ScottP

"Besides that, I thought you liberals were the 'tolerant' party? I guess not."

Recommendations: • Build your anchors to withstand 25 kN (5500 lb) when possible. • If you are going to use wire chocks and cams that have a typical strength of 2000 lbs, then don’t lead out more than 1/4 the belayed rope length. • Never exceed your climbing abilities on a big wall climb. Test your skills at a rock gym, on bolted routes, or under top-roped conditions. • Use only ‘new’ ropes for lead climbing. To protect against shock loading of the anchors, use a rope with a low modulus or impact force rating. • Use a dynamic belay device.

There is one off Big Honker that leads to the upper pitches of Swim. It's the only one I know of that isn't on an aid route.

Makes for nice fingerlocks though...

You weren't born yet.

Fundamental difference perhaps, but my point was those who will be on the receiving end of any protests only need to get a close view of the expanse on either side of the West Buttress (an opportunity I assume they had) to rationalize the bolting they did. By my count, there are about 130 new bolts in place on the routes between (and including) Rainman and Westward Ho since I first went up there in the mid 80's. To somebody who doesn't have the intimate relationship with the Dome that many of us do, that is a substantial impact that might seem to eclipse the few dozen (?) that were placed for the ropes stage of the race. As I said earlier, any protest should not focus on the bolts.

It seems likely (to me) that a formal complaint about a few dozen bolts from a user group that has, collectively, placed many tens, if not hundreds of bolts on the same formation will probably fall on unsympathetic ears. I think a more productive focus would be on those things that have an impact on the ecosystem as a whole; the supposed lack of human waste disposal, trampled vegetation, etc. Add the bolting abortion as a rider rather than making it the focus of the protest.

There's also some "gnarly" video footage

Or the "I'm not a US citizen." bin...

From MediaMatters.org •The daily Rasmussen Tracking Poll released September 7 showed the two candidates tied with 47 percent each among likely voters. In the Rasmussen poll released September 8, Bush had a 2-percent lead (48 percent to 46 percent), which is within the two-point margin of error. •A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll conducted September 3-5 showed Bush with a 7-percent lead (52 percent to 45 percent) among likely voters. But this represented only a small change in support for each candidate from the poll's previous results, which eleven days earlier showed Bush with a 3-percent lead (50 percent to 47 percent). The margin of error was +/-3 percent. •An IRC International Communications poll conducted September 1-5 found that of "registered voters who are certain they will vote, 48.2 percent say they will vote for George W. Bush, 47.3 percent for John Kerry, and 4.1 percent for others or undecided." The margin of error was +/-3.5 percent. •A Zogby poll conducted August 30 through September 2 (overlapping with the TIME magazine poll) showed Bush with a 2-percent lead over Kerry (46 percent to 44 percent) among likely voters. The margin of error was +/-3.2 percent.

After a near fatal car accident that left me somewhat deformed, I came back strong as a climbing guide for kindergartners.

This year none. Total is 10. Six with partners and 4 solo. It is a nice, quick fix and a good workout. I don't quite get the "choss" designation though.

and Seems to me a dichotomy on this particular site. Anyway... I'm guessing the route in question gets a bit of traffic, and might even be a rung on the ladder of routes for aspiring alpinists. On most alpine routes one won't necessarily expect bolts to be popping up on a regular basis, so to happen upon a bolt, let alone a good bolt, when it's particularly wanted would be a bit serendipitous. I guess somewhere between dayglo pink and chameleon would be a good compromise in this ever increasingly crowded climbing world. Thread drift ahead... This was pretty much my point when I made such a big, albeit, unpopular stink about the bolt ladder on Town Crier. It is a pitch with a clean fall if any of the originals blew and to this day I believe it should have been left as it was, the bolts only to be replaced if the originals gave way. On a final note, Scott Johnson mentioned the bolt on SW rib on SEW spire being all the FA party had as an option for pro. Not unlike the chopped bolt on the fifth pitch of Outer Space, in my opinion. My apologies for the randomness...I don't post much.

Brad Driscoll Outnumbered His Guests By One, But A Good Time Was Had By All. Tammy Baker's Face Vomit Launch

Purty.

