mattp

The Caveman Diet has turned many a mediocre gym climber into a true Cascade legend!

The Blue Star Pub is at 4512 Stoneway Ave North, just north of 45th Street in the Wallingford neighborhood. See what I mean about the decor? It's a fern bar. See you there.

Fred is quite the connoisseur of music. He was in attendance at the last show the Grateful Dead played in Seattle, and I wandered through the crowd to find him right down front, in the "golden circle" during the second set. He WAS watching a (nearly) naked girl, though she wasn't playing the violin.

What do you think that sausage is made out of? (Hint-it ain't really "horse"cock.) caveman cannibalism confirmed Are you sure Caveman doesn't eat Gu?

Mt. Erie is a good call. Vantage would be fine, too, and both are scenic but Erie is closer and in my opinion a little more suited to taking a group of beginners or a top-rope session.

Sorry, Cavey, I just can't keep my brand names straight. But the man is AWESOME! And you should have seen him working the ladies at our Christmas party. I think he lined up at least a half-dozen dates! Long live Fred!

He's like the Eveready bunny: Let's hope all of us are as fit at that age!

I'm with you, Ray. Every time I hit the Cle Elum Safeway, I pick up some of that "day old" stuff with the sale stickers. The grease has reabsorbed and it doesn't make a mess in your pack.

Question: What does Caveman eat, and if we eat like him will we be better climbers? Research indicates that he might go for meat and potato's, but discard the bun (they only get smashed in your pack anyway). Quote: "two baconburgers a day is insane" Also, be forwarned that if you climb with a caveman, you may want to carry something to protect yourself. Quote: "caveman cannibalism confirmed" Does Caveman eat Gu?

Static Point will probably have dry rock if the sun comes out the next couple of days and it can be very pleasant at this time of year. Indeed, I think some of the routes were "put up" in the middle of a mild winter. It sounds as if you were on the right road. After about a half-mile or so, there would have been a couple of big bouldersin the roadbed (this was the old parking area), beyond which the roadbed should have been completely filled in for a couple hundred yards. It must be something like a mile further on this road to the point where you head up the hill to reach the crag. After passing two or three gullies where old drainage pipes are lying next to the road, look for one that may have a cairn on it and a trail up the bank on the left. The trail climbs several hundred feet through the woods, ending with a short, steep climb that can be treacherous with icy snow, and then deposits you near the base of "On Line." The half mile access road off the main line is quickly becoming overgrown after being blocked by a fallen tree a couple of years ago, and I ama fraid that this will lead to the continuous deterioration of the route even though it is really not much more difficult than it has been for ten years. Several of us who chat on this site did some trail maintenance last Fall.

Where did this word come from. Does it have anything to do with Genghis Kahn? When I was at an exhibit of old rugs, vases and cool tiles lately, they kept pronouncing his name "jingus" and all I could think of was sporto climbers and their rad lingo.

My guitar wants to burn your dad.

My guitar wants to kill your mama.

Yeah? And sprayer's suck.

That would be tomorrow night, Timi, and so far we've got three votes for Blue Star and no other place has more than a mention. As much as I don't really like the Blue Star because it is way too designer-decorated for my taste and I didn't find it very comfortable when we were there before, they do have decent beer and it is relatively central (for north-enders, at least). For next week, the New Orleans sounds OK and who knows, maybe LawGoddeess could drum up support for the Ram or the Dutchess.

Goode is a great climb, but many people have difficulty with the approach, both with getting lost and with battling the brush. The descent, too, can be an issue. You have to decide whether to carry over or to downclimb the route.

In my opinion, Friday is the WORST night of the week to go out. The bars are all packed, everybody is all hyped to get started on the weekend, and you get terrible service. Saturday can be slightly better, but still I find week nights better in most drinking establishments. For lining up partners in advance of a weekend trip, Tuesday is not a bad choice but maybe Wednesday would be better because the weekend forecast would be slightly more reliable by then.

Natural: Yes, I believe we did find a big boulder that matches that description though it was Dan who led the pitch and he would have a better memory of what size Camelot he used there. Also, the finish that we took was not quite the same, I think, as the one that was used by the parties that climbed the route a few days later. The top of the couloir curved somewhat right and I believe they climbed more directly to the summit ridge than we did. As you note, the terrain to the right of what was the more or less obvious line looked steeper, had less ice, and I don't think there was any continuous couloir over there. The "landmarks" in our gully sure seemed to correspond with that drawing in the original article.

After four pages of B.S., I took it upon myself to close the Chair Peak thread. Flame me and then maybe after a few pages of gratuitous insult we can discuss what might be appropriate editorial management of the "route reports" section.

Hot Flashes: Darrington, January 11, 2003 Climber's ripped a tree to bits with a Jimmy during the first winter ascent of a moss-covered 4 thousand foot summit in the North Cascades. 5.6, Bushwack III, hand-to-hand combat 6.

Isn't Climbzalot's opinion just as valuable as an exchange of pointless insults? Yes, inane banter seems to be the norm on this site and nobody should be surprised by that. But that doesn't mean that we can't complain about it once in a while when the banter takes over most of the board outside of the spray section. And here he was calling a bunch of climbers on an entry-level technical winter climb "childish." You spray monkey's ought to appreciate the insult he flung so indiscriminately.

Point taken.

John, I think you may be wrong about the "true" Spindrift couloir. I know that Bart published a "correction" where he redrew the line on his picture and said the Spindrift Couloir was one gully to the right, but when I looked at a copy of the AAJ right after our climb last year I thought that the features shown on that real cool topo pretty much exactly matched what we saw. Maybe I just imagined it into what I thought it was supposed to show and indeed the Spindrift Couloir is one to the right, but maybe not. In the conditions that we found it, the entire climb was pretty firm and there was not much "snow slogging" between ice pitches. The snow climbing on the fluted upper portion of the climb was continously exciting.

Nice one, Dru. But I think winter climbing IS fun and I kind of like Devil's club (even though I, too, had to pull some thorns out of my hands yesterday). Congratulations on what sounds like a fine outing.

Erik- That would probably be a good time to go there. The boulder field below the face might still be covered with snow so there would be a place to keep our beers cold and the daylight would be long. If we properly medicate, I am sure we can avoid going too psycho.