chucK

If both parties simultaneously have some power (Republican Executive, Democratic congressional) then that is a good recipe for a more lean government. Funny how in capitalism it always comes down to competition being necessary to prevent excesses.

Basic Climb schedule: July 24-25, Mount Rainier, Willis Wall route. Instructor permission required. Group size 4. Climb leader: Jens

A computer dork insult! That's harsh.

nevermind

No pagination button at the bottom of mine. Just checked. Only one above the search results. Is it a function of the browser? I'm using Firefox.

If you want to curb the sectarian violence, I think that getting rid of the militias is the first thing you need to do. Yes, it will be violent, but it seems like the only hope for the government to be able to take control and provide security for all. So, I actually think they are going in a smart direction here. It's either that or withdraw and cede the streets to the warlords, which is not working so well now at a clip of 100 executions/day. Bringing the militia leaders in for talks would seem to be a good first step, but capturing their leaders by force needs to be on the table.

A "next page" button at the bottom of the search results screen would be convenient.

If I remember correctly, the only protection at the tree behind the block belay is slinging those trees. I think that if you're up there with the bolt-sinking hardware, you oughta sink a station in by those trees, cause what would happen if some guy was up there with just dogbone draws. No slings, no anchor. It's an invitation to tragedy.

A lot of people are assuming that it is a bolted ANCHOR. I don't think that is the case. I think it's two protection bolts. I haven't done the route in a while either, but I doubt the bolts are closer than 5' to each other. Someone on this thread indicated that too. Sounds like you've been up there lately Selkirk. About how close together are these two bolts? My two Kramar guidebooks depict the bolts as protection bolts, not together. My two Whitelaw guides (Brooks and Whitelaw and the Weekend one) depict the bolts right next to each other, like a belay. I think they goofed, but I could be wrong. I don't have the latest Kramar, the Smoot book, and don't have the Nelson-Potterfield with me. Anybody with access to these want to chime in? Does Kearney have Orbit in it? We really should go climb this soon to end controversy! And here's the definitive Orbit route description.

Tennessee Senate Race GOP mud Windows Media Player required

How about "Do WA"?

Pope endorses bolts! G-spotter agrees with Mattp! What next? Fairweather chiming in to praise the Enchantments quota system? Truly a breakthrough thread! No staying the course here. And there's a good belay about 10 feet below those bolts.

Looks like you guys didn't exactly do Lost Charms. Your first pitch looks too far right, then your third (?) pitch up the left side of the Pillar is actually McCarthy-Carlstad p3, then by the looks of the pro placements in your pic, you missed the finger crack. It's not the small LFC, but it is actually a straight-in finger crack, just right of the LFC. The finger crack is the grassy streak in your photo. It takes regular size nuts and small TCU's. But whatever, looks fun to me. Wish I was out there climbing this last weekend. Thanks for the report (though it's making me unhappy in a covetous way).

After about a jillion listenings now, I declare "Rather Ripped" really really good. just thought you'd like to know

A version of Comfortably Numb is featured in the new Scorsese picture, "The Departed". The Departed

jealous of the bitch

Korrigan, I think those are a different set of bolts. There used to be a single protection bolt there. When some good soul upgraded it ('97 or '98), they didn't finish the job by removing the old one. Now it's sprouted tat because it looks like a belay anchor. Probably is useful though for when people get over their heads or get rained on and need to retreat. If I recall correctly, there is a very secure wire placement near those bolts. But the wire that fits is sorta small (and thus less comforting than a big bolt).

Leaving the bolts as is does seem to be the worst possible choice. Unfortunately, it is the default . Noone really has any good basis for being upset over replacing existing bolts that the high lord Fred Beckey placed on the first ascent. However, it has merely been posed that there are other good belay spots, better ones, nearby, that a first time climber would probably choose, if not drawn in by those time bombs. Thus another good choice would be to do as was done to another first ascent Beckey bolt which used to adorn the Outer Space handcrack and erase them. Either way is cool though. Replacing those bolts will draw people to what sounds like a shitty belay, but it will probably speed up the conga line a bit. Erasing the station will improve the aesthetics of the climb. Leaders can belay on gear very near there in a better stance if they choose (I'm not sure exactly where those bolts even are, but I know when I first climbed Orbit, when I was much less of a seasoned hardman , we belayed on a small stance in that general area using nuts, cams and tricams [that's right 3 independent pieces even!]). I seriously doubt an erasure would lead to anybody getting hurt. I do agree with Korrigan that the highest of the protection bolts in that area (just below that wide dirty groove that lacks giant holds) would be an excellent choice for replacement. Man, doing all this thinking about Orbit gives me the hunger to climb that thing!

How are you screwed if you belay from the bush just above the 5.9 finger crack? It's a bit uncomfortable but that's been my belay of choice for the last couple of times I've climbed Orbit. I think it's worked out quite well.

Three bolts would be better, so if parties were stacking up, more people could belay there. If there were three (or four) then that could've saved Selkirk an hour.

ETA: I must give credit here. I did not write this masterpiece. It was originally posted by Pope, back in the day, when he was actually against unnecessary bolts.

If we weren't having this stupid war, you know damn well that the democrats would be back in power, and all the money would be going to welfare moms (and they wouldn't be doing research with it).

Easy thing for Superman to say. You've got nothing to worry about from whackjobs carrying guns. What would you say if kryptonite bullets were freely available at K-mart. What then, huh?

methinks Gary doth protest too much