sling photos

Dangerous slings:



Take a look at this runner. Clip this to a bolt and upon quick visual inspection it looks good right?

Here's the side view of the same runner. You can see that the only thing holding it on the biner is the rubber string. In some very informal tests we decided that this rubber would hold about 15 pounds before breaking. We actually didn't break one....this was a guess.

pretty much done.

The van is pretty much done as of today. The only thing left to do is the curtains. This rig is sweet. Lets take a look....

As you get closer to the interior of the rig you'll probably be thinking, "Damn, that is sweet". It's OK, that is usually my first thought as well. One of the first things that strikes me is the laminate tile flooring that perfectly complements the faux granite countertops. Let's take a closer look shall we.

In this photo you can easily see how sweet the interior of the van is. The three cabinets in the back are for clothes storage, jackets, and 'entertainment center' as we will see momentarily. The three open compartments above the counter are great for stashing extra goods. the left one is for guidebooks to all the sweet places we'll be going. Just beneath the guidebooks is a thermometer so you know just how cool it is inside this rig. Underneath the very left edge of the counter is an open compartment that is exactly the size of a full 24 pack of beer. One of my favorite additions.

This is looking straight back at the love nest. The bed is rigged up so that we sleep sideways with our feet underneath the clothes cabinet. This is....adequate. 5'8" is not very much room to stretch. I've got some plans to make a pull-out bed so that we can sleep longways if we are ever going to take a long trip. Beneath the bed are three compartments that face the interior. Heater on the left. The slot in the middle is cut to fit a cooler. the slot on the right is Lilah's custom dog cave. Padded floor in addition to her dog bed plus her favorite luxury....carpeted walls.

This is another view of basically the same stuff but this time you can see the fan mounted above the bed. Very low amp draw. It could run for probably weeks without dying. 0.2 amps an hour. It has three speeds. Low, medium, and GALE FORCE. It says this on the box it came in but I find it too be more of a gentle breeze. This view also shows how the bed is cut at an angle. This lets us sleep slightly 'crooked' to get a little more leg room out of it. It also angles perfectly so that when you're sitting on the edge of the bed it is comfy to cut veggies on the countertop.

Here we have the 'entertainment center'. Basically just a laptop on a pull out shelf. You can sit in bed, pull out the shelf and watch a movie or you can sit cross-legged and type away like it's on a little desk. Pretty nice.

Note also the little bouquet of flowers. This is ridiculous. Every time I go to an RV website and see pictures of RV interiors there are a bunch of flowers on the countertop. Every time. Seriously. Does anyone do this? You know as soon as you come around a turn or hit the brakes they're going to spill all over the place and the vase will break into pieces on the floor. Whatever, I guess you just put it there before you take pictures.

Looking forward you'll see that the passenger seat swivels. The install kit for this was ghetto. But it is in aftermuch manhandling and ghetto rigging and perfectly functional. The van has a tape deck. Yes, Dodge manufactured a 2005 van with a tape deck. Could you even still buy tapes in '05? Doesn't matter though cause I got the Ipod adapter and can rock Megadeth or Lamb of God for days. And I do. Behind the driver's seat I have a fire extinguisher that is easily accessible from the kitchen or the driver's seat. This is mostly to minimize the danger of MELTING MY FACE OFF from listening to so much heavy metal. There is also a small trashcan that I use to dispose of Dave Mathews Cd's and any other sorority girl garbage music that may find it's way into the rig. I mean, seriously, I pick up mad chicas in this rig and they leave all kinds of stuff behind so that they can call me and be like "Oh, I'm so sorry. I left my Dave Mathew's live album in your rig. Can you come pick me up and maybe we could go for a drive up to the makeout point or something." And I'm all like. "Ha, forget it girl. You're last weeks news. I got like ten college girls in here right now and I already threw your crappy CD away." And she's all like. "Oh, you joker. Come get me. I'm not wearing any....." And I've already hung up cause my favorite Megadeth song just came on and that bitch was distracting me and I'm only like 2 hours from the Motherlode and all I can think about is crushing rigs!

