EISPIRATEN

Wow, Calcite rafts huh? Seems like you were the first in a *long* time.

I tried it once. Danced through some poison oak only to find myself covered in ticks a bit further up. We aborted mission.

Taco didn't mention how fun it was to dig Klaus free with a bunch of folks. I've pulled some folks outa the mud, but that had nothing on this... this party!

Hopefully I'll never need this particular favor returned.

Good stuff! I've always wondered about that one. Tickled by sharp-eyed motorist catching you on rappel.

LOL. The canyons are full of those things. I must have made 30 of them mine at this point.

I heard once that the folks of Widman Ranch (just south of Iron) have something to do with the ammo business. Not surprised.

Good stuff! Looked great on my massive display.

My $40 this year is a far cry from the $140 last year. Guess I'm growing up, understanding my needs more, and amazoning most of it.

Buddy of mine made that video. Been up the canyon a few times. Not really worth the effort unless you're willing to put the time into cutting/polishing/setting the lapis.

Lower Cascade is a fun quick canyoneering romp.

Vaguely on the same topic, anyone know conditions of the trail from Allison to Stanley Miller? I see it on the topo but have never seen any particularly obvious turnoff in that area.

I've seen one twice in a local canyon drainage, just after dark. Beeg beady eyes in my headlamp.

I use "TopoMaps" and "Gaia" on my iphone. They rock. Hard.

Man, you guys must be immune to poison oak.

I don't know anything about the area, but at this point I think you're bringing a Ferrari offroading.

Learning some technical rope skills will open up so many opportunities that, personally, it was worth all the time and effort (AND CASH) I invested.

Not mine... but chiming in to say... super easy to forget! I've lost two sets of these (homemade with webbing and ultra-light biners in my case).

Good guy for posting!

I tried once but poison oak, bees, and brambles got in the way. Your best bet is trying to contact Daven Gray...


And if you're talking about "big horn" (the other big horn) That was blasted and completely destroyed a while ago.

I left anchors at the first two when I was there a few months back... They're pretty obvious, so I wonder if someone removed them.

Ewww.

Hikin_Jim wrote: What about the lower road that goes just above Vincent's old cabin?

I assume you're not talking about the trail that leads down to Mine fork camp? If so I'm not entirely sure what road you're talking about.

I was thinking about heading up there in the next week or two... anyone know the conditions?

I really like my down pants for summery weather... but they're certainly not an October bag replacement.

I love your canyon shorthand. Nice report.

Found another tunnel down low on the very bottom of Mine Gulch
That's interesting. Could you PM me the coordinates? I'm quite curious about it.
It seems hard to get to because the trail is in a cliff. I was wondering if anyone has been to this other mine. It's not another mine, it's just a ...

Heard it was shut two weeks ago. Dunno if that's changed though.

Holy lolz.

Awww Milksnake.

I'm confused about "lots" of poison oak. How many LA canyons have you done? LSA has less than most, if not all.

I find the approach from down canyon much easier. The only thing you have to do is find the turnoff from canyon floor up the switchbacks.

I've done it three times... but the most recent was about two years ago now. The car shuttle takes forever and I'm guessing that not much has changed. I can give you some advice on campspots but they're mostly obvious.

RichardK wrote: PLB WILL work.

That's a pretty strong "will". I can think of a few conditions which would cause both to fail similarly. A subset of those conditions are unfortunately typical use patterns for me.

The Reverso 4 is indeed lighter but apparently it handles smaller diameter ropes a bit better. In addition to that it allows two ropes to be used at the same time (if a double or twin ropes setup is used) which allows the lead climber to belay two climbers up once he has reached the top belay ...

Great views. Thanks for sharing.

Are you still allowed to drive up those trails or are they protected now?

I wonder what SAR thinks about the ResQLink vs. SPOT? Think the additional radio transmitter helps them?

Out of curiosity, why do you go with the Petzl Reverso 4 instead of the Petzl GriGri 2 device?
I'll take a stab at that question:

It's kinda like driving a manual vs. an automatic. Modern auto's are better in just about every way, but some people like the "control" and engaging visceral feel of ...