pope

A gay man scheduled an appointment with his proctologist, complaining of a "pain in his bum." The doctor soon discovered a dozen roses in this man's bottom, and he asked, "Could this be the problem?" The gay man responded excitedly, "Read the card!" [ 03-23-2002: Message edited by: pope ]

Roger, I love that quote and the book from which it originates. I enjoy the camping experience, but on a technical climb, it's nice to go light. In that case, it's nice to climb fast enough to make it back to camp, where a warm sleeping bag and plenty of grub seem favorable to shivering all night on some damn ledge. My first biv-wack experience was on the Town Crier in March. I wanted to experience a night without a sleeping bag or down coat. I regretted it all night. My next experience out without gear was on Mt. Shuksan in August, climbing with a busty gal and her wolf. We descended the Chimneys and made it back to where we'd left the toothy howler just as darkness set. In balmy temperatures, we experimented with different sleeping arrangements in an attempt to minimize the collective body area exposed to the cold. The next morning we were "rescued" by the Mounties (who wanted to take our pulse and check our ten essentials). These days, I seldom bivouac. It would be selfish of me to spend the night on a mountain when the bitches back at the bar are expecting me to show up and entertain them.

As a day trip, you can bang out those first flat miles in the dark and be ready to tackle the slide alder/talus at first light. This should put you at the base of the route by 9 or 10 a.m., and that is plenty of time to get up and off in the remaining light. You definitely don't want to try to descend through that brushy section in the dark. However you choose to do it, have fun. And remember the words of Big Lou: Bivouac...that's French for "mistake".

quote: Originally posted by rayborbon: I bet Fred was naked with 2 chicks in each arm on the summit Two chicks? What, is old Fred slowing down? That guy used to have a half dozen or more: three or four fine babes for mundane chatter, massages, belay duty; a couple gals to keep the Gatorade coming at those thirsty belay stations; and three or four to keep camp in order.

With a tent and stuff...let's see, I think it was seven flat miles and then a bushwack up some steep, brushy talus for maybe a couple thousand feet of gain...ah Hell, I can't remember. Plan on a half day or so with big packs. The rock work goes faster than we anticipated; I can't see it taking more than a couple of hours to climb since it's mostly 4th class and pretty clean (lots of slings and crap for quick belays). The lower part of the route is in the line of fire for rock fall from the summit pitches, so keep that in mind if you're the first guys down. Left of the standard summit pitch, a ledge leads over to a really cool chimney pitch, and just left of that is a superb, "vertical" face pitch, tremendously exposed and about 5.6 no pro. I highly recommend this climb. It is of similar difficulty to the Tooth, but the alpine ambience of this glaciated area make the climb a forgotten classic (I'm betting we'll see this in Nelson's Cascade Select Vol. 5). [ 03-21-2002: Message edited by: pope ]

quote: Originally posted by specialed: he's out at Index today climbing Iron Horse Those of us in the know like to call it the "Steel Pony".

Those of us in the know call it the "Lime Lizard". It parallels another excellent route called the "Village Whiner".

quote: Originally posted by Dru: After Trevanian wrote "The Eiger Sanction", he wrote a sequel. It was called "The Lou Sanction". well, almost. Love the opening scene, in which an undercover man is punished in a most painful and appropriate manner for the detective work he was doing at a naughty night club for elite pervies.

Scholar with a Dollar gets might vote for a Leavenwoth sleeper. It might need a scrub, but that's a great route with steep, strenuous climbing. La Cucaracha ain't bad, and a fun TR is East of Java. Check out Madsen's Chimney. Also a nice little 5.8 corner down and left (climber's left) from Givler's dome.

quote: Originally posted by Matt Anderson: Now Chocky, Don't go leading these people to believe you've done climbs that you haven't. (Athough ROTC is graded soft, it ain't that soft. And whatever! - Illusion Dweller rocks. ROTC with one or two P.A.'s is about 5.10d. Leading through is solid 5.11 (many times harder than any 5.11a I can think of). Illusion Dweller? I thought it was pretty good, nice and long, whatever. But I'm not sure I understand the fuss. Anyway, this Coarse and Buggy/ROTC chat is way "off-thread". You guys should be ashamed. Mentioning great 5.10 crack climbs, I really like the flake at the base of the Grand (is it Apron Strings?). Come to think of it, most of my favorite cracks are in Squamish. I like the crack work there better than Joshua Tree, Index, and infinitely better than most cliffs in Leavenworth. Devils Tower has got some cracks (according to a rumor I heard).

Yes, Dru: how's that thread for a "golden moldy oldy"? I went to Herby's show and was inspired to write, and then I did a search under "music" which pulled up this gem. BTW, don't say Barry Manilow and Herby Hancock in the same sentence.

quote: Originally posted by russ: I've never heard much mention of it, but "The Zip" in the lower Smoke Bluff is an awesome 10b. If it was on one of the upper formations there would be a constant waiting line. Agreed. Also, the quality of the average Sqeamish crack climb is so high that "The Zip" gets ignored when people point out their favs. My favorite 5.10b pitch up there is Caboose. That was my first lead in that grade and I can remember working my butt off for it. Very satisfying.

quote: Originally posted by willstrickland: Maybe some Headhunters/Thrust era straight FUNKIN SHIT UP? Or perhaps some Mwandishi era Fat Albert funk? I mean you did know that Herbie (not Herby) did the music for the Fat Albert right? "Herby" is a little joke for the Muir hut patrons. Ever meet a musician who doesn't herb? Dru, he played a little bit of everything, including Rockit for the kids and boring modal piano improvs for the old guys who paid to hear just that (I was simultaneously satisfied and ...um...challenged as a listener). DJ disk did the scratchin', for those of you who missed it(is he somebody we should know about?).

