torching the granite dry?

[rich k]

just watched the vid 'first ascent': in it didier is blow-torching cobra crack to dry it. doesn't torching round or polish granite crystals (think gibbs cave)? if it does damage the rock, climbers should know this, and know that being caught with a torch in your hand is not a good thing. it's a bad call, right?

can't we just wait for the rock to dry?

[Brendan]

can't we just wait for the rock to dry?

i personally haven't heard about this issue, and i know a lot of boulderers do it...
as for didier, what would you do if you were from switzerland w/ limited time?

[psychedelic]

Who knows I haven't done that in a couple of years but when I did it allowed me to climb more days outside for sure.

[rich k]

as for didier, what would you do if you were from switzerland w/ limited time?

there isn't really an established ethic on torches so i'm not trying to dispute what didier did, just trying to get a consensus of whether people think blow-torches will polish holds.

[Brendan]

i realize that, i'm only stating the fact that you too would probably do it if your time overseas was cut short!

besides, i doubt cobra crack suffers from excessive climbing anyways.
i am also curious about the polishing situation? i noticed quite a few boulder problems at the base getting quite polished quite quickly?? or maybe they're just getting attempted by a lot of people

[MCpl]

The issue can be expanded to brushing. Doesn't that eventually smoothen the rock. It is espacially so on rock that isn't as hard as granite.

Then there is the use of chalk, eventually the rock is going to get sooo caked up with the stuff, it'll be like climbing on marble (or those damn so-ill bulb holds).

Everything we use to climb, and everyone (boulders, sport, trad, and aid climbers) is guilty, destroyes the rock somehow or eventually (or at least takes away from its original state).

The only thing we have going is that there is some, however little that is, to try to minimize our impact.

[Brendan]

i feel fortunate that i can live and climb in this century. i bet most of the classics will be horrible to climb in the future, suffering from over-climbing, polished and greasy holds.

the evidence is all over squamish already

[psychedelic]

ya but see by the time all the classics are polished all the people will be climbing so hard that those will be easy. 50 years from now people will be warming up on like V12. What was the standard 50 years ago? 5.10 was the top? Anyones guess really...

[Brendan]

not to change the topic, but how much harder can we really climb? not to be pessimistic but look at some of the slopers people hang onto now. i can see the future going to big wall free climbing (look how far tommy brought it), or dws. take sharma's ascent in mallorca for example...
i don't know, as long as i can climb at least as hard as my previous season, i'm happy

[rich k]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propane_torch
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quartz

so are the crystals in squamish granite made of quartz???

if so, the melting point of quartz is about 1650C, according to my research, and propane torches can reach temperatures well above that.

is this correct, anyone?

if so, leave your torches at home!

[Brendan]

if there's one thing i kinda know about squamish granite (according to my prof.) it's that it's not really true 'granite.' it's something like quartz diorite or something, so yea, i guess the crystals are quartz? i think he also said that true granite was pink(ish)!?

Kevin?

[Dooley]

Rich you are pretty close. The thing to keep in mind if using a torch is not to keep directly applying flame to an area. You have to keep the movement in a sweeping motion so that you dont create a hot spot. I have torched many a problem and I can touch the hold immediately after applying heat. So that alone says that the rock is not getting much hotter then boiling point, and I dont even think it is getting near that. I have come to learn, that if you apply heat and the hold dries then climb on. If water keeps seeping out of the rock then it is just as well to call it quits and move on!

This is all from my experience of living on the east coast where it is winter for 6 months of the year!

[Anders Ourom]

Glenn Woodsworth once told me that the Chief and surrounding cliffs are gradodiorite. Later the story changed, and apparently we're now just supposed to call it granite. Some sort of theological dispute amongst geologists, apparently.

Granite seems divisible into a variety of sub-species. Which one is mostly determined by the proportion of feldspar, quartz, biotite and other minerals. (It may also have to do with crystal size.)

There are also intrusions (dykes) and xenoliths. The dark-coloured ones are usually basalt, the light-coloured ones are aplite. "Xenolith" meaning foreign rock, what we call chicken heads.

"True" granite often has a pinkish tinge, a la Chamonix Aigulles. The rock at Lighthouse Park may be the closest we have to this, although it may have been discoloured by weathering.

There are undoubtedly posters (Drew?) who know more about this, who can perhaps elucidate. Glenn doesn't frequent forums, but I'll mention this one to him.

Isn't natural history fascinating?

Anders

[Brendan]

gradodiorite

he means granodiorite

[Brendan]

Granodiorite:

"Granodiorite is an intermediate coloured, medium to coarse-grained intrusive rock. It falls between granite and quartz diorite, containing more dark minerals than granite but less than quartz diorite. The light coloured minerals are quartz and feldspar; the feldspar is a mixture of orthoclase and plagioclase. The dark coloured crystals are hornblende and/or biotite. Granodiorite is a very common intrusive rock in British Columbia."