This is the view looking into the back. I've got two water jugs on the left. The square one is a 6 gallon tank that feeds the sink and when it runs out I've got another 5 gallon one to refill it. For 2 people a week long trip is usually doable with that amount of water but I can easily take the tank out to fill it at any spigot. I actually like this method better than the old Westy. You had to run a hose to the fixed tank meaning you had to get up close to the spigot. Not always easy at backwoods climbing areas. Propane is on the right. The small 5 pound tank is definitely inadequate for a winter trip. This tank has a splitter on it and feeds the stove and the heater. I will buy a 20 pound tank soon to replace it and just use this small one for summer trips. It will power just the stove for weeks but the heater eats fuel. The blue bin is for extra climbing gear: trad rack, extra ropes, shoes, etc. Plenty of room for one more though and still enough room for two climbing packs. And there you have it. The ultimate rig. Last step is curtains. Elissa is in charge of sewing those duders up so hopefully we'll have em in by the end of the summer. We'll have 2 over the back windows, one over the sliding door, and a big curtain that separates the cockpit from the living quarters. This one will have enough slack to get draped behind the swiveled seat. It will also be helpful to close it up for heating or cooling the cockpit quickly. Eventually I'd also like to get some bug screen for the summer. Probably just sew some magnets on them so I can put one over the sliding door and one over the back. We should get plenty of ventilation if the fan is set to GALE FORCE.

To my 5 loyal blog 'followers'. Sorry I've been slack about the updates but we'll be in Ceuse in 2 weeks and I plan to update more often from France. I'll get some pics up and talk about how snobby everyone is and how I crushed all their rigs right in their smug mustached faces.

trebuchet

The trebuchet went down yesterday and I can hardly believe it. It is unbelievable to me that a world-class route in a world famous area just 10 minutes from the road can still be up for grabs. Thank you Red River Gorge! The trebuchet is without a doubt one of the best 5.14- routes in the country.

The climbing on this route is simply unbelievable. It really is perfect in every way. The bottom bit alone is one of the best 13b's I've ever been on anywhere. Perfect rock and amazing moves. Lots of cross throughs including a hard cross to a pocket on an otherwise blank face.

The climbing to the roof is pumpy. No stopper moves, which is unusual for the gorge, just sustained big holds with a few cruxes thrown in. At the base of the roof is a good rest where you can get most of it back. In a way, success on the route boils down to how much you can get back before the crux.

Then the upper portion of the route is the business. When I first started trying the roof a few months back it felt impossible. I thought V9ish and it took me a few efforts to do all the moves then a few more before I finally linked the boulder problem. After a few months on the route it feels v8ish??

From the rest you reach way out the horizontal roof and grab a left hand slot, three fingers, one pad deep. Then a right hand half pad crimp. dig your toe in the horizontal and lunge out to a crimp with your right hand. The crux is cutting feet, staying tight, and throwing a heel to the lip above your head. Then a hard match, and some more crimps lead to two deep lock offs and a decent clipping hold on the headwall.

The first 20 feet of the headwall is probably 12d/13a? I thought if I got to this hold that I'd be able to pull it off. Not so. I fell three times past here. Once at the sideways lunge and twice past that just before the jug. It is so pumpy up there. The moves are probably 12c? in this section but there is a ton of hard climbing underfoot.

Pretty nice stone on the headwall huh? The first time I rapped down and saw these crimps I almost pooped myself. Just unbelievable. And how bout that jug? Custom placed for sure. If that jug wasn't there this route would be 14+ for sure. You shake and hang and shake then launch in to the final crux. Left hand undercling under the roof, right hand up to a 1/4 pad three finger crimp and a huge lunge to a jug. Terrifying on redpoint cause you could totally blow it. This section is probably V6? then it's 5.11+ jug hauling to the top of the wall. 100 feet to the ground.

I think this route is 14b. It is the hardest route I've done and one of the hardest I've tried which makes it hard to grade. the only route I've spent time on that's harder is also a project so I have no idea how hard this route actually is. It may be 14a. I tried to compare it to many different routes in many areas to tack down a number. It is for sure a big step harder than Proper Soul. It is harder than Mango Tango. I figure White Wedding is solid benchmark 13d and this route is a good step and a half harder than that....I've sampled transworld and God's own stone also and this route is way harder than those as well, for me. So I hope I didn't throw a fluff grade on it.

But how do you grade a pump? The first time I sent trebuchet to the roof it was the fourth most pumped I've ever been in my life. #1 was satanic verses 13c. when i clipped the chains I almost passed out and it took me 10 minutes to untie and feed. #2 was some weird flash pump I attained on Hand me the canteen boy in rifle and that's only 12d. #3 was a redpoint burn on Proper Soul after eating a peanut butter covered brownie. I lowered and almost threw up and then ran off and had diahrea in the woods! And the first time I sent to the trebuchet roof I was almost too pumped to clip. I called it 13c at first. Then after getting it licked and redpointing it 20+ times I could do it with no pump at all. It feels like mid range 5.12 now??? What the hell? So who knows. Maybe for some super fit 14+ climber this route will be tits. If you can get it all back below the roof the top will feel like 13d. It might just be a super complex 13+?

