Jens

Mr.Gratz is the man. Look for some cool stories when he returns.

Wee've seen on the summit of the big easy so far: * a quadruple bypass heart surgery patient survivor * Numerous amputees * 80 something year old great grandpa * Lots of other interesting stuff.

Just to weigh in with my two cents. Vantage is much better than it used to be with all the new lines. I like to crack climb but in my opinion, almost all the trad lines at Vantage suck REALLY bad. The joy is the artistry of face climing movement over the entablature. Leave the cams at home and bring draws. In college as a vantage local at CWU in the early 90's we'd go to Vantage on a spring Saturday and would occasionally be the only car. We'd done almost every single established route but these days, their are a ton of lines and projects.

I'm not a leavenworth local, but I think it is a little early for this as a casual cragging day? Sure it would go but...

Seam grip the seams (in the REI kayaking department in a white REI bottle with a tapered tube). Then Nikwax the palms, let it, dry soak em' in water for an hour and them let em' dry. You don't want gobs of nikwax on your ice axes.

Alpinism, mountaineering, ski mountaineering, and ice climbing are keeping me a bogus rock climber. Should I just eat WAY less to stay up with my sporto buddies that train year round on campus boards with weight belts and the like? ----------------- One old friend of mine (a former world cup competitor) said she wouldn't do any approach longer than 30 minutes for fear her legs would get to big. It's quite a curse for those of us that like to climb everything but suck at everything (like I do). Does it just come down to diet?

I would wager to guess that the compliance rate for this stipulation (if it passes) will be around 30%. The only way that the stat would be higher is if the state of Oregon paid lots of people to rent hundreds of beacons 24 hrs. a day for many aspects of the mountain. If John Doe shows up on some side of the mountain, at say 9:45pm and decides he wants to go for a summit romp, the state of Oregon better have a way for him to get one without driving all over. The funny thing is, if this bill passes, it will probably cost the state of Oregon more for enforcement, rentals, and the like then what they'll save by having climbers wear them. They will still have to pay for rescuing climbers, just it will be a little quicker to find out where they are.

Forged Friends are a better cam than the latest version (or any version of the Black Diamond Camalots). I'd tell you why but I don't have time to type my 20 reasons.

Somebody really fast and comfortable skipping half the holds could probably crank the ferry ride and Bremerton gym out to finish. Except Bremerton closes at 9pm instead of 10pm like the others.

Nooooo. burn them!

Thanks trog. Does anyone know, does the ones REI has in the Seattle store the Gore tex ones?

I'll give you some beta on trolling. It's gotta be the questions that are almost the ones you really want to ask!

Thanks Dale for the updates. Long time no see. Enjoy your month.

I'm game to help with clean up and stewardship. Let's roll with this. ------ Vantage is no longer a pile with a bunch of new sport routes in the last few years. There are even a couple of 13's. It's the dose of sun we all need in the early spring.

Anyone know if they are any good? Anyone know anything about them at all? How precise? how warm? how do they walk? etc. It would be cool to see Asolo make a huge revival.

I've worn the jacket you describe. It is very good. Keep it for sure. People like to make fun of north face but in my humble opinion they make better stuff than many other big name companies: (Mountain Hardware, Sierra Designs, Marmot)

Yesterday my partner and I decided to try a plan that had been hatched. It was stormy everywhere in the cascades so we decided it would be a good day for the plan. We wanted to do every single route at all four Vertical World climbing gyms (Redmond, Everett, Seattle, Bremerton) that was 5.10a and under (no 10b's or harder) in a day. We harnessed up in the parking lot in the dark of the Redmond gym at 5:55am and promtly started in the lead room at 6am. After ticking all 85 routes later we were off to Everett. Everett was nice and quiet. After ticking all 45 routes at Everett, we were off to Seattle. We were runing way behind schedule and realized the Ferry ride to the Bremerton gym wasn't in the cards. We showed up at the Seattle gym at around 7:15pm and started to tick away. It was nice to be back on our home turf. We were only able to get 28 routes in at Seattle before they closed at 10pm. 16 hours of gym climbing minus a few hours for driving and eating. Our pace slowed as we were starting to zone. Route total: We both did 155 pitches. It was our "Nose in a Day". Gear notes:Red Bull, GU, tea, sandwiches, beanie baby stuffed moose attached to my partner's harness. Other Notes: *Lowering that much blistered our hands! *The "base camp lounge" area with sofas at Everett is cool. *Seattle and Everett's ratings were the same. Redmond's ratings seemed slightly stiffer than most other gyms I've ever climbed at. Setters we liked were EO, rick, Devo, and a whole host of Seattle setters. Thanks for the good routes guys and girls! *We used a whole bunch of rope tricks and swings to get more mileage in. *Stuffed animals make good luck charms! -Jens Klubberud

I didn't slog to the base of it but it looks like it is in give away shape this year.

Nice pictures and TR, jmace. Four of us Seattlites were up in Lillooet over the weekend. It was fun but it looks like the season is just about done. (+11C on Saturday). Saturday we climbed all pitches of rambles central. Shreddie was coming apart. Afterwards we had a molson at the Reynolds. Sunday we climbed at marble. I led Deeping Wall and we also top roped a lot of other stuff on the lower tier. A good time was had by all. Time for some spring skiing and rock climbing!

Blake I don't know anything useful about red rocks, but before you travel all the way down their to climb a red rocks for 10 days in a row, you may want to take a peak at my thread about "red rocks" questions I posted a few weeks ago I think it was in the "rock climbing forum"? You may change your venue.

Newbie ice climbers who learn to ice climb leashless. trolllllllllll!

Don, Seattle could use a few hundred more copies of your guide. People are asking me about Lillooet at lot at the gym.

I've heard that the goose is cool. I might be able to get up their.

Snow ledge

He had to because of the way a little snow ledge had formed and with a pitch like this that was 90% rock I would have done the same thing. ________________________ G-spotter how much longer do you think Lillooet will hold up if we get no more cold snaps? Let me buy you a cold one at the Reynolds.