Dust

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You will have noticed that there is lots of dust on the streets, unless you live in Finland, where the streets are immaculate.

You will also have noticed that on dry days soily ground is dusty. It is estimated that 35% of household dust originates in outdoor soil.

Naturally, as much of it originates from the ground, dust contains all the sort of things that are on the ground, such as pesticides, weed killer and lead. Things which are not good for your health. Keeping as much of this dust out of the home is a really sensible idea and this means taking off your shoes at the door and asking visitors to do the same.

Even if the dust that gets in is not full of toxins, it is good to reduce it. It reduces the quality of indoor air and can be a source of allergies.

A fashionable strategy is to remove carpets, as they absorb dust. However, this may be counterproductive as without the carpet, the dust is exposed. If you are going to go carpetless, you either need to opt for shoes-off (for all) or sweep very often. Hence, whether you choose to opt for carpet or sans carpet, a shoes-off policy is totally adviseable.

Culture

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Some people in Britain and the USA have an interesting perspective on this subject. They feel happy taking off their shoes at the home of an Asian person whose culture demands removal of shoes, but consider it deeply rude for a British or American person to insist on visitors to her home removing their shoes.

There are two problems with this attitude. Firstly, there is a touch of cultural arrogance about it. It implies that the Asian custom of removing shoes is purely of spiritual or cultural significance with no practical value. Maybe Asian people are primarily concerned about keeping their homes clean! Behind the pretended respect for a foreign culture, there is the unspoken assumption that Western practice is superior.

Secondly, this attitude seems to take a rather static view of culture, seeing it as a set of chains that bind people to particular rules of behaviour. In fact, culture is dynamic and fluid, it changes over time.

It seems to me to be quite obvious that if a person of Asian descent can be considered British while keeping her home shoe-free, it is perfectly acceptable for a White British person to keep her home shoe-free.

It may be the norm in Britain and most of the USA for shoes to stay on in homes now, but this may change. In fact, I believe it probably will. Many White Americans and even British people are adopting the custom of shoes-off in homes.

We are living in a global village with increased immigration, travel and communication between different cultures. There is tremendous potential for different cultural practices to migrate across geographical boundaries.

Big Chicken

Name this problem.

Yowza! Bouldering is hard, no? Well, at least grabbing sharp crystals and bearing down on them with all your might is hard (read: PAINFUL).
It has been two years since I have been in Squamish due to unforeseen border crossing requirements that took place in 2009, but I'm BACK! I mean, I just GOT back from a fabulous trip to the almighty Squaw. And oh how nothing has changed. I mean it, NOTHING has changed, except well, I'm a little fatter, balder, and weaker. But all that aside, it was a really nice three days filled with random social encounters, great weather, sketchy landings, and TONS of finger scraping granite slopers and crimpers.
This is the first time I have been to Squamish without at least 5 or 6 people in tow. Instead it was just me and Jimmy. It kind of felt like a business trip. We were there to 'take care of business', the first of which was a campsite. So far our mission was a failure, so we headed for the boulders instead. Black dyke, sloppy poppy, great for the warming up of forearms and fingers. Next, ATD!! Everything so far felt coated in a nice layer of moist chalk and as I shakily humped myself up the heinous mantle of ATD and walked down from the top out huffing and puffing I knew the next two days were going to be very difficult. So I basically stood back and made sure Jimmy didn't kill himself topping out everything he got on.
Jimmy went on a little Rampage of his own. Over the three days we were there he killed a handful of classics like Squealing Pork, Gibb's Cave, Worm World Cave, ATD, and literally finished the trip by sending Big Chicken. Oh yeah, as a side note we also made a short morning trip out to the Sport Temple where he managed a .13a second go. I would like to forget about my performance on the ropes that morning.
All in all it was a great trip! And, I broke down and bought the shiny new guidebook, which BTW is one of the best purchases I have made. Tons of new problems, updates to old problems, and good general info.
Now, time for some pictures:

Resurrection(V.9)


Resurrection(V.9)


Ride the Lightning(V.8)


The story about the camping goes something like this:
We were about to shell out $30 for ONE night at Klahanie falls when we were approached by a woman who identified us as climbers and offered us a spot at her site where she had her trailer and would be staying for the month. Jen was a climber as well and a very gracious host, down to earth and very fond of Rockband. We ended up paying her $20 for two nights and almost got arrested while enjoying a fire on our second night, completely oblivious to the fact that Squamish was under a very strict burn ban (sorry Canada). But it was a great deal, we enjoyed the toilets, hot water, and the picnic table that cane with the site, and even got to hang out in her trailer one night. Thanks Jen!!


