Beck

...Teddy gets a big grin and smiles slyly as he places a stopper up high off the rock from the bergshrund. " I know it was you, silly. Do you think you could fool people with that two bit drag queen act? You've got to get a lot better at it for me to like you." My heart was crushed. " Belay on." I manage to mutter out between stifled sobs. Teddy sends the first step off the shrund onto the rock. What a solid climber he was, his den mother would be proud. He had the skill of Sharma and the coolheadedness of Messner. God, what a turn on! I call out to Teddy as he climbs up a ladder of solid jugs midway up the first pitch. " Teddy, it's more than just my climbing in drag! I was terribly confused as a young man. I felt like I was a lesbian trapped in a man's body, I always wanted to munch puss or hang out with naked chicks and a bottle of coconut oil in the tent while everyone else was out in a blizzard. If anything, it's compromised my climbing,all this emphasis on women, and I'm tired of living the lies any longer..." Teddy stops mid pitch, looks down the granite face at me and says, "Well, you know, Becky boy, there is a solution..."

Two thin pads, try to get Evazote closed cell foam. Layer outer shells, mittens,etc between the two. You can widen toss n turn footprint, keep your clothes from freezing solid and dried out somewhat via body heat, and gives plenty of R value. You don't want to be using a thermarest in the winter and depend on it- lots of sharpies to poke aand valves to freeze, I've seen it happen (to my friends) WAY too often.

Look for leather lining- Montrail Mazama is a stout, GENERAL PURPOSE mtn boot. For technical leathers, Kayland looks like the SHEET for great boots, also Scarpa leathers.

Allright, it's Bellingham Friday the 8th!Let's go climbing Saturday afterwards!

Nope, the old VE-24 didn't have an integral 'bule, they sold add on vestis or I think you can find a REI Geodome or LLBean vesti that'll fit... Vestibules USED to be virtually unknown, you'd dive through the snow tunnel and that'd brush most of the snow off you. The way stoves used to be, not many people would've cooked in a vesti anyway! A big plus for us men, the snow tunnel allows for a quick "up on your knees " poke through the tunnel for midnight "dehydration drills"- don't even have to get all the way out of the tent!

Drinks tomorrow night downtown Seattle at the Pike Place Bar and Grill, see Pub Club post, Dwayner!!!

If it's got the snow tunnels as well off the back two hexes it'd be worth 100 bucks for the thrill of slithering thru a snow tunnel, wouldn't it? Those are a feature modern tent manufacturers have ommited from their product line and THESE THINGS ROCK! I wish a tent company would get the tunnels back on serious mountain tents where they belong!

...with Teddy re-energized,he nearly HAULS me up the rest of the gully and we make great time up the up to the bergshrund we needed to step over to attain the rock face portion of She's Gonna Blow. I pull up to Teddy's stance on the top shelf of the snow in the gully. He's pulling chocks and stoppers out of his pack and racking them up on a bandoleer sling. "Wow, Teddy,that rack makes you look hotter than Antonio Banderas on a siesta! Let me give you the stubby ice screws, looks like we've got some verglas burnishing some of the shaded sections still." I take off my pack and start digging through it. I get out my helmet and cleverly lay my Kevlar falsies out on the snow right in front of him. "Teddy, do you remember, back at the rock a few months ago and there was this total knockout hottie with a lot of blonde hair and a chest protector like this one?" "Yeah, she was HOT! I got so worked up I had to go burgularize a honey store, just to get satisfied after I saw her. Man , did I want to eat her right up!!!" Teddy's eyes glazed over. "Honey pie, mmmm..." Now was the moment of truth. "Well, Teddy, that was me." and I haul out my German made Marlene Dietrich wig and placed it on my head while coyly winking at Teddy R... [This message has been edited by Beck (edited 08-25-2001).]

Pope mentions Scottish straps- SMC made Scottish straps available thru Mountain gear in Spokane

Yeah, the Husky's their Cascade and lower 48 boot, not as much insulation as the Everest. Just seeing if any one's used em for a while and any quirks they might have.

