pope

Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana. Groucho Marx

Scrambling on the north ridge. View of Grand Park. For Tvashtarkatena. Threatening weather. Fairweather is a mountain-busting animal. I clipped this to his butt and he didn't even notice.

More pix (from Rob): Rock climbing....anyone? K's Spire funk. Approaching Meany Crest (on the way out) View down into Summerland from Meany Crest Rob and Pope.

One would hope he has a will and/or instructions regarding who should take custody of his son.

Little T, Big T, and Fairweather all in the same photo.

Largo recently said, "Anybody can fall anywhere, anytime." I'm tippin' one back for a guy I never met. He had more than a small influence on how I interpreted the rules of the game. Heart and soul, Bachar cared about preserving the adventure offered by rock climbing and objected appropriately to those who would change the medium to offer anything less.

I've got one....couple of gaping wounds, general abrasions, typical dorky sport-climbers color scheme. Now worthless for climbing, but holds tremendous sentimental value. A bargain at $240. Will accept cash with three pieces of ID.

You're the authority on shitty beer. No doubt.

Journalistic Excellence

(This post will eventually be moved to the new Mountain Bike Forum....stay tuned). Another day of big fun, big adventure, and big gnarl, with my good buddy Dwayner. This week's adventure had just over half the elevation gain of the Sun Top ride, yet it seemed more challenging. Perhaps because climbing narrow single track carved into the side of a cliff requires a constant struggle with balance, perhaps because Thursday night's ten-hill workout with Fairweather had us climbing Heartbreak Hill at the local cyclo-cross course (this hill was advertised to be unclimbable by a local bike shop owner)...and I never recovered. For whatever the reason, pedaling up Ranger Creek trail 1197 was a butt-kicker, and Dwayner's review after running that stretch echos my comments. From FSR 73, the "trail head" is across HWY 410, where a scruffy, weed-choked path traverses up a roadcut. The first three miles gain elevation slowly as the trail gently climbs through shady forest. At about 4 miles, near Little Ranger Peak, the grade increases, the trail narrows and the obstacles become more frequent. From the shelter at about five miles, we joined trail 1198, the Palisades Trail. One year ago, I rode this trail with Fairweather where misty weather interfered with the breath-taking panoramas available at multiple viewpoints along this cliff-top trail. Yesterday in cool, breezy sunshine, views of Rainier and the White River were unobstructed. The Ranger Creek Airstrip, visible in one of the photos below, was the site of a minor airplane crash which was observed and photographed in a TR on mtbr.com. Here's a link to the report: Ranger Strip Plane Crash Trail 1198 loses most of its elevation just above Camp Shepherd, down steep wooden steps and rocky trail parallel to a waterfall where at least a couple of ice climbing accidents have occurred. Back on the Hwy, Dwayner ran an extra half mile to make his effort equivalent to a half marathon....but with over 2900 feet of big fun, big adventure, and big gnarl. Now some pix: Palisades Trail, shrouded in mystery on previous trip. Similar view point under better conditions. Dwayner and the Ranger Air Strip (roughly our startint point). With narration by Frank Sinatra: [video:youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKzj4ETHwdI

For those in the readership too young to remember, Every boy on my block had this poster on his wall. Let's remember her the way we loved her.

Here's a photo (not by bike) which shows more clearly a Cannondale Lefty. The "fork" or strut is designed to integrate specifically with Cannondale frames. They're available in carbon and alloy, supposedly offering the stiffest and lightest fork in their class (110mm). Instead of telescoping tubes, the interior of the fork is square in cross section with the interface packed with needle barings providing "stictionless" action during braking. They're pricey...I got mine under a warranty exchange/upgrade. One disadvantage is that few bike mechanics know how to repair them. You have to go to a dealer, and even then they might just ship your fork back to Pennsylvania for repairs. A 140mm model is called the Lefty Max.

I know, not here. But where? PeterP is always so good about helping people find correct locations for their misplaced posts. I thought about Spray, but we didn't make up any of it. It's all true. Here's why I think a mtn bike forum is appropriate. Biking is just another means of traversing mountainous terrain. Whether you're accessing a distant peak, too remote for walking, or just ejoying the activity per se. The analogy to skiing is obvious. I ski very little but enjoy reading ski reports cc.com, reports about ski access to a mountaineering objective, about first ski descents, or just skiing for no other purpose than to enjoy the mountains through an exhilerating and athletic activity.

Mt Hood. Can't you ride a SnowCat up that inferior little prominitory?

Another 2-wheeler fanatic comes out of the closet. Here's a guy....not just a guy, but a brother-truckin' tough guy.....who would support, if I'm interpreting correctly, a mt bike forum. And if Layton's on board, what more do we now need?

Didja dab?

Trip reports in spray? That makes as much sense as placing a milk bucket under a bull.

