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Me on a 5.8+ at Burdsboro with mitch, anne, chris, larry, and mom.

Darkside managed to keep his hands on the ice-cold rock long enough to lead this. Note how seriously we take our safety ;)

Photo by Mitchal, taken in Reading PA, Birdsboro. This documents my second ever outdoor climb.

This will have to do till I get something better :D This is ride screwing around on his local glue-up traverse on a recent cold afternoon. Undisclosable location, picture taken with PalmPix camera.

Me sailing in Key west. Dolphins, nice breeze, nothing better.

Here we see a properly equalized big wall anchor system consisting of a #4 Camalot and a #3 Big Wall Crab.

The two pieces are equalized with a "sliding X" sling and are further equalized with three bolts [not shown] via cordalette.

The Power Point is at the base of the cordalette, and should be the largest locker you own.

Just a humble attempt to be real on this site again. I can't hang here like I did in the past but I guess I am not willing to let the positive vibes I have gained here go. The hair is much shorter now but the attitude remains! Oh, there is peace in my soul. I am at peace in this shot.

Me and lynn hill at a book signing in CT. she is the bomb. lalalalalallalalla60characterslalalalalalalalalalalalalalalala

"OK daddy, the rope is packed now, lets go climbing"

He is quite a little ham sometimes.

Here is Hunter helping Russman coil his rope in his new ropebag. You can see he has on a stylish new OP Quickdraw belt.

This is photo #3 of 3.

In typical Dr. Piton style [rather like Tom Sawyer] Dr. Piton manages to get the others to do his work for him.

This is particularly important when Dr. Piton is stupid enough to drive Rick's truck down Karl's driveway when there was no hope whatsoever of it being driven out under its own power.

By getting others to do his work, Dr. Piton attempts to salvage his tarnished credibility.

Perhaps this hauling technology can be applied to big wall climbing. By winching your vehicle up El Cap behind you, it would then be possible to drive to Tamarack Flat, rather than face the rigours of descending the East Ledges. It remains to be seen if the benefit of driving from the summit would compensate for the extra work expended hauling.

[Note: Make sure any vehicle you winch up has 4-wheel drive. And if you're going to all that bother, you might as well throw a refrigerator in the back in order to keep your beer cold.]

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Photo #2 of 3

When you are hauling with a come-along, it is important that you apply the appropriate amount of mechanical advantage.

Here Dr. Piton contemplates the benefits of a motorized winch. This is particularly important when you are stupid enough to drive Rick Old Skool's truck down Karl Baba's driveway, a driveway so steep that there was no hope whatsoever of driving back up.

Emphatically this is NOT the Better Way.

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Photo #1 of 3

In a recent Ask Dr. Piton post, a question was posed about using a come-along for big wall hauling.

Here Dr. Piton holds the first requisite item to build the hauling system - the come-along hook.

Note: This hook should be racked on the front subrack of your Big Wall Rack. If you have more than one, then you should add a racking label so that you do not accidentally put both of your come-along hooks onto the same carabiner.

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What can I say - it was the end of the season and I was feeling silly. Plus - there is an ongoing debate about how flexible I am. Check it out!

Hmmm.... I already said something about this route in the routes database. This picture was taken low on the route by one of my friends - Stacey I think. It's the best picture of me on the rock yet, so I've submitted it as a profile pic. I feel a little self-conscious about it because I pulled harder on this route than I needed too and this photo really shows it. Whatever - it was a fun climb!

Heres me coiling the rope at the end of a long day climbing at Weribee Gorge, our local climbing area.

Taking a break to tape fingers (and sign something to my partner) up in Foster Falls, TN.

Otter Cliffs on a spectacular October Day. Easy climbing over the ocean - and you can't beat the view!

I tried on this piece of rock really hard but that mantle was giving me a hard time. Photo by Lu.

This is me on Guillotine (5.9) at Blue Mounds State Park 5/02. This is a tough 5.9 and a fun climb. This is the route [b]fiend[/b] blew his knee out on at the RC.com Minnesota gathering.

Profile Pic. This was taken at Taylors Falls in May 2002. Actually I believe this was on my first outdoor climb. Loyd's Lament 5.6 I believe.

A shot of me, topped out on Swanson's Arete at Eldorado Canyon.

Here is a Pic of Hunter at 18 months old. He was helping he daddy make sure all his draws were marked and sorting things...and someone decided to run off with a bunch of gear.

This was me last New Years at Red Rocks. What a trip! Ask me about my Canyon Ranch Spa story... a dirtbag's delight!

Well, at least he makes coffee calls!

Here we find the Tucson Hotties along with Dr. Piton, and his shagadelic big wall coffee press making a 1 a.m. "coffee run" over to the lab to bring Andria [cragchica] a hot brew.

[Yeah, she's really working hard, eh? Note that RC.com is on the computer screen behind her...]

Being the gentleman that he is, the hotties' wall doctor also brought along a couple pints of ice cream which Hillary [climbsomething] is demoing using Andria's nut tool. [Like, I forgot the spoons, eh?]

Trying to choose between the Tucson Hotties is like trying to choose your favourite kind of Ben & Jerry's - just when you think you can't eat another bite, you're tempted by the other flavour......

Ah, what a precious dilemma...

How do I do it?