Dan_Petersen

Like the idiot with the hammer, I remind myself how good it will feel when I stop. I never thought I was "training" until someone at work called me a jock. Also, my personal rule is to never exert enough energy to sweat indoors (with one notable exception).

Trust Dru to crack the code. I thought Pencil Pusher sold pencils on a street corner somewhere.

I agree with removing the bolts on DDD. It saddens me to think of the defacing caused by the placing and the removing. On the subject of walk off descents. Way back in the olden days, rappelling was a necessary evil. No fancy rappel stations with shiny bolts and chains, usually just iffy placements or blocks to tie off. The objective was to have some gear left after you were done. I did Condor with my son. At the top we met up with two strong climbers who were rappelling down. We contemplated joining them, but my old dislike of rappelling overcame me and Alan and I walked off, although I am sure he would have preferred the rap. We were down and long gone before the two fellers rappelling even got to the ground. There were several parties ascending, and the resulting "opportunities for social interaction" (clusterf***) didn't look like much fun. They saw us at the packs and asked if we had run down (facetiously, I'm sure). Old geezers like me are runnin' downhill, but not like those guys meant. My list of "to-do's" includes Outer Space and Orbit, both of which I climbed thirty years ago, and not since. I hope the intervening years haven't been too hard on them. Sounds like I'm in for some disappointment. We climbers have a challenge to preserve a unique activity. Read Viktor Kramar's post here carefully. Let's not make climbing a technical variation on window washing or bungee jumping. The idea is to be sensitive to your surroundings and move gracefully, safely, and softly within them. If you aren't doing that, I don't know what you are doing, but what you are doing isn't climbing, at least in my definition. Enough ranting, I'm getting depressed.

No, Sean Connery is really Helmy Beckey. He had to change his name to get more women, as most of the good ones had had experience with Fred and were leery of the name. I think it has worked well for him, don't you?

"Endurance". Sail to Antarctic, sink vessel. Keep three malemutes, lifeboat, wool jacket, compass, and knife. Drag boat until you can sail, then use compass to dead reckon a course on the southern ocean to hit the equivalent of Mercer Island. Land on wrong side of island, mountaineer your way to the other side without equipment. Beg for help for the rest of your crew, sail back to pick them all up and go home. Try again following year. "I would have done better, but I wasn't born yet. Done in adequate style, even though it wasn't me." Goran Kropp, World's Greatest Adventurer "First Ascent of McKinley". Belmore Brown. Got there first, did not, did too, did not, did too.. etc. Hey, what's that big old lodgepole doin' on the south summit? Must be them damn mushers at it again. "I would have got there first, too, except I wasn't born yet." Fred Beckey, 007's Older Brother

My admittedly dated experience with Mountaineers is similar to my experience with dogs. They're at their best one on one when they aren't in "their" territory, and at their worst in packs. As with dogs, its sometimes hard to determine what a given Mountaineer defines as his/her territory.

I live in Kirkland, Washington, just outside Seattle. I work the normal Monday thru Friday, but can occasionally play hooky. I am familiar with Leavenworth and Index stuff, but haven't a clue about other areas like Darrington, Mt. Si, Exit 38, etc., etc. I have some gear, and can acquire more as time goes on. I have the basic safety skills and good familiarity with passive protection (no experience with cam's and such, as yet). Basically, I have started bouldering (but am a little intimidated to go to a gym) and have done a little practicing at Marymoor, both leading and belaying. I have fond memories of climbs like Canary and Outer Space, both of which I have done several times, but not since about 1980. Family and work got priority, a familiar story. Aerobically, I am pretty fit, my main activity for the last fifteen years has been distance cycling. A pound up and down Mt. Si still pounds my quads for a few days (as it did this week, since I went up Sunday afternoon with some friends). So, a bio instead of a short answer. It's more fun than watching TV.

A long time ago, I was a rock climber, like 25 years ago. Now I want to try again, at about the level that rock climbing was way back then (say 5.9 is the outside limit, unless I get way stronger or braver). Anybody out there who wants to do low key stuff with a semi-geezer? You can contact me direct at dpetersen@edge2net.net