mmcmurra

I can't imagine a better slab shoe than a pair of broken-in Mythos. Soft, sensitive, fit like a sock.

Less than 10 min. hike. The trail along the old road after the "boulders" is pretty overgrown, compared to the last time I was there -- no way you'd get lost, but there's some actual crashing through brush involved. The drainage pipe with cairn on top marking the trail up to the Point is impossible to miss.

Dragged my 62-year old Dad up Online on Monday. He needed a power belay on the crux pitch, but otherwise did great. In reverence to Stim Bullitt, he's going to adopt the nickname Clench Gripit for further climbing adventures. I found the road conditions the same as reported above. There are several other trees down across the road after the first one; it would take some serious work to restore driving access to the "trailhead" (boulders). Good luck

It was really nice to finally climb with you, Alpinfox -- I think we showed Dave a great time. To hear that the 10b may be a sandbag makes some sense with the 10d, but "Smokey" still looks much more difficult! A wonderful afternoon.

Thanks for the informative posts! So, now that I know others could use my permit, here's another call for PMs of interested parties. Again, a permit for 4 people entering at the Snow Lake trailhead on Wednesday, July 21st and leaving Saturday, July 24th. I paid $48 for it and will sell it to the highest bidder. I really hope someone gets to use it. Michael

Sorry if this is an ignorant question, but I can't really tell from my Enchantments permit application info whether I can sell or otherwise transfer the permit I got for July 21st-24th for 4 people (Snow Lake). Turns out my PhD defense will be the 22nd, so clearly I won't be making the trip, and the permit is under my name. I know many of you are against the whole permit system, and that's fine by me, but now I have this $48 permit on my hands and I'd like it to go to someone who could use it. If it turns out it can't be changed or transferred (I'm loathe to pay the $10 fee for changes at this point unless I can get some money for it), I guess this will serve to inform CC'ers that there will be space available on those dates. If I could change the name of the party leader, and someone here would like to get my permit, please PM me. Anyone else have any advice? Thanks!

Maybe Thursday is a little early to be considered the weekend, but the boss was away and the sun out, so I ditched work for the afternoon. Took a friend who's only climbed a few times to Exit 38 and found Gun Show at Far Side. Climbed "Endless Bliss", which is so out of character with the rest of E38 that it warrants many stars, but I don't know about the "classic" status suggested by some. WAY too many bolts. Rappelling to the base, we met Stimson Bullitt and a female companion. Stim was going to self-belay up "Endless", but ended up bailing. We climbed the first pitch of the 5.8 up and to the left, which was absolute crap choss. The pitch above looked nice, but my partner got too pumped to follow the 1st. Took a few laps on the decent, short .10- just left of "Endless", and made for home.

They're gone. Here is a photo from the good ol' days: I tell you, before I graduate I'm leading that 80-footer, I swear.

Second that. and BOC and Sag. and Zoom and Saber. And, the route I've whined about multiple times before, "B.S." at L-worth. Still can't do the "5.6" move past the only bolt.

Definitely wait, IMHO. But, if the TR group arrived ahead of you at the climb but have not yet set up the TR, offer to trail their TR rope behind you as you lead it, and set up their TR for them. If they don't go for that, there's nothing to do but wait or go someplace else ... and give them a friendly

A biner to avoid: I bought some OP non-locking D's on sale at REI-Outlet to replace some stolen ones (at $3.93 each seemed like a great deal). But they suck. Too big, way too heavy (62 g!), and you can't easily tell which end of the gate is the hinge. I know most of you would be smart enough to avoid such a lemon, but just a warning...

Last minute trip to L-worth Friday night, finally climbed at Pearly Gates on Sat. after months of wishful daydreaming. It . Felt stupid after making it up crux of Celestial Groove no prob, then wussing out to easier crack on right because the top seemed too hard for 5.7, only to realize later I was misreading the topo (it's 5.9). I hate those mind games -- if I'd been expecting 5.9 I would have tried it and prolly sent it. Stupid brain...

My Dad got me into climbing, through his sister, who lives in Australia and does all things outdoorsy. I am still totally impressed by how much effort he put into teaching us to climb (in Texas, of all places) while learning himself -- and not killing us all in the process! I've had a blast taking him up routes at areas from Washington Pass to Exit 38, with him loving every minute of it and never complaining ... NEVER. The feeling of him trusting me completely, while I know it must be difficult for him to see me run it out or scramble ropeless over some exposed terrain, is hard to express in words. Probably our most memorable climb was Right On (5.5, 3p) at Joshua Tree, which we turned into a 7-hour near-epic as he pushed his physical and psychological limits. What a great adventure. To say nothing of our other outdoor adventures, like our 2-day canoe trip down the Hoh with the water a little too rough, capsizing the canoe, my Dad barely catching his bottle of heart medicine before it floated away... Awesome. Now, at 61, he climbs more than I do, leading routes at the gym during the week, and mtn. biking or climbing outdoors almost every weekend. I wish he wasn't all the way in Texas... Missing him Michael P.S. I hope you all also find tremendous inspiration in the idea of climbing past 60. It makes the fact that I only climbed outside 3 times this summer not quite so depressing.

