pope

Hey, I love that place! I've never been very scientific about training/diet. I've found that the best way to drop 15 pounds is to get a physical job (like roofing) where you're too busy to eat lunch. IMO, this is exactly the kind of training that will help with general climbing fitness. When I was going to school, I had a grounds maintenance job where I pushed mowers and shoveled bark all day. There was no need to train! I could walk up Mt. Rainier like it was Tiger Mountain. What's been puzzling me lately is my recent performance on a fitness trail out in Enumclaw on Mt. Pete. One variation has always required about 40 minutes round trip (it has about 1000+ feet of gain). I'm probably 15 pounds heavier than I "should be" right now. Anyway, I went up and did the same loop in 33 minutes this week. Thinking that I had misread my watch, I went back two days later and did it in 31 min. That's almost 25% better than my standard time! My training? I only drink Pyramid Snow Cap, and I have carried my 40-pound daughter up Mt. Pete a couple of times lately.

Yes, and the conundrum was the classic "albatross soup". So, you're not the same dude as SC?

pecker puller said You're Erik Wolfe? I'm not sure I believe you. What can you tell me about the time you and I climbed in Leavenworth? How many were in the party? What did we climb? What was the premise of the conundrum game with which you stumped us for half an hour in your bus?

So the Wolfe's out of the bag, so to speak... RURP got it first, me thinks. Actually, SC exposed himself in the following electronic conversation (RURP gets most of his saucy inside information from me): come on out!

Hopkins lives in Santa Barbara. Wolfe.....Wolfe, on the other hand, is a regular contributor to this bulletin board and goes by the pseudonym Cacao de Amor, or something like that.

I've got a better one. All rocks for hands, anything you want for feet. Sit-start on the right edge and traverse the wall. Only rules are that your hands and feet must stay on the wall, and YOUR ASS MUST DRAG IN THE GRAVEL throughout the traverse. I haven't sent it yet, but it will be called "Rhoids-be-gone".

Anybody see the Dateline special on Michael Jackson?

I dunno, maybe he's too happy for you, but I appreciate that Renner is a hiker/skier/mountaineer, unlike the other meteorologists. He even wrote a fairly useful book about mountain weather in the northwest. I've got the book and agree that it is useful. I just think he's kind of goofy.

I stand corrected. You said they are presenting an unbalanced and exaggerated a story. You implied they are not being factual. Nice cut/paste/juxtaposition. I believe I was responding to the idea that news reporting in general is just a business, instead of commenting on the delivery of the current story. The story becomes exaggerated when it receives far more media attention than a missing persons report from below tree line, or when it is suggested that it is the latest in a "string" of mountaineering accidents when the string is only two accidents. All I'm suggesting is that climbing receives media attention mostly only when an accident occurs, and that these incidents are more rare (and perhaps more predictable) than the news media would have the public believe.

Just as soon as you show me where I asserted that their reporting on this latest story is in error.

What I actually said was Both guides are nicely done and took far more energy than I could ever assemble for such a project, and I didn't mean to imply that Smoot's guide is of poor quality/useless. I think the Hopkins/Wolfe guide is better (and Scotty's an old friend, so WTF).

How depressing. I went to school with a guy who intended to study journalism. Back then, he had a conscience and intended to use his craft to try to make the world a better place. Catbirdturd seems to be telling me that the business aspcet of news reporting means that those in the industry have little responsibility to tell the stories in a factual and balanced manner. Let's then push that idea to the next level and get the "anchorettes" to feed us the headlines topless. THAT would sell commerical time.

That is utter horseshit. If you're right, then what keeps the dialogue alive? Why do our friends at KING Television keep returning? Is it the chance to rub shoulders with accomplished mountain climbers such as you? (hey, that U.W. rock TR really inspired me!) Fact is, the media will report what they think will sell papers/sponsor minutes, and the delivery will be as melodramatic as is humanly possible. Writing "the heads of the local media companies" isn't going to change anything, no more than complaining about it here will. If you're thrilled with quality of reporting in climbing-related stories, if you think NEWSBITS is a fun guy to have around the site, then tell him as much. Spare me the lecture, bolt clipper.

Mischaracterization? I think of it more as histrionics, especially when I read/hear "reporting" of that sort. It's a terrible story, and that's exactly why you guys report it (bad news sells papers). The media exaggerates the dangers associated with mountaineering, and why? More hikers perish below the tree line in a hypothermic stupor every year. But where is the drama in that (unless it's a cute little three year old on Mt. Pete)? Fact is, ever since the '96 Everest tragedy, you guys have assigned missing climber stories to the "breaking news"/headline status. Outside of selling newspapers, you're not doing anybody a service by reporting a "string" of two incidents in NW mountaineering. You're just making my life miserable, when I have to go to the family Christmas party and answer questions asked by relatives I only see once a year, who only know what you have taught them about climbing, who insist that I'm selfish/reckless for participating in mountain climbing. And while I'm at it, Jeff Renner is a goof. I grow tired of his little winks, his perma-tan face, and his, "Hope to see you in the mountains." A promotion for Jeff showed video of him pursuing his hobbies out in the NW weather. "Jeff Renner: climber, skiier, diver, pilot.." said the narrator. "Dork!" added my wife. I miss that old guy, Ray Ramsey I think was his name.

