chucK

I popped a tendon pulley one time, I think. I was pulling hard and I heard/felt this loud "pop" in my ring finger. It didn't hurt too much at the time but it hurt like hell later on whenever I would use it. I never went to a sawbones for it and it seems to be better now [note: this is not medical advice telling you to not go to a doctor! If you go to a doctor that actually knows what he/she is doing (crux!) then there is a chance that it could help a whole lot. ]. It took a long time to get better. I had to just climb alpine . I remember the West Ridge of Forbidden was cool except right at the crux(?) below the piton I had to crimp with that finger and since I was on lead I couldn't just let go when I felt the pain. That hurt!. Anyway it basically didn't get better enough to climb until it had been so long that I had forgotten about it (6 months?). Mine doesn't sound like yours though, in terms of that mine never really got very swollen. In terms of resting, a good thing to do is to bandage yourself up real good, like wear a sling or something, so other people will know that you're injured. Though it sounds funny, a big setback in resting elbow tendons or fingers can often happen when you feel like a shit for not holding a door open for some old lady or carrying your mom's suitcase, so you just do it, then feel that unhappy twinge of pain that says, "all that babying you have done for two days has now been erased!". If you put your arm in a sling it reminds yourself not to use it AND it broadcasts to other people that you are rehabbing.

We should have the May 6 Pub Club at The Sloop!! Then there will be less need for food at the BBQ!!!

Josh, I think this whole tangent started because PLC stated flatly that the whole point of climbing is to maximize time spent out-of-doors. He was being the absolutist. The replies were hammering him because he is the absolutist.

Well then, it sounds like the "WHOLE POINT" of climbing is a little more to you than just to "maximize the amount of time spent out-or-doors". I ridiculed your statement because I feel CLIMBING is more than being outdoors. For me the outdoors aspect of it is a large part of it, but it is not the WHOLE POINT. Yours was such a ridiculous statement, or perhaps just sloppy. If one wanted to be outdoors, a better way to do it than climbing might be to be a professional landscaper, perhaps play golf, or sail to Tahiti. Climbing is not unique by virtue of it being an outdoor activity. You can get outside. You can climb. I prefer to to BOTH. "Rotting" at a lake often bugs the shit out of me because I'd rather be actively enjoying the great outdoors. Exploring, fishing, or maybe...CLIMBING! Where you got that I consider the outdoors an impediment to my enjoyment, I'll never know, but to create havoc among those on/off brains out there, I will state that: I like climbing. I sometimes consider sitting at a beautiful mountain lake to be "rotting"; AND, I would prefer "rotting" at a beautiful mountain lake over climbing in a gym.

Hey DFA, Thanks! And did you follow the barge cement instructions that are in the 5.10 resole kit instructions, i.e. apply cement, let dry for x hours, heat over oven until gooey again and then apply pressure for x hours? Or did you just goop it on and apply pressure? Or something else?

Hey gang!!! I got a leather mountain boot with the heel flapping off. Anybody got any tried, tested and true remedies? (other than paying Dave Page $60). I was thinking of just gooping it up with the ol' leftover barge cement and clamping it back on with an assortment of C-clamps and vice grips. Whatta you think? Better glue, clamping, or strategy suggestions. I'd surely 'preciate it. Thanks

You guys are so right!!!! The fact that you are not dead makes reascending your stuck ropes so much easier (and perhaps more enjoyable too!! ).

But is it a kid and dog -friendly crowd? (I had a hard time explaining AlpineK's shredder sig to my 5 year old yesterday. "Why's he laughing Daddy?")

There's one complicated jog on 65th on top of View Ridge, but otherwise, that oughta work fine. Just keep heading East. If you're coming from Sultan you can take Bothel Way/Lake City Way (522) all the way to 125th AVE NE. Take a left on 125th and follow it East. Stay on the main road and it will eventually turn into Sand Point Way which will wind you down to Magnuson Park (NE 65th Street and Sand Point Way). Also if you plan to take 520 East, then you could get off on Montlake Blvd. Head North on Montlake Blvd and just bear right when next to the mongo UW parking lots. This will dump you onto Sand Point Way from the other side. Follow it to Magnuson Park (NE 65th Street and Sand Point Way)

No. If that were true, why even bother climbing anything? Why not just hike to some lake and rot for a week? Maybe spending time outdoors is the long and short of it for you, but for many people there's more/other aspects of enjoyment in the "climbing" experience.

If the knot squeezes through the rap rings and you have the biner backing it up (now on the other side), then you really do have two fixed ropes.

"We're just moving in together, to see if we're compatible. It's not like we're getting married or anything."

Sounds like a great idea man! Check your PM's.

so are we blowing off Tacoma in favor of the yuppiefukfuk meatmarket outsideseating-inathunderstorm Ballroom, or what?

shows you how often I get to Index Maybe I could load up one of the choice boulders and put it in my front yard

Speaking of clearcuts.... looks like there's a new one (with accompanying logging road) almost to the base of Zeke's Wall. Pretty soon maybe we can drive to Zeke's just like driving to the Lower Town Wall!

I climbed Mt. Mystery from the ridge above Sunnybrook Meadows. I bivied up on top of the ridge one Labor Day weekend. There were hoardes at Sunnybrook. There's a pretty easy scramble route up Mystery but it's not obvious (I hit one dead end and had to turn around). I think the key was to head up the spine then drop down just a bit to traverse on the west side. It was a long time ago though. This was the South summit of Mystery by the way. I remember the N summit looking less easy. Climbed Deception another time via the West side. Don't know about the traverse between the two. Both are cool . Have fun.

That's an easy thing to do. Do you climb much Lummox?

You oughta be careful about flipping off random people from your daddy's car. If he or your mom find out there's gonna be hell to pay. How you gonna buy beer if they take away your allowance?

Depends on the lightweight.

Best and cheapest way to learn for most people. Only "best" if your goal is to become a belay slave. Only "cheapest" if you find "instructors" who are lightweights.

Yeah, haw haw! You sure got them!

Very true. I think attempting to turn it over has more potential to create a snarl than to help. At least for me anyway, but perhaps I am inept in that way .

Only $275000! Wow, just get a loan from the bank. The payments will probably only be around $2000/month. So, if you charge dirtbag climbers $5/night to hang there you'll only need 400 dirtbags per month staying there 12 months a year to cover the payments! That's less than 15 climbers/night! Oh wait, forgot about building the shelter thing, and the costs of upkeep and stuff... maybe a little more. Better be a big bunkhouse. Maybe we could get the Mounties to overrun it every weekend. That would help the bottom line.

It's pretty good for clean low-angle slabs like at Static Point. Easier to control yourself on the rap to avoid the double-death scenario. Plus rapping each on a single line makes it easier to keep the ropes from tangling together. That said, don't do it! It's certain double-death!