Dru

quote: Originally posted by pope: Prior to this, I spent so much time in the mountains, I was growing fur and horns.and a pitchfork. POPE IS SATAN!!!

Hey Will, one time I was down at Red Rocks and we went into Vegas to buy beers. On the front desk of the liquor store were some prominently displayed porn videos one of which (the name has stuck in my horrified memory ever since) was called "Toungue In Cheek VII" or some such. I didn't know you were into that stuff, I hope you make them wipe first!

chucK i should kick your ass into next week for suggesting that

I think anybody that took on "Ray Borbon" would have to be paid to use that avatar! ray!

i understand that "Ray Borbon" is available cheap! hasn't been used in a long time.

one last point. if the beginning leader is going to buy a cheap rack of mostly nuts and hexes, with only a few cams to start with, its better to work on nut and hex placements than place all your buddies cams, cause when you start leading on your own rack without the $$$ to buy cams you will be screwed and those robots and solid friends you dissed are gonna be looking mighty good.

texplorer is texploring texas on his way to el potrero and texploding holds.

yeah being argentine president sounds like a good way to spend a few hours. or is that minutes now? hopefully the chicks you meet are nicer than the ones slick willy ended up with. also hope you havent bought pesos yet as they are about to shrink to about 1/4 of their value. take US dollars down for best value I guess. you going to bariloche while you're down there?

warm temps followed by a cold hard freeze can make excellent climbing and quick approaches on rock solid snow. only the skiiers will complain.

Personally I think "two banana" is the best user name so far.

quote: Originally posted by Dru: chucK i should kick your ass into next week for suggesting that I hope chuck didnt think I was serious. just wanted to get in 1) threat of violence and 2) annoying picture. I am a peaceful warrior and i would never threaten violence against another cc.commer unless they deserved a bitch slap like capt. does. [ 01-07-2002: Message edited by: Dru ]

like the milkman shows up every time he leaves for the weekend

i designate capt. and erik to scrub some unclimbed 20' slab route and make an fa and name it ape index, then steal bigfoot from the espresso hut and leave him hanging off the top bolt.

Darryl - i think that in order to place good gear on a route while leading you should have experimented with making placements while on the ground so you know the diference between good and bad. the skills you mention are definitely important and cannot really be learned well on the ground but i wouldnt advise jumping onto a lead without already knowing the mechanics of what makes a good nut, cam etc. placement and what doesnt. one skill i think is often overlooked when starting gear leads is developing a racking system. coming up with a system, so when you reach a stance you know with what hand on which side of the body you need to reach for the gear you want to place, is as important to the beginner leader as knowing how to place gear and set up anchors. definitely the beginning leader should be out there with a more experienced lead climber who can a) provide the huge rack to practice with and b) critique placements made by the novice and c) lead some routes for the novice to follow (as Capt. said)

sounds like it would be a natural... you know... for a reachy type climb... cause "ape index" is reach and it would be at index... duh? i saw that bigfoot there at the espresso hut maybe that is the Index Ape?

so is there a route at index called "ape index" or not?

erik where is snoop dogg sig?

Hiked up Nesakwatch Creek on Saturday to check out winter conditions on Slesse. Couldnt see Slesse (socked in) but there was some interesting ice formations at km 1.5 on the west side of the creek, about 250m above the creek. warm temps were having an effect , i saw a spectacular 30m pillar collapse and avalanche all the way down to the creek at about km 9, on the west side of the illusion peaks, there is a highly interesting flow coming out of the bowl between the illusions (first drainage north of the Chinese Puzzle). potentially huge avvy threat from the bowl above, but looked like about 5 pitches of ice up granite walls with snow ledges for belays in between. might be a good hit for colder & stable conditions. AFAIK all this stuff is unclimbed. the road up the creek is basically undriveable past the bottom of the first hill and requires snowmobile, snowshoes or skis past that point. up to there, though, 2wd access is fine.

you watchin' Oprah, payaso? what be the latest dirt? she still mad at jon franzen for declining book club status?

yeah - learning how to make BELAY ANCHORS is as important, if not more important, than knowing how to place gear en route. especially for those times there is neither a large tree nor a pair of bolts on top of the route.

ya waterworks is a 2 star, 100m grade 3 somewhere between lady killer (that gully 2km west of the bridge) and pretty nuts (the roadside ice by the bridge). i bet capt. can make something out of those names! your nearest ice in port alice would be... mt washington? 8 hr drive? or is there some obscure stuff up in the tsitika?

One thing I have found about beginners placing pro on TR is it does not mentally prepare them for being on the sharp end. i say its better to lead a 5.4 placing gear than to place gear on a 5.8 TR. unless you are a 5.4 top-roper that is.

Dan - I hear Liberty Ridge is not that hard of a climb but not a great place to telemark. Oh well I got a #3 tri Cam out of it anyways. Still I would rather have had David around rather than the gear.

yeah tg get in a riot for us while you are down there man. see if you can score some north face knock-offs while you are looting!

true dedication when a cc.commer posts from half way round the world!