mattp

Which guy were you, Builder?

Hey: send me some pictures from the picnic. As you may have seen, I need to update my characters of cc.com slideshow.

Which Edelweiss? I liked the Stratos a lot; I'm not so thrilled with the Sharpe. The new generation (Sharpe) is lighter, but also much softer so more prone to tangles, and not as durable.

Hey KK: stop spraying and get your work done so you can come to the park for a couple hot dogs tonight!

Yo builder: come to the picnic tonight and show us your scars.

Keep your eyes open. Later in the year, there is probably less variation (and one route report here suggested there is a vague trail that may or may not be obvious) but now I bet the best choice is likely to vary from one week to the next. When I climbed this route I bet there was a little less low elevation snow than there is right now. We found a way to skirt the cliff bands that block the main drainage both left and right. We went up on the left (which involved a little bit of crawling through bushes on a long traverse to get back to open slopes on the right side of the main basin) and came down the right (more snow-covered on that outing, roughly at this time of year, but it involved some falling in holes and jumping off a little rock band that was, on that day, probably better for descending than climbing).

I went to Trader Joe's and picked up the crude beginnings of a medium large salad. Chips or other simple side dishes would be welcome. I'm thinking of seeing if I can rent a banquet style hot water dispenser for hot drinks. Otherwise it'll be a camp stove but in past years nobody has been able to figure out what to do with a pot of hot water and packs of swiss miss so I figure I'd make it easy on everybody and try to get the more civilized rig. I'm still looking for someone to bring a laptop that is capable of running the diggy projector so I don't have to bring my extra desktop machine and monitor from work. Anybody got a box of contractor trash bags lying around?

Woodland Park, Picnic Shelter #6 Update: I swung by there this morning, and Parks' maintenance employees were working on the roof of the picnic shelter. They were surprised that Parks' administration had rented it out for events the next two days, but they assured me they'd have it waterproof for us. They had done a good job of cleaning up after tearing the old shingles off, and I didn't see any nails on the ground but they were running some kind of nail picker just to be sure.

Got a photo of the crux on Modern Times?

Don't wait.

Great shot!

Yup. That is Bill Pilling, topping out on Yocum. The trees are en route to the first time my buddy Chris laid eyes on the Roan Wall in D'Town. ID the dog and you get ten points extra.

A Socket wrench with a 7/8" deep socket (notch cut out of it for the eye of the screw), was state of the art for placing screws before ten or fifteen years ago.

No kidding! His pictures are great and that is a spectacular day trip.

Here's some stuff I'll be bringing to the picnic. This was donated to the Washington Climbers Coalition by the late Larry Kemp's mother. Stock up on some ca 1985 gear and benefit a worthy cause! It's pretty much all good stuff still, just not the latest model.

Petzoldt Ridge is spectacular, and a good alternative to the Direct Exum.

Crappy attitude conceded. I did, to some extent, rain on Mike's parade -- that is if he wasn't trying to set up the whole scenario in the first place. Next time I find it funny to see people defining VI climbs and Slipstream as moderate I'll start my own thread: moderates for regular people. And nope, I have no doubt you think those are the best lines at Index under 5.11 c/d.

The bold stuff came from my imagination, Peter. I'm imagining all the posters here climbing all the climbs they are listing and walking away talking about how moderate the outing was and hitting the next one on their list the next day, just to relax. I may sound a bit snippy, but in some of the posts don't you think there has been some selection toward the harder routes that we can somehow define as moderate? Seriously: why does it bother you? I simply offered my opinion there is a little fluffery going on.

Yosemite moderates, according to Supertopo: Nutcracker: II, 5.8 Pine Line: I, 5.7 Sacherercracker: I, 5.10a Royal Arches: III, 5.7 A0 (or 10b) Snake Dyke: II, 5.7 Regular Route, Higher Cathedral: II, 5.9 Jamcrack, Sunnyside Bench: I, 5.9 Munginella: I, 5.8 slideshow

John: I did: The Tooth, W Ridge of Pidgeon, and High Exposure. I have seen where folks on this bulletin board posted about how they didn't think these were worthy, and one guy even posted "what's the big deal about the West Ridge of Pigeon." In my opinion, the guy needs therapy if he likes alpine rock and can't find a way to enjoy the incredibly easy stroll that the West Ridge of Pidgeon must be because he just soloed Watchtower -- but your mileage may vary.