texplorer

Hey Zeno , The fancy health club life here is nice but you actually have to go to work. You seem to have been posting a little more frequently lately. I guess the student thing isn't so bad as long as it's not law school. I am currently on the hunt for a new climber-babe now so maybe the student thing isn't a bad idea.

Thanks for the all the ideas. I am officially living out of my car now and on the search for a new job.

Anthrax Ripple huh, are you sure your name isn't bin workin

Carolyn, There are many ways to becoming a competant trad leader. I started much as you have and followed a few people up some more moderate routes. I thought that it didn't look too tough so I started leading on my own. Just getting out there and doing it is great but I have definetly done some things incorrectly and put myself in needless danger a few times. The benefit of going with an experienced person is that you can hopefully avoid some of those mistakes before they get you into trouble. Ultimately I enjoy trad because of the diversity of climbs it opens up from face moves to cracks to offwidths and an by placing your own protection. These things make it more fun for me but they also mean mastery of a plethora of new skills. Take the grades slow and really get used to placing pro on climbs that allow you an easy stance. Ultimately I know you will succeed because of your fervor to learn. Remember it takes most people more than a few trips to the crags to become a good trad leader. good luck and climb on- Carpe Diem

Friends, Sprayers, Climbers, Lend me your ears. What would be the best job to have as a climber in the Northwest? Soon I'll be jobless and looking so I thought I would ask the masters what they think here. Keep in mind the major needs of a climber: aquisition of gear, ease of procurement of spirits(aka beer), funds for the road trip and international travel, time off for excursions, and of course proximity and attractiveness to women.

Just got in the new scarpa thermo cerro torre boots. Haven't tried them out on the real stuff yet but they are comfy around the house and seem like they'll edge well too.

On another website (summitpost.com) you can get a rating from the # of mtn posts you put up, and how many summits you enter. Maybe we could have several different ratings. One for spray, climbing knowledge, humor, and other skills like moondancing for instance. It would be fun to rate each other on a yosemite decimal mock system. So for instance Cavey might have a 5.13 rating for humor but only a 5.2 in moondancing. PS these damn graemlins are starting to annoy me.

Moses -primrose dihedrals Castleton Tower- Kor/Ingals Lots of cracks Sandy Glacier Headwall Elliot Glacier Headwall Polish Glacier -aconcagua Ouray

Where is this "expo" and when is Twight scheduled to speak? Is this in the seattle area this weekend?

Enjoyed the story and pics Erik.

Enjoy it now johnny. When may comes July however and your in 100% humidity and its 102 degrees you will learn what you've gotten yourself into. Good luck though, I hear there's some fun stuff out there.

To climb is human, to lead divine. Leading is a bit scary starting out simply because you don't understand all of what can and can't happen. Read the many good points above, find a competent leader and pay attention to him/her on the rock. It's actually great training to belay a leader. You learn when they need rope or tension and how to posture yourself to clip bolts or place gear confidently. If you continue to climb chances are you'll get tired of having to toprope everything. Try to get over your fear of falling and learn to place good gear. Be smart and you too will enjoy many experiences on the sharp end. Carpe Diem

Nice detective work summit. I climbed in the Tetons briefly with Mark (who runs the ice park) and he told me the same thing. They were able to upgrade the pipes due to a nice contribution to the park. Before the upgrade of pipes there was some concern over the control of water use by the locals. I think right now the park is free but if there are any of you dotcom millionaires out there they can always use extra funds to keep the place up. my 2 cents-

Same Spray, New Format

Isn't Eldo where Kurt Smith sharpened his drill bit for future bolting adventures south of the border?

I agree with many of your points on dogs at crags. I am not saying my friends dogs are the best in the world. In fact they chewed through 3 of my double length spectra slings a few months back but what got me was the lady's condescending tone. She could have asked in a nice way and gotten the same results (plus I wouldn't have to think about dog snot seeping through spandex). I guess things were just a little tenser than normal with all the crowds there and all. [This message has been edited by texplorer (edited 10-23-2001).]

Smith was a zoo this weekend. I even heard one lady tell a friend of mine to keep his dogs away cause she didn't like it when dogs snif at her butt while belaying. If she wiped her snobby ass more often maybe she wouldn't have that problem. At one point there was probably 30 people in the dihedrals alone. Saturday I hit some of Smith's classic nubbin and pocket climbs with Strickland. Seeing Will amongst the preppy little sport dogs was like a hockey player at the ice capades but he did remarkably well delicately balancing on the sharp tuft. Upon waking to find he had been a puking all night quelched my thoughts of heading to the lower gorge and her lovely basalt cracks. I did manage to get in one nice trad route on Sunday in the first 3 pitches of lion's chair. Overall a mediocre weekend at Smith.

Kong Slyde. . .sounds like the scariest ride at a waterpark.

The moral of this post: Everyone has an opinion on what is "good" to read and wants everyone else to read what they like. I agree, yall should all read alot more. Intellectualize your feeble little minds and leave real climbing to me! Teee hee

Xavier Masters...... MADRONNA For the glory of the hunt Because it is there -read your Portland Rocks Climbs book carefully.

Oh Carolyn, One last thing. When you get your boots you can take them into some outdoor or ski shops and custom fit them to your foot with insoles, shanks, and even molding the plastic (be careful). It'll cost from about 20-40 bucks but can make a big difference. Just my two bits.

Damn its going to crowd up down there!

Listen to the Eddie!!!

We can already see your shaft through those moondancer tights your wearing.

I have a long way to go before I get into the Bonus round Wallstein. You never know though. . . .