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*cracks knuckles* Traditional (Trad) Leading is where one climber goes up first and puts in gear into the rock (nuts, cams, hexes, slings etc), attaches a quickdraw and then attachs that to his rope. Then if he fell at that point, the piece of gear would stop him from falling too far (if the gear is bomber) So imagine the first bit of gear is at 3m. The leader has to get to that gear placement, put the gear in and clip before he/she is safe, otherwise if they fall they kiss the ground Now the next piece of gear is at 6m say (a further 3m away) The leader then progresses upwards towards this point. From here there are two possibilties: 1) The leader reaches the placement, puts the gear in and clips it. He/she is now safe incase of a fall 2) The leader doesn't reach it in time. The worst case scenario is that they reach the placement, start to put it in, attach a quickdraw, and then come to clip it....and then they fall. The leader would fall 3m, down to the last bit of gear PLUS another 3m's worth of rope that was used to ascend. In this case, they too would hit the ground unless the belayer (the guy on the ground) is a good belayer. A pitch is a stretch of climbing, usually maximum of 50m (the length of standard ropes) at the top of each pitch, the leader has to put in lots of gear to create an anchor. This anchor must be strong enough so that if the seconder (the remaining climber who comes up and removes the gear from the route as he goes upwards) falls, then he/she is protected. If the seconder were to fall, then he/she would have no slack rope and thus would fall very far at all. Once at the top of the first pitch, the gear is sorted out so that whoever is leading the next pitch has whatever he/she wants for the pitch. The anchor remains in position and the person attached to the anchor is now the belayer; the other climber leads the next pitch. To answer your question, the gear that is placed by the leader isn't a lifeline for the seconding guy, its a lifeline for the leader. Ive only done a couple of short multipitch routes that werent very hard atall (VS, and I didn't lead the crux ) but I find them incredibly good fun and scary. You can also get sport multipitch routes where instead of placing gear there are already bolted fixtures glued into the rock face that are much, much safer. You simple use a quickdraw here to the bolt, and then attach it to the rope in the same way. Anymore questions feel free to ask EDIT: The cold hands thing I wouldn't know, because me hands get fooking cold very quick, so I sometimes have a disposable handwarmer in my chalk bag. Im going to assume the rock isn't that cold? Or hes got good circulation Im going to watch this video while I eat my tea

yeah im baffled as to what you mean, sorry

Id love to get dragged out by Davina....

I looked at making a climbing frame (could be a single large platform in trials sense ) I priced it up to around £200 without the surface... So yeah its bloody expensive Heres Matt Barlows personal stuff for his practice sessions (and a small charity demo we did a while ago)

lol ok that makes more sense. Yeah I agree there

in a word, no You can try running a tap to clean the threads up, but if they're already stripped then a ) it won't do anything at all, because there is not enough material to cut new threads with b ) if you get something that somehow manages to tighten (maybe deepen the length of thread or reach some un-stripped thread at the bottom) would you really trust it? Basically no, helicoil it or get someone else to do it like a garage. Not to put any pressure on you, but if you f**k the helicoil up, your £400 frame or whatever is only fit for the bin. Good luck

If your broke froze, remember water expands when it freezes (The only compund to do this?) So it wouldn't be unlikely to have induced stresses in a weakness in the brake system (ie pushed the fittings apart and cracked them or squashed the master piston etc) As Mr Burrows says, dry it off and it possible, get a friend to watch the slave end while you watch the lever! For more information, wiki/google 'freeze thaw effect'

Im sure hes a bit busy with organisiation atm, lets give him a bit of time... Hes probably got lots of other forums to thank too

so you won it then? we expect updates and lots of pictures. Or atleast I do....

I get to go home and see my friends and family:)

I was under the impression work hardening was when a material is subjected to stresses past its elastic limit, and then the stresses are relased. This creates a 'longer' line of plastic deformation before it is work hardened further I reckon youre right about failure before elastic limit, but it cant be work hardening as you have to go past the elastic limit to work harden

I see a frame in the pipeline I do like stiff frames, but I do prefer slightly flexy ones more. Cant explain why, but flexy frames just feel more fun and less 'dead'. Stiff frames are great for natural and stuff like that, but id rather have a little flex in the frame that I ride Assuming ofcourse you can overcome the brake setup problems...

id like to do a multi pich ascent of a mountain either sport/trad or even winter would be sweeeet

After the fight the new mrs polar bear gave up and cowered into a corner

you could use another frame to protect your frame that you ride. or a garden hose? or if you're really posh, fire retardant aeroquip hose. Possibilities are endless really. Myabe even (if you can get it big enough) just some high pressure fuel lines for a car/van?

Like it. Lots of good logic and assumptions. Its been 8 months since ive done some proper work o my degree but that does ring a bell

Ive got technicals base layer bottoms for climbing in, but for ultimate warmth, go icebreaker!! Merino wool in them bad boys Its wayy out of your price range though. Go to your nearest blacks and ask to look at base layers. Tell them I sent you and they might give you extra discount Seriously if you decide to go to blacks or millets, Ill tell you what discounts you might be elligable for. They sell Peter storm base layers too which aren't amazing, but will still do the trick of taking the edge off the cold.

This I don't understand. My interpretation is that if the onza Pro was £500 RRP say. Then tartybikes sell it at their maximum 10% discount, so rock and roll bikes do the same (following the market trend) Can this price war between two companies just go on and on? Or is it once the 10% is reached thats it? Otherwise, how else can you follow a market trend? Man im glad I didn't do economics....

*ahem BUMP Seriously who thinks the plane takes off? Its annoying me that people think it does....

purple. Definitley purple

we looked at this a while ago. With a flatland decade you end up facing 90degrees from your point of origin. So if you were on a wall, did a decade and kept it on the back wheel, you could then drop off Plan

I know im jumping the gun here, but is there any way we can get the blackpool comp back? I LOVED them, and they were my favourite of the series!

A lightbulb has just appeared over my head Mark...

remember blackpool a few years ago? I doubt working out before that would have helped.... Infact Chris Jones was so hungover he threw up! Keep warm and take WATERPROOFS! Relax and bloody enjoy it! If you don't do as well as you hoped who gives a shit. So long as you had fun thats seriously all that matters. I remember a hookwoods once the first move in one section was up and hill and over a tree stump. Instead of the slow approach, I decided to get a massive run up before the start gate and try and bunnyhop over it! It didn't work