mattp

That free pivot is also nice, I bet, when breaking trail in deep powder where the tip may come up out of the snow with less effort toward stretching the calf while lifting the foot moving forward, but how does it behave when you replant that forward foot after bringing the tip in and over the other ski to minimize the work of pulling it out of the snow? I suspect the floppier ski may cut either way in such conditions.

Bugaboos. Verdon and the Gunks are close contenders, though.

Do modern "free pivot" telemark bindings mean that when you pick up the foot the tail of the ski drops as it does with AT skis? This would be a disadvantage when crawling through woods in relatively low snow cover or crossing creeks on stepping stones and stuff like that. One other situation where the telemark turn can be advanageous is in brushy woods or other settings where the fact that you can smoothly execute the turn at very low speeds can be a plus.

For a day trip or quick overnight on a volcano in August, you probably do not need any special pants. Horror of all horrors, you could most likely get away with jeans if the weather was stable. You're getting good advice about not spending big $ if you are planning to glissade, though, and if the weather turns on you even the cheapest pair of pants that is actually made for mountaineering will probably serve you better than the jeans.

I already said so in the other thread, but somebody needs to head up to the Granite Sidewalk with a broom. A half hour's work could take a considerable amount of the scare out of scareington. I took a wisk broom to some smaller bits higher up, but the bottom of the approach scramble is a mess right now. It is possible to bypass it in the woods, but not that easily done. Granite slabs with sand, gravel and shredded tree on them ...

The climbing season in Darrington started late this year but climbers are getting out on a variety of climbs. There were two parties on the Blueberry Route yesterday, two on Dreamer, and we met climbers headed for 3:00 rock. The main road is passable in a normal car at least as far as the 3:00 rock trailhead and climbers are driving beyond there heading for Dreamer but I'm sure the road didn't get any better over the Winter. Somebody recently did some cutting of the avalanche debris blocking the spur to Exfoliation Dome so we were able to drive within 1/3 mile of the traditional parking spot for the Blueberry Hill routes. It looked as if two small snow patches remain on the approach to Dreamer; we couldn't see it but I bet some remains at the base of Total Soul and perhaps Silent Running at 3:00 rock (the rest of the base looked dry), and there was a small snowbridge at the base of the Granite Sidewalk approach up Blueberry Hill. Snowpatches linger below the Witch Doctor wall, and the stream over there is in full flow so water is available right below the climbs. There were no real bug problems yet. The first 200 vertical feet of the Granite Sidewalk approach to Blueberry Hull is littered with avalanche debris and a broom could help make it less treacherous. Builder 206 and I climbed to the top of the Dome July 20. The rappel route for the standard descent survived the winter with no damage.

I climbed it at this time of year on a normal snow year and it was not particularly icy. I walked down the whole thing facing out, all except for the top (half) pitch, about 300 feet around the Black Pyramid, 30 feet just out of camp, and the 60 foot rock pitch at the foot of Liberty Ridge. Your mileage may vary, I suppose, but I'd be surprised if it were in death shape.

Desperate times require desperate arguments, I guess. You can convince your righty friends that Obama is the flip flopper and not McCain, maybe, but trying to suggest that Bush or the Republicans or those who rallied around the flag when we went in were right about the war and the Democrats or those who were against it were wrong -- or that the war promoters have been right at virtually any point since -- is pretty pathetic. The only ones who "promoted defeat" are those who said we gotta go in in the first place, and particularly those who said we should go in "light and fast."

I met a street guy named Jesus in Ballard the other day. He made me feel really guilty when I didn't want to talk to him about why my life was so full of death.

It is pitches 3 through 7 that offer five pitches of non-slab climbing on Jacob's Ladder. Darin may have forgotten those first two slab pitches but they are trivial. Combshot and Kiss the Troll are good knob trotting.

Somebody sounds as if they may not know what they are talking about. Telemark gear is or can be heavier than some AT gear, and it is not as safe as AT, and if I were to learn to ski these days I doubt I'd bother with Telemark technique, ... but it definitely has its advantages when it comes to real backcountry skiing. Head over hill and dale for a day, climb over logs in the woods and cross creeks on stepping stones, and ski alpine descents that are anything less than truly extreme, and the Telemark guys have a real advantage. Telemark boots are more comfortable for hiking, too (something anybody with much Cascades skiiing experience has done more than a few times).

There's some good knobby face routes on The Comb, too. On a hot summer's day, though, you probably want to chase the shade. Dreamer gets the sun at 6:00 a.m. these days, and The Comb is east facing as well. I'd consider hitting the west facing routes on Exfoliation Dome (start early), or maybe the north facing crag climb that is the first six pitches of the new tower route on Big Four (though good luck finding the latter if noboy has been there yet this season; if somebody wants to go and doesn't mind a lame old guy who can barely walk, I might partner up).

We oughtta get to work scaring up a better barbeque rig if this thing is gonna be official. It was nice to see folks last night.

There is satisfaction and there is satisfaction. I remember completing what were for me bold and scary leads, mostly relatively early on in my career, but for some reason “satisfying” has never been about scaring myself. 30 years ago I thought some five foot traverse on a climb called Jackson’s Wall Direct (I think that is what it was) just felt like zen enlightenment for some odd reason as I don’t recall anything about the setting or the climb itself being that spectacular. A short sequence of moves just took hold of me in a unique way. More recently, finding the key sixth pitch while developing an eight pitch climb that we explored mostly by top-rope was really exciting. Every bit as much as completing a scary pitch you might anticipate on a big climb, we’d dreaded that there wasn’t going to be anything sensible or pleasant for that part of the climb but there it was. And for an immediate sense of elation, successfully downclimbing the last 80 feet after getting benighted descending the wrong way off Mt. Johannesburg after a solo climb comes to mind. It wasn't any bold lead or great accomplishment but I sure was happy to finally walk on the ground after being scared for much of the prior 24 hours.

