mattp

I'm with you there, but the oil companies and auto companies and power companies have been resisting this as long as they've been in business. And they carry a considerable weight in this great nation of ours.

Mr. Assmonkey- These guys are shameless. What do you want to bet? Gas prices will serendipitously drop some time late Summer or early Fall, and that's probably when we'll catch Bin Laden, too. Then, if that's not enough, we might see some voting "irregularities" in key states. Its not over 'till its over.

PP- Just so we're clear: you are not disputing my suggestion that Bush and Co. have a clear record of being un-cooperative?

Catbird's Rap ROute is a separate line. It is an old roiute done by Chris Christensen, I believe, that has never been reported anywhere except (here) by Catbird. You will see the tree with slings on it below the Blueberry Terrace, about 3/4 of the way from south to north along the terrace. These raps end up several hundred feet north of the start of the W. Buttress, and there is some slightly nasty scrambling/hiking to get back. If you go this way, please take some grey webbing and replace the bright colored slings that are hanging there. Also, I hope you like old(ish) bolts. They are probably not bad, but I don't think you will find any shiny new 3/8" bolts at those anchors. Vastly preferable, in my view, is to finish the climb to the summit and rappel the west slabs/Westward Ho. This brings you back to where your pack is (assuming you climbed W. Butt or Dark Rhythm).

PP- A couple of years ago, Wolfilwitz gave a speech wherein he said he thought we should pull out of all significant international agreements and withdraw from the U.N., and that we should seek to maintain military supremacy and that if any other country threatens our preeminence in the world we should do all we can to keep them down. This is called the "Wolfilwitz Doctrine," I believe. Since Bush came into office, he'd done just about everything he can to undermine the U.N., he's refused to sign Kyoto, stalled on even talking about global warming when this has been the top of the agenda for many of our "allies," backed out of arms control treaties in place for 30 years, refused to "submit" to the World Court, called our long time allies "irrelevant," perpetrated a major war against the wishes of every other nation in the world save Britain, Spain and East Bonga Wonga, and he's dangerously close to getting trade wars going. If you call this "cooperation" with other nations, I'd hate to see what it would be like if we decided to be "belligerent."

That's right, Martlet. I'd much rather have the U.N. in charge than Bush, Rumsfeld, Wolfilwitz, and Cheney. Much rather. I don['t know what actually happened with the oil-for-food program. Information has been remarkably scarce. Apparently, Fairweather and FOX News say there was an evil plot and there is an ongoing coverup perpetrated largely by one evil program administrator and his friends, but I suspect it was a lot more complicated than that. I also believe that our great father in Washington would not have done any better and probably IS not doing any better right now.

I really don't understand your deep hatred of the UN, Mr. Fairweather. So they messed up the food for oil program. (And here, I'll note that they PROBABLY did mess it up way big time, and almost certainly some of them WERE corrupt - but I sure as hell don't believe anything in any FOX News release and I have no idea whether the problems were the "fault" of the U.N., of some individuals within it, or if the organization was coopted or coerced by greedy third parties with economic interests at stake - or all three). The U.N. has messed up a lot of other things, too -- but I still think we're better having it than not. What is the alternative? Might makes right, I guess. I'd much rather that we at least paid lip service to the idea that we should cooperate with other nations to make this world a better place and the right wing attack on the U.N. and on pretty much all international treaties of any significance is something I find absolutely horrific.

I know somebody who went there about 20 years ago and he said it was not a hot spring that you want to go for unless you just want to ramble around on a cool side of Glacier Peak. The pool was barely big enough to sit in, and not very warm. (Flows and water temperatures do change, though, so you might fish around for a more recent report.)

I don't worry about the rope or sling lying against the rock at a belay station, dog, unless I'm going to be lowering or rapelling there. However, for a sport anchor, I agree that it is a concern and I prefer to see little lengths of chain at a sport belay than just a single screw link or something for the reason that you point out. I think Catbird was referring to something else, though -- the "standard" rule that you should NEVER clip biner to biner or link sling to sling. This is not a bad general idea, but as a rule I ignore it on just about every climb I do.

Actually "that" was three different sprayers. I think this character may have been there, too:

That group camp IS nice, though. If Dave wants to get us to agree on a weekend that is hopefully a little earlier in the Fall (like before the monsoon begins), and if he can muster the momentum to actually reserve the campground, Power To Him! He's just been to a rocking ski party and a great picnic. What's wrong with wanting to look ahead?

A few more pictures from last night: Can you name the sprayer?

Feeling left out again, Dru?

Some people around here have a real problem of insecurity when it comes to being uniformed about a secret. Had I been admiring Cornona's breasts, I most definitely have been looking THROUGH my glasses rather than OVER them.

Sorry to dissagree with you again, Mr. Shapp, but Mastsernate asked where there were some good walls to practice on and I just assumed he wasn't looking for a place to practice hauling his luggage through the woods and over a bunch of moss-covered boulders. Most of us don't need to practice that particular aspect of climbing 'cause we do enough of it as it is. Had he asked where there was a real scenic grade IV wall climb, and added that he didn't mind a bit of jungle crawling, I'd have said "go for those new routes on Witch Doctor..."

As much as I love everything that is Darrington, I wouldn't recommend those WitchDoctor routes as a place to go practice wall climbing. You can climb routes of equal quality at Index or Squamish with a lot less work in dragging your stuff to the base. They are good climbs, but you should go for the Witch Doctor if you want to climb that particular wall -- but not as a way to "get ready" for the Capitan or something.

There ARE two general schools of packing: the trash compactor method and the Dewey Decimal system. Or you can just skip school altogether and go for the tossed salad.

I generally put stuff I'm not expecting to use toward the bottom of my pack - like my raincoat or a sleeping bag that isn't coming out until I reach camp - and the location of the rack within my pack depends on how and when I'm going to be using it more than a consideration of weight distribution. I think Dru is right that you don't want to put the heaviest objects on top of or on the very back (outside) of your pack or it will mess with your center of balance, but convenience is at least as important as weight distribution. If you pack your pack really welll, but you have to mess around for an extra ten minutes loading the rack in and out of your pack while your buddies are ready to go, they'll be annoyed. Whatever you do, just dump all that crap in there, one lump at a time (a half of a rack, a helmet, or a rope are example's of "lumps). Then slam your pack up and down to compact it and make it all settle in, check the area next to your back for pot lids or cam lobes poking you in the back, cram some soft item in the voids, and start on the next layer.

Cracked- Were you afraid I'd delete you or something? Nice introduction!

I very often deliberately set up my belays with a biner clipped to a biner. It really helps facilitate switching things around or adjusting the situation if you clip a biner to each ancor and then clip everything else to that "master biner" with a separate biner. They may not teach that in the Rock Clinic II course, but it works for me.

What's the matter, there, Cracked? Have you embarasssed yourself around here or something? Sorry I didn't meet you.

I'll get some plates and plastic forks. I'll also be bringing a slide projector if somebody can bring their slides.

He was right. Nobody found any snow this weekend.

Here's the summit ridge, seen from the back side (shot from the bowl west of Cutthroat and north of Whistler): 5/2/04

Lemming #3 nearly goes over the cliff: