Free Hueco - For Real This Time

The boulders of Texas have been oppressed for far too long and it is time to do something about it. For over a decade Hueco Tanks has been plagued by access issues and now it looks like climbing may be closed for good. That's why today I am launching a campaign to free the boulders of Hueco Tanks!

The plan is this: organize a large mass of people and roll the boulders north out of Hueco Tanks State Park. Roll them straight out of Texas, across the state line, and into New Mexico. Travelling distance to the state line is approximately ten miles. Plus another few to head east off the military base. That's it. The boulders will be free!

Now, I know what you're thinking, "Roll boulders? But those things must weight thousands of pounds!" Oh yeah, well what did the pyramids weigh? If they can build those we can certainly move a few measily boulders a few miles. Come on people. Don't be a bunch of naysayers. We need manpower and womanpower and childpower. And maybe a couple of elephants for elephantpower. And lots of rope. Or chain. Maybe a couple of large steel pipes, for leverage.

We'll start off small. At the top so that we can roll them down the mountain. Save the bigger ones for last - like Mushroom boulder. But enough people on that one side and we'll have that thing pushed over and rolling like a log. The sooner we get those rocks out of Texas the sooner we'll be able to climb them free of Lone Star State Park opression!

I propose we designate a group to survey the area over Spring Break and report back with logistics.

SAVE CLIMBING AT HUECO!!!

Climbing at Hueco Tanks is being threatened and could be completely BANNED!

Go immediately to this sitefor details. THEN - take the next step - write a letter and send it!!!

This is the way to save one of the best bouldering areas in the world. Do it!

Back to Basics - Knots & Webbing - Climb Safe

I am rethinking the safety of something I've been doing for YEARS. Specifically, knots - the use of them, the strength of them, the validity of them. There's a handful of knots that we learn early on in our climbing days and once we learn them we don't give much thought to how or why they work. As long as they are working we kind of forget about them. One such knot, a very simple knot, is the girth hitch. It's used in many different ways - rigging top-rope anchors, linking slings to harnesses, anchoring a belayer to the ground...the list goes on. I always knew that knots were the weakest point in a system but it wasn't clear HOW weak until I read this article on BD's website.

The article compares the strength of three different knots used for linking runners together. The knots compared were the girth hitch, the strop bend (basically a girth hitch on each runner) and the climber's hitch. They compared various knots using various diameters of nylon and dynex slings (spectra was not tested here). They found that joining two slings together using knots could reduce the strength by more than 50% - that's over half the strength of the system! If you combined two different diameters of runners the system is even weaker - the thinner the sling material the greater the reduction in strength.

Of the three knots tested the strongest knot was the climber's hitch. Oddly, I had never seen a climber's hitch! I am making it my mission to learn it.

The best thing to do is use a locking carabiner to link slings together - if you have a choice don't use a knot to connect slings. If you are going to connect slings, connect them using the same diameter webbing and use the climber's hitch.

I needed someone to remind me so I am reminding you - check your webbing, runners, and quickdraws and get rid of them if they look worn. I'm going to go through my stuff and retire any of those old draws and webbing that I've been using for years.

If you are interested, there is a lot more good stuff on the QC with KP page of the BD website, including the most recent article which deals with retiring old ropes (I am guilty in this department too). Reading this stuff will really put into perspective some of that gear you have on your rack that you might not think twice about using.