pope

Goooooood morning! hotcha!

Here's a climber's dog:

quote: Originally posted by To The Top: Hey JKassidy, I probably have played more football than most. All I am saying is Government should stick to the doing what government is supposed to do, like build roads, work on the justice system, manage sewer, and work on the unprofitable infrastructure, not building state of the art stadiums for anyone, especially over paid steriod poppers and owners. I gave up caring about big business sports after I saw the spirit of the game is lost in a boardroom. I say play on but not at the expense of taxpayers, thats all. TTT Government is supposed to.....how about provide a facility where a working class man can enjoy a bunch of beer and spend a good fraction of his paycheck on a Sunday afternoon? There's something to be said for the way watching football provides an escape from the oppession of an industrialized, assembly-line workweek. A guy can punch in at Boeing all week and tolerate how fucked up his life really is, just knowing that he's got Sunday's big game and ESPN to look forward to....ain't that America? Doesn't that little dream (reliving your high school football glory days every Sunday while watching the Hawks) help keep the working man satisfied? Ain't that good for the economy? Ain't that worth funding with tax dollars? I rest my case.

quote: Originally posted by trask: Eat shit Kassidy. I played ball from little league all the way through school. What's lucky about having a losing embarrassment of a football team? It's pathetic. If Paul Allen doesn't care enough to field quality personal and coaches, then I say good riddance. Go Dawgs!!! Yes, I agree. Go Dawgs! Woof! But Mike has a winning tradition...hey, we beat Dallas didn't we? I admit, I'm ready for a winning season.

quote: Originally posted by To The Top: But the taxsprayers just built a whole new stadium for them. Talk about government doing all the wrong things with taxpayers money. There's nothing wrong with a stadium, and I can't think of a better way to spend tax money. A losing football team is better than no football team. Do you have any idea how lucky we are to have an NFL team? Enough with all of the loser talk already. I'm tired of climbers who are still dejected about the fact that they were too wimpy to play high school ball. Go eat your frickin' tofu, have a soya late and brood in some beat cofee joint. I don't care. But either get behind the Hawks or STFU.

quote: Originally posted by Dave Schuldt: AMERICAN FOOTBALL SUCKS. IF THEY DIDN'T STOP THE GAME SO MUCH IT MIGHT BE WORTH WATCHING. I assume you prefer what the rest of the world refers to as football. Yes, soccer has continuous action....90 minutes of continuous running and possession changes, followed by a realization that with a final score of 1-1, some kind of shoot-out must occur. This "action" is sometimes eclipsed by the drama of growing grass and drying billboard paint. At least in "American football", when there is action it is real action, complex action in which an enormous amount of analyzing and odds weighing is put into every play called. In soccer, a bunch of 75-pound Limies run around and wait for a lucky bounce, only to be called "off-sides" (we wouldn't want a game with too much offense, would we now). The breaks in American football allow me to view commercials of busty supermodels selling watery beer. Soccer is so dull you can get a beer at any point and not miss a damn thing. Fun to play, though. And that's my analysis.

Beating the #3 team is quite an accomplishment, unless you're talking WSU. Face the facts, the Cougs don't really belong in the top 10 (as we shall soon see).

quote: Originally posted by trask: quote:Originally posted by allison: OK, I'm all ears: How do you propose we solve the region's transportation problems? I propose we open up all lanes for one. I also believe that as the economy continues to spiral downwards, that more and more people will egress out of this state. Boeing is leaving, Weyerhauser is shutting down and many techy businesses are leaving...probably including most of Microsoft, soon enough. The short of it, wait the bastards out, they will move back to Kalifornia soon enough. I also propose that home-offices should be a mandatory thing. With telecommuting so easy now, there's no reason to be driving into work just to be fucked with by a nerdy supervisor. I home-office and manage to produce much more than I ever did working out of an office. Anyway, this option takes a shitload of cars off the road. Carpool. Yeah right. It does work though. I have other ideas, but no one really wants to hear them. Youbetcha. Last year, my wife taught school half time (which, BTW, is far more than 20 hours a week if you didn't know) and worked out of her home office about 8 hours a week. This year, she works 11 hours (three nights) out of the home office and has quit her teaching job. She's making more money in 11 hours than she was last year with both gigs. It's a damn shame she's not teaching....a damn shame for the public, anyway. She truly reached a lot of kids, but we just couldn't afford to (basically) donate so much of her time to the benefit of the community. Now she's making what she's worth, what the tax payers and legislators were not willing to pay her. I hate to see such talented people leaving education, but I can certainly understand it. BTW, now that she's not commuting, we've cut in half our production of greenhouse gasses. [ 11-16-2002, 11:50 PM: Message edited by: jkassidy ]

