mattp

Doesn't TunaBoaters at Index have some kind of hard flaring wide crack on it? How 'bout that last pitch of GM (Yes, I know its only 5.9 but few people would call it "easy," me thinks)?

From Eric and Lucie's bus trip, here's Eric starting up the first pitch with pro, instead of the bouldering 20 feet of face climbing nearby. He may regret not putting a runner on that cam as he gets higher and his lead rope gets stuck in the crack he's holding with his right hand.

Here's a shot showing the pro:

Yep - it is not only greasy, but dirty or sandy also. And its all SCARY there because of that nasty overhang above your head. It is kind of odd that being UNDERNEATH that roof is so scary, but it makes that exit move awkward. Damn overhang! Canary is a great climb.

On that first pitch, I don't believe you ever have to make a move over 5.4 without pro above your waist if you want it. It is still awkward - and can be scary - at the finish, though.

On that first pitch, there is no need to do that unprotected face climbing you mention. It takes a few long runners to avoid a rope drag problem, but you can start up a corner to the left with a crack for pro. You're right that there are plenty of other climbs at Castle Rock that will scare leaders who are climbing anywhere near their limit and I agree that Saber, too, is just as scary for its grade.

Jeff Smoot does a good job of describing Canary HERE.

Most people find that move scary Lambone. You may not, because you are such a badass, but most people do. That is why Jeff Smoot offers the "beta:" bring a #4 camelot to protect this move (it goes in a large crack up and right, just before you step out onto the face). A #3 camelot goes in just as well as the #4, but it is still scary for most 5.8 leaders. You move out accross a steep face with the potential to crater on the large ledge you started on, and its probably not a leg breaker fall but it is cause for concern for an old gujy like me. You then get a secure stance around the corner, but I believe it is still six or eight feet up to that fat bolt you are tlaking about.

Send me your money order for $29.95.

It probably the most easily accessed climb on an 8,000 foot North Cascade Peak there is at this time of the year. The brush in the basin below the basin below the glacier will still be mostly covered, and if you're having trouble side-hilling on the snowshoes it is little problem to drop down and proceed up the flatter terrain on the valley floor. For more discussion, run a search for old threads.

Doolittle, Like Stephan, I've been there. I have made arguments similar to yours in the past, but I believe you are not entirely correct. That CAN be the reality, but it is not necessarily so. There are a variety of climbers who go to climb large mountains for a variety of reasons and choose to do so in a variety of styles. There are a variety of guiding services, too. Yes, self-contained alpine-style climbs of big Himalayan peaks, and planning one's own expedition, are both admirable accomplishments. They are fairly rare, however, and in fact I bet the truth of the matter is that most people who do this are independently wealthy or sponsored or both.

I realize that you folks are talking about harder climbs, but Midway, at 5.6, has 4" and 12" cracks and is a good beginner's primer on the subject even though they are customarily "cheated" by face climbing around them.

By the way, the author has bought a house in NE Seattle and is looking for a roommate in his 2-bedroom pad. He'll be gone a lot, but every once in a while you'll be able to ply him for the beta (good luck getting any useful information, but he's a great guy and definitely good for grins).

That approach up Silver Star Creek is pretty much always nasty and Delaney Ridge is usually a little bare. Don't worry, folks, for those who want to ski, there will be plenty. Negativity is bad for our sport!

I think I'd rather had the Whitaker doll that is on display in the Paradise visitor's center. Its a collector's item - something you could pass down to your kids.

Nice attempt to corner me, Fairweather, but I did not and I have never said "all's well in Kosovo." As I have said, in at least three posts now, I do not pretend to know all or even really very much about that particular episode in our history. I am only trying to understand why the right wing keeps waving it as exhibit number one as to how Bill Clinton was a terrible president when, based on everything else I have ever heard about it, it was not an utter failure in American foreign policy or even a mistake. (Let me say for at least the fourth time - I don't pretend to know all that much other than what I have seen in the mainstream press.) You have not answered my question.

Welcome back, Mr. Fairweather. Now please explain to me WHAT IS THE BIG PROBLEM YOU HAVE WITH OUR INVOLVEMENT IN KOSOVO? (And how would such reservations or criticisms NOT apply to our actions in Iraq?)

That would mean that it'd be pretty full for Greg's April 7 date, too. Maybe we should have a warm-up event somewhere. And then a weekend in Mazama, another at Smiffy, .... we could all quit our jobs and abandon our families and it'd be all .com-all the time.

I have no problem with a Wednesday instead of a Tuesday. I'd push for a few weeks later so that we'd have a little longer daylight and better chance that it will be warm outside.

Icegirl - May 4 would be about right. We did it in early May last year, and the daylength was about perfect. We held it on a Tuesday night, on the theory that nobody would want to devote a weekend evening to such an event and that space in the Park would be easier to come by then. We had a barbeque and then slides started around 8:30 or so if I remember correctly. I've cruised by Woodland Park and they have power outlets and a sink in some of the picnic shelters there, so that might also be an option, but last year we decided that the picnic shelters at Magnuson might be a better place for us because they are more remote.

Scott, thank you too. Putting together this and Murray's posts, I get a picture of a messy situation in a messy part of the world, where it is hard to figure out who is who. With the support and general agreement of pretty much all our allies, we intervened, although it is a messy situation in a messy part of the world and it had at least some unintended consequenes and everything didn't come out perfect. I still don't get what the big right-wing beef is here.

Murray - Thanks for the history. Like others, I don't know the history of that particular conflict. I still don't get what the right-wing beef about it is, though.

Yeah. Let's dump some of those tom-ay-to's and overcount the tom-ah-to's and we can have our guy move into the White House instead of theirs.