Mer

Slab climbing Slab sliding Ice cream Wound tending

It seems to me we followed a fine, aesthetic and direct line from the top of the slab to the summit, but we're chicks, we could have been off route. It's so hard for us to read a map. We could claim the first all-estrogen ascent, but we also farted a bunch and talked about transmissions, such behavior might make it invalid.

It was plenty of fun. 5.5 pitches isn't quite 9, but that's ok, really. Here's a shot of Fern sprinting up pitch 3. And one of the buttress.

Wait a minute, you can't really compare bouldering to knitting. Knitting is the alpine climbing of the handicraft world-- double pointed needles, stitch markers-- it's gear intensive. Bouldering would be something small and intricate like crocheting a hacky sack. I'm not sure what sport climbing is, maybe one of those needlepoint thingys that spells out "Bless This Home" and has a picture of a cat sleeping.

Ah the sunset, the rock, the grotto... I've been back for a week and this wet rainforest still seems mighty gloomy in comparison.

I have a some free days coming up and would like to check out the long free routes outside of Powell River. My alpine partner re-scheduled (whose initials are DB, I believe he posts here occasionally ) so I have July 29 to Aug 6 or so for a week of climbing. I'm in Vancouver, would consider other stuff too, as long as it's large, remote rock. I have some experience and am generally pleasant, but will be grumpy as hell if I don't get to go climbing for a week. Cheers,

Spot on! How very sporting of you. Pip, pip, huzzah

We were finishing on the apron in the late afternoon. The girl on Diedre was wearing an orange top and matching orange and brown plaid pants. We were consumed with fashion envy!

What a tedious TR, allow to point out the highlights that Dru neglected. Actually, day one was a pretty routine cragging day. Although we did have some smug fun with "proprietary guy" who demanded to know which route we were going to climb at bog wall because he was about to TR something. "The 5.11 arete around the corner" we said importantly before sneaking around the corner to put up our own TR so we could hang and flail and practice saying "taketaketaketaketake" really quickly. Then we strolled back down miming moves and talking loudly about heal hooks and crossthroughs. On Saturday eve, the money saved by not paying for parking or camping we squandered on Guinness at the Shady Tree. Sunday morning we enjoyed the chance to snigger at hikers heading up the chief and their big packs, arsenal of poles, floppy hats and gaiters, Then Dru changed into his cut off jean shorts and accessorized with snazzy Teva knock-off sandals. I chose to wear my gold Polo Sport approach shoes and multi-zippered Schoeller pants. Craftily, as Dru had done Cream of White Mice before, he led the first pitch and left me the horrible traverse which I "protected" with two lobes of a zero cam and a tiny nut draped over a rounded protrusion. Then I got confused and lost, and yelled at my belayer for not saying the appropriate things to guide and soothe me. With much fuss and carrying on I finished the pitch. On the way out I decided to do Coogie Crack. While on the pitch I reverted to being Princess PainInTheAss and demanded that Dru sing a little song to comfort me, and yell encouragement every time I put in a piece or inched up a fraction. With much wailing and nonsense I finished the pitch, but had to explain to Dru on the walk out that I had been "testing" that piece not weighting it. We decided that our current outfits were OK for slab climbing but we'd better put on our ballcaps and slab shoes. Dru capably led all the pitches of Over the rainbow without fuss or yelling, including the 10b move out of the arch. I seconded everything whining about how much I hate slab, and bitching about the tightness of my new shoes. I did sport my blue Prana top for a pitch or two, accesorized with a pale white roll of flab pooching out over the top of my zippery pants. We smuggly complimented ourselves about finishing our 5.4 topout faster than the couple simuling on Diedre next door. Then Dru put on his Cloudveil wind shirt and we sauntered down the slabs. Gear Notes: Accessories make the outfit.

oh yeah, there are photos attached, didn't notice. --but you sent photos of the the gear used! Please do not continue to enable my own sicko gearheadedness. p.s. What kind of toothbrush is that? Were the shoes comfortable, or were they exquisitely, piercingly painful?

You are a sick, sick gearhead my boy. Which shoes did you wear?

Dru exaggerates, I'm a sad excuse for a ropegun, there were only seven pairs of shoes, three of the five pieces were adequate, one pulled out and one was pretty marginal. The place was alive with snaffles though, no ticks sighted, but I had dozens of twitchy, phantom-tick false alarms. Good times booty

Stuff and nonsense, climbers should be drinking the following highball: Scotch and V8, on the rocks of course. Served in a cracked glass with a delicate stem, and a chalk dusted rim. Lightly swizzled with a nut tool garnished with a lemon twist tied in a double bowline Arrrrrrr

the reverso doesn't develop a sharp edge if you alternate the orientation for raps, ie the free-end is sometimes the climber, sometimes the hand. Yes, it changes amount of resistance, no it's not issue is most situations.

sunshine cubicle mittens