MysticNacho

I don't know about you pikers, but I can climb 5.17, which means your all jealous of my amazing athletic ability. I love numbers so much I even make up songs about them. One of them goes something like this: "My names MysticNacho, I climb 5.24b A12 V57, la la, I'm so cool." Just wait until you all hear the actual tune, you'll be so envious of my singing ability too.

I wouldn't trust that guy if I were you. Look at him. Shifty little eyes, evil grin, big fudgy fingers with stubby little arms. I'd only trust him as far as I could throw him. Oh wait, I could throw him pretty far.

does anybody realize that phone calls are up to 50 cents now, NOT 35?! DAAAMN!

Hot damn! Thanks, I had no idea!

Am looking for one of these, anybody willing to part company with one, or know anybody who is? Name your price!

Cool. Let's email each other later on and hash out the details.

Well put Pope, I agree 100% with jus about everything you said. Matt has a good point on the name calling though. But just remember the original point I made, rag on those individuals who climb with the ethics you mentioned in your post, not ALL sport climbers. For instance myself, who aspires to climb trad but is limited by the fact that I'm slowly building my rack and my experience, and as they are not quite up to snuff for me to feel like I could safely climb trad as YET, what am I supposed to do, not climb? Great way to build experience, eh? Of course I'm going to sport climb! But hey, call all the names you want, it doesn't really matter. Sure, I like most of your ethics, but I don't like the attitude. But you don't have to like me, and I don't have to like you, so climb on and have fun! I'm getting tired of this topic

Well if you got wheels to trash, its turns into a MORAL DUTY to trash them. Tues-fri's don't work for me ever, but sat/sun/mon are generally good for me. Except for the next three weekends (relatives visiting, couple papers, lots of messes to be dealt with) my calender is free. And monday the 15th I'm free, so I guess that is the earliest. When works for you?

Doh! I hope Dwayner doesn't flunk me now

Turn, just so you know, I'm a PLU student who spends all his money on a Perkin's loan and climbing gear, which means I have no wheels. If your willing to carpool, I'm willing to head out to 38 pretty much anytime. Although I don't like having anyone be a belay slave for anyone, I like to climb and have EVERYONE having a good time, not suffering at the end of a rope.

By the way, excellent responses from everyone!

Madrone closed last summer? Hot damn. I was wondering why I never saw anyone else there anymore. As for all you pikers who are telling me to suck it up and still climb even if I don't have much of a trad rack, that's exactly what I do. I've climbed a fair chunk of routes on the limited sets of nuts & hexes that I do have. At one point, I was climbing every weekend and somtimes on the weekdays mixed sport/trad. Let me clarify: I'm not trying to use a short budget as a crutch to justify sport climbing, I'm just saying I don't do as much trad as I'd like to. I like beer.

