mattp

Peter - I would be happy to discuss politics with you if you would like to follow up on a point directly instead of smearing and attacking me personally. I'm sorry I went climbing last weekend and didn't get back to you when you corrected my grievous error. Not only that, but I didn't check back in on Monday morning. Checking quickly on the Internet now, it looks as if at least one of the Saudi flights was one of the very first flights to leave the country after they started to reopen airspace, but probably did not occur during the actual closure and the "Bin Ladin family" flight was days later. That is if you believe the 911 commission ... and considering some of their other "findings," I'm not totally sure that I do.

Is the imposition of free speech zones related to campaign financing? The ban on showing American casualties in the media?

web page

The word "paranoid" carries a connotation of unjustified concern.

John Scurlock confirmed (again) last week. I can't wait to see what he has to show.

It looks like we’re going to have good weather on Thursday so I’ll probably bring a set of very cool mounted prints shot by the late Larry Kemp, who was killed in a bicycle accident in Majorca two years ago (the weather will have to be perfect, though, as the prints are mounted but not framed and they cannot be exposed to any moisture). Larry was a regular fixture at Index for many years and a very strong rock climber. Every time I ran into him he had an encouraging word for a relatively bumbly recreational climber like myself. In later years, he took to photographing rock climbing as much as actually climbing in itself. Larry’s shots have appeared in climbing magazines and also on the cover of at least two rock climbing guidebooks in Washington. He mostly shot at Index, Leavenworth, and Squamish. Towards the end of his life, he became an avid bicycle racer and he was well known in that community where group rides commemorating his life have taken place for the last two years in a row. For those of you into bicycle riding, consider attending the Larry Kemp Memorial Ride: May 27. That event will benefit the Larry Kemp Memorial Fund, which was created and set up in partnership with the Washington State Bicycle Association(WSBA), the governing body of bicycle racing in Washington State. The fund sponsors a program oriented toward getting younger riders interested in bicycle racing. For more info visit www.jetcityvelo.com. Clay, at Index. Photo by Larry Kemp.

You can drive to the first wash, for sure. You may have to hoof it 1/3 a mile from there to the normal parking spot. Here's Paul Klenke's picture from two weeks ago:

Bring an ice axe to chop steps to the bottom of climbs at 3:00 rock. There may be some where you don't need it, but on others you will want it for sure. I haven't been up there so I can't tell you which ones but generally the routes under the Great Arch are less prone to this issue than some of the others. There is probably not anything big still threatening the Granite Sidewalk, but I'd drive a half mile past the 3:00 rock (Eightmile Creek) trailhead and scope it before going up there. If there are large blocks of snow sitting up above, and if it is a warm day, do not head up the sidewalk!

I once tested my North Face 3 lb bag, sleeping out on the ice on Barton Pond in Ann Arbor. It was good to about -15f also - for a single night with no wet clothing or gear and I was both fully fed and well-rested before lying down. However, on a mountian trip where the down gets a wetter it didn't do quite so well. By the way, Ann Arbor winters suck. And the summers are worse! Have fun at Grand Ledge (wanna climb there with me if I come visit in June?). I don't think you'd go wrong with either WM or FF but consider what it means when you get a "superlight" bag -- the fabric will likely be something to worry about if you just want to sleep outside, and I may be wrong but it is my impression that the super low density down doesn't maintain its loft over an extended trip with moisture and stuffing as might slightly sturdier down. (Anybody want to correctd what may be an aggregious misstatement?). If you are going to use it a LOT and you don't always want to carry the extra pound or two for a bivouac sack (I very frequently sleep out without one and in fact have never once used one), heavy and overbuilt is not necessarily a bad thing.

As of yesterday, my buddy says the road is open. There is still snow at the base of 3:00 rock and almost certainly on the approach to Green Giant Buttress, also on the Blueberry Terrace on Exfoliation Dome.

When I was a kid my mom would sometimes arrange hikes where we could get together with another family for a car shuttle or take some form of public transportation so that we could hike a downhill route. She could always keep us moving downhill while hiking uphill might be a different story. I hiked down Mount Washington, in New Hampshire, when I was about six. I didn't manage to climb UP it until I was ten.

