will oxidize to a very nice dull gray, which should blend in well. Stainless steel remains shiny for a very long time.

We have added chain draws to both the tops and bottoms of these routes to create fully equipped lines. We did this not because we wanted more hardware on the cliff, or because we thought that climbers were unable to carry draws down or hang them themselves, but because we wanted to minimize the visual and environmental impact of doing so. Although it might seem counter intuitive, the chain draws are less visually obtrusive than the fabric draws that are often left hanging on these climbs during the summer and sometimes all year. Second the fabric draws that are left on these routes wear out extremely quickly, usually destroyed after a season – conservatively the chain draws will last at least 5 years, so that is a lot of nylon and aluminum saved. Finally, it is much safer (and nicer) to clip a bomber chain draw than some faded fabric draw that you don't know the history of.

Thanks again!

Thank you to everyone that helped out! I look forward to clipping them next season!