I am shaking...but!

[Jex 1104]

I was more inclined for the parts a little to the northeast as it took me to an amazing columnar formation.  I have a geology degree so the basaltic columns of the Devil's Postpile are something I enjoy visiting. 

 

As an aside, did you ever go to Mono Lake?  They filmed an Eastwood western there.

 

On setting up a fire IRL, tell me, did you ever need a "fireplace kit?"  :lol:   The concept is just so damn hokey, as is instantly breaking it down to components including the burning embers log. chucking it in your backpack, and scrambling outta there before the bad guys ride in.  BUT, I can forgive the quick breakdown and lack of respect for glowing embers as all alpha stuff or fantasy you suffer through for the benefit the game offers in entertainment value.  What is broken to the core is needing a firestarter "kit."  When I was a kid, pre-hairy bits no less, I could walk into any forested place and gather what I needed in likely less than a minute.  My fire starter kit was a pocket knife and a box of blue tips.  Give me a minute to make some kindling and get some dry grass for the real 1st step to making a  fire, and then get er ripping.  I never used a burlap sack.    I never had to chop down a tree.  I must be a wizard or something!  Or maybe the guys making this game should talk to some people, perhaps a nephew in boy scouts... and get some real world advice on what is good, and what is silly.

 

And give us layering. :lol:

 

The fireplace starter kits is fucking ridiculous. Wasn't the first iteration going to require a stone as well? So I'm standing in the woods with shit all around me and I can't make a fire. I can't even make kindle without a frikkin axe. The fire system is a joke. It's been ill thought out and badly implemented. Here's what they should do;

 

1 - When in the woods, or by brush or anywhere else that I can grab sticks from, give me the menu option to grab sticks (or tampons - brilliant for starting fires)

 

2 - With my new bundle of kindle, if it's wet make it have to dry out which starts as soon as it's either under cover (dropped in a house) or in my backpack. In the game code, all kindle = wet if rain = 1 unless kindlecovered = 1. It doesn't need to be over complicated because it's not a big deal.

 

3 - With my dry kindle I can now make a "fireplace"

 

4 - add log and hey presto!

[Xbow 362]

Oh hell yeah but I have not been there so you got one on me (sounds like you have many on me, lol). 

 

Quartzite - usually a hard stone but you are climbing something that has been weathering forever, and the genesis of quartzite is sandstone, so you start with a sedimentary material of unkown purity, cement and reorganize ionic structure metamorphically, then allow it to sit exposed for a million+ years... I could see where over time the fractures make it a suicidal climb.  I climbed a small escarpment by Jasper Beach near Machias and was lucky I didn't fall the 20 to 30 feet as the material was so loose we had movement with each hand up.

 

I used to hit the Shawangunks in NY for climbing.  I wasn't one to climb the big heights but this place was pretty renowned for it.

 

http://adventure.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/trips/americas-best-adventures/climb-new-york-gunks/

 

If you ever get to that part of the world I highly recommend it.

 

BTW - thanks for fighting the fires.  And to heck with the tree huggers.  They only see the world from the center of their universe.

Devils tower 'the way we climbed it' was pretty easy. It was the first rout on the thing called Durrance 5.7. its one of the 50 classic climbs of NorthAm. the climb is about off-width, hand cracks mild to serious exposure but good pro.  I do recommend devils tower whole heatedly...on the top an island in the sky what a view.     

 

I've never climbed in the Gunks but I hear some of the climbs are a real bitch and somewhat under rated by the first ascent parties. I hear that If something is listed as a 5.9 expect a 5.10a :huh:

 

I've never actually fought a fire. What we do is get rid of brush and dead trees that act as kindling for a major fire before a fire...fie break maintenance. In any case I love using a chain saw and getting free firewood.  :P

 

And at this stage of my life I would rather climb granite or quartz monzonite than screw around on lesser rock. The most miserable climb I ever did was on Sandstone in Red River Gorge Kentucky. On that particular climb the shit was rotten 2/3 of the time and finished with an over hanging crack section composed of shit rock that had the consistency of hardened sugar. Obviously the protection on that section was just about nil. and as a final kick in the mouth the crack led me straight into a thicket of poison oak. Zero Joy.

Edited October 1, 2014 by Xbow