Jens

I wonder if I doused myself with a whole bottle of DEET it would have the same effect? In all seriousness, I try to say at least "hi" to everyone I see on the trail. It's funny to see people who think they are are hard look you back in the eye and not say "hi" back- Usually seven summits types training on West Tiger or Si.

They could be gladiators on the lake by Marble Canyon. The losers could become fish bait for the ice fisherman. As for the accreditation statement, who knows. At my old ski school, the best skiiers were ones that couldn't afford, or didn't bother or care about getting certified. The "accredited" instructors were much better at "but kissing" their clinicians. The Euro Clinicians flunking Stevie Haston comes to mind?

It is nice to get dialogue on this issue. Yes I agree with you whole-heartedly that we should all instead perhaps switch to the European grading for alpine routes. As for the Nooksack route, The statement that you make I disagree with. I don't want to get into a pissing match or anything but I have spent some time in Yosemite and I have found that the grade V's down their take less time than our nooksack route. The route involved lots of ice climbing and monkey buisness just to get to the Start of the rock. Also, I enjoy the discussion but go try some of my crag climbs if you think I grade really soft. I've established 5.12 crack routes and have climbed other grade IV's and V's in less than five hours with much soloing. The Nooksack adventure was a 3 day trip with 17 or so hours on the "climbing"-not approaches. I do think you have some legit points though about alpine grades. But also, go check out the route and tell me your opinion. ---------------------- Also, does anybody have a opinion about the following: Some of our grade iv's and v are a lot more commiting than other areas. For instance: A number of years ago I climbed the Givler? route on the NE face of Johannesburg. The climb was on a sunny day and was mellow. But it was also a really odd climb. Almost not even a single rurp crack existed on the WHOLE thing. (Funky North Cascades metamorphics) I thought to myself it started to rain or somebody got hurt and you had to bail you'd be screwed or dead. Very few other places are like this. -Especailly Yosemite or much of the Alps. Good cracks, people, bolts, choppers, fixed lines hut, or cracks at all for that matter.

*YMCA *University of Puget Sound *Fort Lewis *Spire Rock (outdoor)

If anyone wants to make some money--- The population density center for the whole state lies on a map somewhere between Tacoma and Seattle and is completey unserved by any kind of rock gym. Millions of people live in the areas of Renton, Kent, Auburn, Covington, Federal Way , Burien, Tukwilla, Des moines, Sea Tac, Summner and many more are unwilling to battle traffic to Ballard, Redmond, or Tacoma after work. I'll bet any gym opened in this area would be the most profitable gym in the whole state beacuse it is near a buttload of people and would have zero competition.

Any thoughts on what rock shoes we all like for different crag areas in the cascades? Many of us carry a "quiver of shoes" For instance the harder friction climbs up the icicle require microedge work where the harder peshastin slabs require ball of the foot pure friction and pebble smearing. Index harder face stuff- don't need any kind of pointed toes but need micro edge power. Some the older blunter sytle spotiva sport shoes were proably the best made for these climbs (tao, kendo). The new trendy curved stuff is worthless for this style? N. Bend- Soft hgih performance shoes Wa pass- Edges of cracks often seem to have make beleive giant "crustals"- and very few micro edges -softer shoes than most granite areas. Slippers work great. Enough pontificating- this weather friggin' blows.. wet rock and no ice- (I hear spring song birds and have mosquitos at my house right now.) and lot of moss growing in my yard and onmy driveway.

I'll bet it's been warm enough that if you found rock that faced south like at Peshastin or dare I say- vantage you could comfortable rock climb right now. It would be nice if winter would go out with little bit of a bang. I recently got the worst base shot on my alpine skis. Anybody else destroy their skis?

The rattlesnake stuff takes at least 24-36 hours of dry air to dry out. The bouldering's pretty cool but the holds seem to stay slimy for quite a while. It's been my experience that the lead climbs on the big cliff take even longer to dry. The area is pretty cool and has some more potential for routes despite the fact that the rock isn't as good as the 32 area. Have fun. Be safe.

All of those times are friggin' amazing! How does one prepare his or her carcass for such abuse?

Is this a typo?

to do: *Go fart around in the Eldorado-Klawatti plateau region with skis. *Finish doing every route at Midnight (tr, lead, or hangdog in my lycra!) *Find more bouldering tucked into the woods for after work stuff around N. Bend. (There's gotta be a lot more out there?) *Ice-Find a secret reliable stash close to home? *Sleep in my own bed all the time? *Avoid finger injuries from peer pressured bouldering sessions.

______________________ Wow, that sucks bad. I've heard of other such related schemes with climbing gear. Also as somebody pointed out earlier, they will keep charging us what we are willing to pay- whether it be $169 for gloves, 146$ for rock slippers, or $300 for a single ice tool.

It sounds like it is just the old Stealth 2 rubber remarketed. And thanks Trask for defending the validity of my post.

Congratulations to whoever is doing M9. That's world class climbing.

Five.ten has a new rubber out called stealth high friction or (HF). Anybody use it or hear about how it climbs? I emailed five.ten several months ago before my last resole but never got a reply. Also, anybody care to comment: The older Stealth 2 seemed stickier than C4, but didn't edge nearly as well. Could this new HF stuff be a throwback to the old Stealth 2 that was retired about 1990?

Like: Glaciers Serentity Being able to ski 12 months a year Variety People are usually cool After work cragging at N. Bend. Dislike Rain and bugs The amount of miles we put on our cars (Lillooet, Smith, Squamish, WA Pass, Tieton, Mt. Hood) Overhyped: Index Wish: That we had a glacier for skiing and serracing 15 minutes from Seattle like they do in some of the towns in Alaska.

I haven't climbed the routes but I agree, a lot of the mixed stuff around here you really can't get to the top of safely to TR. As for impact, we've got Korean war surplus explosives, buried cable, sheet metal, and a whole lotta' other junk in that valley. Bolts are the least of our worries, espcially when they are painted to camoflauge in. In my humble opinion, we need more routes like these. Speaking of the valley and bolts, when is somebody gonna' open that beautiful whitish sport wall just above the freeway on the north side of I-90(near the west-bound on ramp when leaving Alpental)? I heard a rumor that Burdo had considered it a number of years ago. PS. That rock up in that valley is sure hard on picks. Any geologists out there.. what is that stuff on the Moh's hardness scale?

As for spouses, Monkey Face Ruined Everything for me..... About 6 or so years ago when I was a newlywed I was trying to get my significant other into climbing. I took her for the first time on a beautiful sunny day to smith rocks. I figured something over near Monkey Face would be the ticket. As we neared, we saw a recovery in process. We saw what was a body being taken out. Since then, my wife refuses to ever consider any thing associated with climbing. How unlucky was that for me? It's been the only fatality I've ever seen at a sport crag in 15 years of climbing. The whole drive home, I've tried to convice her i t was a one time occurance, and that sport climbing is a safe activity. She has three life insurance policies out on me now.

Also the boarders always seem to stop at either the front of a lift line or at a lift off ramp to adjust bindings (Usually for about four minutes). They also seem to like to aggresively "make" their way to the front of a lift line and then wait for their buddy who is about 100 yards behind. As bitter as I may sound and as much as some of us hate em' though they saved the ski industry. We have to thank them for that. My old ski school almost went tits up because we were slow to cater to boarders. Not that any of us can see the future but, I don' t think we'll see to many people boarding in 45 years from know though? Every generation in my family has been a skiier for probably 2,000 years. The snowboard will someday go the way of the Dodo?

Speaking of Freeway climbing, the new massive interchange they are building over I-90 in Issaquah will have some sweet after work bouldering on it. Those artsy-fartsy leaves carved into the wall will be cool to climb on and the wall is high and textured. -------------------------------------------- I walked to the base of the FWGS slab before it was bolted and should have come back for it. The slab looks very classic in my humble opinion.

Never tried it but I have something to add... The first time I ordered from cheapholds, everything was fine.....but I was very disappointed with my most recent order from cheapholds. The order took forever and when it arrived, the holds were super super small (They were marketed as some of their larger holds) Plus the shapes were lame, poorly thought out, not tendon friendly, and the bolts were coated in about 1/8"of grease. Some of the grease got on the holds! I know that cheapholds is a real bargain, but I personally won't be ordering from them again. I think it might be better to find a blow out on overstocked holds from somewhere like linkupgear.com. Or if you want to penny pinch I think you could make better wooden holds than the latest batches that the cheapholds people are coming out with. Good luck.

Speaking of Swallow's Nest, did they go belly up for not enough shoppers or what? They had a lot of floor space. I bet the rent was pretty high. An employee told me that becasue they weren't selling skis, they were missing out on a cash cow. I always seemed to get awesome service at that place. ___________ Does anybody ever go downtown to North Face? I haven't been there in ages due to parking and access. Are they carrying much gear in this day and age? ______ Cascade Crags in Everett carries a LOT of gear. Sorry about the thread drift guys.

A very sad item of news. I skied Crystal a few days ago. I was pretty surprised to hear about this. There was lots of terrain anchoring on all aspects due to low snowpack. Did the record high winds transport large quantities of snow leading to slab formation? Does anybody have a good memory- Haven't we had some winters where it has stayed at "considerable" or higher every single day for 3 months straight for elevations above 5,000 ft.? If you aren't going out when the hotline says "considerable" you aren't doing anything for a really long time. In my humble opinion the mountaineers crew were just unlucky? We've got some real good avy gurus around here. Anyone do any test pits or column tests lately?

If you are trying to squeeze some rock days out lately and your feet are going numb from the cold, try making some modified 80's aerobics leg warmers. Take some wool socks and cut off from about four inches back from the toe. The "warmers" slip over your rock shoes, leaving only the front half of the shoe exposed. If your feet are going numb from rock shoe tightness, just get in the habit of slipping your shoe half off between laps, boulder problems, or belay slave sessions. If you are multipitching it, with a little practice you can slip them half off even on hanging belays faster than Twight can even say the word "gu". In my humble opinion, buying bigger rock shoes for anything but high altitude rock is a bad idea regardless of what grade you are climbing. Good luck.. Keep us updated.

I am not kidding. It's either Metolius or Franklin that is selling them. The things are also wildly popular with my students. They like to point em' in each other's eyes.