quote: Originally posted by Uncle Tricky: Hey Lambone, not saying you're wrong, cause it's all subjective, but I'm curious what single pitch 5.9s in Washington you think are way better than zilla? Yeah, good question! And the North Wall of the Backroom at the Vertical World doesn't qualify here.

...instead here's a totally gay photo of me decked out in spandex .. I'm not going to argue with that summary!

Great to see those Ducks quit! Look out Cougs: you may BE number 3, but we've got #1....and he's coming to Pullman. [ 11-16-2002, 03:45 PM: Message edited by: pope ]

quote: Originally posted by RuMR: quote:Just read the linked story. It is utter horse shit. My buddy Joel and I were out there on that Friday night. We camped on top of the big flat boulder in the quarry that night (we rode a bus from Seattle and were camped at Index for the week). Pope, no comment on the validity of Smoot's story. The only reason i posted that was it mentioned Alan by name and thought that might be where Scottp got his erroneous facts from. Regarding alan, again, he wouldn't do that (grease the crack to stop a first ascent) and wasn't even in the state when it happened. I wasn't commenting on your posting of the link. That was just the first time I'd read the story. I understand how stories evolve as they get passed around, but here we have a story told by an observer. It's difficult to understand why it's less than accurate. I actually enjoyed reading it....let's just not make the mistake of calling it an historical account. It's a nice story, like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny.

quote: Originally posted by RobBob: But I'm disappointed in the dumb pro-business stances, like caving into the ski-doo lobby. I guess you get what you vote for, to adapt an old truism.

Just read the linked story. It is utter horse shit. My buddy Joel and I were out there on that Friday night. We camped on top of the big flat boulder in the quarry that night (we rode a bus from Seattle and were camped at Index for the week). On Todd's ascent, just as daylight failed, he actually had the rope through a very high piece. He had no gear on his rack and placed not one piece of pro. Instead, he top-roped up to the crux, fired it, and then moved right to finish on Godzilla. Jeff was belaying, and nobody but Joel, Jeff Smoot and I witnessed the ascent. We heard the swearing, we saw him move right. We heard Todd ask how hard the mantle is, and Jeff told him it was 10c. The ascent was continuous.....a continuous top-rope to the crux, followed by a big, big run-out to the belay (with the Godzilla finish). The other details (of how he placed the gear on this lead) are evidence of Jeff's vivid imagination. I was impressed with the climb, but I was not impressed with the style. Later that year, I witnessed Peter Croft down solo the Nose on Jello Tower. In retrospect, these events both left an enormous impression on me. I chose to accept my limitations and climb in good style.

I almost forgot....the kids, they think the Civic hatchbacks are cool, so they are pretty easy to sell.

A Civic is great. I was capable of following my buddy's 4wd Suzuki overland when we used to sneak around the gate to get into Fossil Rock. A truck is a gas-guzzling pain. When you need to haul something, you can rent a big pick-up from Home Depot for $20 for 70 minutes. This is much cheaper than actually owning one. When you need to get up a difficult road, say to get into to do Dreamer, you can always hitch a ride with an SUV-driving buddy, eh Matt?

quote: Originally posted by freeclimb9: The ferrata --iron ladders-- were first implaced in the Dolomites during World War I to facilitate battles between Austria and Italy. They allowed bumbly troops to move quickly over technical ground without huge risk. And, to this day, the ferrata still allow bumblies to access the mountains. Oh, I get it. The historical equivalent of today's sport routes!

quote: Originally posted by Dumpster Diver: Drytooling is not a beginner sport. Plus it can be fucking hazardous to your dental work and cranium bone. Get off the hype lawgoddess and quit fondling through magazines so much. Within about 20 minutes I bet you'd find it real boring anyway. Pulling on plastic is more fun. Besides I am with Lambone when he mentions ruining gear and will not improve any ice climbing skills you have. I doubt you'll do much drytooling this winter while out seeking ice anyhow. Usually it's sick shit and doesnt really compare to what the Cascade Crags gym has to offer. The best dry tooling is down at the Rebar!

