Am gonna have to go up my mast to install my new Lazy Jacks, prob not
all the way up but while I am going up, why not fix the anchor light
and unbend that bent VHF antenna too.
Sooooooooooo..............
Last time I went up there was about 14 yrs ago using my old vertical
caving gear which is now too old. With Daughter #2 (Katie) very
interested in caving, I am suddenly ready to buy new gear. I have
actually been walking a lot and excercising to get ready for doing a
short (90') vertical drop in October. In mid-80s when I made my own
harnesses, I used seat belt webbing from a wrecked car sewn by hand,
cost me less than $10.00. My rope climbing system was prusik knots
and I climbed insane distances on them.
Am not exactly poor these days so should I buy a harness? $60 for a
harness? HOLY ****. OTOH, it'd cost me far more'n that in time to
stitch one by hand, OK, I buy it.
What about ascenders? Climbing on prusiks was a matter of pride to me
when everybody else wimped out and used mechanicals. I am truly
agonizing over this, pride vs reality. With prusiks, I KNOW that no
matter what, I can get up that rope whereas mechanical systems fail.
OTOH, prusiks require about 4X the effort of mechanicals and I am 53.
But I'm not gonna be climbing 1200' like before, only maybe 250'. I
want my daughter to use prusiks for the confidence building factor.
Then there's rope, I figger I need (want) maybe 250' of 12 mm PMI,
used to be only .50/ft, HOLY ****, .88/ft, you gotta be kidding. OK,
OK, be realistic, will I really use a 250' piece of rope, not very
much but some of the best pits are 160' so I really think I need
200'. Damn, this used to be a cheap sport.

Frogwatch (disgusted at getting old)

"Katie Ohara" wrote in message
...
Am gonna have to go up my mast to install my new Lazy Jacks, prob not
all the way up but while I am going up, why not fix the anchor light
and unbend that bent VHF antenna too.
Sooooooooooo..............
Last time I went up there was about 14 yrs ago using my old vertical
caving gear which is now too old. With Daughter #2 (Katie) very
interested in caving, I am suddenly ready to buy new gear. I have
actually been walking a lot and excercising to get ready for doing a
short (90') vertical drop in October. In mid-80s when I made my own
harnesses, I used seat belt webbing from a wrecked car sewn by hand,
cost me less than $10.00. My rope climbing system was prusik knots
and I climbed insane distances on them.
Am not exactly poor these days so should I buy a harness? $60 for a
harness? HOLY ****. OTOH, it'd cost me far more'n that in time to
stitch one by hand, OK, I buy it.
What about ascenders? Climbing on prusiks was a matter of pride to me
when everybody else wimped out and used mechanicals. I am truly
agonizing over this, pride vs reality. With prusiks, I KNOW that no
matter what, I can get up that rope whereas mechanical systems fail.
OTOH, prusiks require about 4X the effort of mechanicals and I am 53.
But I'm not gonna be climbing 1200' like before, only maybe 250'. I
want my daughter to use prusiks for the confidence building factor.
Then there's rope, I figger I need (want) maybe 250' of 12 mm PMI,
used to be only .50/ft, HOLY ****, .88/ft, you gotta be kidding. OK,
OK, be realistic, will I really use a 250' piece of rope, not very
much but some of the best pits are 160' so I really think I need
200'. Damn, this used to be a cheap sport.

Frogwatch (disgusted at getting old)

Getting old sucks. Deal with it, and get the gear you need to continue to
enjoy what you do. Vanity and pride are over-rated.

I had perfect vision until I turned 40. For the first couple of years, I
resisted (denyed) the fact I was getting older. When my reach exceeded the
distance that I could read, things changed. Now, I have reading glasses
everywhere within reach. I would have saved a lot of headaches (literally)
if I had just gotten reading glasses when the symptoms appeared. It's just
part of ageing.

Have fun caving.

--Mike