torching the granite dry?

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PAW
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Post by PAW » Wed Nov 29, 2006 11:20 pm

erock you would be climbing ice in squampton today?? HAHA -30
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rich k
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Post by rich k » Thu Nov 30, 2006 9:59 am

so i've done a little research, posted the topic on norope.com. here's some of the replies:

1)
lip traverses aren't boulder problems

2)
mixed... soem people do it... but i think as do many that it causes the rock to a) expand and then exfoliate and b) causes changes in the crystal structure making sh*t glassy

generall i find a rag and lots of chalk applications that are brushed off and then reapplied... if it's still wet don't climb it... the rock ain't going away, it'll be there on a dry day

3)
chisel down until you find dry rock.

4)
Alrong is right. Making the rock polished is less of a worry than thermal expansion. I would recommend against it, especially with mafic (dark colored) igneous rock due to its high iron content.


also, i tried to get through to the boys at boldering.com
http://www.boldering.com/forums/index.p ... opic=24467
but things didn't go as planned there.

rich k
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Post by rich k » Thu Nov 30, 2006 3:06 pm

more from norope:

"the problem with a torch is that at a safe distance its fine (9 to 12 inches) but up close it actually make sh*t slick. It also makes holds brittle!!! I have seen the effects and have sinned myself. I no longer use one and just move on to dryer probs... "

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Post by rich k » Thu Nov 30, 2006 3:11 pm

meingh wrote:My vote is for abolishing blow torching, all in favour ????
definitely got my vote. the reason is that you can't know exactly at what distance you start to damage the hold. when you're drying the hold and you see that it's not drying fast enough you get closer and closer until it drys, not knowing exactly when damage occurs.

it is a known fact that the boulders (and routes...) are getting polished. we should be taking measures to slow this process and minimize our impact and abolishing torches is definitely a step in this direction

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Post by Brendan » Sat Dec 02, 2006 1:10 am

we should find a boulder which is going to get blown up due to highway expansion, and torch it to find out exactly what the consequences are!? that way several people can torch it at the same time, only in different ways, to find out where the problem lies! :o

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Post by erock » Sun Dec 03, 2006 3:28 pm

What problems are getting wiped out for sure? I keep hearing about desire and shots fired being blown up... but thats just through word of mouth.
It would be kinda neat to run a little experiment, but then what if some jack a$% goes and turns shots fired into a glassy mess and then the problem never gets blown up anyways... that would SUCK.
I think just torching a hunk of granite that you can pick up would be best to see what damage one can actually do with a torch.

safety glasses are key.

e

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Post by Mike C. » Mon Dec 04, 2006 12:24 am

as far as i know Desire is gonna stay and Shots Fired is gonna go. no idea about the rest. judging by the sudden change of plans at the Papoose, i dont hold out any hope that Desire is definitively going to be kept intact. im sure Tyrone or someone else on here can clarify perhaps.
And how is education supposed to make me feel smarter? Besides, every time I learn something new, it pushes some old stuff out of my brain. Remember when I took that home winemaking course, and I forgot how to drive? --Homer Simpson

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Post by PAW » Mon Dec 04, 2006 10:52 am

good thing you sent both desire and shots this past summer eh, erock
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Post by psychedelic » Mon Dec 04, 2006 6:06 pm

Shots is really fun. I hope not too much gets killed. I still want to send heather.

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Post by rich k » Mon Dec 04, 2006 6:25 pm

psychedelic wrote:I still want to send heather.
does it still go after the break(s)?

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shots fired, desire, torching bolders etc...

Post by Tyrone Brett » Mon Dec 04, 2006 9:00 pm

Hi,
Nasty conditions right now. Good rock-scouting though 'cause the snow brings out the contrast between the vertical and horizontal and the leaves are all gone.

I for one would not be stoked on any drastic action on still-existing boulder problem that may or may not be affected by the highway expansion work; or any boulders that may yield problems still, even if it has been affected (hey, ya never know!)

The exact delineation of the portion of the highway between the Grand Wall parking lot and the Apron parking lot has yet to be officially determined. Approximately three weeks ago, it was still subject to ongoing negotiations between a variety of stakeholders. It is a tricky little section with a salmon river, Squamish First Nation, the Municipality, BC Rail, etc... (oh yeah, and the climbers!) among others, all converging at a small parcel of land. The Sea to Sky could end up going a little to the east, or a little to the west... and this could effect Desire and or Shots. I would say, although it is too early to tell, that Desire is more likely to be affected regardless of what happens further down the road at Shots. If they straighten that portion of the road extending down from Desire to the intersection, Shots may be spared.

There is tons of road-cut to experiment on (although I gotta tell ya that I for one wouldn't consider your results really authorotative), and there has to be better stuff to do during a rainy spell!

We are keeping beta on the Sea to Sky Highway work as up to date as possible (subject to actual information from the contractor). Check out squamishaccess.ca of the Squamish Access Society.

Tyrone
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Post by c-plus » Tue Dec 05, 2006 3:59 pm

Brendan wrote:we should find a boulder which is going to get blown up due to highway expansion, and torch it to find out exactly what the consequences are!? that way several people can torch it at the same time, only in different ways, to find out where the problem lies! :o
unfortunately, the obvious problem with this is that it assumes that all of the rocks in the area are relatively uniform, and so the results you get from one tested rock could be used to model what happens to every other rock around. i'm no geologist, but i'm gonna assume that this probably isn't true... so in the end, you really have no way of knowing what effect a torch will have on any given rock until you've already used it and therefore already done the damage.

personally, i'd be against torching. the rocks will be there tomorrow (assuming they don't get blown up by the highway expansion :shock: ) and there's no point destroying a perfectly good problem just because people are getting impatient with the weather. besides, it's time to start ice climbing now! yeee haaa!!!

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Post by psychedelic » Tue Dec 05, 2006 6:48 pm

Damn't I didn't know holds broke. I haven't gone bouldering up there in quite a while. I fondled heather once and was hoping to get at it next time I was up that way.

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Post by erock » Thu Dec 07, 2006 2:55 pm

I think everyone can agree that Shots fired is a sweet problem. It would be a bummer if that got blown up. maybe we could convince some hippie gym climber to chain himself to the bolder to halt road construction.
Desire is getting a bit mossy on the upper half. i guess it just adds to the scary factor when you get up there though.
Anyways!
where is heather? you guys arent talking about heather graham are you? maybe i'm totally confused but that's up by gibbs cave right?
my goal last summer was to at least try all the cool problems that might get blown up. guess i still have work to do!

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