I suppose you could say that rehearsing a pitch doesn't change the rock, either. But it sure makes it easier.

I'm finding that the shape of the toe area is as important as the overall width of the last, and heel fit is surprisingly important (some heel cups just plain HURT). The only way you know what fits is to go try on a bunch of them, and then with many shoes you'll find that they stretch so fast that your perfect fit doesn't last very long anyway.

There a couple good low tens on Blackstone Wall, and Goddess is a pretty good "C" not far away. Mambo Jambo is 10a and one of the few real crack climbs at Little Si. Excellent, and it protects well with a standard trad rack. Also, the Nameless Tower route is a good "mixed" climb with bolts at the crux but gear placement skills definitely needed. Over on WWI, the one just right of Reptiles is realy good and Son of Jesus, in the big corner, is great, too.

When I climbed it, about 20 years ago, it had a very steep last pitch. About 25m and probably 60 degrees. Is it harder now?

That is true with any modern guidebook, too, Harry. The original guidebook portrayal of the Beckey-Couinard said something to the effect of "Ca. 20 pitches, strenuous, 20 pitons." There was no route description or topo, no gear advice, and no descent information. Beckey and Ortenburger provided detailed descriptions relatively early, but check old Canadian Rockies guides, Routes and Rocks in the Challenger Quadrangle, OH Bonney, or Climbers Guide to the High Sierra. In Yosemite, the first topo book came out when - 1975? That was the big change there. I bet you can still find some adventure on the Captain, though. Even on the Nose.

lummox gonna reprazent?

Midway on Castle Rock is so polished that it has gotten slick. Particularly on the first pitch, holds that used to be fine with hiking boots are now slippery with rock shoes.

I think it should be ticks dancing around the maypole instead of ladybugs in that Mayday thread. They started a little late this year, but they are sure dancing around now!

Somehow, I deleted the prior discussion when I was trying just to move things around a bit. Anyway, what I offered was a little more information about the Climbers Picnic event, and some others had a few questions, like "can I bring my kids?" A couple more said: if THOSE guys are going to be showing slides, COUNT ME IN! The Climbers' Picnic was originally hosted by Julie Brugger in the 1980's. It is a gathering of climbers, celebrating the coming climbing season. In attendance there will be a mix of ages and types of climbing interest, and we'll have a barbeque and related chatter followed with slides when it gets dark enough. If you have something you'd like to show us, send me a private message and we'll try to have what you need. We'll provide charcoal and paper plates and stuff like that. Bring something to grill, a side dish, something to share. Or just show up. Kids are welcome; some folks have brought their parents, too. Directions: As posted above, there is a park entrance on Aurora Avenue North, northbound, about one half mile north of N. 50th. It is poorly marked and comes up suddenly. Enter the park, and turn quickly left. Picnic Shelter #6 will be on your right. There is another "back entrance" via a park roadway winding up the hill from the Tennis Courts near the south end of Greenlake: map showing shelter location within the park.

For more information, click here to go to forum.

Jay, two points: (1) there clearly IS a conspiratorial relationship of some kind. The close ties of the Bush family with "big oil" is very well documented and the Bin Laden Family was the only anybody allowed to fly on September 12, 2001. What do you want to bet somebody has a plan for making lots of money this summer and then looking at lower gas prices just before the election? (2) Yes, the evil corn lobby is getting rich off your tax money and I feel you pain but the fact is we KNOW we are going to run out of oil and our use of it is destroying our air and is a disaster for international politics. One of the most important things our tax money SHOULD be doing is subsidizing efforts to switch to a whole new energy paradigm. Maybe corn-based ethanol is part of the solution, maybe not, but it would be just plain stupid to hope for a magical free market treatment of a problem like how to change the fundamental basis for our entire economy. Just as now, when concerns about supply are making the Oil companies rich, the drive for profit is not going to stimulate a concern for what is really in our national inerest. They just don't have much incentive to worry about American foreign relations or air quality or our standard of living in 2020.