Exactly how fast is this in miles per hour?


Jimmy takes a stroll down Sesame Street(V.9)



Okay, I didn't exactly get any pictures of actual sends but I will be posting a video soon of Jimmy's redpoint of Big Chicken(V.10). Check here soon.
And, we'll be headed back for round two next week. Hope to see you guys out there!

Doctor Who Comic Strip

Yesterday, I bought the latest issue of Doctor Who Magazine. This month's comic strip is set in Tokyo. I am not going to spoil your surprise by telling you who the returning villains are, but I am going to make a few comments on the artwork.

The Doctor and his companion, Amy visit a Tokyo apartment and remove their shoes before entering. So far so good, but there are some inaccuracies about shoe removal.

None of the apartments depicted in the strip appear to have a genkan. That is the step that separates the outside zone from the inside. In fact, in one scene the characters enter an apartment with their shoes on and discarded shoes are visible on the floor of the apartment! The artist seems to be under the impression that Japanese people enter their homes with their shoes on and then take them off before stepping onto tatami mats!

In one scene a Japanese school girl has her feet up on a couch in an office with her shoes still on. Even in a shoes-on location, a Japanese person would remove their shoes before putting their feet on a seat. I know most people have never been to Japan, but it ought to seem obvious that people who are strict about not wearing shoes in homes would not put outside shoes on seats.

There is also a Japanese character putting her slipper-shod feet on a tatami mat. That is not correct Japanese etiquette. You remove your slippers before stepping onto a tatami mat. They can be forgiven this one, however, because occasionally Japanese people break this rule.

I know it is only a comic strip, but it would not take that much effort to find out on Google how the Japanese shoe-removing custom actually works.

HIPRFs

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HIPRF stands for Herbicides, Insecticides, Pesticides, Rodenticides and Fungicides. These are chemicals that are used to deal with weeds, insects, spiders, slugs, mice and fungus. They are used in all sorts of places, particularly outside, on lawns, pathways and driveways.

You do not know how often you are picking up these chemicals on your shoes. If you wear shoes in your house, you are introducing them onto your floor and into the dust that you breath. HIPRFs are toxins that are designed to kill lifeforms. Hence they can present health risks, particularly to children.

Medical Conditions

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If you read internet discussions about the subject of the shoes-off rule, you will find countless people who claim to have a medical condition that means they must wear shoes all the time. If these discussions were representative of the population; nearly half the people in the USA have such a medical condition. I do not believe it.

Yes, there are some people who do have a genuine medical reason for not removing their shoes. We must make exceptions for them.

Some people say having a shoes-off policy causes embarassment for such people because they must reveal their condition. However, this is quite unnecessary. A person with a medical condition can simply say:

I am sorry, I can't take my shoes off. Doctor's orders.

She does not need to reveal the nature of her condition. She does not need to give any embarassing details. There is really no problem here.

Rescue 911 at Little si!

The firefighters were the first to arrive.


Don't mind us! We're just trying to get in some pitches...

Well, it’s officially not news. I just checked the internet portals and came up with a big fat ‘no results found’ under all of my queries. Oh well, I guess that leaves it up to me to break this news story. Yesterday, August 9^th, 2010, I rallied the troops (read: Antonio, Andrew, and Jimmy) and we headed out to what would be the soggiest day trip to Little si EVER! We drove through a rain cloud, hit I-90, looked to our left and saw nothing but dark grey rain clouds shrouding the entire girth of Mt. Si. Hmmmmm, this looks to be an interesting day of climbing. The temps were AMAZING (58 degrees Fahrenheit), however by the time we hit the base of World Wall I was soaked (and not by my own sweat, that is definitely a first!!). Unfortunately as soon as we had arrived to the crag and thrown our belongings down we realized something was wrong. At the base of the route ‘Jug or Not’ (5.10b) lay a stunned climber surrounded by his friends, clutching his legs in pain. I asked if he was okay and they shook their heads no. My next question was if he had broken something and it was a resounding yes. I called 9-1-1 and the rest of the day was played out in long sequences of waiting, stabilizing, rigging, and hauling this poor guy off of the ledge of World Wall 1 by 15+ firefighters and search and rescue.

You may be wondering at this point how bad this guys injuries were, that he needed to be carefully loaded onto a stretcher and lowered off the ledge. Well, as soon as the firefighters arrived they assessed the damage to his body as follows:

Left knee dislocated, right ankle fracture, and minor abrasions to lower left arm.

