mattp

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.

I'm hoping to work on an ongoing project at Darrington tomorrow if anybody wants to go. We'd climb several pitches and do some cleaning, and etc.

Hanman did most of the "cleaning." The guy just can't help turning a getaway with his wife, a climbing day with friends, or even just a day off work where he heads for the hills by himself into a work party.

For Erock and Tracks, I have a more up to date TOPO. PDF

Nice one. The North Ridge is one of my favorite climbs. It may not be a good summer choice, but in Winter it can be great! Thanks for posting.

I hope nobody objects to a sales pitch here, but how many of you folks have contributed to the Index Fund? I add this message here because I'm thinking that dedicated Index climbers are likely to view this thread. [solicitation] There are a lot of ways you could look at it but I would say that anybody who thinks Index is one of their favorite places to climb and who visits there every chance they get might weigh a donation there compared to a gym membership - except that this we hope will be a "one time" donation rather than an ongoing fee. How much did you spend at the gym last year? What about your gas and beer money for one season at Index? That shiny portaledge that you bought and used one night on the Upper Town Wall? If Index is not your "favorite" place to climb, but "important" to you, consider that RIGHT NOW now we have an opportunity to secure access and ownership there, and think about what it is worth. We're over half way to our fund-raising goal ($165k out of $300k) and we need your support. [/solicitation] The Washington Climbers Coalition has an option to buy Index Town Wall, and our plan is to turn it into a permanent climbing park. The area is presently in private ownership and the owner has been permissive over the years but wants to sell, proposes to sell the area for potential quarrying, and easily could sell to someone less friendly to climbing. Meanwhile, we have an opportunity to make some basic improvements to parking and installation of a toilet, and secure upgraded crossing status with the Burlington Northern. If there was ever a worthy cause, this is it.

Nice one, Ade!!! I've been up there myself a couple of times.

I bet that "tree dodging" on the slope back down to highway 2 is an understatement, eh K? I skied it ten years ago, with much more snow cover than now, and it was somewhere betweeen challenging and trying then.

I think Telemarker is right. For ski mountaineering and what I find to be "real" skiing, Washington ski season really starts in late winter (when the ski areas are about to close), and real dependable comfort for rock climbing (the season) doesn't really kick in until June or whenever summer really kicks in. Conversely, at the end of the season, climbing conditions are often good when everybody is praying for snow and they have put their rock shoes in the closet, but the skiers are out chasing powder days and rock-skiing at "Paradise." Don't get me wrong: I'll be out at Index in March and Paradise in October, but we're not unlike the downtown department stores, selling Winter coats in August and bathing suits in February.

I was there a month ago. It was open to 50' short of the Granite Sidewalk approach at that time. WE cut out a bunch of trees blocking the road there, and hope to reclaim it to the former campsite and parking area below the sidewalk but tne next step will require a small crew with some rock bars.

Many years ago, when some friends of mine were missing after climbing the N. Face of N. Twin (I think that was the climb), a ranger remarked that it was usually the relatively new or the very experienced climbers who, when reported missing, were dead. My friends made it, but the message I took home was that not only bumblies die in the mountains. Serious climbers -- especially serious climbers with the kind of "drive" that many of us say we aspire to -- die.