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From the LA Times "The chase began in the street outside the station as plainclothesmen converged on a man running through traffic, an eyewitness told the BBC. The commotion appeared to surprise several uniformed officers guarding the station entrance as part of an extraordinary citywide security deployment, indicating that the plainclothes officers were pursuing a focused, fast-moving investigation, the eyewitness said. A swarm of plainclothes officers armed with pistols, shotguns and sub-machineguns chased a man into the station, witnesses said. The man hurdled a turnstile and ran onto a waiting train with police on his heels, witnesses said. Mark Whitby, a commuter, told BBC television that he was sitting on the subway train reading the newspaper when the fugitive and the police burst through the open doors. The man was a stocky young Asian, possibly of Pakistani descent, and wore a baseball cap and a padded winter-style coat, Whitby said. After a melee in which the suspect fell or was wrestled to the floor, an officer opened fire at close range as passengers screamed and cowered, Whitby said."

We did that mine tour thing a couple years ago and it was pretty cool. Crazy old giant mine buildings and equipment, and you get to go deep inside the mine/mountain in a mine train . The tour patter is very proletarian, continually focusing on how tough the poor workers had it, and how their lives were nasty brutish and short. So you might not want to expose your kids to this if you're Peter Puget, Kaskydghlss, or Fairweather . There's also some gold panning, which is a little contrived/touristy since they actually didn't mine gold at that mine, but the kids like it.

West Ridge of Stuart is a really fun long ramble/climb. I think good advice for the WR Stuart would be, that if you are concerned about differences between 5.4 and 5.6, then you should plan two days for this climb. That is, pitching out all the stuff resembling 5.4 on the West Ridge would make for a VERY long day (and has led to many bivys).

Is that Icegirl? (the one on the right )

Not to mention it's about an administration giving continual lip service to the idea of keeping us safe from weapons of mass destruction, and at the same time outing a trained intelligence agent who was working on corraling WMD's, thus weakening our fight against their proliferation. Fucking hypocrites AND making us less safe. Gotta love that combination.

right on! Good day for trip reports.

best report in a while! Sounds like a great adventure, and a pleasure to read. Thanks.

thanks for the pics. Smokin' time, way to beat the weather.

Better yet click here

They were assisting an injured climber?

Yeah thanks for the pic Darryl. Last time I was up there (last year) there was obvious scrubbing/cleaning activity up in the area of those cracks. The tree left of center in the picture had had all it's lower branches nicely trimmed away, which transformed it from nasty prickly obstacle, to comfortable bomber anchor/handhold.

Sounds like maybe Tatoosh is the cleanest climb on the lower wall now! Go get it kids!

If you're pushing the 5.8 limit, Squamish (via the current guide) is a good place to do so. This thread might have a bit of what you're after.

More than you probably want to know about "Tatoosh". A climb at Index Lower Wall that is near and dear to me. Tatoosh (a la Cummins, guide, "Free at Last" in others) is a fun route. It's not pristine and clean like many other lines at Index, but it's not near as horrible as forrest or the Cramer guide would have you believe. The first pitchlet is alright. Exiting the "chimney" onto a grass hummock is good alpine training . It can be avoided via the first (10a) half of Thin Fingers. The second part up to the big ledge system is great fun. Bouldery move into a ramp with finger crack, then into a squeeze chimney. Oh, I forgot, if you don't like squeeze chimneys then maybe this climb isn't for you. The dirt ramp that Free at Last shares with Narrow Arrow standard is not fun, but there are variations to the left that could be cleaned (but that might piss people off on Thin Fingers) that would help it. Someday... Above that there are some cool steep corners. Some slightly dirty, some clean. Straight up is pretty hard 10a (turning a roof on the right into an offwidth), or you can do a variation out right that's about 5.8 (hand crack to hand traverse). Both variations are capped with a sketchy lieback on a rounded corner . There has been some cleaning done on the upper part apparently by someone working on a harder route above. However the last ramp still has a bit dirt to deal with. Once at the "top" you can rap down off a large tree to the top of Sloe Children with a single 60m (barely, don't try it with 58 m rope). Bring some slingage. It's not like this anchor gets beefed up as often as some. Can be done in three 60m pitches, but breaking into a few more might be recommended. Anyway, a way to get in some pseudo alpine (i.e. "steep n dirty") for the 9+/10- leader. It's never crowded .

Talking with a climber about hexes or tri-cams is similar to talking politics or religion. It's a charged topic that can easily lead to an, shall we say, overenthusiastic exchange of beliefs. It's unfortunate that you came out of there feeling the guy was condescending, but it is a sensitive area you were treading upon .

Date: 7/7/5 Place: Index Town Wall Climbed at Index yesterday. One pitch we climbed was Gorilla My Dreams. The climb is virtually all lieback. Just past the undercling section (3rd bolt?) my foot skated and I went flying. Went upside down. Was looking down past my feet up at the sky through the trees. Seemed to fall quite a ways (20 feet?). Braced myself for head cracking on the rock (I was wearing a helmet). No crack came. Hit nothing. Fairly soft/quick jolt to a stop. Hanging inverted. Phew! Didn't even get my nuts scrunched in my notorious Alpine Bod Harness (maybe upside down falls are good sometimes!). Figured out where the good foothold was and finished the pitch. Gear Notes: All bolts. However, a #4 Camalot can be used to bypass or protect the clip specified as difficult in various guidebooks. A #3 Camalot will work too, though a little lower, before the first bolt. Also one could use a .5 or .75 or #5 to supplement the bolts near the top. Probably not a good climb to try leading with a Soloist. Approach Notes: Gorilla My Dreams is on the Winky Dink Cliff which can be reach by hiking up from the top of the Great Northern Slab, or hiking over (left) from the top of Princely Ambitions. You can access the Middle Wall via the top of Gorilla My Dreams.

Or maybe it isn't. Not every boulder needs to be climbed.

Oregon...uh huh, OK. One time I, uh, err, this ....friend, uh... yeah, this crazy friend of mine, well he got really drunk this one time and ....

You could go that way I guess, but 1) for some reason, I think that road is no longer accessible (I could be wrong). 2) the now standard approach (through Headlee Pass via Sunrise Mine Road) is pretty quick, in the ~2 hour range. It does look beautiful down there though.

The Lizard (Index)

If fretting about this climb, do not focus on the rockclimbing on the ridge. The crux is the couloir. Well, unless you're like some experienced steep snow/iceclimber who has never climbed rock before. I repeat, THE CRUX IS THE COULOIR!

Did you break a tool?

agreed

Right thanks! Sounds useful to know, for a rescue situation. I know you're not disagreeing with me here. I'm just going to restate... In a toproping situation the risk of inadvertent fuckup is way more likely than sling failure due to insufficient strength. Best to focus on doubling up the system instead of getting all crazy about knot strength.