And no, he wasn’t wearing a helmet. Of course neither were any of us. But then again, none of us decided to skip a clip and pump out fifteen feet off the deck. Which, apparently is what happened to this poor fellow. He managed to clip the first bolt on Jug Or Not (which everybody knows will not protect you against shit) and ended up skipping the next bolt in favor of trying to climb to better holds near the third bolt. He made it to the third bolt, but unfortunately was not able to clip, and came flying downwards, the force of the impact being absorbed by his legs. OUCH!

Meanwhile we were stuck in the middle of a monsoon! I don’t think I’ve ever seen World Wall get soaked so fast. Watching the water streak down Black Ice with such momentum was not reassuring that we would have the run of the crag. Of course having an injured climber lay at the base of the wall while we tried to go about our usual warm ups didn’t exactly inspire us either. I kind of felt like an asshole as I pranced up and down Aborigine, Psychowussy, and Californicaotr/Chronic all the while trying to avoid as much eye contact with the injured climber and his rescuers as possible. Eventually Bret and Joel showed up with dogs in tow and things got pretty cozy up there on the ledge. Especially with three routes to choose from for the 8 of us!!! But we made the best of it. I made some really good links on Chronic. Andrew sent his new project Psychowussy. And Antonio tried on Technorigine for size and made good progress as well. Bret had a go on a soaking wet Lost Horizons and took a sweet 30-35 footer off the last crux, VENGA!

We were repeatedly asked for cams from the search and rescue guys while they tried to rig some kind of pulley system to lower this guy down and all I could think of; while they were slowly lowering him, both legs wrapped in ace bandages and splinted, covered in an emergency blanket, looking miserable; was if I ever get injured at Little si, whoever is belaying me, LOWER ME TO THE FUCKING GROUND!!!

Stay safe everyone!! Clip those bolts!

East European Young Mother

I was out door knocking this evening on behalf of Stevenage Conservatives.

At one of the houses I called on there was a young mother with an eastern European accent. She was barefoot and behind her was a huge shoe rack with an extensive collection of shoes. Good to see eastern European immigrants keeping up with the custom of removing shoes at the door.

Newhalem for a Day!

Jimmy pulling the roof on OSX(5.13a)

Yesterday a small group of us made it out to a new crag located in the far north east of Washington and right inside of the little (understatement) town of Newhalem. Jimmy and Lisa (my adopted little brother and sister) accompanied me the three and half hour journey. This crag is located literally right off the side of highway 20 and is one of the coolest crags I've been to in a while. Sweeping grey walls of gneiss (which is very similar texturally to granite) striped by brown and black water streaks soared from the ground at our feet. The belay stations are amazing, flat ground, nice big leaf maples providing shade, no sketchy jump off points, and the routes are all protected extremely well. On our warm up of Luna (5.11a) Lisa put up 9 draws on a 45 foot route!!!!

Jimmy sticking the crux on OSX.


'12c for a Day'(5.12b)


'Shoe Phone'(5.12b)

The climbing is typically not very steep, instead trending towards mostly vertical to slabby or slightly overhung. The routes are mostly technical edging, with some dynamic movement, but it's a mixed bag to be honest. While I got shut down on everything except the warm up, Jimmy had another spectacular showing of his new found power endurance ticking a 5.13a second go and onsighting his first and second .12b's. I almost managed a flash and redpoint of 'shoe phone' (5.12b) but got shut down on the slab part (major disappointment) on my last go of the day. Oh well, I'll definitely be back!


Me on the bottom part of OSX.

Lisa had a good day as well but will have to come back for some of the twelves as well. She did have an extremely close flash attempt of '12c for a day' (5.12b) coming off just before the chains.
We climbed from noon till 8 and it never stopped raining all day, but we never got wet, and neither did the routes!

Lisa staring down the crux throw on OSX.


Negotiating the bulge, OSX.

I'll probably never day trip this area again, but there is a nice camp ground less than a mile away from the crag so I'm psyched to get back out here for a couple days next time.
It looks like it is back to the projects at Little si tomorrow and then maybe a break for four or five days. I'm enjoying part time right now, but am accomplishing very little on the rope (read nothing at ALL!!) so it's time to step back, clean out some of the clutter in my apartment, and re-gain some 'spiritual psych'.
I think the next crag we want to hit up is Equinox, so if anybody has a topo or some beta on how to get there drop me a line!!

Bare Necessities

I am very surprised to see so many women in their late sixties wearing flip flops this summer. Obviously a lot of older women are not embarrassed to have their feet on display.

Reading discussions about the pros and cons of the shoes-off policy you would be forgiven for thinking that a large proportion of the population cannot cope without constant ankle and arch support. At least in the UK, that impression would seem to be a mistake. A lot of older women seem to get by with minimal ankle and arch support.

