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I think we hit the maroon dot then the light blue dot. The light blue dot was a beautiful sustained corner with a crack that closed up a couple of times that made for some nervy stemming. The squeeze described in Beckey is just down and left from the maroon dot.

Had he recently ingested any battery acid or cat pee?

Couldn't help but noting a new sign just across the tracks from the parking lot stating that the area is part of the Sky Forks State Park. Complete with prohibitions on camping, fires and hunting, and a ranger phone number. Nothing about parking fees though. Just thought some people'd like to know.

Saturday night: Matrix IMAX, then THE BOOSTER at the Fun Forest. Sunday: Index, pretty hot in the sun. Uncrowded (smart people further up in hills) Knocked off the 5.9 classics GM/HOC various [the mysterious blue sling of GM is still mystifyingly there, the "11a" last part of HOC is more like 10a (if you use the face hold)] and Godzilla/CPP2 [timided out on Sloe Children, heat excuse], then climbed the steep 'n' dirty FREE AT LAST [someone appears to be working on the upper pitches of that, perhaps the "A2 variation", I think that resulted in the upper pitch being even dirtier than usual. one 60m rope suffices (just barely) for descent]. Then got to experience the Sultan Traffic Light crap and was late getting home .

You're the clueless one if you didn't know she was hitting on you. Perhaps Trask could fill you in on some replies that would have kept the ball rolling.

Anyplace that has been outfitted using a power drill is a crag. Let the counter-examples flow freely kids.

I think of a "crag" as someplace you go more to practice the rock-climbing than to get somewhere (like the summit or a traverse). Places like Washington Pass or Exfoliation Dome could be either, but I think of them as crags because they are relatively close to the road and they have many different variations of varying difficulty for getting to the summit (and some don't even go to the summit), so it seems like the preponderance of use is more for the pitches, rather than the summiting. That's my answer.

Dragging a fat rope up slabs sucks. Someone should put it in a backpack. Or better yet, get two more people to go, then have them use it!

So are you saying the Mountaineers have a "No Gays" policy ?!?!

On that cordial note...I think I'll be heading up there this morning. Meet me at the Alpental parking lot around 10:15 or so? Let's do it. Delayed, unexpectedly. Won't be there 'til like 11:00.

Hey guess what you condescending f**ks. When people solo past you while you're protecting the third pitch the "right way" (or with stoppers only), they laugh at you because you're using a rope.

Take the little trail leaving from near the NW corner of the Murrin Park parking lot. About 30 feet into the jungle is a really cool overhanging handcrack boulder.

I called it a "hook up" not a "link up" Think of it as thread drift. Can you answer my question? Have you done that method of ascending the Chief? And btw, if you were a real weeny, you could do Sq. Butt or UE by first walking up the Broadway Ledges descent.

Anybody done the Borderline -> Angel's Crest hook up? That looks like it might be pretty cool.

Condomorphine, that's the place for you. Hope you have a lot of draws.

It was a bunch of unmemorable stuff, a lot of ropedraggy tree roping (about 4 belays ),then three cool pitches at the end. Then you're two pitches from the top on the NW face route.

Did you go the choss gulley way?

Rattletale I was totally intimidated from the belay and then I told myself that this was the bomber crack you dream of when stuck in line at the grocery store or something. Overhung and totally locker jams. I'd post a picture ripped from the web except f**king COMCAST IS F**KED UP, so I'm at f**king sub 30 kbps . I want my money back

That's not a purple smart guy, it's a RED (4.5) .

That rockfall was huge! It lasted for about a minute, no exaggeration. Check out Uncle Tricky's report of Gato Negro. That million-ton rockfall gulley may well be their descent route . That West face of Silver Star looks nice ('ceptin for the huge rockfall gully shit). Also, we walked up there and back with hardly a hint of a trail. There's gotta be a trail! Uncle Tricky talks of one in his description for Gato Negro. Not tha I'm complaining or anything, but WHERE'S THE CONFOUNDED TRAIL ?! Can anybody fill me in? Oh yeah, and a #5 Camalot sorta protected the offwidth, but not well enough to erase my fears. There was a hidden yellow alien placement about the same height.

p1 hard for 5.9 p2 'bout right. Would be nice to have about 3 .75 Camalots p3 easy for 10c. Small wires for crux. p4 hard for 10b go right then left then right then up p5 easy for 10c if you go up the chimney then to the easy hand traverse (the easy one, up a bit higher, not the sucker one right after the squeeze that diagonals down). HB offset about size 5 or 6 or so (about the size of a #6 or #7 WC Rock, but offset like an HB offset) key piece for me. The yard on the sling way is not easy for 10c. p6 hard for 5.9 unless you do one of the easy weasel way outs You can use a #4 Camalot on p's 3 and 4. Info to help you decide which leads to take: Good belays atop p's 1,3,5. Cramped belays above p's 2 and 4. Also pitches 2,4,6 seemed scarier relatively (as long as you have that key HB offset). Best pitches 2,4,5.

I've never gotten lost, climbed the wrong route. Uh uh never noway . Never climbed the wrong peak. Nope not me.

I didn't do the intermediate course, but I'll bet it's a good way to find partners. The people in the intermediate course have graduated (or tested out) of the basic class so, while they may be nowhere near proficient in any sort of technical climbing, it is likely that they are reasonable fit, capable of finding their way around the woods, and are pretty serious about getting out in the mountains. If you got a lot of time, not tons of money, want to be able to have climbs set up every weekend, I'd say the intermediate class might be a good thing. You can find partners on this board, but your partners and amount of responses can be quite variable. Plus you have to write and read "f**k" a lot.