Jens

Yes, Phil you are exactly right about the order. This picture is misleading in the angle that it is showing. Loren and I skiied the Enigma gully which is mostly obscured from view and just to the right of the crooked gully.

1.The Nose -for getting to see both sides of El Cap, or any limestone pocket pulling.. 2. Alex Lowe or anyone having fun 99% of the time. 3.Nanga Parbat alpine style or the West Tiger cable line.

Here is some needless fodder for discussion: What are the routes that we have climbed in the Cascades that are way below our technical limit or "easy" but have one little section that feels to odd to try to free solo? It could be one little rock section that is always wet, a 7 foot ice section, or some funky one move wonder with big air below that prevents you from going up and soloing the thing. I'm not talking about crag routes here, but instead mountain routes. Many of the routes in the mountains here have very short cruxes with long mellow sections. Or it could be a move that everybody else claims is really easy, but for your shape or size just feels weird. I'm bored and figured I'd spray a little.

Diamond Head and the surrounding areas can provide some sweet glade skiing and dry snow. To bad the place melts out so fast. It seems like patches of ground start showing up pretty early.

Good question. Country Club Ramp is supposed to hold some great mixed climbing in winter. I haven't climbed it , but would guess it would be pretty good right now. Jeff Lowe called in one of Washington's best multipitch mixed things back in the 70's.

Fossil is mostly a pile garbage but had one crag that was simply incredible. every single bolt and anchor got chopped abou t 12 years ago beacuse it was a "sensitive" area on DNR land. I haven't been to the "sensitive" crag since it was chopped 10 years ago, but the crag had soaring euro sty le walls and was better than WW1 or WW2 for pure stamina training. It had a few drilled pockets but zero bolted on holds. It was tall also, 2 pitches. To bad it is a crag of yesteryear. I still have dreams about the place. Per haps one of WA best. PS . Anybody no how to get to the Champion stuff at Wileson? It won't screw it up.

Tough topicI like the scrapbook idea. Can I buy bon bons in bulk? Here are some things Cascadeclimber and I use on some of our trips. * When it is time to retire for the evening Go to bed and say you are going climbing "tomorrow". Wake up at 1:00am and go. * Pick real estate somewhat close to the hills, ice, skiing and "good" cragging (Sorry all you Olympia, Bremerton, Banbride island, and Tacoma folk. Try somewhere like Mt. Vernon, North Bend, Issaquah, or Monroe. Remember the traffic. It is better to leave on lots of little 6 hour bouldering, moutain trail running, or ski yo-you trips than to be stuck at home. * Find a job that gets out about 3 hours earler than hers. *Unpack geart to dry out of site. Out of site out of mind. Let her pick the movie. Another Richard Gere flick won't hurt you. You can pick out bouldering lines on the walls of the theatre.

This site kicks ass. It is pretty cool to be able to save a tank of gas by getting conditons from trip reports or get info about that obscure route. We may be lulled into getting the feeling that the cc.com community is bascially a pretty good slice of the Cascade climbing community. It is not. It is amazing how many climbers I associate with either have never been to this site or have lurked once or twice early on and then not returned, or lurk about once a year. I am refering to newbies and also some of the most bad-ass climbers in this part of the country. When one runs into climbers out in the hills, some people think that this site is the last word on issues. It is a great site, though and these are not necesarrily my opinions but I thought I'd spray a little. I'm bored. Feel free to flame away.

I am always looking for new ideas as to how to upgrade my home climbing gym. Anybody seen any ideas for a homemade crack climbing machine? I was trying to think of any easy way to make one. Perferably one that lets me adjust the size.

While you are up at snoqualmie pass If you look close enough at the West face of Guye peak you notice that a huge icicle comes out middle of nowhere. I've checked it out with the binoculars. Has anybody been underneath or at least fairly close to it in the Winter? How big is it? How difficult would the rock be like getting to it?Although, I have climbed the face in winter, I was not able to get a good look at the icicile. The reason I posted this here rather than on the ice conditions page is that lots of people that don't check the ice conditions page (non waterfall climbers) go to this page and might have seen it up close.

I have summer sport climbed at the drip wall up tumwater canyon and have noticed that a continual stream of water is coming down on the left side. Does this "drip" touch down many winters or is it a freak thing that only comes in like once every 10 years? I found an old chouinard ice screw at the base of the wall one summer about seven years ago, so people are at least slogging up to the thing in the winter.

Anbody step out of the car and use binoculars to see if the pencil might form this year?

Lots of folks will read the above posts and then think they have a right to get bent out of shape when they get passed by a soloist. There are no rules to passing whether solo or as a team. You just try to be polite. Many of the attitudes people have about having a right to a routeor waterfall is due to the fact that we Americans are as a whole pretty slow climbers. I had a French dude and his partner clip my belay and simul past me at breakneck speed . I didn't get pissed.

It is kind of fun to read this pull- up stuff. As for this one arm pull-up stuff, it is kind of cool but it doen' t really impact climbing ability.According to the rags, one Amercian climber who has redpointed 9a has never been able to do one. And other climber who has redpointed 8c+ has never been able to do one either. As for spray about who can do the most- I have coached wrestling at the school I teach at for a few years now. Some of the lightweight wrestlers can do pullups untill the cows come home. On the ice it even matters less,Except for perhaps radical serrac problems. the future of ice climbing is on the glaciers and in ice caves anyways. PS. I took a 103 pound wrestler out once to a steep sport crag. He ran up an 11a for his warm-up climb , despite never having climbed before. The dude placed in state and could bench something in the mid 200 pound range. He was about 5 foot 1 inch tall. A lot of wrestlers seem to go into the marines. Maybe some of them will end up with the crusty old drill Sarge that Tom Hargis had if the dude is still alive.