The Beckey Route on Liberty Bell on a weekday would be a good choice of a route to show someone a good time if they have been on at least a couple of moderate cracks and chimney's before. Take him up that one and then when you get down head around to the Washington Pass overlook to show him where he went. The route is not visible from there, but the Bell looks absolutely spectacular!

I'm not looking for an Internet argument but I'd say that Dreamer does not have any "serious" runouts. There are maybe a couple of places where you go as much as 20 feet without pro but this is on terrain substantially easier than the crux. It is a fairly sustained route and by no means trivial and the 5.9 may be more than your brother wants to do, but old stories of wild runouts on rusty 1/4" bolts are twenty years out of date. Safe Sex is pretty good and I named it that because at the time (late '80's) it was fairly well protected as compared to Dreamer. Till Broad Daylight to the Kone is a good linkup on Three O'Clock Rock and it has only one very brief 5.9 crux which would be, for the follower, approaching a bolt that is not far away and where the consequences of a fall are pretty minimal (the leader at this point has gear not far behind and a bolt behind that). This is a good intro to Darrington and to slab climbing. The Blueberry Buttress is well protected all the way up to the last pitch or so before the Terrace, and there it is only about 5.5 or something. Above the Terrace, you'll run it out some more but again on easier terrain. Some folks have trouble with that part, though, as it is not clear exactly where to go. If this sounds bad to you, rap from the Terrace. If not, the summit is worth a visit.

I can bring a little gas barbeque rig if anybody thinks they might want to grill something. If you come after 9:00 be forewarned that Dave and his bike will have gone. He gets up way early and always lets us know what screw ups we are, staying out past bed time. If you have not been out to Golden Gardens on a summer evening before, you owe it to yourself. Otherwise, you simply owe it to us to grace us with your presence. I'm proposing gathering out toward the point near the n. end of the park but if somebody wants to have a fire we should show up early to claim a space and somebody's going to have to bring firewood.

Hanman and Builder206 did all the work when I went up there. I've got back issues that keep me from fully participating. Exfoliation Dome is one of the coolest rock climbing destinations in Western Washington, in my opinion. Lets get back up there and I'll help drag a few branches off the road and we can hit the Dome. Even on warm days, it is cool enough to enjoy with an early start. I'm not sure whether I'll be able to go this weekend or next, but the Dome awaits anybody looking for longer climbs on great rock. The Blueberry Route is more "trad" in that it has no pro bolts and there are cracks and flakes, and the routes to the left grow successively steeper and harder. They are all pretty darned good 8 pitch climbs, 5.8 to 5.12.

I have not yet got plans for the weekend and my wife may have something to say about it but I'd like to camp out in Darrington and climb some "longish" routes one of the next couple of weekends. The road is open and the place is great and it is waiting for you. The last 1/2 mile of the road to the ExFo routes needs some chainsaw work, but maybe we could hit that, too.

I think we're down for the date. Golden Gardens on the beach, Tuesday July 15 th. Now it'd be a good idea to say where in the park - and I propose out toward the waterfront north of the bath house - and when folks may start showing up. In the past, we haven't seen many people before 7:30 unless Wayne and Dave Schuldt specified that they wanted to come earlier. And how are folks going to identify us. Anybody got a splashy beach parasol? What cool souvenir did you bring back from Africa, Ken? Lets get our act together and maybe for one day Porter can put a picture of the special guest on the front page or something.

Yeah. After his last missive, I take back everything nice I've said about him. Where do I find the bolt gun?

Dawg, I actually agree with some of the points you have made in this thread and even the post immediately above but why do you have to go out of your way to try to find an argument? You complain that I lecture you on your style but you have attacked me for mine dozens of times over the years here and you are complaining about my style or my message here. In this very thread I've commended you and your pal Pope for making some good points and stated that these are in fact important issues yet you include some taunting or complaining note about how I should be happy to see you ineffective because we disagree on everything? As to any particular route or bolt in place on a route, I bet you know very well that we agree far more than any of your taunting arguments here would suggest but you simply seem to want to keep it adversariall. And as to your last point about hoping that "the man" reads this stuff and discovers that there is a controversy between climbers? I don't get it and, furthermore, I think it rather arrogant that you would think that a controversy that by your own admission is one that most climbers don't even know is a controversy is a reason why climbing areas should be shut down. Why is it Dawg's way or the highway? Why are ethics discussions in spray? Because folks post taunting pictures and insults. You are no better than anybody else in this regard but I do agree the subject could be better supported here except that (see my post from two pages ago) I seriously question how many people actually want that.

And, meanwhile, we can continue to talk about talking about climbing. Even though frustrating, and some find it worse than that and actually worrisome, it is in my view more meaningful and interesting than some chain of consciousness spray thread where nothing of any relevance to climbing is involved.

The sad fu$%ing truth is that we are not out climbing today, probably won't be tomorrow, and maybe not even next weekend!

My vote would be to see if we can get a spot out the trail that heads to the beach north of the bathhouse area, either in the trees between that trail and the bathhouse area or perhaps on the beach out there and to the right. Anybody else have an idea? Do we want a picnic table?