TimL

Went down to Smith with the idea that we would probably get rained out but much to my surprise the weekend turned out awesome. Saturday warmed up on the typical Morning Glory stuff then lead up Churning then gave it a spin on tr. Blew out 2 pads on my left hand falling off the dime edge crux so I was kinda bummed that my fingers were trashed already and it was just Saturday morning. Definitely will be a while before I get the redpoint on that climb. Then gave Tex a belay and watched him proudly send Wartly’s Revenge. Then I came 2 or 3 falls away from sending Chain Reaction. Maybe RuMar or Ropegun2002 can give me the beta but I’m having real issues moving past the 3rd bolt and getting to the far left pocket. Kicks my ass every time. Sunday warmed up on the regular Morning Glory routes then went over and lead up the Moonshine Dihedral. Definitely has to be the best crack in the park for its grade. Tex and I gave Heinous Cling short a whirl on tr. Belayed Tex on his first red point attempt which he unfortunately popped off right before the crux. Lowered Tex off HC then fretted about leading it as it started to mist. Decided that its now or never so pulled the rope and headed up with a “lets just have a look” attitude and found myself at the anchors without falling. I was pretty psyched. Tex decided to have another go but said this wouldn’t be a red point attempt. Well, Tex also mysteriously found himself at the anchor without falling as well. Must have to do with the rain washing all the grease off the holds. Good job Tex on your first 12a send! Did Chain again and fell 3 times in the same friggin place. Oh well, guess I can’t have 2 sends in a day. After Tex came down from his send this little dude walked up and asked if he could clip our draws because he was going for the full Heinous. We said sure but were a bit skeptical since it was now raining fairly hard. Dude blew through the lower crux the continued through the upper crux like it was cake. If you don’t know, from the last bolt to the anchors on full HC is around 20 feet on 5.11- terrain and a fall would be about a huge 40 footer. Well it was raining and the rock was getting totally wet. Little dude just hung out on a huge handhold after the crux next to the last bolt for a bit while he regained composure to head off on the run out, wet 5.11a section. He got half way through it then stopped. I thought he was going to pitch but after a while he started up again. Almost to the anchors he veered left about 18 ft above the last bolt and topped out to the left of the anchors, but he still had to pull over the lip on wet overhanging holds. That took him another 10 minutes of just chalking and hanging out 20ish feet above his last piece before he finally, just barely pulled over the lip and got the send. I swear though he had a group of 20 people captivated at the bottom of the route for about an hour. It was one of the coolest things I've seen. Very bold and entertaining. I was almost certain he was going to take the plunge but he did it. Definitely one of the proudest red points I’ve seen. [ 11-11-2002, 12:49 PM: Message edited by: TimL ]

quote: Originally posted by chris_w: I have a nice 1 inch scar right below my index knuckle. While washing a glass, I shoved my hand in it and twisted. A piece of the glass cracked off and I got a nice bleeder. I just slapped a band-aid on it. I was in college and didn't want to pay for the stitches, so it's a nice scar. Same thing happened to me a couple years ago 2 weeks before I was about to leave on a road trip to the Valley. Thank God it healed fast.

[ 11-11-2002, 01:13 PM: Message edited by: TimL ]

I got in my car and drove to work this morning.

Mike, Your so right. So many good cracks hear but it appears very few climb them from the layers of moss and dirt. I heard from a couple people that Super Crack at Midnight was awesome but dirty. Climbed at route in Leavenworth this fall called Lazy Boy, totally amazing climbing but it looked like nobody had been on it for years. In my mind for the grade probably technically better than ROTC. I want to clean Bobcat Cringe out this spring. A buddy said he might clean it out as well. From what I hear its good. Finally did Clay this fall. Dam good climbing. Good luck in Patagonia! I'll be psyched to hear about your adventures upon your return!

Bet there are plenty of bad ass cracks around here just waiting to be climbed, in non rainy season. What gets me is it seems like nobody climbs much out of the beaten path. I was amazed at how many awesome lines were up at Midnight Rock that nature has reclaimed because of lack of traffic.

Unfortunately bad things happen in this sport to many good people. Sometimes we are able to figure out the cause, others the best we can do is speculate on possible scenarios of what went wrong. After speculating so much, it seems like the discussion reaches the same results as a cat chasing its own tail. I think we should be thankful that Stefan is recovering and not dead, and that he has decided to share his story in a public forum, something I would not do if it were me. Hopefully Stefan will be able to recover fully and enjoy the beauty and freedom that climbing offers all of us.

