Climbing and quotes

The Arc'teryx Canmore ice festival is in full swing, good fun. Taught a clinic yesterday and climbed, elbow slightly better. Climbing sure is fun, best reason I know for doing it. I really like teaching clinics also, the people always fire me up. They are also great for my climbing as well, I honestly didn't truly learn to ice climb until I taught others how to ice climb. I got "busted" by my clinic people for bad techique a few times yesterday, pretty cool to see people catch on to moving well so fast. Other sports have well-defined teaching curriculums, climbing is just starting to reach that point. Of course, techniques change and improve (Bode Miller on skis is a good example of this, he breaks a lot of the old "rules"), but understanding enough about the movement to teach it is a good start.



My old high-school friend Michelle sent me the following quotes, thought I'd share 'em because they're good.:

Hello everyone!

Since next Thursday is my birthday, I thought I'd put together and share some quotes I picked up off the Internet that are interesting (at least to me) to keep in mind. Some are funny, some insight, and others.....well they just leave your mouth hanging wide open!
Enjoy the short read! Some of these are too true!

Michelle











To alcohol! The cause of and solution to all of life's problems! Homer Simpson


In politics stupidity is not a handicap. Napoleon









A verbal contract isn't worth the paper it is written on.
Samuel Goldwyn

Haven't we already given money to rich people? Why are we going to do it again?
--George w. Bush, Washington, DC, 11/26/2002: To economic advisers discussing a second round of tax cuts, as quoted by former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neil.









Life is hard. After all, it kills you.

Katharine Hepburn , 05/12/1907 - 06/29/2003,US-actress


There are laws to protect the freedom of the press's speech, but none that are worth anything to protect the people from the press.
Mark Twain 11/30/1835 - 04/21/1910, US author

When we remember we are all mad, the mysteries disappear and life stands explained.
Mark Twain

Good friends, good books and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life.
Mark Twain

The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.
Mark Twain


You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do.

Henry Ford 07/30/1863 - 04/07/1947, Founder of the Ford Motor Company

Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.
Albert Einstein 03/14/1879 - 04/18/1955, Nobel Prize Laureate (Physics)

I believe that Ronald Reagan can make this country what it once was - an Arctic region covered with ice.
Steve Martin 08/14/1945 - - US actor, writer and producer

If you want to make God laugh, tell him your future plans.
Woody Allen 12/01/1935 - - US writer, actor and director


If A is a success in life, than A equals x plus y plus z. Work is x; y is play; and z is keeping your mouth shut.
Observer, Jan. 15, 1950, Albert Einstein

Failure is simply the opportunity to begin again, this time more intelligently.
Henry Ford

I'm completely in favor of the separation of Church and State. My idea is that these two institutions screw us up enough on their own, so both of them together is certain death.
George Carlin US Comedian

If lawyers are disbarred and clergymen defrocked, doesn't it follow that electricians can be delighted, musicians denoted?
- George Carlin

Some national parks have long waiting lists for camping reservations. When you have to wait a year to sleep next to a tree, something is wrong.
- George Carlin

"I am" is reportedly the shortest sentence in the English language. Could it be that "I do" is the longest sentence?
- George Carlin

Honesty may be the best policy, but it's important to remember that apparently, by elimination, dishonesty is the second-best policy.
- George Carlin

The secret of life is honesty and fair dealing. If you can fake that, you've got it made.

Groucho Marx (1890-1977)

I was a prisoner too, but for bad reasons.

--George w. Bush, Monterrey, Mexico, 01/13/2004 to Argentine President Nestor Kirchner, on being told that all but one of the Argentine delegates to a summit meeting were imprisoned during the military dictatorship.

Let me put it to you bluntly. In a changing world, we want more people to have control over your own life.

--George w. Bush, Annandale, VA, 08/09/2004

Quality means doing it right when no one is looking.
Henry Ford


Trying to determine what is going on in the world by reading newspapers is like trying to tell the time by watching the second hand of a clock.
Ben Hecht (1893 - 1964)

America is a mistake, a giant mistake.
Sigmund Freud, 05/06/1856 - 11/23/1939, Austrian neurologist & the founder of psychoanalysis

A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove that you don't need it.
Bob Hope, 05/29/1903 - 07/27/2003, Engl. actor and comedian

Words ought to be a little wild for they are the assaults of thought on the unthinking.
John Maynard Keynes, 06/05/1883 - 04/21/1946, English economist

A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.
Winston Churchill, 11/30/1874 - 01/24/1965, British politician and Nobel Prize Laureate


If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.
Henry David Thoreau, 07/12/1817 - 05/06/1862, US author and philosopher

A day without laughter is a day wasted.
Charlie Chaplin, 04/16/1889 - 12/25/1977, English actor


A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.
from his book "Mostly Harmless"
Douglas Adams, 03/11/1952 - 05/11/2001, English humorist & science fiction novelist



Without music, life would be a mistake.
Friedrich Nietzsche,10/15/1844 - 08/25/1900, philosopher and lyricist


The golden rule is that there are no golden rules.
in the Appendix to Man and Superman: "Maxims for Revolutionists"
George Bernard Shaw, 07/26/1856 - 11/02/1950, Erse dramatist, author and Nobel Prize Laureate

None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 08/28/1749 - 03/22/1832, German poet



To err is human, but to really foul things up requires a computer.
Paul Ehrlich



Life is a great big canvas, and you should throw all the paint on it you can.
Danny Kaye, 01/18/1913 - 03/03/1987, US actor and Oscar-Prize-Laureate


The great question - which I have not been able to answer - is, "What does a woman want?"
Sigmund Freud, 05/06/1856 - 11/23/1939, Austrian neurologist & the founder of psychoanalysis

I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish Church, by the Roman Church, by the Greek Church, by the Turkish Church, by the Protestant Church, nor by any church that I know of. My own mind is my own church.
The Age of Reason
Thomas Paine, 01/29/1737 - 06/08/1809, "Founding Father" of the US


I generally avoid temptation unless I can't resist it.
Mae West, 08/17/1893 - 11/22/1980, US-actress, playwright, screenwriter, and sex symbol
Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler. Albert Einstein

More Rope Stuff

A few people have suggested I start a second career as a "professional questioner of commonly held climbing beliefs." That sounds almost fun, but the reality is that I'm mainly just sharing info from other people. I'm no physics major, just really curious about climbing gear, always have been. I do the same sort of work for BD and Arc'teryx on their gear, it's fun for some reason. Maybe I'm really a geek.

Anyhow, I've been corresponding and thinking more about ropes after Jim Ewing's data on half ropes tested with single-rope fall loads. The good news is that all the half ropes held one fall, but Jim is sure none would pass a full single-rope test of five falls minimum. This makes sense, companies would be marketing these ropes as singles if they did.

Here's a really good link full of rope and other climbing gear test data, I especially liked the info on what various environmental contaminants (sand, water, freezing) etc. did to rope strength. Always wondered about that. Andrew McLaren seems to be doing or supervising some good work on climbing gear, thanks to him for that.

Training:

The elbow rehab continues, and a few of the exercises I've found seem to be slowly helping--I can now hold a frying pan one-handed! OK, so not so rad but a pretty good improvement for me. Went skate-skiing for the first time last week, sure is fun! Other than that just rehab, running, no climbing but hopefully soon. I've given up Yoga classes for now, the swinging through to seated and "tweaky" strain on my elbow just isn't good. I'm continuing to do my own stretching and yoga at home, but if I go to a yoga class I tend to try too hard and then the elbow is really sore the next day. Yup, yoga kicked my ass.

WG