Rode Sun Top and down Skookum yesterday. We pedaled up 7315, but this road is in superb shape. I'll bet you could drive your lowered teen-ager import car up there without dragging your coffee-can-esque tail pipe even once.....if that's what you drive. Gee, I suppose Sun Top isn't really ready yet. Probably spent an hour walking through firm, deep snow high on the ridge. We got suckered in because after two or three small patches of snow by the upper parking lot, the way up 1183 was casual, until we were committed to it and then we encountered snow deep enough that we had minor trouble piecing together the trail. Followed by an incalculable number of blow-downs. But as my buddy Fairweather reminded me, "You can't buy this kind of adventure." Once beyond this mess, my first ride down Sun Top did not disappoint. Late to meet our running buddy at the car, we contemplated riding Hwy 410 to save time, and that's when we learned that attractive females were running down Skookum. Perhaps the bikers who informed us of the "special conditions/scenery" were pulling our legs, in order to enhance our workout by exploiting our boyish exuberance for athletic females. They seemed sincere, and so the decision to ride Skookum was thereby made easy. We don't regret the rodeo ride over wet roots and rocks on our hardtails. My frozen feet regained feeling after a few miles. And no, the aforementioned eye candy was not merely fiction created to sucker us into riding Skookum. All I can say is, "Ausgezeichnet!" High water near the bottom of Skookum, which forced a short woodsy detour last week, had receded allowing a boggy passage. Now some pix: Fairweather on wheels, Dwayner on foot. Pope gettin' suckered up 1183. Trail? What trail? Trail! We got trail. "You can't buy adventure like this." Once you get past the mess, you got her licked. Think your knees hurt? Shove this in your lunch hole! Post huck-n-run party at Pope's Place.

Hi kids. It's me, Pope. Hello again, I'm back. Didja miss me? And for the record, I was not drunk, just havin' a little fun. In the future, look for mt bike TR's in the Rock Climbing Forum. That's right, the Rock Climbing Forum. Since I don't know where such a TR should be appropriately placed, and since I believe there is no moderator more qualified than PeterP to appropriately locate homes for misplaced TR's, I'm going to defer to his wisdom and experience and park all my mt bike TR's in his forum, all the while hoping he will help me locate a more appropriate location.....or perhaps facilitate the construction of a new forum. We're old buddies. I'll bet he'll do this for me.

Pirate's forum? Cafe Sensitivo? Gym climbing? Why not a MOUNTAIN BIKE FORUM?

Pirate's forum? Cafe Sensitivo? Gym climbing? Why not a MOUNTAIN BIKE FORUM?

When you're a young adult and you feel comfortable placing yourself in harm's way (or you're just too stupid to know when you're doing it), that's your decision. If you get injured or chopped, only you are to blame for the aftermath (medical bills, somebody feeding you applesauce and changing your diaper, and/or the sorrow experienced by those who were close). When you're a parent and you place your child in harm's way, you aren't doing your job. Having said that, climbing can teach us to appreciate things many people overlook, and it can teach us the importance of concentrating when surrounded by danger. Climbing can teach us the value of developing routines for safety. Climbing taught me these lessons and gave me a confidence I was lacking, and I do wish for my children to experience similar development. I think there are other avenues to gaining the same knowledge, where the price for human error is less severe. I survived some of my near mishaps purely through dumb luck, and I realize things could have gone the other way. That's why I'm not encouraging my kids to climb.

If my kids get interested in this nonsense, I'll teach them how to proceed safely. What I'd worry more about is whether they'd be able to find climbing partners who meet my standards for safety. And even then, I find rock climbers generally aren't the kind of people I'd want around my kids. Too little regard for ethical and environmental considerations, too much weed, very poorly developed sense of responsibility and commitment.

Nope. You've got your Pope stories mixed up. It was at Smith. I just looked it up: Ring of Fire. Guide book says 11d. I remember it has a diagonal hand crack where you can milk a rest just before the anchors. Bowline on a coil, sloppy Boreals with knee sox, bimbo belayer. That climb is easier than any 5.10 on Jello Tower, for example. Other examples of 5.10 climbs harder than Ring of Fire...you don't have to look far, but even a soft place like Squamish has 5.10 climbs that are harder, such as that 10d right of Crime of the Century, or the pitch above the Split Pillar. Sorry I can't remember their names. I even think Slow Children is harder than Ring of Fire. Solid Gold (Yosemite), EBGB's (Joshua Tree), Skinny Puppy (Devil's Tower)....all 5.10 climbs harder than the 5.11 sport climbs I've sampled at Smith, City of Rocks and North Bend. And what's with Vomit Launch? Compare that to Yorkshire Gripper, Coarse and Buggy, Hot Rocks? Name one 12a sport climb as hard as Baby Apes (which I couldn't even get on TR). I've also climbed Aborigine, but I don't have much of a story to tell about it, except to say there's not a move of 5.11 on it anywhere.

Bitchin'.