Is that Andrew S.? Spittin' image, if not. If so, please tell him I said "hi". He taught me most of what I know about climbing and I'll always appreciate it -- excellent climbing mentor. Michael McMurray

Hope this isn't related to this!

Nice thread... I usually feel that I take a little too much, though on long pitches I have come close to placing everything (which I have begun to rack on my harness, instead of a sling, WRT the other thread). Although maybe I place too much gear, too... Anyway, I carry a set and a half of nuts, 4 hexes, cams from purple TCU to #3.5 Friend (doubled around the #0.5-2 size), pink and red Tricam. The nuts, hexes and 4 midsize Aliens see the majority of the action.

Nice story! Thanks for the great read. Really? I remember my parents showing us kids how even a completely submerged canoe could not be made to sink. Thank goodness, or I would have lost more than I did when we got swamped going down the Hoh... Anyway, capsizing wouldn't have been fun!

Yikes! I didn't realize that! I knew the mornings were sensitive, but hadn't even thought about before dark. We were very quiet and spent little time at the top of the cliff (too little, apparently, given the gear loss), but thanks for the heads up, I'll be more aware next time. Michael

Sat. evening I led and then set up a TR on Burgers & Fries. All of our party of 4 climbed it, then we let a party of 3 women climb it. Then we pulled the rope, and left the anchor for less than 20 min before 2 of our party walked around to practice rapping from it. When they arrived, there was no anchor; they assumed someone else in our party must have cleaned it, so they set up another and rapped, while we used other ropes to lead and TR other climbs. Besides the three women, two guys with a sweet Samoyid dog set up a TR in between B&F and Wisecrack, and a lone solo climber traversed around for a while. Just before dark some guys showed up at the top to try to see Mars rise above the Chief. The anchor that disappeared was a gray Web-O-lette, three locking biners, and a backup red cordelette with a locking and non-locking biner (overkill, I know, but for the benefit of a beginner in our party). I want to believe that with all the communal rope-sharing, there was some misunderstanding and someone ended up with my gear by mistake, but I realize theft is a likely explanation. I ran back to the crag Sunday a.m. when we realized what happened, but no one there had found anything. Anyone have any useful info? I'd appreciate it. Thanks, Michael

So what should a Washington climber do to be as safe as possible in Squamish? I'm probably headed there this weekend, and after reading the various threads here about trouble with the locals, I want to do my best to avoid this kind of thing. Obviously, we'll do our best to keep the car empty of EVERYTHING, but it sounds like in some cases theft isn't the main objective of the perps. I have a Canadian flag postcard that I'll stick in a window, but other than that (no NRA stickers) I don't know what would help. Advice? TIA, Michael

I guess Roller Coaster was technically my first 5.9 trad lead, though I only led the crux half of the pitch. It is a beautiful chimney, with a tricky exit move, and sure was a nice finish to the Flame. I heart chimneys. Have a blast finding some good ones around here. Best of luck

My car has been broken into twice (not a trailheads). In both cases, I'd removed the face plate from my stereo and locked it in the glove compartment. In neither case was the stereo stolen. Given what I've heard about the local trailhead thieves, though (scanning credit cards from locked glove compartments), I might have lost the face plate had the break-ins happened at a trailhead.

UW buildering Personal recommendation: along Eastlake north of REI, several of the I-5 support columns feature perfect hand cracks. They are of varying height, from a little tiny one directly across from REI (you could pull the roof, too) to an 80'-er or so by the northbound on-ramp from Mercer. Also, the east entrance to the Bon Marche at Northgate has a great wall for traversing.

Submitted my paper to Science on Thursday, took a day to celebrate on Friday by touching real rock for the first time in 7 (!) months. Arrived at Private Idaho at Index at 8 am sharp, sweating profusely. Lead "Senior Citizens In Space", felt great -- lead head is still there. Then, suffered my way up "Battered Sandwich", my first OW lead. Took me probably 45 min. Then wandered up to Hag Crag to find some shade, and found plenty of moss. The "splitter" crack looked fun, if we could get to it, so I led up the first two bolts of the scrubbed slab climb "End Run", then tensioned across the moss to the crack, only to find it totally covered in grit and lichen, and wider than my gear. Back to the slab, which was fine until I hit the rock warmed by the noon sun -- bye-bye, friction. See-ya, ethics -- pulling on draws and standing on bolts got me to the top. Not pretty. Back to the lab for the afternoon. What a great morning!

A few years ago I went on a Washington state climbing mini-road trip, and on the way between Mazama and Leavenworth noticed some nice-looking granite around a lake near Lake Chelan, off Alt. 97. I finally looked this up yesterday and realized it's Lake Pateros. Anyone know if any of the slabby crags rising out of the lake have been developed? I'm looking for a place to go with my Dad when he visits in March -- we typically try to combine outdoor activities, so I'm thinking of a canoe approach to some dry granite in March. (Any other ideas along these lines?) Thanks, Michael