Evening all, just thought I'd post a thought or two for discussion. I'm a student at PLU taking a mountaineering class from a certain professor whom I just discovered posts here frequently. Wassup Dwayner! Anyway, after leafing around this site for the first time in months and listening to more than one of Dwayner's lectures, I've discovered and heard a lot of slander against sport climbers. Actually, I'm going to tell a story first. Gather 'round children. I was climbing with my brother this last summer at Madrone Wall near Portland. We had just spotted a fun looking 75 foot 5.7 climb, the first half a face climb, second half a crack climb. Looked like a relatively small crack, and my rack of 1 set of nuts, half a set of hexes, and 1 cam looked like it just might be up to the job. I could always downclimb if I couldn't protect it, after all, it was only 5.7. So off I went, clipped a bolt 15' off the ground, discovered a rusty old piton 20' feet of the ground, clipped that too. Soon after, the crack begun. I fumbled around attempting to get my nuts & hexes to fit in, but the crack wasn't deep enough in most places to accept them. Finally, at about 60', I found a nice little spot for a #2 stopper, so I stuck that sucker in and kept climbing. 15' higher, I reached the bolt anchors. There was groundfall potential before that nut was placed, but it was ok, I felt comfortable enough that I could have finished the climb without placing a single piece of pro. My brother, who has never climbed anything higher than 5.8, and only led a sport climb once, decides he wants to lead this climb as well. What follows is probably the stupidest thing I've ever done in my entire life. If ever I could take back something in my life, this just might be it. I was feeling pretty good about myself right about then, thinking about how easy that 5.7 was, that I forgot that he was pretty inexperienced. I let him lead, poor guy. Anyway, we pull the rope through the anchors and the pro, so all he had to do was clip the bolt, piton, and nut, then slide the rope through the anchors and get lowered off. Off he goes, and to make a long story short, about 10' above clipping my #2 nut, just before reaching the top of the climb, he fell. Time freezes; moments stretch to eternity as I realize that if that nut doesn't hold my brother will die. I already know in my head it isn't going to hold, because although I have read a couple books on placing gear and know the theory behind it, have very little experience placing pro and basically know nothing. Those eternal moments pass painfully one by one, and suddenly my brother's body is jerked to a stop by that one nut. It was a good placement, it held. My brother was bloody and scared, but alive. This story is the reason I'm in Dwayner's mountaineering class, even though its mostly pretty basic stuff, I was hoping to have someone actually teach me with hands on experience how to place gear, as opposed to reading about how to do it in some book and getting myself or others killed. The point of this does relate to the topic of sport climbing vs. you folks who slander sport climbers. Why do people sport climb? For my brother, he likes to sport climb because it's safe. He loves to climb, and loves it a lot, although he would prefer to stick with those shiny, pretty bolts because I didn't put them there, haha. I sport climb because I don't have any other choice. I agree completely on most of your bolting ethics; they are placed unjustly and unnecessarily in most, if not all areas. But I love climbing, and I'm a starving college student who spends all his money on a Perkin's loan. I can't afford those fancy $50 cam's, I can barely afford a set of nuts. So I clip bolts because I'd rather see the environmental damage of having some drilled holes then give up my love for climbing. For those of you who constantly rag on sport climbers, think before you speak. Sure, everyone gets a kick out of those sport climbers with ten earings and blue hair, who say things like "check out that sick move on those wicked bomber jugs dude!" Even I have been known to say things like "sick" or "jugs," just because its fun to sound goofy every once in awhile. But as to you old timers who judge me by the fact I clip bolts, how dare you. Do you really think your a better person because you think bolts are evil? Get in line, so do I. How many bolts have you clipped? Who are you to judge me? For that matter, who am I to judge you? Some people clip because its safe, some people clip because they have to, some people clip because they love climbing. Some people clip because its the only thing they know, and its those individual PEOPLE you should criticize, not sport climbing itself. Most sport climbers are just inexperienced, and would probably love to be a trad climber if they had the time, money, experience, or balls. But for some reason, they're not trad climbers, so they defend clipping bolts with every ounce of their energy. They're just unwilling to learn. So criticize them, not me, not sport climbing. Just thought I'd throw in my two cents on an eternal debate. [This message has been edited by MysticNacho (edited 10-04-2001).]

I've heard of such rumors, but I'm a thermal wussy. Always willing to suffer in the name of a good climb though

Good point. I think its because our mothers have always told us to wear helmets on our bikes, and now we tell those damn kids to do the same or risk bursting their mellons on the train tracks. But who told us to wear climbing helmets? No one. In fact, we all know most people who say "bah" to the whole helmet scene. I'm one of them, although I do it with a bad conscious, if that's really an excuse. Although this has started me ah-thinking, I will go on wearing my helmet in almost all circumstances. Not when I'm trying to impress a member of the opposite sex however, I wouldn't want to muss my hair.

