peds

I absolutely cannot cope with this. From now on I'm wearing protective glasses twenty four hours a day, whatever I'm doing, inside and out. Jesus.

Set up to do that anyway and sell tickets to the neighbour's children.

I generally replace aluminium biners once they've had two of three millimeters of wear, depending on the shape of it. Steel gets replaced if they ever take a knock serious enough to leave a mark or a burr. If it isn't visibly damaged after a fall, aluminum doesn't, as I stumbled upon some research a few years ago that suggested aluminum biners actually get measurably stronger after a sharp knock. If there's no specific need to retire a piece I don't. I've inherited a couple of oval biners that are still in regular rotation for racking things on that are older than almost all but the most senile members on here. They get cleaned and lubricated occasionally and still work just fine. (edit: the biners, not the senile members. I don't know how often they get lubricated...)

The only time I can see that being of any use at all is when you've forgotten all your micro pulleys and other bits of kit, and have to do a 90' pull up a rope in mid air... Well if you've got that far to go and you're doing that, you might as well leave another few feet of tail on the second Blake's and tie a third one below the first, with a foot loop coming out the bottom of it. In for a penny, in for a pound.

All right, another quick question. I'm brushing up on my knot theory at the moment, and I've stumbled upon this little treat: Obviously, it's a self-tending Blake's hitch. My question is this... considering how many times you'd need to re-tie the entire knot to make progress, would it not be quicker to just... wait for the tree to fall down?

Worst-case scenario, one for each limb. If you need more than that, you're probably beyond help.

You're not wrong, up by the Devil's Chimney and around Glencar lake, beyond into the Dartry mountains, every inch of coastline... it's all bloody brilliant. I've been coming here for a decade now and barely scratched the surface, I love the place. Donegal is just a short hop away as well, as we are the far side of Sligo. Great climbing, fell running, seashore foraging... we are off to Donegal next week to harvest our winter supply of nori seaweed. Hoping to get down to Galway for the oyster festival this year, spending some time in the Twelve Pins along the way. Stunning landscape. But yeah, big tall trees are definitely in short supply, unfortunately. I'll go and have a look in Hazelwood one day, thanks for the tip.

No cutting of anything living by me, it's a tree I borrowed from an uncle by marriage. But I might offer to trim some deadwood off it for him, just for shits and giggles. I'm near Sligo, my wife grew up here, we've just moved back to be near her family after a decade of living in France. Whereabouts are you? It doesn't go through anywhere, no. If I could ever see daylight out the other side I definitely wouldn't climb it! The stem was very upright, but I did use it as an anchor for branch walks on the lower limbs, which looked healthy enough. If I use this tree again I'll pick a different top anchor. Many thanks for all the advice dudes, every day is a school day.

What up dudes, advice sought for a beginner climber. I'm recovering from my recent injuries, and as part of rehab before returning to work in January, as well as lifting weights and wasting time on a stationary bike, I'm going up a couple of trees a day. Climbing this... ash?... just now, and I found these cracks going up the main stem. It felt solid enough and I climbed it anyway, but really, I wouldn't have a clue. I guess it looks like old damage that's healed over. I was just wondering if these kind of cracks have a specific name, how badly it can weaken the wood you want to climb, and how much I need to be wary of it in the future. I only ask because the cracks continued stop-start up the stem until where I would have had a final anchor, two wrist-sized bits, but instead I felt as though I had to stop a few feet lower, and here in the west coast of Ireland where tall trees are in short supply, every inch counts. Cheers for any info chaps.

Maaan, remember being 14 and not feeling sick when you went on the roundabout at the park when drunk? The wife and I had a go on the roundabout near where I grew up a couple of years ago, we nearly threw up. Getting older is bloody hard! Edit I'd never actuality heard of stugeron, I'll look into it. Sounds like the kind of thing that'd be good to have around for a quiet night in anyway.

A half hour flying lesson... which, oddly enough, I also got for my dad. Anyone ever fly a tiny plane? Any advice?

Cheers dude! Same day, same beach, ten minutes earlier...

Err, that doesn't sound very humane. You'd be better off placing the log in the freezer for forty minutes until you can be sure all the larvae have been knocked out, or even better, running a strong electric current through it to stun them all. You really don't want anyone from PETA knocking on your door...

Good eye you've got there, those photos were actually taken during our historic first ski descent of the north east ridge of Meagram Top. Visible in the background is the fearsome south face of Bluestone Heath.

Braque d'Auvergne x (Boxer x Lab x Rhodesian Ridgeback). Mother was a fairly slight pointer, dad was an incredibly-gentle hulking great brute. He got his mother's build and his father's bravado. Real shame we had his balls cut off, because he is genuinely one of the best dogs I've ever known, and would have produced great puppies.

Really interesting exchange over the last few pages dudes, exactly the kind of thing I joined up to read. Lots to think about. Cheers.

Still no job for me, but last night I went to see the guy who offered me work aaall the way back in the end of August, and he said he still wants me to start as soon as I'm healthy enough again, so I'm pretty fucking thrilled at that. Looking at getting going in the middle of January, on a couple of jobs I think he had to put on hold until he had another climber available. But today's job was getting this carbon fiber frame taken off my wrist, which is awesome. Now I can get my throwbag out and get up in the trees again!

I did mine (plus stump grinder and some bullshit business module that wasn't worth the day) over 20 days with accomodation for three grand. It'd be a bit of a squeeze to cram it all into a week.

Slow day at work guys?

We had a go at spiking up an overhanging pole on our CS38. Great fun!

Yes yes, we know, but what exactly were you given for lunch? That could make or break the deal!

Come on, you're in France... you know that there's some pretty spectacular lunches out there. I'd trim the lawn at Manoir aux Quat'Saisons with my teeth if I got three courses at the end of it.

^^ please see post above, it's hard to see but he has an anchor high up in the left stem, visible in the longer video (2 min 45ish)