Hi Eddie, no ,dude, I DO climb, give me a break, I'll use em on any winter rescue climb I'll do on Mount Rainier if I'm not skiing it. do you know anthing about One Sport Huskies? I'm specifically looking for some actual expertise here, not some hack dis, dude. [This message has been edited by Beck (edited 08-24-2001).]

Rigids are recommended for rigid boots only, I don't know if a counter person will fit a set of rigids to a flexible boot unless he's a dipshit. Flex is key to comfort, especially if you like to be comfortable, I'd recommend leaving the rigid cramps and boots at home unlessit's 1)vertical or 2) you're wearing plastics or doubles.

..."Gee, Teddy...you smell better than a wahine at a Molokai luau!" I manage to stammer out. He turns his head in that special way and winks at me. My heart throbbed for the bear. He turns back to face the snow gully but goes back to that strange behavior of waving his arms and repeating to himself , "Hi, I'm Teddy Ruxpin." and it's starting to freak me out a little bit, but I calm down a little bit as we begin to simulclimb the gully. Teddy's on lead, dropping a picket every sixty feet or so. I'm pulling them and clipping them onto my harness, then notice Teddy's been failing to girth hitch the runners low enough on them. He's even got one death threaded, good thing we're not in any real danger in the gully. He's also spazzing out every so often, swinging his arms aimlessly if he wasn't tasking them and rotating his head back and forth like drunken Irishman with a lot to say. Looks like a little fatigue... I call out to him about 700 feet up the gully. "Teddy! hold up. I've got to check your backside for a minute!" Boy, did that get me all excited, thinking about him that way. Wow. He is so SEXY with that fur all slicked up, I was clearly getting excited. I hoped Teddy wouldn't notice as I pull up to him at the platform he was slowly stomping out in the steep snow. "Teddy. Come here. Turn around." I barked at him like a dominatrix at a Shriners' convention. He could barely turn his head and mumble weakly, " Hi, I'm Teddy rux..' Damn, I had better act quickly.I start digging around in the thick fur of his back. Wow, was I excited by all this close contact,it was tough to keep from trembling as I popped Teddy with a new set of Energizers. Titaniums. Teddy's eyes lit up as if the Pink Bunny had plugged him with a MaxiVibe turned on full power! He roars, " HI! I'M TEDDY RUXPIN" like a steer on adrenosone, grabs me in a huge crushing bearhug that, quite frankly, sprained my willy. Wow, I nearly climaxed with all the affection but Teddy's hug was too brief and he reconcentrates and hurls himself up the gully... [This message has been edited by Beck (edited 08-24-2001).]

Anyone have any experience with these? I just bought a set in my size (for FIVE bucks!) and I'm wondering about any quirks they might have. I thought the inner boot was removable, but can't seem to free it up, wondering if that's coz they are brand new... any help would be appreciated! Beck

"Smile, and the whole world smiles with you" Zero Mostel in the producers. I'm not upset or anything, I just believe broken pencil to be a vapid piece of Ass himself, hoping he can show his face up at a Pub Club, I'll buy you the first one, pen! maybe he's actually interested in some positive communication like that which occurs at Pub Clubs in the past... oh I forgot, he's a Spanaway "Californian" who loves the look of my kevlar falsies, just like Teddy does.. LOL I'm just trying to keep it real, broken pencil feel free to spray me anywhere you want, it just shows what a bitter pill you must be sucking on,whew, it must SUCK to be you, dude...

See first post, She's Gonna Blow is a classic "forgotten " climb in the North Cascades. !3,369 ft of rock located out off the Gamma Peak approach to Glacier Peak, you can see it across from the Chocolate Glacier if you're up on Glacier's Frostbite Ridge. It truly is a Forgotten classic, if you recall your mountaineering history, Mount Analogue is a mountain hidden from plain sight by a weird lens refraction effect due to atmospheric bending. Rene Daumal led an expedition to another portal onto the Slopes of Mount Analogue via sailing in the Sount Pacific in his voyage account to the mountain of the same name. Current mountaineering scientific data suggested to me there could be other 4 dimensional doors of access to the slopes of Mount analogue then the one he found sixty years ago, so I bagan my search in earnest years ago to find the Mount Analogue of the north Casdcades. It wasn't until a very windy day on the summit of Glacier Peak when I looked across the valley, expecting to see miners' ridge and Dome Peak when looming out of the mists is a rugged spire I had never seen before! It appears the heavy winds had blown away the protective cloak of the refactory vapors coming up from Gamma Hot Springs. Hidden from mere mortal's sights by these deceptive mists, Fred Beckey and his clan never got a chance to bag this one... [This message has been edited by Beck (edited 08-23-2001).]