YOu forgot Cascade Crags! I heard they have the best, most reliable ice around.

quote: Originally posted by Dr Flash Amazing: Talk about sport climbing hard, and what constitutes "hard" sport routes, and you're an egotistical prick. Talk about ice climbing hard and what makes a "hard" ice climb, and you're respected for your bold opinions. Fuck off, alpine nut-swingers (y'all know who ya is). Such a true statement.

quote: Originally posted by Dave Schuldt: SMOKE POT!!!!! THE ONLY WAY TO START THE DAY!!!! Wake & Bake

[ 10-30-2002, 12:17 PM: Message edited by: TimL ]

No I didn't send Go Puppy. Sunday was the first time I was on the route. Fell a couple times on the upper crux but everything seemed all there. Shouldn't be to hard to get the send. Seems like its one hard move then rest, then hard move then rest. I'd like to have a go at Vision next time I head to Smith. It looks really good to. Have you started to work the French Connection yet? Now thats a line! Saw a guy working Just Do It on Sunday. Both those routes look friggin hard.

I agree with Tex. Fuck the freshiez. It covers up all the good rock climbing. On the other hand, freshiez help make ice.

Yeah, Go Dog is pretty awesome. Watched my friend send Dreaming, after taking a huge upside fall off the first roof, then I tr'ed it. Another cool route. The bolts on Dreaming are pretty ran out. Kinda scary for a sport climb.

I climbed Go Dog Go at Smith last weekend and thought the position of the climb and the direct line up the overhanging headwall was really cool.

quote: Originally posted by mattp: quote:Originally posted by HeadSpace: a old rusty pin and a star drive bolt, yuk! Not very many years ago, we would have thought that sounded pretty good. I was in attendence for that one. Pretty scary. Headspace forgot to add that off that rap, being the first rap, our ropes got stuck. Headspace prussiked up the ropes attached to that crap and freed the lines.

Everyone has an eye for certain types of routes that catch their attention. I’d even say the types of routes we climb are a reflection of our character at times. I have friends that love overhanging faces, bold headwalls, soaring dihedrals, deep hidden couloirs, fluted ice faces, etc…. My preference towards routes involves beauty, boldness and distinctiveness. For instance, I think the Salathe Wall and Nose on El Cap are awesome. The line up the headwall on the Salathe and the upper dihedrals on the Nose look spectacular. I also like soaring arêtes like Clean Break on Juno Tower and gulley ice climbs. When crag climbing I prefer routes of the same nature. For the sake of wasting time at work, what type of routes do you prefer to climb and why?

My friend Kevin (big time lurker) swears up and down about Toyo(?) Resolves. Much to my horror, I can attest that they really work well. Kevin first thing in the morning heading out ice climbing has the wonderful habit of slamming on his breaks on icey, curvey roads going about 40 mph to test if the tires are working. Needless to say since I'm still alive and the tires work well. Maybe he'll actually log on and give the details.

I have 2 bent shaft Pulsars and they are awesome for everything I've done so far. Although I do have to say the Cobras are pretty nice. The new tools help make ice climbing easier to a degree, but as I painfully learned last year after breaking a couple fingers, technology doesn't replace technique. [ 10-23-2002, 02:57 PM: Message edited by: TimL ]

quote: Originally posted by Necronomicon: Prepare to meet thy doom. Here's the route description: 1)Grovel up hill through woods for all of time. 2)Climb over golaith mounds of avalanche debris to base of route at center of face, clenching bowels. 3)Turn back on loved ones, and the material world, and ascend face, past several empty coffins and underneath the gleaming, reaping blade of the Harvester, Death. 4)Shake hands with The Beast 666, and climb thorugh the eye of the Skull to the summit. No problem! p.s. I highly suggest that you buy some ice tools and try this as your first route of the season.

Basically, as you take the entrance road to the PCT parking lot there will be an immediate left turn into what looks like an overflow parking lot which is the parking lot for the old PCT. On the north hand side, facing Commonwealth Basin, of the lot is the place to look for the trail. After doing this approach I’ll never take the new PCT and its useless switch backing.

I remember looking at it at the end of August and seeing ice on the upper part of the route. Probably the whole couloir is ice now. With the past snow we've had I bet there is a bit sticking around on the north side of Stuart.

Looking for a partner to climb this coming weekend. Pretty much open to anything but if the weather stays nice then I wouldn't mind heading into the mountains. Maybe something like S. Face of Prussik, WA Pass or ice some where. If the weather craps out then I wouldn't mind heading to Leavenworth or Smith. PM or email me at Lucky14956@aol.com if interested.

Why not have an events forum for stuff like Pub Club, Rope-Ups, North Face & Cascade Crags posts, etc.....