Got to agree with Cavey. Brass Balls is sweet, although I'm not sure that's such a pure crack climb. How about Easter Overhang? This has been called everything from 5.9 to 5.10c. Regardless of what you call it, this is one of my favorite climbs in the Universe.

Wow! Herbie Hancock rocks! Great show, diverse audience, and a level of musicianship worth staying up half the night to hear.

Remember the "Bush bucks"? That $600 or so that you got in the mail? Keep in mind that that was no tax rebate; instead, that was an advanced payment of anticipated refunds. You may subtract $600 from the rebate you would have received this year.

quote: Originally posted by scot'teryx: IMO seattle is full of attitude, and if you can't lead 5.11d, they look down on you. Yeah, don't you hate that? Here's what you do: climb up an adjacent route (doesn't have to be 5.11), and then you'll notice they no longer look down on you. They'll look over at you.

Where are the drift police when we need them? Power-Gu, Man-Gu, drugs, road rage, bicycles, space ships. Jeeesh. Could we get back to something of immediate interest and consequence to the NW mountaineering community? Wasn't the point of this thread.....let's see, was it how to spend your REI dividend? Or was it, "Who has got the best espresso at Belle Square?"

quote: Originally posted by NoBolt: Pads are for Wimps! I sleep on my gear. Tents are also for wimps. "Men who sleep in tents lead sheltered lives." I've heard this statement attributed to Fred Beckey.

Dwayner! Send my greetings to my little friend in the Land of Mighty Thor. You may assure her that I lied when I explained that my advances were entirely the fault of the beer.

quote: Originally posted by moron: Yeah, yeah, a foam and thermarest is great, but resolve this one - which one goes on the bottom? I would suggest that you alternate between the two choices. This way, they're more likely to perpetuate that spark between them.

quote: Originally posted by bobinc: Yeah -- I went to college near there. We used to go up and wander around in the B'cones and try to figure out which one was the oldest tree. Apparently, there was an older one in W Nevada that got destroyed some years back by dendrochronologists. They got their coring tool stuck in a tree and decided to cut it out with a chain saw. This ended up killing the tree. When they did a ring analysis, they found out the tree was over 5k yrs old! Oops. I've got a Far-Side in the office in which a senior woodsman and his cross-cutting protege are studying the rings on a specimen they just topple. The old guy says something like, "Look. See here? That ring shows another time the big guy survived a forest fire."

Seems I once read that closed-cell foam is always warmer since what really counts is "dead air", not thickness. Open-cell inflatables (like the Therma-Rest) supposedly allow for little internal air currents which conduct heat away from you. It's kind of like a double-pane storm window. One might think that a bigger gap between panes would provide more insulation, but in reality, the warmth of the inner pane causes adjacent air (or some kind of gas) between the panes to rise, while the cool outer pane cools the adjacent air, causing it to fall. When the gap between panes is thick enough, a current sets up in which air on the warm side of the gap rises to the top and then shifts to the cold side and falls into the cold side of the gap (replacing the cold air that falls down). The falling cold-side air eventually shifts to the warm side to replace the rising warm air. Of course, this circulation takes warmth away from the inner pane and transfers it to the exterior of the home. Storm windows are actually designed with a very narrow gap between panes to discourage these little "heat-pump" currents. The combo-system is supposed to be more comfortable. Some people find that a closed-cell pad on top of packed snow is just too hard for their liking. Two pads in the winter is a rule for me. If you find that sleeping on your side keeps you warmer than sleeping on your back, that's a sign that you could benefit from a second pad.

quote: Originally posted by jon: If it was some soccer mom yapping on her cell phone in her suburban I'm going to give her a piece of my mind, likelyhood of her putting a cap in my ass is pretty slim. Hey, that could be my wife! Do you make a habit out of picking on girls? quote: Originally posted by jon: Now it was some dude in a raised Bronco monster truck with Ranger stickers and a big banner about 9/11 saying "kill them all", wearing a cowboy hat and gargoyle sunglass there isn't a chance in hell I'd say anything. Yes I was actually seeing a dude like this. You tiger! So, what's it like dating a shit-heel? I'm guessing the two of you played a lot of rodeo games.

Seems like the start of EBGB's leaves the top of a diagonal ramp which you then traverse out over while doing some fancy gymnastics. My buddy and I both traversed out and fell/retreated into the belayer/spotter and ramp, accumulating tender little abrasions on our sun-burned backs and butts. Once around the corner and onto the slab, I just remember incredible friction climbing, right on the edge of control. Do it early when it's still cool.