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Wow! People were streaming out of the neighborhoods to go caucus. Very exciting. I thought our precinct was heavily Obama (4 to Clinton's 2 delegates), but looks like we were heavily Clinton compared to other places. A bit of drama when the party organizer person started getting super bitter and being a jerk to people when it was clear that a bunch of people didn't want Clinton. One guy was all for Clinton and gave an impassioned speech, but he brought his kids with him and they were all pro-Obama for some reason. There's some kids who's parents obviously allowed them to be free thinking.

Don't let getting beat up by gym 5.9's worry you about being able to do an Alpine 5.6. There's almost no relation between the two. The arm and finger strength required for most 5.9's in the gym certainly won't hurt in the mountains, but they're not prerequisite for a 5.6 in Washington. In addition to the strength gains, the gym climbing will help you with body position and balance over holds. Learning to keep the load positioned over your feet is key in all climbing, but may be especially important when carrying a pack. I can almost guarantee you that 5.6 in the mountains is not going to have any sustained steepness, especially one chosen by the Mountaineers for a Basic climb. And, though not being able to do gym climbs doesn't mean you won't be able to do Alpine climbs, the converse is also not true. That is, being able to onsite 5.10 in the gym won't teach you important skills for the mountains like route-finding and rope and gear-work. One other way the gym might help you in terms of climbing with the Mountaineers is if you go on a real crowded night to Vertical World, you can get used to waiting .

Either that or just shell out the mini-mart price of a sixer of micros and stick of jerky.

Shut up, and drink your beer - Merle Travis Two six-packs away - Dave Dudley Sixpack - Black Flag There Stands the Glass - Lefty Frizzel or JS Blues Explosion Mariners game on the radio

How do you get the ropes up there?

I just carefully read the article in Climbing last night. Makes it look awful cool. They hype Trout Creek to be better than Yosemite! One beef though is that there's no specific info on how to get there....except of course a URL directing you to the guidebook for sale site. Lame. Crag article or guidebook advertisement? You decide. I did spot clues therein, however, that could probably get you there with a good map. The clues being Trout Creek Campground and Deschutes River. That'll narrow it down from the hundreds of miles and google hits for Trout Creek. I expect that soon directions will be posted on MountainProject.com.

No need to be hypothetical. The currently planned night (see above) is Friday Feb 8. Can you make it then?

Well those doting parents can now feel better knowing that if their wayward son wants to join the Marines on a Wednesday afternoon in Berkeley, then he'll have to find some way to get past a pink van with a megaphone.

Yes indeed. Also ties in well with the free condoms in school part.

Agreed the pinkers are not being polite. I think almost by definition "you are not welcome" is an impolite thing to say. I can turn your arguing tactic right back at you and say, it seems that right-wingers are usually so anti-PC, shouldn't they be all for this clear expression of truthful dislike? You make a simplistic generalization and damn the entire group because they are not uniformly acting in complete consistency your mischaracterized motives. Are you really serious in that you think that someone who supported offering kids free access to condoms in school would be hypocritical to place a breachable barrier between their child and a fast talking salesmen with a quota who has the power upon signature to relieve his son of his liberty? I really don't see how condoms equates with military service, but you did say it was just an example.

You mischaracterize the "free-thinking left" by making the simplistic assertion that they would want their kids to have easy access to any option with no regard to perceived dangers or immorality. Not to mention that even you ignored my initial reply and failed to respond to the fact that your premise is faulty. No one is taking away anyone's choices here.

You put up a ridiculous simplistic mischaracterization and I countered with one of my own. Why should I argue carefully and thoughtfully if all you're going to do is throw up stupid Limbaughisms?

Could be good weather, could be bad weather. Bad weather would likely bring whiteout and drizzle. Possibly snow. Good weather could bring massive afternoon avalanches. Pick your route/time of day wisely! Like Goatboy said, the jungle factor and the rugged terrain make off-trail travel in the Cascades much more problematic than in most regions of the Sierra. That said the early season that you are thinking of will minimize brush and steep couloir problems. You'll certainly want to plan for maximizing snow travel even if you don't choose a volcano (that is, ice axe, crampons, camping on snow).

shouldn't the baby-eating right be spending our money on fattening up their product rather than taking it away?

Who took anybody's decision making? Berkeley told the Marines that they didn't like them. Reactionary right-wingers want to take federal monies from Berkeley. Neither side is taking away decision-making ability (i.e. forcing anyone to do anything). Are you worried about a young man who thinks he's tough enough for the Marines being afraid of Code Pink protesters? Sorry, but if that's a problem I really do think this situation is helping both the wannabe Marine as well as the Corps. If we're talking about coercion here we could easily get melodramatic and discuss taking food out of poor children's mouths.

That's pretty hardcore. "If you won't serve up your sons of fighting age we will stop feeding your children."

What I don't get is why the Marines would even have a recruiting center right in the heart of Berkeley. Are they looking for closet jarhead warriors fighting to free themselves from their granola patchouli birkenstock chains?

What throttling are you talking about? You do seem pretty smart about all this computer stuff. Could you send Tvash a PM and teach him how to use the quote function? OKTHXBYE

Me me me me!!!! I want to play. I must have missed this the first time around.

It was also in the most recent Climbing rag. So where is this place? A quick scan of the article produced nothing other than it's in Oregon. Anything more specific?

RTFM

In my current thoughts regarding of the symbolism in that movie we are all running from that guy.