Time will tell I hope and the Rendevous is next week. Hopefully some rock stars will try it and help me out with the grade. Is this the hardest route at the New? Maybe...

Again, regardless of the grade, this is certainly one of the finest pieces of rock I've ever touched. I'd say it's destined to be a classic but due to it's location at the New River Gorge it will probably never get climbed on. Maybe someday people will wake up to how good the hard climbing is here. We'll see.

1.21 Jigawatts!!!!

I have enough power in this monster to operate a flux capacitor. I'd love to warp back to 1985 to see the birth of Troy and drive him off the showroom floor. But that could have grave consequences for the space-time continnuum. The photo above and left shows the flux capacitor and the warp regulator. This runs through the undercarriage to the fuel rods. U-235 is for sissys and can barely power a Delorean. I'm running on UB 12550! Woot Woot! I'm going back to terminate Michael J. Fox at birth so I can replace him and star in Teen Wolf. Better start growing my beard right now.
"oh God, I don't know how they found me Marty, but they found me."
"Who found you Doc."
"It's the Lybians!"
Some of you may remember this most classic of cinematic scenes and you will also recall that 'the Lybians' are driving a late 1970's Volkswagen Vanagon with the roof cut out to accomodate a terrorist with a shoulder launched RPG. So bitchin'. I may add a gun turret to Max in the future.

we have water

The plumbing is in. It goes through the floor and onto the ground just like I like it. No gray water hassle. I toyed with the idea of throwing a T-junction on the pipe and adding a ghetto urinal. I guess I don't have space for both a urinal and a sink. But I guess the sink could act as a urinal. Or the urinal could act as a sink. Maybe, just maybe, I have both a urinal and a sink.....or did I just blow my own mind?

We have fire.

I got all the cabinets in and the counter top. here are some various photos. The drawer was actually easier than I thought it would be. Nice and smooth. the propane was a pain.

I ended up with 5 fittings between the stove and the rubber fuel line. The guy at Lowes tried to tell me some old wives tale about using soapy water to check for leaks. Pfft. Whatever dude. I told him "yeah man, I've been using the Farmer's almanac as a reference quite a bit and actually my shakra is aligned today so I won't be needing any 'soapy water'. What a sucker.

Got her fired up right at the end of the day. Blasting both burners and the space heater at the same time. After I installed the stove I glanced at the installation directions. They've got all this garbage in there about minimum this, and minimum that. Come on guys, do you really think you need 8 inches between the backwall and the burner? I got 3 and some change. I'm tired of 'the man' telling me what to do. Hopefully hooking up the plumbing tomorrow and then electric I reckon. I still have to build the cabinet in the back but the woodworking novelty has worn off.

Got Wood?

Wait till the fire marshall gets a gander inside this bad boy. I have finally built my dream home. It's like living inside a tree. More wood than you can shake a stick at.

I got a bunch of stuff done today despite the most miserable conditions outside that I have ever seen. Drizzling rain that has not let up. The water table is actually above ground level. The backyard is a mudpit. I walked back and forth from the van to the basement in excess of 50 times through grass covered peanut butter. The river is flood stage. People's homes are flooding and further proof of our state of emergency: The flock of seagulls I saw in the Lowes parking lot.

Good thing it's not decent climbing weather cause my finger tip is ruined. It doesn't look bad in the picture and of course it's no big deal for normal life but for climbing it's a death sentence.

So I got the cabinet in above the counter top. That turned out pretty nice. I was toying with the idea of putting doors on all the little cubbies but I felt like I was goind door crazy. It's OK to just throw stuff up there and it would probably get annoying to have to open a little door everytime you want your toothbrush. I like it open like this.

This will be a great spot for toiletries, paper towels, you could even stuff a jacket in there for quick access. Whatever, I like it.

This is my prototype cabinet door. It's pretty good. I got a catch on it so it will stay closed. It's hard to tell but the shelves inside the cabinet are tiered so that you can see all the food on each shelf. This one door took half a day to fit. I watched some videos on youtube about cabinet building. This one guy is like the cabinet champion of the world or something. Seriously, they have competitions. Anyway, he says:

"Everyone can cut to within 3/10ths of a millimeter. It takes talent to remember where you were 1/1oth of a millimeter off so that you can correct for it later."

Yeah, so I followed his instructions...Pfffffff. Yeah right. Dude, I have a jigsaw and a circular saw not some fancy table saw. I eyeball this stuff. That's talent bro.

The downside of trying to get it within 1/8th of an inch instead of .3 mm is that it never fits. The door will rub somewhere or not close at all. The drilled holes for the handle will be off if you eyeball it. So it's best to go slow and measure twice, even if it means walking through the peanut butter soup again.