I dare say that health professionals might not necessarily recommend women in their late sixties to wear flip flops, but they made the choice to wear them, so they can't be very uncomfortable.

It might be that concerns about the need for ankle and arch support are more reflective of an American context. As I understand it, podiatrists in the USA tend to discourage going shoeless, while podiatrists in the UK often recommend going barefoot indoors.

Time for Some Action!

Jimmy crushing Psychosomatic(5.12d) before redpointing Flatliner(5.13c)
Unfortunately my camera decided to go on the fritz as Jimmy soared up the wall and through the bouldery crux of Flatliner and all my pics of him on this stunning line are trashed!! Jimmy has been on the power endurance ride of his life this last month sending another 5.13b Lizard Prince and crushing his first 5.13c Flatliner. Great work Jimmy!!!!

July has just flown(!!) by. My good friend and climbing partner Nick came back from D.C. to visit and certainly left his mark. It took a couple trips for Nick to get re-acquainted with his once local crag Little si, but once he did it was game time! Making short work of Graven Image(5.12c) he then turned his attention to his long term project and gem of the crag Chronic(5.13b). On his fourth go of the day, on his 3rd work session this year he pulled a send out of the bag in typical Nick fashion screaming from the top of his lungs and depth of his soul to stay on through the crux for his first .13b send!!!


Nick enters the final crux section on Chronic(5.13b)


Latching the last move!!! Nice job Nick! Super proud!


Can you find the climber on Techno?



A wet morning in Seattle.





Keenan TR's Aborigine(5.11b)

Lisa has also put down her first send of the summer with an amazing redpoint of one of the hardest 5.12d's at Little si, Californicator. She had been working this with me for a month now and finally pulled out the send with style! Nice job Lisa, I hope I can join the club soon...

Lisa sticks a move on Californicator(5.12d)


Check out the WRG tank top, REPRESENT!!


Lisa crushes the crux on Cali.

Well, I just returned from another day out at the World Wall. The temps were the worst I have ever climbed in. Warm with a mixture of high humidity. GROSS!! Everything felt nasty and impossibly slick. I did, however, manage almost all the moves on Chronic and am so psyched on this line it's not even funny! I have a pretty good feeling that if my fitness keeps increasing this line will go down this year.
In other news of the day no huge sends went down, but Lisa did manage another one hang attempt of Psychosomatic and is very, very, VERY close to sending yet another giant at the wall. As soon as that and Prop go down it's time for Chronic!!


Lisa sticks the finger jug on Psychosomatic(5.12d)


Grabbing the victory jug!

Tomorrow we are all headed to a new crag, Newhalem. I'm so stoked but have a bad feeling my onsighting skills have severely diminished due to all the projecting I've been doing this last month. But, we'll have to wait and see how the routes play out. I've heard a lot of good things about this crag and I hope something in the mid to high 5.12 range will go down. Jimmy has his eye on a 5.13a called OSX so I'm sure I'll get on that as well. I just hope my camera stops spazzing out on me. Hope everyone is well and having a great summer so far.

Lead Warning in St. Louis, Missouri

A sign in St. Louis, Missouri draws attention to the dangers of lead pollution on the streets and advises removal of shoes in homes.

Cash In The Attic

While my car was getting an MOT test, I happened to see an episode of Cash in the Attic on the garage television. This is a daytime show where the presenter helps a family to clear out all the junk in their home and has it valued to be auctioned.
On that episode the couple was a hippyish American woman with an Indian husband.

I noticed that the presenter was in her bare feet and the antiques expert who valued their stuff was in his socks. I did not see the beginning, so I did not see if they had been asked to remove their shoes, but they were obviously following the custom of the family they were visiting.

It makes a change to see t.v. presenters respecting a shoeless home.

Mats4u dropped in

A while ago I emailed http://www.mats4u.co.uk to ask if they would comment on the popularity of their product, the 'Please take off your shoes' doormat. Unfortunately, I never got a reply. Perhaps the sales person who dealt with email queries was not sure what to do with it. Never mind.

However, the marketing manager for http://www.mats4u.co.uk was kind enough to comment on this blog. You can read his comment here. He informs me that they sell approximately one 'shoes off' doormat a month.

I don't think that tells us anything about how common shoes-off policies are in the UK, as most people who have one are not necessarily going to buy a shoes-off doormat. Some 'Offalists' might think them more officious than a verbal request and others may have their friends so well-trained that they don't need one.

I think it would be nice if more people would buy one. I would suggest that if you have a shoes-off policy you might like to consider it. I know it is not cheap, but it is a very good quality doormat. If enough of you order it, perhaps they can make it a stock item. Think about it.

Please Take Off Your Shoes Doormat