ScottP

"I was in fear for my life. I thought he had a gun."

I once saw a guy on the S face of the Tooth vent his frustrations on a bit of shrubbery with a large hex while screaming obscenities at the sky. It was frightening and entertaining at the same time.

Uh, yeah...

"The death of Irving Smith, on March 19, began an unfortunate trend: he was the first of fifty-five rockclimbers to die in the Valley during the next thirty years (all but four of these occurred after 1970, the end of the Golden Age). Smith, a blond, crew-cut high school junior from Fresno, had been climbing with enthusiasm for a year and wanted to be the youngest person to stand atop the Lost Arrow Spire. 'How old were you when you did it?' he asked me one night in the coffee shop at Yosemite Lodge, two months before his death. After I replied 'eighteen,' he grinned shyly and confided that he would soon---at age seventeen---be attempting the spire with a group of Fresno climbers. I raved about the route and predicted he'd have no trouble whatsoever. "Ironically, he never even set foot on the actual spire: he was killed on the 'approach.' A pair of long and frightfully exposed rappels must be made to reach the airy notch separating the Arrow from the main cliff. Smith, first down the second rappel, never got to call 'Off rappel!' No one saw what happened; a brief howl echoing from the depths marked his last moment. He may have rappelled off the end of the rope; perhaps the rope knocked a loose rock down on him. More likely, however, is that he had reached the notch and was making the transition from rappel to the shattered granite gap when he lost his balance or grabbed a loose rock. He plunged into what I regard as one of the most sinister places in the Valley: the Arrow chimney. This slot, prehistorically dark and damp, is a place to avoid. Certainly it is not a good place to die. Smith ricocheted down this dreadful crack for 500 feet, lifeless long before he smashed onto a chockstone ledge. "The body, first spotted by Smith's friend George Sessions a few hours later, was thought to lie in an 'inaccessible' spot by the rangers; they and the lad's father opted to leave the corpse where it lay. To justify his postition, the father told reporters the standard cliche: 'This is the way Irving would have wanted it.' What else could a grieving dad believe? Warren Harding, uneasy with the decision, immediately volunteered to rappel and recover the remains. The rangers declined his offer and placed the Arrow Chimney off limts to climbers for a year. Chouinard and I were first up the Arrow Chimney after the death, and I was in the lead when I came upon the desiccated remains. To break the tension, I yelled down to Chouinard, 'Goddamn it! His parka doesn't fit me!' The body had quickly decomposed and within a few years would be washed down the chimney by winter storms. "We immortal ones shrugged off Smith's death. 'The guy couldn't even rappel right, for God's sake,' I remember saying glibly. We thought accidental death could be avoided by sound methods: if you checked knots, checked anchors, checked each other---then all would be well. Only incompetents died. It could never happen to us." Steve Roper, excerpted from Camp 4--Recollections of a Yosemite Rockclimber, pp. 110-111.

Here

Planet Claire

I am a wood scavenger... The wood for this project came from a 1920's bungalow remodel.

"Cruzin Cooler combines two basic necessities of life, the ability to have cold food or a beverage handy along with the means to get somewhere, without walking."

No way! That is so gnarly!

aka: route flossing

Time isn't after us...

The only instance I can think of is where one bails from the route due to an insufficient rack...

What if it's an aid line that went free solely because of pin scars...? "Hey thanks for the pin scars that allow my fingers to fit in the crack. Oh, by the way, now that my fingers fit, you can't use pins on this route."

citated? new one for Websters! Citated is a perfectly cromulent word!

Bailey Range in the Olympics

Shrubbuyuh

No mistake or big pancake Underclings or angel wings Finger Stacks or Plastic Sacks Fingerlocks or Cedar Box Make That Move or Six Foot Groove Lose Yer Stance, Shit 'cher Pant

Mike led up the pitch and bailed, so I never saw it. It was on the 7th (extension) pitch, so I assume it was a new one.

My grumbling was largely tongue in cheek (except for that one button head where you can view a good 50% of the shaft by looking behind the hanger). I want to say thanks to those who refitted that route. It was well done and much needed. The meathooks that used to protect the lower crux were about as grim as they get. Mike didn't mention the missing hanger on the 4th(?) bolt of pitch 7.

MPD/DID

Looks like Uday Hussein: after the troops were finished. Nice photoshop Tex. Uh...no...

Castle Rock has got to be one of the coolest crags in WA, made even more special by having the place to yourself. My favorite is hooking up Old Gray Mare and Canary for a longer, more sustained experience than the standard Canary. Give Diretessima and Century a go sometime. Also, The Fault to Catapult to The Bone makes a nice alternate approach to Logger Ledge and the upper routes.