I took one of them there aid clinics one winter. I liked it so much (lots of cute girls and at least a couple of young, fresh athletic looking fellows) that I decided to follow up with a seminar on what was described in the brochure as "sport climbing". Now, both seminars covered some of the same material, in fact the only difference I could perceive was that in "sport climbing", one must move between bolts (which come at a tedious frequency) by contorting his body into painful positions, instead of just standing up in a sling and clipping. If the contortions fail to provide access to the next clip, simply pull up on a sling and clip the next bolt, but be sure to lower back three feet and provide evidence to the circle of gapers below that you are capable of these contortions. Also, it is important, once the bolt is reached, to shake out for five minutes and communicate with the gapers using a vocabulary that is certain to make them understand that you're playing for keeps up there, and that "sending the sickness" is what they may expect to witness if they are just patient.

quote: Originally posted by Paul detrick: I love to clip bolts, but the routes there seemed to me to be in poor style, bolts were placed right next to cracks, which were big enought for a #1 camalot. And not just on one route. Why would someone put bolts in like that after all that has been said on it? I think it needs to be looked at. Careful there, my friend. You're asking for a serious cyberspace ass-kicking. Somebody (cocky little fucker who works in a gym) will tell you that you're just dragging your feet, standing in the way of the ordained direction in which mountain sport is evolving, and all because you're a bitter, old "homo-has-been-us" who can't crank modern standards. You'll be reminded of greater environmental evils (Exxon oil slicks and such) which (apparently) justfiy the occasional bolt next to a #1 Camalot placment. You'll be called a "rock cop" and a "prick", as well as a number of other names that Lambone thinks are four-letter words. Save yourself the grief. Just go up quietly one afternoon and pull them out.

quote: Originally posted by kmurray: The thought that one can do everything perfectly, take a fall, and have the equipment, used correctly, in perfect shape, and properly placed, FAIL MULTIPLE TIMES, resulting in death, is disturbing in the extreme. I've never had such thoughts, and I would guess that I never will, regardless of the outcome of this "investigation". I've seen the belay chain work well so many times that I have an enormous amount of faith in it, provided I'm climbing with somebody who understands its limitations. If an investigation into this accident concludes that Goran had done everything "perfectly", then I will still view his passing as a tragedy that defies statistics, and I will not question the engineering of the equipment I use nor my own capability to properly secure my mountain travels therewith. The assumption that a beginning rock leader (high-altitude experience not withstanding) would have been properly placing gear contradicts experiences I've had in instructing novice rock athletes. My experience is that novice climbers have difficulty evaluating the quality of gear placements while standing on the ground in a seminar. When they actually have to place the gear while dealing with exposure and fatigue, perhaps from a stance where they really can't see the placement.....let's just say this is a difficult task. In retrospect, with the protection placed by Goran now removed from this climb, it will be difficult to analyze the judgements he made in placing it. Good luck with your investigation, and I do solemnly hope that those involved achieve some kind of closure.

quote: Originally posted by gapertimmy: the possibly most simple equation that will solve all problems you encounter is simply 8=D Huh? Would you like to 'xplain that to those of us who are NOT on crack?

What happened to that "sward-swallowing" Blight character? I did some research and I think his photo appeared in Nelson's book. Can anybody confirm my hunch?

quote: Originally posted by vegetablebelay: Hey, just become a Coug fan and you'll forget all about the other local losing teams. First of all, the Cougs ain't local. Ain't that "college" (and I use that word in its most liberal interpretation) over in Idaho or some damn place? Second of all, most Coug fans I know ain't really local either. Most of them live out on the fringe of the metropolitan area, drink shitty beer and still wear mullets. Prediction: My dawgs will spoil the Cougs' little top-5 dream (Christ they got some lucky bounces this weekend) in the Apple Cup.

Two ideas: 1. Lower the freezing temperature by adding a little salt. 2. Climb in a gym where you don't have to encounter such difficulties.