By David Sahalie From on the road again Feb 8, 2013
| matt davies wrote: I've had a little bit of experience in this arena. First off, forget dogs. Dogs, even pre-euthanized, are an ethical powder keg. Get yourself some half-starved horses, they come cheaper and when you are done with them you can butcher them for lasagna. Second, your saw is going to get hotter than Archie Bunker at an Obama rally once you get going. Get together a bunch of war orphans, some malnourished, some with cleft-palates, to cry as profusely as they can muster.A fiend of mine says onions will work to get the little tykes going, but I had the best results showing hard-core bouldering films on a loop. You'll need about a gallon. Use their tears to keep your saw cool. Other than that, sounds like you've got a well thought out and exciting proj! Cheerio! ROFL! |  FLAG |
By NorCalNomad From San Francisco Feb 8, 2013
| Skat B wrote: Forget the dogs, I'll haul it up there myself. No, I'm not a troll. Yes, this is a legitimate question!! I look down on manufactured routes usually but given the location and the face it would look A LOT better with a steep finger crack!! Yes, I have heard both sides argue over cutting a crack in a quarry (5.11- I think?) Why a finger crack? Finger cracks are badass. I'd make it deep enough to place gear and full-on finger locks. It would resemble Cobra Crack and would be out of my league but just having it there would be pretty cool! Horizontal cracks would be sick but would the route even be climbable ?? Oh, and due to limited funds it won't be a freakin' hand crack and I'm not cutting a nice line just to take a crowbar to it... Btw..WTF is a crack machine?? I need schematics!! Thanks! Hope Muir rises from his grave and beats the stupid out of you. |  FLAG |
By Ryan Williams Administrator From London (sort of) Feb 8, 2013
| It's been done. Someone cut a lazer finger crack into a quarry wall in PA. Anyone else know about this? I have never seen it, but I know or exists. |  FLAG |
By Skat B From Down Rodeo Feb 8, 2013
| Kennoyce, I like the way you think, bro!! @rest of ya, yeah ok it won't be like cobra crack..but it'll be a classic of it's own. It all depends how well I can operate a concrete saw while rapping down. Clarify again what a "crack machine that I can put in my back yard" looks like. |  FLAG |
By Davis Stevenson From Flagstaff, Arizona Feb 8, 2013
| There's probably some geologic reason why the rock formed that way. I'm not saying that throwing a manmade crack in there is going to have some huge effect on anything, but I really don't think it's OK to modify naturally occurring formations. Especially since there are other cracks out there, and there are perfect splitter finger cracks in gyms. Someone mentioned that there's a nice crack up in a quarry. That actually sounds pretty sweet. Humans have already done the damage, and you could, with some work, make an outdoor playground of sweet cracks. One of the reasons I enjoy the outdoors is to get away from humans and human impact. I understand routes aren't much different than hiking trails, as they both serve as a way to get from a to b in the backcountry, but you'd basically be forcing thousands of years of unnatural erosion. If the rock is unclimbable, admire it for that reason, and why it is that way. |  FLAG |
By J Q Feb 8, 2013
| Davis Stevenson wrote: One of the reasons I enjoy the outdoors is to get away from humans and human impact. Sounds like you should mountaineer. Just you and another dude, hugging in the wilderness. |  FLAG |
By Patrick Mulligan Feb 8, 2013
| robrobrobrob wrote: www.rockclimbing.com/routes/North_America/United_States/Penn>>> Granite would take longer, and I'm thinking the ethics might be different when it's not in a quarry. On the plus side, it wouldn't get polished as quickly. Who owns the land... maybe ask them. Ethics aside... Having climbed Manufractured I can tell you from experience that this is simply stupid. Manufractured in no way climbed like a normal crack. I think the end result had to be drilled as well (not to mention bolted) to make the holds more comfortable simply so it could be climbed and even then if you didn't use about four layers of tape you'd loose all your skin before the first knuckle on your index middle and ring fingers due to the 90 degree angle between the "crack" and face and the uneven nature of the sawing. I'm sure Rick can elaborate. If I remember correctly the face on both sides of Manufractured ended up with stout routes on them. Man - how did I get sucked into this obvious trolling? |  FLAG |
By Tony B From Around Boulder, CO Feb 8, 2013
| michaeltarne wrote: I'm confused on the whole overhung slab thing. Wait a minute, he said:
Skat B wrote: Pre-euthanized dogs from an animal shelter to haul up the saw and the generator. And you are confused about the slab thing? Well, I'm not sure I can help. |  FLAG |
By Davis Stevenson From Flagstaff, Arizona Feb 8, 2013
