mattp

Mt Washington is cool. Do they have the ramp route on that east bowl headwall properly depicted? That may be my favorite beginners mountain route in WA.

May 13 is the full moon. I'm thinking Friday, Saturday, SUnday May 12-14 might be a good weekend for the spring ski campout. The DOT says the highway is supposed to open by "the end of April" so that gives time to be sure. Ideas?

Yes, I'd agree that Blake's recommendations are one step up from the others. Another good one not listed here is Rock Mountain, above Highway 2. However, it has a large cornice above the bowl facing east, and you may want to steer clear of it. It has fantastic views and a relatively straight forward approach - though plenty of altitude gain - and I've gotten ticks there at this time of year (for some reason they seem less abundant this year than most and they are not really that big of a deal anyway). If you live down toward Olympia or out on the Kitsap Penninsula, Mount Ellinor can be a good spring outing.

Cool. Care to share a couple of these guiding tricks with us?

I'll be looking for that LaBelle book. The Weekend Rock book is by David Whitelaw, the guy who took the photo shown here and who, I think, FA'd the route shown. Bassomatic. 5.9.

I have used a gear harness similar to that Metolious thingy, and you CAN switch off if you are not carrying a pack. I have not used it for a few years, though, because I generally find a standard set up to work OK. I climb in a lot of marginal weather - even cragging - where it is windy or cool enough that I'm donning and doffing some kind of sweater or windbreaker that often hangs over my harness loops. A pack belt gets in the way of the loops, too, doesn't it? I have only briefly tried racking gear on my harness before giving up on it, generally finding it meant (for me) more fumbling around but there IS the drawback of the gear on the "standard" shoulder sling getting in your way - blocking any view of your feet or catching on the rock or even a shoelace (this happened to me just this past Saturday ).

Yup, those outhouses are pretty nasty. Its a good idea to stop somewhere and take care of business on the way there. This past weekend we had a good time at Mt. Erie when everybody was getting rained out everywhere else on Saturday. Check out the weather report and read carefully -- it was predicted to be better at Erie and that turned out to be the case -- but most people assumed it would be better on the east side and ended up getting hosed. Sunday was nice over at Vantage, though.

Mace, that would clearly suck - big time - but it has never happened to me or anybody I know. I'm not saying it will never happen, but I'm not sure that is a reason not to rack that way if you think it is better for other reasons and the advantages outweigh that possibility. Once while liebacking a crack I should have hand-jammed at Index I fell upside down and just barely caught the rack as it slid off my shoulder, though. Then I went back up and - guess what - I liebacked again and just about popped off at the same spot because I was repeating the exact same sequence.

By the way, the crag is closed for nesting. WCC Update When it DOES reopen, the hike up from Castle Rock is not as bad as may have been advertised but you wouldn't want to try it in sandals.

Here's one that's not bad.

I AM a curmudgeon Mr K, and proud of it. No worries.

Brett, I agree with you fully. However, this site is what it is, so you'll have to take it or leave it because some folks like it the way it is and, more importantly, it really isn't about to change in any big way. Even if we do further "clean up" one or two of the subforums or something, this board will remain a home for those who want to entertain themselves as the add describes. Don't be intimidated by those who will attack you for saying what you think about it.

So do I, Mr. K. Otherwise I wouldn't bother.

Yes, I heard a couple of commentators say that today. Just what is that supposed to mean? It's no big deal if our President is a self serving crook? All politicians do it, so why should we care? Sure, there have been some leaks that I think were a good thing -- like the Pentagon Papers or whatever -- but what is the value of this statement as a comment on today's (yesterday's actually) news stories?

After taking hoods in the woods up there for some sport rappelling, I thought the crags on Mt. Zion had some serious potential and the setting, in a Rhododendron forest and on a south facing hillside, was idyllic. Are those in the book?

Now, these kind of jokes, as long as you are "spinning" it MY way, are OK. Just like the line from Scott McClellan today about how some leaks are in the public interest. Post another twisted dick and I'll call you an ass again. But, Peter, you whine that I did not address your alternate definition. Perhaps you didn't read my post:

Dru, please go pee on yourself. Leave this thread alone if you are not interested.

Peter: "My" definition came from Websters dictionary. Cherry picking is one thing; presenting your cherries as the entire story - over and over again, while carefully guarding the fact that there were some "uncherries," and in the process deliberately misleading the American public - is lying. You're right. Whenever the Bush machine's political tactics or motives come up I call them liars. It seems that is all they know how to do. What? Me? I never tried to link Saddam and 911. They lie just about every single day and somehow the liberal press and those evil freedom-hating democrats continue to let them get away with it. Just yesterday, for example, Bush said that the illegal aliens are doing jobs that Americans refuse to do. That is obviously B.S. True, few Americans will work for pennies an hour, but if they paid a decent wage there would be plenty of American citizens willing to pick fruit, take care of old people, serve as nannies, or whatever else it is that he thinks only aliens are willing to do. It is not a matter of his believing what he says - he knows he's lying.

Kurt, you must be a magnet for trouble. Remind me not to go climbing with you! I've lived in Eastlake, Montlake, Capitol Hill, Fremont, Ballard, and Sand Point - and I've had fewer total problems than you list over the last 25 years! Oh, and in all of those locations except Montlake and Fremont I knew my neighbors (in Montlake and Fremont I only stayed in the same house for less than a year, so maybe it would have been different had I been there longer).

Of course, as PP points out, yesterday’s twist in the story had to do with leaking parts of the classified intelligence data about Saddam’s pre-war attempts to buy Uranium and stuff like that. Bush's press secretary says that these were not leaks, because when the President says to release the information that is a legal “declassification” and hence there was no leak. But what do you call it when they provide information to the press in such a manner as to hide the fact that it came from the White House or at least who it came from, and then go on to let the world believe the information remained classified but was leaked? Furthermore, the information itself was incorrect and they knew it to be incorrect so this “not a leak” was purely a political move taken in response to the criticism from Wilson. Offered as it was, without discussion, don't you think they were hoping at least some people would think the information was in fact correct? Certainly, polls showed that most Republican voters believed we found weapons programs when we invaded - at least then if they do not still believe that now. PP says there is nothing wrong with this but you have to say that for a President who says he stands for morality and integrity, isn’t it at least unseemly? I wonder how his base supporters view this - just more of the ends justify the means? How much more of this kind of means can there be before they might wonder if these guys are starting to get out of line?

I’m mattp and I say to ye don’t pee on somebody else’s jamboree and I’ll be sayin let ye be

Where do you get this stuff?

'tell you what, KK. I'll take off my moderator badge and we can meet for a beer or a cup of coffee. If you insist in the same line of argument that you've displayed in these political threads I'll call you a F'in idiot -- to your face. But, by the way, I'll say that I DO have significant regard for you and I'll shake your hand and say "nice to meet you." Some folks around here seem not to understand that we can have a debate -- as long as we can maintain some fundamental level of respect-- and still maintain some reasonable level of interaction.

KK- I agree, that right-leaning posters are becoming increasingly scarce on this site and in fact I can honestly say that I am saddened by that fact. Unfortunately, some of those right leaning posters who previously posted here seemed bent upon threatening physical violence or posting disgusting images or both.

As with KK, I'm not following you here. It is OK for you to chime in with some child rape bs on a rock climbing thread, and it is OK for KK to threaten to kick somebody's ass, but "I'M TOO SERIOUS?" OK. Maybe there is a pattern here. Being rude is OK. But objecting to being rude it "too serious."