mattp

Are you the bas*%$#rd who keeps steeling my beers out of the beer cooler pool in Darrington?

I think you are referring to a short bolted thing, on the right edge of the arch. If that is the case, it used to be more "doable" but a knob broke off the last time I tried it. This is not the first time I saw one of the Darrington knobs completely pop off the rock. The same happened to the original crux on Safe Sex, and I don't know of anybody who has climbed it since then (the crux finger-tip crack). I bet this is related to their origin as part of the mother rock and not the granite intrusion so it may not be entirely unlikely that they lack a complete bond with the surrounding granite. I don't know for sure but I bet that little thing on the Great Arch is pretty hard now. I'd be up for a weekend campout with celebration of DTown granite and a bit of maintenance effort. Trailwork and bolt replacement come to mind. I don't think we can replace the knobs, though.

Gary: You make a great point about how the Munter Hitch can be a great tool and that it does not twist the rope if it is used with the ropes "parallel." Where you say "parallel" I think you may mean "in the same direction." If you rappel on a Munter, and allow the tails to hang down, you will get the rope twisting, right? If you rappel on it but make sure the tails travel up out of the Munter and then back down below you, you don't right? Parallel lines do not have a distinct direction, so this distinction may be important because someone might think that feed rope UP and tails DOWN are "parallel" unless they understand the "concept." And I agree: I've used the munter hitch for belaying a follower or for lowering somebody with a lot smoother performance and simpler operation than any belay device. In fact, when I set somebody up to lower me for a rescue some years back I set it up this way because I had less than complete faith in their use of their belay device. When using the Munter Hitch, have ropes in and out of the "knot" feed from the same direction if possible. Mr. Munter can be your friend.

Lets see you at Marmot tomorrow night.

For those who want the original flavor, you can follow the line depicted in the Smoot guide. Head up the obvious right facing corner middle- left on the Blueberry Terrace, and yard on bushes or climb rock on the left to reach where it turns into a rotten little gully and then disappears into the bushes. Anybody who climbed the Dome in the "old days" probably went that way. There's plenty of tat, but no bolts.

Those 5/16" buttonheads are mostly pretty good and can be damn hard to remove. I'll head up there and work on it with you, though.

Last Fall a buddy and I added the two belay stations and two pro bolts that you used to reach the summit from the blueberry Terrace. I've also been slowly adding bolts to Jacob's Ladder since I first climbed it. I added one last year.

Lots of good tents weight little more than two bivvy sacs and would much better serve you than the two sacs. If the only tent you can get your hands on weights too much I would still consider bringing it because even in fair weather the winds at your high camp can be atrocious. Off topic but I think that carrying over is in some respects a less advisable plan when it comes to the much celebrated Liberty Ridge route on Mt. Rainier and in many cases a demonstration of unfitness for the objective. If you are not comfortable climbing DOWN the route what business do you have trying to climb UP it? Climbers have died thinking that their only route of escape was up-and-over. I realize that I may express an unpopular viewpoint on this but I think the cautious climber should carry what they might need to a high camp and plan to climb up and back to that camp, then descend. Yes, a summit bivvy may be really cool and a carry-over may be exciting, but as a general rule I think most climbers will do better with a "standard" approach.

No, but I've been surprised to find that 5.9 or 5.10 friction sometimes seems little or no harder when wet and the 5.11 edge climbing on Jacob's Ladder is not undoable when wet either, whereas some of the 5.7 or 5.8 pitches on the Blueberry Route (among others) become completely terrifying when wet.

It is raining tonight but some of the routes there dry out very fast and I've actually climbed the first couple pitches of The Kone during rainfall and other routes when seeping. Sometimes the harder routes are easier than some of the easier ones when wet. Silent Running dries out quickly.

I too am hoping for Dtown this weekend. I'd like to climb 6 or 10 pitches and do some exploring. Send me a PM.

I'm with Raindawg here. You can't blame the Catholic church on Jesus. The Church serves its own interest. Any institution does. If you have a problem with how this nun has been excommunicated, I don't think the answer is "F##k J**s*s." Checkout the Gnostic gospels some time. Jesus may have been cooler than many of you realize.

I hope their posts improve YOUR day. Yes, we tend to post in the critical bent around here (it seems to be an Internet phenomenon-particularly where people post anonymously) but there is a fair amount of good advice appearing here. (Even from Need-To-Climb, who once attacked me rather savagely for no good reason but that he saw that I was posting something indicating that I'd been an idiot.) That mountain we stare at every day is awesome. Good luck with your climb!

Consider adding an insert on the top of your foot for the descent. If you are getting a blister caused by having your foot slide forward as you walk down from Muir, a piece of 1/4" foam, cut to line what would be the tongue of many boots and tapered on the edges, will reduce that movement. I've used this kind of insert to make foot-eating-boots into foot-protectors. I've used it for increased control in ski boots, too.

I believe that tree has been gone for at least 5, maybe 10 years. When I first climbed that route the "ground" extended above the tree. For a time the root that Sobo refers to was hanging out there ready to break a leg. Now that problem is solved but the groundfall is significantly farther than it was when the route was established. Even when I first climbed it I thought that move about 15 feet up was scary. It was probably it's most dangerous when the tree was eroded out so as to expose the root, but I think it is more dangerous now than when the route was established. Somebody please correct me if they think I am wrong (am I confusing this route with another? I don't get to Peshastin much these days). This still doesn't fully answer Sobo's concern, though. Maybe we still don't want to see the route "retrobolted." I tend toward PMS' position myself, but I realize others will disagree and I wouldn't take it upon myself to change the situation.

I get the impression that WSDOT actually puts a great deal of effort into making it so we can ski and climb along Highway 20 safely. They COULD simply post the entire high country portion of the highway "no parking" and plow no parking areas like they have pretty much done for Highway 2. They don't. Personally, even if you think somebody made a shockingly wrong accusation against your brother climber, I think "thanks" are in order.

See you all at the park!! I'm on my way now.

Thursday May 6, 2010, at 6:00 or thereabouts. Till closing. Food, fun, fantastic slides. Come out and meet your fellow cc.com webbmates. 2010 is on us, folks, and it's time to make plans and share the psyche for a great climbing season.

Picnic Shelter #6 at Seattle's Woodland Park Heading north on Aurora, the turn is about a half mile north of North 50th street, on the right. It is not well marked. If you miss it you can exit and come up "back roads" from the loop road, west greenlake way N, accross the street from the Golf Course. PDF map

A week ago there was heavy snow on the ledges on approaches to anything but 3:00 rock and the freezing level has been even lower since then. This weekend may not be good. Come to Woodland Park tomorrow night and we'll look at some pictures, though.

Steph is going to show something spectacular, for sure. As you might expect, this is going to be a PICNIC, folks, and cc.com will spring for some of the goods but it'd be nice if someone wanted to contribute to the table.

Looks like we're going to have a serious AV set up. If you have some movies or other media, pictures, etc., send me a P.M. I'll check with THE MAN.

The picnic is happening, folks! Let's get together and get excited about the coming season!

I don't understand your fixation with minimizing the time or mileage you spend with skis on the pack. It is easier to hike on dry ground than to ski.

I hope to attend as well, though as has been my habit the last couple of years, I may be cragging. Picture from 2009 SKI-in.