wow there is 100 million more roller bladers in the US than the US population! Where did all these people come from! It's those damn canadians, eh? Wow I just coughed and sneezed at the same time, and that was pretty extreme. I think I just invented a new sport. I call it "twisted bodily functions." Tiem for more beer.

wow, you guys are getting way way way to into this whole subject. Either the guys who really cling to the names are uptight about the whole idea because they know they're wrong, or they're really right and names do matter. Personally, I only pay attention to the names when I'm trying to describe the route to somebody else, or when they have a badass name like menstruating whale shingles or whatever it was, or like Aging Fags down on Madrone Wall. Now THATS a name! Otherwise, I just identify them by their grades. (example: hey did you check out that .11b over there? It's bitchin.) If they say which .11b, I fumble around for awhile until I find the name of it, and then I don't forget. When I am lacking a guidebook, I just look around and find the spiffy climbs with my two eyeballs. What's wrong with any of this? NOTHING. Climb however you want. If you like names, if you don't, who cares?! Whatever floats your boat. Don't judge each other on such a stupid classification.

Wow, some buddies of mine said they saw a man carrying a baby under one arm down from the summit of pinnacle peak on the same day. Wonder if it was the same gomer? I can't believe some people these days!

I like eating sticks and twigs myself. Bark is good if your really desperate, although it can be gummy. Speaking of gummy, its a hard diet and I lost a lot of my teeth, and the ones that remain don't exactly attract the opposite sex. Why don't I eat plants you ask? Because I don't know the difference from a poison oak plant to an oak tree, and it scares me. Why not meat? Because I like my animals to be happy and fearless, not worrying about falling under the butcher's knife. Just like a hindu cow. Now that's a fearless cow.

Ok heres the solution to ALL these problems. First, forget about all those other cars mentioned above. Your all going about the problem all wrong. What's wrong with a school bus? Nothing! Those things are slower than a wheelchair, but man what style! Not only can you sleep yourself and all your gear, but you can sleep everyone else in the parking lot too! (Hey perverts stop thinking about it, I know you are) Plus, talk about security! Nobody would ever break into a school bus. Thieves are traumatized enough by their dysfunctional high school experiences as it is. Gas mileage is a headache, but that can be solved with a life of crime! Put some meaty tires on that sucker, and it will go anywhere as well!

What your all seeing in that picture is obviously Mt. Everest. Just to the left of that is the north face of the Eiger, and under that is Jung Frau. So there, you amateurs!

Hey that's not a stupid question, that's a good one. There is a whole art to falling, trust me, I've taken more than one 20 footer. (all while bouldering on pea gravel, which IS the shiznit) Just remember to be completely relaxed when you hit, people don't get injured by the impact of the body vs. the ground, but they tense up and freeze all their muscles. It's the same principle as why drunk drivers never get hurt as bad as the people that they hit, they are relaxed from the alcohol and don't tense up. Also, remember to roll as much as possible to distribute the force of the fall. I find the heel to ass to back/hip works wonders. Have a great time falling!

ooga booga!

Well smitty, as a long time salemite myself, I have to say that your thoroughly screwed. Portland is the closest stuff. Willamette has that indoor gym, but you have to be a member. That = $$$, and that's $$$ I didn't have, so I devised a way to sneak in. I'd have a buddy stand at another door while I went in the main entrance, claiming I had left my wallet in the locker room. I would go let my buddy in the other door, and then walk out the main door claiming to have my wallet. Then, I snuck over to the side door and my buddy let me in through there. Nobody is the wiser! I thought I was an f'ing genius. Anyway, we found a cliff in Salem once, but it crumbled on the touch, and was not an experience I recommend to anyone. Move to a different city.

Well folks it seems the good weather seems to be on the wane, although those of us who think they know what they're doing can climb year round in washington, but that's besides the point. Anybody up for some wild times at Si/38 or wherever in the next couple of weekends? I'm on an epic quest to bag my first .12 by the end of this year, and as the weather gets all wintery my odds go down. Time is money!