Wow pen , are you really in love with Teddy,Too? Are you jealous? Dude, this is about drinking beer in Lworth Sunday night, Teddy R's got nothing to do with it.. if you don't like my and Teddy's history, go spray me on spray, broken pencil, and not on the climber's board!

For all of the east of the mountains brethren out there, I've been going up to the Old Post Office Tavern in Lworth Sundays after six P.M. for FREE POOL and buck-fifty bottles of Oly, so, Hear ye, hear ye, a Sunday Meet of the Cascade Climbers' "We're Drinking Now" Pub Club will convene six PM this Sunday at the Old Post Office Tavern- you know the place- because- "We're Drinking Now!" hope to see some of you there, I'll be the dorky looking guy with long hair and black nerd glasses.

...It wasn't untill I saw Teddy R. slick back his fur with coconut oil at the base of the snow gully on She's Gonna Blow that I knew I would be his climbing bitch forever. "It's for the performance" he said, but it made him look slicker than Rudolph Bearlintino and smell sweeter than a wahine at a Molokai luau. Good thing climbing harnesses make you look like you're sporting a pup tent most of the time anyway! Teddy's up to lead the first pitch. We'll simulclimb the gully in a fast run up it, giving us more time on the rock. Teddy's just standing there, talking to himself, going "Hi! I'm Teddy Ruxpin" and saying it over and over. He's doing this and swinging his paws around , but I chalk it up to some weird preclimb ritual psyche he goes through. Little did I know, it signalled a weakness in Teddy R.'s thick skin that foretold the disaster that was unfolding before us on the Climb of She's Gonna Blow...

We'll have to throw a "Beerhunter" contest at the Fall Megafest for those of us who actually watched SCTV, dudes!

Dude, it's fiction!based on historical fact, kind of like a lot of writing.

I don't know for sure but I'm think any references to the Hansen Brothers and hockey playing is based on the seventies hockey movie, "Slapshot" starring Paul Neuman as a embattled coach of a struggling pro-am hockey team. The owner decides he's going to sell the team and Neuman's character decides to import these wild-n-crazy canadians(in the movie) to spice up the league play. Pretty funny movie and touching, too, but these Hansens were totally Whacked! guys in real life, the pictures of them up in the palestra(ice rink) had them in the dorky black framed glasses WITH TAPE IN THE MIDDLE just like in the movies- any one know their hometown?

"The Adventures of Gargantua and Pantagruel" by Rabelais, or Voltaire's "Candide"- great ribald adventure stories!

I think my post went through, if not I'll have to pick up a thread tommorow, leaving work soon.

Marching up the trail behind us was a grizzled old nondescript man and a clearly whacked skinny guy with unkempt greybeard and frazzled grey locks... seems they were talking about a crazy summer they had spent out as Firewatchers in the North Cascades... "Man, that time I took the LSD that nioght of the big lightning strikes up on Hozomeen, I must of freaked out the forest service, screaming and yelling over the radio like that." says the grey bearded dude. "Well, it sounded like you were sitting on an erupting volcano, the way you were screaming "Oh, the humanity, the humanity' like it was the goddamned Hindenburg! You were always such a freak! I'm suprised they let you keep the post all summer long." counters the more nondescript one. "Man, we're getting old! I wish I was sitting on my mother's couch right now, watching TV and drinking beer." "come on, it's for the good old days, Jack.. it'll keep you young... not like our hitchiking days huh? you were such a desolation angel..." so, we never see these guys for the rest of the climb. I find out later it was Jack Kerouac and Gary Snyder. Jack died on his couch, drinking beer and watching TV years before his buddy Gary. [This message has been edited by Beck (edited 08-23-2001).]