| J Q wrote: Sounds like you should mountaineer. Just you and another dude, hugging in the wilderness. Yeah, man, except that's what the girlfriend is for. Anyways, not everything in the world is meant to be climbed... Climb the natural things that can be. Also as someone above mentioned, it doesn't even sound like much fun. |  FLAG |
By Davis Stevenson From Flagstaff, Arizona Feb 8, 2013
| Skat B wrote: not even the satellites employed by Google Earth can see it. Oh I missed this before. It can't be wrong if Google doesn't see it! |  FLAG |
By Will S From Joshua Tree Feb 8, 2013
| Concrete saw? Pffft! Amateurs. Dynamite is where it's at. You might just create the "hardest crack climb in the US", School of Mines did: |  FLAG |
By MIYG From Moab, UT Feb 8, 2013
| Maybe if you just jackhammer the top you can 'naturally' split the rock.. |  FLAG |
By Chris Miller Feb 8, 2013
| J Q wrote: Sounds like you should mountaineer. Just you and another dude, hugging in the wilderness. Baaaaaahahahahahahaaha….waaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahahahaha……….bahahahahahahahah! |  FLAG |
By J. Thompson From denver, co Feb 8, 2013
| Skat B wrote: The catch is that it is located on BLM land.... Thats not a catch! Thats a bonus! You can ANYTHING you want on BLM land! josh |  FLAG |
By Chris Miller Feb 8, 2013
| Skat B wrote: Clarify again what a "crack machine that I can put in my back yard" looks like. They're easy to make, all you need is "a toilet paper roll, a cork screw, and some tin foil." or "an avocado, an ice pick, and a snorkel." |  FLAG |
By J Q Feb 8, 2013
| Davis Stevenson wrote: ... Climb the natural things that can be.. Bwhaaaa!
Davis Stevenson wrote: that's what the girlfriend is for. . Exactly but,
Davis Stevenson wrote: it doesn't even sound like much fun. I disagree |  FLAG |
By Skat B From Down Rodeo Feb 8, 2013
| J. Thompson wrote: Thats not a catch! Thats a bonus! You can ANYTHING you want on BLM land! josh Whoa! Is this really true? Anything on BLM land is fair game?
Davis Stevenson wrote: There's probably some geologic reason why the rock formed that way. I'm not saying that throwing a manmade crack in there is going to have some huge effect on anything, but I really don't think it's OK to modify naturally occurring formations. Especially since there are other cracks out there, and there are perfect splitter finger cracks in gyms This is true. Creating my own crack may be more work than it's worth. I didn't take into consideration the process of buffing off the sharp edges so I don't tear my fingers up. And, just so I'm clear, 99.9999% of the time I do not like the idea of a manufactured route, especially in an area where there are already existing holds.
Patrick Mulligan wrote: I think the end result had to be drilled as well (not to mention bolted) to make the holds more comfortable simply so it could be climbed and even then if you didn't use about four layers of tape you'd loose all your skin before the first knuckle on your index middle and ring fingers due to the 90 degree angle between the "crack" and face and the uneven nature of the sawing. Great info. Actually if I'm going through all this work to inevitably create a sport route then, to me, it's a total waste completely!! Ok, thanks for all the feedback!! This is what happens when I think out loud. Freeing an aid route would probably be more satisfying than creating a new crack anyways. The overall idea was to find a crag where a lot of cracks hadn't seen a FA. |  FLAG |
By Skat B From Down Rodeo Feb 9, 2013
| Rick Mix wrote: Well, shortly after I sawed Manufractured in an "unclimbable" face we managed to climb the wall just beside the crack. Guess it wasn't impossible after all. Otherwise be prepared for bizarre rappel manipulations and a lot of hard work. Thanks, Rick, sorry I missed your post! That's awesome that you were able to create your own line - I think I read about it in "Climbing Magazine" a few years ago maybe? If you say it's a lot of hard work then I'll take your word on that!! |  FLAG |
By Jake Jones From The Eastern Flatlands Feb 9, 2013
| Skat B wrote: Whoa! Is this really true? Anything on BLM land is fair game? Absolutely true. And if you find that you've created yourself a monster that you can't climb, throw in a bolt ladder next to it so the FA doesn't get snaked.
Skat B wrote: This is true. Creating my own crack may be more work than it's worth. Don't let these lame-Os dissuade you from what you want to do. They're just jealous you that you found a sweet overhanging slab before they did, and that you own a concrete saw.
Skat B wrote: I didn't take into consideration the process of buffing off the sharp edges so I don't tear my fingers up. Don't be a pussy. This is Mountain Project bro. Not Mountain Saveyourpoorlittlefingersfromalittlebitofpain. |  FLAG |
By Mike Lane From Centennial, CO Feb 9, 2013
| Skat B wrote: Whoa! Is this really true? Anything on BLM land is fair game? BLM: Bolt Like Mad |  FLAG |
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