mattp

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.

We'll gather at 6:00 p.m., at Woodland Park picnic shelter #6, for a barbeque and slideshow. Bring your friends. For those of you who have been to one of these before, this is the same location it has always been. CC.COM will spring for some of the picnic goodies but we encourage folks to bring something for the grill or something to share. We'll cajole some of our friends freshly back from Mazama to show pictures from the prior weekend and there will be some presentations from others as yet to be identified. Meet fellow climbers and get excited about the coming season!

Der = Duh. check it out . If any Portlanders show up we'll have some 'dogs for them, though. Come and share the park, some barbeque, and a couple of stories and maybe an invitation for a 2010 climb, on May 6, at Woodland Park, Picnic Shelter 6 - Just off Aurora Avenue North (99).

I'm sorry to disagree with my pal Puget here, but I think it is definitely WEAK to put a Leeper hanger on any new bolt. I have a large jar full of Leeper hanger's I've removed from cliffs and I have a friend that wanted to have them so he could recycle and I refused. As to Dawg's complaints, I have never cut down a tree at a climbing area but I DO remember when, at Index, someody cut down a whole bunch of trees 25 years ago and a bunch of climbers complained at first but then agreed that it was a good idea. I don't know what the effect may have been at Castle Rock but it may well be that the cutting of a tree or a couple of trees enhanced the climbing experience and that their removal did nothing to threaten any special area gem in any broader conservation or ecological sense. There are a couple of stumps there at Logger's Ledge (the base of Upper Castle Rock) but does anybody have any information on this?

Check your source, Nitrox, and you may find this: "The financial cost of the Iraq War and the War in Afghanistan are not part of the defense budget; they are appropriations." I could be wrong, but I think the current wars are not included in your chart.

Yes, I think the Midway Direct Direct bolts have been there for years but it does seem that maybe the original post in this threaad is about a new bolt. Separate question about MDD: was there once a bolt somewhere in that face climbing following the two closely spaced bolts? I used to lead that pitch regularly but it was many years ago and now I look up there and it doesn't look like what I want to do any more. I don't remember thinking it was scary.

Yes, we've had gear swap years past. How much interest in a repeat?

We'll gather at 6:00 p.m., for a barbeque and slideshow. Bring your friends.

We have booked Picnic Shelter #6, at Seattle's Woodland Park, for May 6. We'll convene after work.

You might take a chase lounge from Wallmart.

Take the biggest piece of gear you can in the range we are talking about but, seriously, don't worry about it. The crack is well less than vertical, in a corner, and you are not going to fall. You may have trouble making upward progress and you are going to want pro, but it is not the kind of crack where you are likely to really fly. Climb a few 5.9 offwidths first - like the last pitch of GM at Index, and if you can do those you'll be fine on Backbone.

Nice!!!

Fairweather, I didn't play your video but what did Mr. O say there? As far as I am aware, the lies about this legislation were mostly from the right. Death panels, socialism, rationing, Federally funded abortion, etc. etc.

Bring It! No kidding. I don't much like any mandate to buy private insurance and I was ambivalent about this legislation but maybe the fact that at least we may have strengthened the idea that healthcare for all is something the Federal government should be concerned with will lead to something better. Meanwhile, even if the Republican lawsuits seeking to strike that provision are successful we'll likely see the remainder of the Bill remains in effect. That wouldn't be all bad.

I don't understand what is being said here. Maybe I missed something but is there a theory about where opposing gates are preferable? I tend toward trad climbing where my pro is in cracks or corners where, more than half the time, there IS no corner to worry about or there is some kind of vertical corner or crack where I'd like the gates facing the same direction. I'm guessing you guys have an explanation as to how opposing gates are preferable when there is no such concern. Maybe I completely misunderstand the topic. I thought we were talking about the orientation of 'biners on draws. I guess "opposite and opposing" makes more sense in terms of doubling up 'biners to replicate a locking one.

Why is it that opposite would be preferred? I have always thought that the gates are most often better off facing the same way (that is over 51% of the time) because if the gear or bolt is in some kind of vertically oriented corner it is better to have the gates facing away from that corner.