ScottP

From eBay: Some 'interesting' prose to describe the items in the pictures: "Besides the three slings, this lot contains 11 great, vintage and in at least two cases RARE items! Everything is in great condition, ready to use or display. Several are unused! Rare and unused is, I'm told, a Chouinard "Crack'N Up". It is the item that looks like an anchor, about 3.25 inches long. Crack'N Ups slot into thin cracks and then weight on the offset shank then cams them into place. So, 3000 feet up, no finger holds? Just reach up and place the tiny tip of a wing in an incipient crack and step into the attached strap! If you have the nerve! Rare also, in unused, minty condition, is the Chouinard RURP (Realized Ultimate Reality Piton). These are super in incipient cracks or as a key chain decoration. I once zippered 9 of them on a climb at Seneca Rocks. The tenth stopped me! Scarce if not rare is the LEEPER 8 inch long extraction tool for retrieving deep nut that have "walked' into the crack past your reach. Not common is the single SMC bolt hanger. It is unused and minty. I did use the Salewa (Sticht) 9mm belay plate for a haul, but he CMI figure 8 belay device is new, unused with only tiny initials in it. The four chocks are interesting. One is a SMC "camlock" #3, maybe used once. The second with a Bonaiti carabineer attached to the sling is a #6 "T". The third on the wire sling is CMI #4 cam locking. And the fourth, orange in color, is a "T4". I am told these T's are from Forrest Mountaineering and are called "Titons". Great and scarce vintage stuff, but look closely at the sharp pictures and decide the value for yourself."

Big Honker Smoke Out Ledge #1 The Ice Cream Scoop Narrow Arrow

Brandon De Wilde...played the snot-nosed kid in the 1953 Academy Award winning Shane.

skull

...or these guys...

take ex-lax

I was watching this ESPN segment about a 60's era spy program whereby the US and India planned to mount a nuclear-powered listening device on the summit of Nanda Devi to eavesdrop on the Chinese. The expediton was abandon and it was decided (according to the CIA guy being interviewed)by the Indian contingent to strap the nuclear powered unit to a ledge until the next year when they could finish the mission. Not surprisingly the plan was then scrapped and the 4 pounds of plutonium subsequently went missing from the ledge. The CIA guy being interviewed said the sherpas liked carrying the 30-40 lb device because it was so warm. In the next sentence he said it was certain that the sherpas who carried the device died as a result. Not a new story, but new to me. Pete Takeda's perspective...

Quite the bummer when you have to explain such a lame-ass joke...

"Kicking the gong around."

Not this cowboy...

That's not Garth Brooks... It's the guy on the left...

Details

I remember that bugaboo on Model Worker @ Index always gave me the creeps. It was pounded in at a funky angle, but seemed to have a camming action when loaded. Still, I never wanted to fall on it. (Is it still there?)

"Sir, if you were my husband, I would poison your drink." --Lady Astor to Winston Churchill "Madam, if you were my wife, I would drink it." --His reply ...

WHO ARE THESE JOHNNY-COME-LATELEES1?1?1? Shaw Clemens

A young boy went up to his father and asked him, "Dad, what is the difference between 'potentially' and 'realistically'?" The father thought for a moment, then answered, "Go ask your mother if she would sleep with Brad Pitt for a million dollars. Then ask your sister if she would sleep with Brad Pitt for a million dollars, and then, ask your brother if he'd sleep with Brad Pitt for a million dollars. Come back and tell me what you learn from that." So the boy went to his mother and asked, "Would you sleep with Brad Pitt for a million dollars?" The mother replied, "Of course, I would! We could really use that money to fix up the house and send you kids to a great university!" The boy then went to his sister and asked, "Would you sleep with Brad Pitt for a million dollars?" The girl replied, "Oh good heavens! I LOVE Brad Pitt and I would sleep with him in a heartbeat. Are you nuts?" The boy then went to his brother and asked, "Would you sleep with Brad Pitt for a million dollars?" "Of course," the brother replied. "Do you know how much a million bucks would buy?" The boy pondered the answers for a fewdays and then went back to his dad. His father asked him, "Did you find out the difference between 'potentially' and 'realistically'?" The boy replied: "Yes. 'Potentially,' you and I are sitting on three million dollars, but 'realistically,' we're living with two hookers and a future congressman.''

"The more things a man is ashamed of, the more respectable he is." "Humor is the great thing, the saving thing. The minute it crops up, all our irritations and resentments slip away and a sunny spirit takes their place." Shaw and Clemens

Russell and Zoe...

In other words, someone quite special...