I know of at least two attempts at establishing a climbing gym in the Kent/Sea-Tac area. On Military Road and about 272nd, an old grocery was converted into a martial arts school. The guy who ran it had an interest in climbing and dedicated a back wall to bouldering/TR. It was the typical late 1980's affair with lots untextured plywood, cut-outs and old-school plastic. That experiment didn't last too long. He sold all of his climbing holds and wall frames to a gymastics/family fun business on the east hill of Kent. I used to go in there after work and climb for $2 (or maybe it was 10 visits for $10 or something). Pretty cool stuff with plenty of steep bouldering, but never...I mean NEVER...did I meet another climber in there. He went out of business maybe 5 years ago. Are there really that many rock enthusiasts south of Renton?

It is not hypocritical to occasionally clip bolts and at the same time be vocal about the abuse of bolt applications in climbing. A quality route that needs a bolt or two is not so objectionable. A cliff at which we find bolts trails crowded one after the other is something worth discouraging. That you, Allison, cannot understand this is ONE reason Dwayner won't enter into a bolting "disscussion" with you. Also, what makes you think you're qualified to discuss this issue?

Just have to say that I think the Hopkins/Wolfe guide was prepared with more thought and energy and is, perhaps as a consequence, infinitely more useful. Is it still available? I could ask Scotty about that, if anybody is looking for it. However, I suspect Sexy Chocolate could hook you up with a copy.

Leonard got hooked on climbing when he noticed some hep-cats at the WTO convention getting more than their fair share of female attention.....apparently for no other reason than the fact that they owned 'biners and ropes and knew how to rap off the side of the Gap building. Leoard's micro-bus has a finger-board mounted on the side panel, ropes in the window, Petzl stickers on the bumper and "Love Your Mother" decals in every window. For a guy that didn't go to prom, Leonard's getting a lot of trim these days. When asked about his big-wall history, he candidly admits, "I've never climbed anything higher than the U.W. practice rock, but da ladies don't seem to mind!"

Meet Barney. Mentioning big-wall aspirants, we should all aspire to be like Barney. This guy claims to have taught RURP everything he knows about Jumaring. To express appreciation, RURP shared his hypo-allergenic, coco-butter sun lotion with Barney who admits, "I was just a little uncomfortable when RURP insisted on applying it for me in that hard-to-reach area just behind the knees."

Gregory Walcott

I met Barb down at the Royal Bear in Algona (the bar which, until only recently, had the only surviving mechanical bull in S. King County). Don't let her delicate mannerisms fool you. She's sturdy, and she's got big walls on the agenda fellas. Boulder hoppers and chicken-bolt chasers need not apply.

You've probably never heard about this guy but something tells me you will. I read about him in Dwayner's copy of Simply Scrappin' Magazine. Dolomite Don

Crimpers and slopers and long waits in iso; The stretch in my lycra that helps me to dyno; The beta I'll need for the crux underclings.....these are a few of my favorite things. A bolt by my feet and my knee and my shoulder; Some obnoxious music to play when I boulder; Apparel that matches my colorful slings....these are a few of my favorite things!

I didn't think it was all that soft. It is never super technical but I thought it was a letter grade harder than Japanese Gardens. I think it's 5.11c to "on-sight". I've talked to some climbers who did it with "just one hang" and then poo-poo it. But to me, that's like benching 150 lbs twice and then saying you can press 300. I also know a guy who advertised his "on-sight" ascent, but when I questioned him about it, he admitted to placing the gear on rap first. Anyway, I didn't flash it. I had to hang in the squeeze-slot (pumped, scared and unable to wiggled through with all of the clothing I had on, only three feet of 5.9+ from home!) I came back two years later and nailed it first try, this time with just a T-shirt. It felt even harder the second time. It's a climb that technology probably makes easier. Without sticky rubber I'm sure it's a bear. I'd like to get on it again with my 3/4 Camalot Juniors. I think they'd take the bark out of the crux. Whether you agree that it's 11c, one thing is certain: it is outstanding, like a vertical/overhanging Givler's Crack in quality, but with tremendous exposure.

I watched a guy learning to hook on a boulder. He placed his first hook ever, then bounced just once. The hook pinged off and wacked him between the eyes. He had a nasty cut, and he wanted to know if he looked like a nerd. For pins or little nuts, one way to get your face out of the way is to hook a daisy (but not the rope) to the new piece. Then climb back down to the level of the previous piece. You can put enormous impact force on the new piece (since a daisy is fairly static) while practically top-roped by the last piece. This is a slow way to aid, but it can inspire confidence if you have to place 3 or 4 crappy pieces in a row. And your face is out of the way.