Drederek

I guess the obvious one is the Nose.

It's easier for me to rate stuff near my limit so I'd try to find "test subjects" climbing at or near your routes level.

The key is simple... Climb a lot of steep sport routes and a few 5.8 cracks. Its all one hard face move and endurance. 10D, 11A who gives a Rats... er Monkey's Ass the climb is great and you'll feel great when you put it to rest.

Fairly early on in my wifes climbing career she would insist on hikes every other day. She did not like being exposed either. So I took her on a hike one day to the Dance Platform. It gave her a new perspective on exposure! I took two ropes so I could set a fixed line across the narrow part and belay her. It was the highlight of her trip!

The slab to the right of R&D is cocaine connection. Its 5.7 and has a nice 2 bolt anchor in a scoop about 80-100 feet up. The start can be intimidating (its a bit bouldery) and I ignore the second bolt because its not really in the line I climb. But anyway from that anchor you can trend up and right to the cave route. Its 5.4 and mostly easier but you can lead out to a nice ledge and set up belays every 50 feet or so if you wanted. My wife and I spent most of a day on this when she was new to climbing. Good luck

FYI RC closed till Golden Eagles nest somewhere else sometime late in spring

The Nose seemed no harder than Z crack, just scarier. Killer B's has a really nasty weightshift/traverse move that someone who's spent too much time on plastic would enjoy and find easy. Anything you can bypass with a shoulderstand at Index is not factored into the rating IMHO I vote for Lev "easy" 3rd class descents

i think Manly Wham is the best sport climb i have done in Washington cuz i luv sandstone flakes. Teetering on the brink or magic carpet ride in squamish. Resolution arete in nevada (2 bolts, one not necessary) the freeblast in cali cuz thats all ive done there

Honeycomb buttress AKA the beehive. Its in smoots latest "rock climbing washington" It has 6 sport (gasp!) routes from 11a to 12a and a mixed 10d, two of which are rather overhanging (if its only vertical its just another slab) and its possible to belay from your car. over white pass thru the tunnel left past jubilee camp two left forks and then you cant miss it. Wildcat cliff trail starts there and it is below the road.

Climbed on Honeycomb buttress last weekend (near the Tieton) and found a rap anchor with what appears to be a bullet hole in one of the rap rings. After having cut the mess down (slings wee rotted) i noticed rips and tears in em and a small lump. Sure looks like a shotgun pellet to me. Someone else had previously reslung the anchor, thx. Something to look for when you climb up to slings and a good reason to use chains i guess, people being what they are.

Disposables for me. They are very limited but if you respect the limitations you can do ok with them. A little duct tape and a short QD and it hangs anywhere. I rarely get more than one or two shots i really like out of a roll no matter what im using. And i like not worrying about the darn thing. But i just want to remember the climbs and who i was with. I'll never get one in a magazine tho i do know a shot that would make it if someone got it.

Are they changing the way we get permits for Rainier next summer? Do you have to reserve spots? What time can you sign up in the morning?

Probably just another side effect of all those ADD drugs they give to kids who need their ass whupped. But thats just the cynical point of view.javascript: x() hell no

Made a singleuse poop tube out of a gatorade bottle and some duct tape. The wife hasn't shit on a multipitch climb since I started carrying it!

Watch out for the spelling police!

Got to go with orange Metolius TCU. Fits where my fingers do without looking. Same for yellow WC nuts.

Wait till my friends in Mill city hear Canadian loggers use TP! Is that one of their 10 essentials? The biggest piece of shit gear I own is the first poop tube I made for my first trip to Yos. I used 3" PVC instead of ABS and it was too brittle, cracked on the third haul and the bottom fell off as we bailed from the top of the hollow flake in the pouring rain. Or maybe the sharkfin tube belay device I found at the bottom of green giant buttress. Besides being an unknown quantity it hangs up and makes for a jerky lower.

I'll be cleaning and lubing my cams saturday morning then going to a local dessert company's free tasting day. Wish I was going as it sounds like I might be intermediate too.

The most physically demanding day I've had climbing was Resolution Arete at Red Rocks NV. It was our third day climbing and we started hiking across the desert at 5:30 AM as it was just getting light. A bracing 2000' up got us to the base of the climb. Twentytwo stellar pitches later it was full dark and we started our descent down beautiful moonlit slabs. After an hour the slabs got steeper and steeper till we made it into the first creek drainage. 3 hours of bushwhacking and boulder hopping later we got to the end of that torturous canyon. Once I relearned how to walk on semilevel ground we made it to the car in another hour. It was 2:30 AM and I was beat. I didn't even consider climbing the next day. Climbing Mt Rainier and descending in a couple of days seemed pretty reasonable after that.

I usually stare at the missuses not the masters! But seriously if you're not hurting yourself you're probably not overtraining. Whether or not twice a week is close to that point depends on lots of factors. I try not to train the same muscle groups on consecutive days. Except on a road trip!

Found some info on staying late without gettig a ticket at: www.mannonconstruction.com/linda/rock/beta/beta_rr.htm

A worthy project and one I hope to help out on. I have a couple of questions. Do you need a fish and wildlife sticker to park at the Quonset hut? and isn't it elk season?

If you're in line when the ranger shows in the morning they'll usually (every time I've been there) just let you thru without paying. Also if you're going to Oak creek canyon and you're there at opening time you can drive the wrong way and save yourself a half hour drive thru the loop (my partner is nuts). It takes at least 20 minutes to drive thru so theoretically you could make it halfway before you had to dodge oncoming traffic. Easy to sneak into the pool at the Tropicana for a bath before the plane ride home. Park in the back lot and walk thru the old three story section. Rocco's New York style Italian Deli near Buffalo and Charleston. Very good and if you can eat a whole sandwich you have been climbing hard indeed!

South Tacoma, please!

53 degrees is the temperature where all those nasty sandbagged climbs at Index climb at the grade they're rated. Don't let the temps slow you down. Happy BD