chucK

I don't quite get the advantage of one of these things. You can get very small lightweight knives that you can put in your pocket. I guess if you're wearing lycra with no pockets that shark thing might be useful?

Washington Pass

anticipated reply from unanticipated source figured you would have waxed upon the virtues of stick-clips and how trad climbers were seeing the light and such

So where did you sleep anyway?

So here's the deal. When climbing Breakfast of Champions at Index, before starting to climb I hang out from that tree just above the start and plug in a cam for my first piece of pro. The piece is much higher than I could reach from the base of the crack proper. Then I climb from the usual base of the crack, without utilizing the tree for upward progress. Is this the trad-climbing analogy of stick-clipping? Have I lost your respect for habitually performing this tactic?

Climb: The Tooth!-South Face Date of Climb: 5/30/2005 Trip Report: One more ascent of the Tooth. Woohoo! Gear Notes: Good news: Lots of booty! Found a brand-new looking ArcTeryx schoeller type shirt (my size ) on the hike up and liberated two pieces from the South Face. Bad News: Ran into the guy who dropped the shirt on the South Face (rats!), and the two pieces were hexes . The bright side: They are positively the best size of hexes; old school Chouinard #7 with the large chord holes, and brand-new wired #2. And I think that schoeller stuff is pretty useless anyway (though it probably would've had excellent resale value). Approach Notes: No snow at all above Source Lake. Usually there is snow there in late July!! Sloppy snow in the Great Scott basin to where you're just about never sure if you're gonna punch through or not. Still can finagle a reasonably long glissade right at the top.

check you PM's

5.0-5.4: the second number indicates the maximum distance (in feet) between good holds.

If you've got the cash ($$$), the Howe Sound Inn (and Brewery) is pretty sweet as a hotel, and may be worth it for you. Especially if you can get one of the Chief-view rooms. The food is not the greatest, but it's better than most places in Squamish I've been to. And Shannon Falls fits your description pretty well too, but not near as many climbs to choose from as the Smoke Bluffs.

Just stay clear of the Mole and the crowds shouldn't e too bad.

There might still be a bunch of snow up there at that time. Might want to keep your eyes on this Tioga Road Plowing update

FBI Memo surfaces

I think she is just referring to a general lack of sexual appeal. There was no mention of scrawny or geeky. I think you just read that into it.

First time I climbed OS I ended up climbing that corner. I remember being scared at a balancy step across that was not especially well-protected, and the rest being quite fun. It's certainly more direct than the standard way. In the white Kramar guide it identifies it as RPM. I've often planned of going that way the "next time" but usually end up taking the usual standard sucky* start for some reason or other. * one scary boulder move followed by a bunch of drag-inducing hiking.

I went climbing a few times with this woman who was shorter than average and her sport-climbing arsenal included what she called her "stiffy". It was a long quickdraw stiffened up with clotheshanger wire. It allowed her to clip Bryan Burdo bolts from the intended stances.

Old Gray Mare -> Crack o' Doom. That's a quality pitch or two

Well looks like the liberal press is making one more run at it! Downing St. Memo fizzles in US The Memo that won't quit Why has Downing Memo been a Dud in the US? British Memo reopens war claim Google-news search on "Downing"

More song lyrics!!! #9 #9 #9 #9 #9 #9 #9 #9 #9 #9 #9 #9 #9 #9

So if they force "climbers" to pay for their rescues, will they force everyone to pay (i.e. those that are not really climbers, but considered climbers because they are somebody who needed rescuing out in the wilderness)? If not, all you would have to do after you were rescued is to just say you were fishing or glacier crabbing, or that you were lost.

So are you saying, like global warming, that this "crisis" of a large number of Americans not being able to afford adequate healthcare is just partisan rhetoric? I seem to remember a certain program championed by Hillary during Clinton's second administration that was defeated by the Republicans. Perhaps the left was not criticizing the spending plans of that administration because they were actually trying to do something about it! Maybe there's a link on that costs of war that would show how much Americans like you (and/or your children) could save on your tax bill if we weren't pouring money into a dumb war. Perhaps that would interest you a lot more.

Now who's engaging in cheap rhetorical tricks? You seem to be implying that there is no substantive difference in funding outlays between this administration and the previous!

I think the lesson from Iraq is that wars can be quite costly. If you're going to start one, then there should a better reason than, "it'll be easy, so what the fuck?"

OK, point taken. Lower my estimate to only 80 million kids who could be supplied full healthcare.

Calling an entire religion nutty because of riots and protests over desecration of their sacred book seems a bit farfetched coming from somebody who supports an invasion based on false pretenses that has killed more than 100,000 people!

I agree with JayB here. There's nothing new about a White House using its bully pulpit. They get a juicy one like this, they're gonna use it to their advantage. These guys play for keeps. We (the opposition) just gotta hope that the press plays hard too. It all depends on your POV. The right-wing nutcases are gonna gobble this up and indignantly blame Newsweek for all that's wrong in the world. The wacko lefties are gonna be pissed that the politicians in power are being hypocritical . I am a bit confused by everyone (even the lefties) saying that Newsweek bungled. They sent this to the military first for comment ferchristssake! Definitely seems less shoddy than Rathergate.