My distinctions:*I've almost been hit by a paper bag full of shit.*Took the ballroom dancing course from the mountaineers (just kidding)*Never stuffed my shorts. As for the earlier disinctionsIT'S SPRAY TIME!------1. The tooth record- You guys aren' t even close to my time. 35-40ish minutes car to car. High speed quad ride, two seater ride. GS turns on 210cm boards down upper nash to the high traverse and over. Ditch skis, run to pass. Throw on rock shoes minutes of throwing down holds up and down. Run to skis. Tuck down.2.Classic crack 1 arm-- mere child's play.3.Clean crack solo fall. If he was wearing high frictiony Levi's and long sleeves, it would go cleanly.The crux ain't to far above the railroad gravel. Perhaps requires balls to big for me. --Done Spraying. What the heck-- it is a rainy Nov. nght.PS In my younger days I saw a drunk guy pass out and do a pure back flop off the top of spire rock. He lived to walk away!

cascadeclimber When I read your poem, I was unlucky enough to be drinking a beverage. I laughed so hard that I snorted it up my nose. Perhaps the best cascadeclimbers post ever made.

I lived in Ellensburg for four years and went to smith a LOT. I have lived in the puget sound area the rest of my life. The choice all comes down to what time of day and what day of the week it is. If it is a time and day with not a lot of traffic, I-5 is definitely quicker even if you speed on the I-90/ goldendale way. If it is a high traffic or volume time, the i-5 way is slower. As for which is a prettier drive, Most likely the I-90 way. Most people doing the weekly smith shuffle for their same 5.whatever project week after week, month after month probably don't get a rise out of getting real close to hood, so they would prefer the grassy plains of the i-90 route. P.S.: I have to throw this rant in-- read if you wish: Smith is an awesome area and sport climbing is way cool but why do you see some of the same Seattle people "rehearsing" their same project for months, or even year after year? Redpointing is a fine art, and it is cool if you are making progress towards finishing the route but give me a break. I'm not even talking about routes of extreme difficulty. I am a Washingtonian. The Oregon folks seem to be better at moving on or progressing than us.Perhaps I should have put this in the "spray" section.

What abot the 100% pure lycra spandex, yellow, La Sportiva climbing on the moon, Allan Watts style tights- So shiny that they glare? Pope must have been pirchased his pair in Boulder, CO.

I love ice climbing at Lillooet, but I have to ask? How many people have stories abou run-in's, confrontations, or fights that have occured at any of the drinking establishments? I have had two different climbing partners that have gotten into confrontations with locals on different occasions. One night while I was sleeping, someone was thrown through the window of the downstairs bar- Glass everywhere. Some of these drunken locals have some attitude. I'm not bashing on any of the establishments. Having some "Canadian" on tap and watching hockey on the TV's one channel are as much fun as the great climbing,

Hey that place used to be a Fred Flinstone theme park. It was pretty cool. Those smiley screw suck. They are way harder to crank in that the BD's

In my humble opinion, pull-ups are way overrated. David Graham is arguably one of the most powerful sport climbers on the planet and he admits that he can't do a one arem pull up or nearly as many regular pull-ups as some of his belay partners. Even on the ice, they are overrated. Try developing the coordination of the precise moment of upward movement by using your momentum whether pulling plastic or using your ice tools. I've seen people that can do one armers fall of 5.10's and people who couldn't do 10 pull ups who could climb 5.13. Just my two cents.

It has probalby been 12 years since I've seen Fairweather but didn't it have some REALLY cool out there music at the end? --- When they are showing a sunset and reflecting on the tragedy of the lost climbers.

Forgive me for I have sinned. I'm coming clean. *I sometimes sport climb in green pair of peter pan tights from Nordstrom's Brass Plum. I had my wife go into the section with me. *I have been known to log some hot tub time at many Leavenworth establishments after a day of cragging or ice climbing and even poach towells "I'm in room uh...uh....28". *I lied to ranger once. *Wore 8000 meter mits, down suit, overboots, headlamp, and crap to opening night of Vertical Limit at the cinerama.. Just kidding.

Long time no see Mike.

Both "trads" and "sport climbers" have pros and cons. Something to note: the new "rads" don't seem to be tying in much these days. A friend of mine in CO says that rifle is pleasant these days No attidtudes, screams of obscenties after blowing 100th redpoint attempt, and best of all no crowds. These types are all out bouldering. Trads: (my stereotypes here people) *Seem to be having more fun. *lack the vision to reach an awesome goal. *are often to much of a wussy to fall on bomber gear on steep rock- It holds them back. *Are fun to road trip and party with. Sportos (my stereotypes again) *Set goals and reach them. *Aren't as fun to road trip or party with. *Are usuall better atheltes before they got into climbing. (wrestling, gymnastics, dance, ballet, kick boxing etc.) *Not as fun to talk with (all they talk about is the beta to their latest project).