...it's pretty creepy: By TERESA HAMPTON Editor, Capitol Hill Blue Jul 28, 2004, 08:09 President George W. Bush is taking powerful anti-depressant drugs to control his erratic behavior, depression and paranoia, Capitol Hill Blue has learned. The prescription drugs, administered by Col. Richard J. Tubb, the White House physician, can impair the President's mental faculties and decrease both his physical capabilities and his ability to respond to a crisis, administration aides admit privately. "It's a double-edged sword," says one aide. "We can't have him flying off the handle at the slightest provocation but we also need a President who is alert mentally." Tubb prescribed the anti-depressants after a clearly-upset Bush stormed off stage on July 8, refusing to answer reporters' questions about his relationship with indicted Enron executive Kenneth J. Lay. "Keep those motherfuckers away from me," he screamed at an aide backstage. "If you can't, I'll find someone who can." Bush's mental stability has become the topic of Washington whispers in recent months. Capitol Hill Blue first reported on June 4 about increasing concern among White House aides over the President's wide mood swings and obscene outbursts. Although GOP loyalists dismissed the reports as anti-Bush propaganda, the reports were later confirmed by prominent George Washington University psychiatrist Dr. Justin Frank in his book Bush on the Couch: Inside the Mind of the President. Dr. Frank diagnosed the President as a "paranoid meglomaniac" and "untreated alcoholic" whose "lifelong streak of sadism, ranging from childhood pranks (using firecrackers to explode frogs) to insulting journalists, gloating over state executions and pumping his hand gleefully before the bombing of Baghdad" showcase Bush's instabilities."I was really very unsettled by him and I started watching everything he did and reading what he wrote and watching him on videotape. I felt he was disturbed," Dr. Frank said. "He fits the profile of a former drinker whose alcoholism has been arrested but not treated." Dr. Frank's conclusions have been praised by other prominent psychiatrists, including Dr. James Grotstein, Professor at UCLA Medical Center, and Dr. Irvin Yalom, MD, Professor Emeritus at Stanford University Medical School. The doctors also worry about the wisdom of giving powerful anti-depressant drugs to a person with a history of chemical dependency. Bush is an admitted alcoholic, although he never sought treatment in a formal program, and stories about his cocaine use as a younger man haunted his campaigns for Texas governor and his first campaign for President. "President Bush is an untreated alcoholic with paranoid and megalomaniac tendencies," Dr. Frank adds. The White House did not return phone calls seeking comment on this article. Although the exact drugs Bush takes to control his depression and behavior are not known, White House sources say they are "powerful medications" designed to bring his erratic actions under control. While Col. Tubb regularly releases a synopsis of the President's annual physical, details of the President's health and any drugs or treatment he may receive are not public record and are guarded zealously by the secretive cadre of aides that surround the President. Veteran White House watchers say the ability to control information about Bush's health, either physical or mental, is similar to Ronald Reagan's second term when aides managed to conceal the President's increasing memory lapses that signaled the onslaught of Alzheimer's Disease. It also brings back memories of Richard Nixon's final days when the soon-to-resign President wondered the halls and talked to portraits of former Presidents. The stories didn't emerge until after Nixon left office. One long-time GOP political consultant who - for obvious reasons - asked not to be identified said he is advising his Republican Congressional candidates to keep their distance from Bush. "We have to face the very real possibility that the President of the United States is loony tunes," he says sadly. "That's not good for my candidates, it's not good for the party and it's certainly not good for the country."

Chuck, From what I could gather, there are native species in the Cascades, so, no, you don't gotta "smoke em".

Some species of Formica Rufa do that. They also attack and kidnap the larval stage of other ant species they then raise as slave laborers. Some of the larva they just eat. Also, another type of ant, the Dalmatie, chews and then forms it's food into patties which it then bakes in the sun. The largest ant in the world (Dorylus) lives in Africa and is 4 cm long. Okay, I'm done.

I did a little research: These ants are in the group Formica Rufa. They are also known as Red Wood Ants and "Thatching Ants". They are aggressive and produce stinging bites due to their production (and use of ) formic acid. They are beneficial in that they prey on defoliating insects. Different species are found in different parts of the world. Super colonies with up to 20 km of interconnected mounds have been observed. A couple of sites with pics of the mounds: http://www.wsl.ch/land/genetics/herbivores/ants.html http://www.antnest.co.uk/Nests.html

The thought entered my mind, but I was afraid they would reduce me to a pile of bones in a matter of minutes.

I was on the S Rib of Guye Peak this morning when I came across something I haven't seen in the 20 some-odd years I've been going up into the Cascades: The mound was nearly 3 feet tall and the base footprint was close to 5 feet in diameter. It was completely coveredwith ants to the density you see in the third, close-up picture.

Haven't done the Traverse route, but the other routes I've done have pretty good rock. TR with pics TR with pics Have fun.

IMO the best rock on the mountain is on the East face. I led the whole route and I placed one nut. If you're cozy soloing 4th class, it's really a breeze.

The Tooth: Two people on every belay ledge from top to bottom (10 to 12.) Those that weren't sitting in sullen, goretex wrapped silence, were bitching to each other as I tiptoed through and around their packs and heaped ropes and shit in approach shoes, shorts, sunglasses and a t-shirt. I descended the north ridge to avoid the negativity. The scene at Pineapple Pass looked like one of those REI garage sales with shit scattered and perched on every flat and semi-flat spot.

A guy working at the Arcata mountain shop (Adventures Edge?) told me about a limestone crag on 299 between Arcata and Weaverville. Mostly steep and hard was the description. The university had a climbing wall of sorts the last time I was through there, and this year they are planning on beginning an upgrade of the building (and wall.)