specialed

Be sure to check out the Women's Beach Vollyball. Ooh La La

So I imagine the logical conclusion then is that the FS won't fix the road?

August happens to be more convenient for me for long road trips. But I agree Spring or Fall are probably better times to hit the Rockies. Though by that point in the Spring, the tempation of warm dry sandstone in the desert is pretty inticing.

Yeah Kelly!!! That dude is fuckin strong.

Anyone know where Dragonfly actually goes?

N Face looked like the skid marks in Dru's tighty-whities.

Yeah, should have clarified. Go up the right skyline, over the about 3/4 of ridge and down the J route.

Climb: Mt. Alberta-NE Ridge Date of Climb: 8/18/2004 Trip Report: Last week, Rolf Larsen from 11worth and I went up to the Rockies. Drove all day Sunday from 11worth to Field. Luckily, Parks Canada employees were on strike so were were able to doss in the dirt all week and didn't need to get a b/c pass. Monday morning went up to the Parkway Center to look at weather forecast. Forecast looked pretty good for the next couple days - sunny with some isolated afternoon showers. Rolf was keen on climbing Alberta, and since the weather was stable enough we set off to do the NE Ridge. Left the truck around noon, forded the silty freezing cold Waisporous (sp?) and heade up Woolley Creek. About 4.5 hrs thru beautiful country and we were up into the alpine, over the col, and down to the Hut. Got stormed on that night for 10 minutes as an evening storm rolled in. Off at 4:00 AM the next morning after some instant coffee and glue (oatmeal). Made it over to the base of the route before it was light so we sat for about a half hour. Started the route about 6:00, up some chossy 5.8. Rolf setting off cascaded of rocks with every move. Two roped pitches and we gained the ridge. We soloed up about a 1000' on loosely stacked blocks up to the main headwall where the sketchy 5.10 was supposed to be. WInd was ripping over the north side and we started belaying again. About six real chossy and loose pitches with minimal pro going at about 5.9+ saw us up the headwall. One pitch was actually decent with a hand crack and some chimneying. Of course, right after that I pulled a coffee-table book sized rock onto my head and had to hold it there while I rearranged my self to trundle it. The last section, was super unconsolidated dinner plates and some snow and no pro. But we managed to sneak around the east side of the steepest snow on a rock ledge as I only had aluminum strap ons and no snow or ice pro. The summmit ridge was trully a "Sidewalk in the sky," but we were moving too fast to really appreciate it as we summitted at 4:00 pm, and a huge thunder storm was building and moving up valley. An hour later we were at the Japenese Route Gulley. Ten nerve-racking raps, with a thunder of rocks coming down on every rope pull, saw us to the yellow band and we traversed south. Luckily the thunder storm never materialized and we made it down to the flats before dark, leaving us with a casual and beautiful hike across the moraine and back up the glacier to the hut. A 17 hr day. Note: N Face is not in in August anymore and hasn't been climbed since the mid-90's, despite attempts by many well-known and strong parties. After that - a rest day in which I spent all day drinking beer and hitting on the hotty Australian girl that works at the Hostel (to no avail of course). Passed up an attempt on the E Face of Babel due to bear closures and weather and went east to climb the Kafir Strikes Back on Mt. Edith - III, 10c. Crux pitch was completely soaked so we settled for Homage to the Spider on Mt. Louis - III, 10a. I highly recomend this route as it turned out to be one of the funnest routes I've done. Sustained 5.9/10a, in great position on interesting rock, cool features, challenging but never desperate. All in all a great trip with a very solid partner. Though Rolf is a cynical bastard, I'm a judgmental asshole so it worked out OK. Gear Notes: alpine rack, pins Approach Notes: no bears, lots of loose scree

This: This: Doing this: when there is a new page in a thread And actually caring about how many posts you have. is fuckin geh. You people probably coat your brain buckets and automobiles with stickers, listen to the Counting Crows, and drink Zima.

You're a monkey. Fuckin monkey.

Save that technique for extreme situations only. Or atleast when the fashion police aren't around.

He may not have actually been a larger than life mans man, but he was damn good at playing one on TV.

Climbing performance may decrease in plastics compared to leathers, but its a balancing equation. You give up some performance as far as sensitivity, but gain warmth and stability. For long routes in which you'll be on your front points a lot, I think its kind of nice to have a big beefier boot. Also kind of nice to have more protection when your kicking your big toe into hard ice every two seconds for 2000 feet. Plus if you got to ski, as Ian said, leathers suck. On another note: One good trick for skiing in mtneering boots is to tie a piece of cord from the tips of your skis (thats why the frenchy randonee jobs have holes in them) to just below your knees. Provides enhanced stability and control.

For plastics (I think anyway) your best bet is to buy some cheap ones (used is good) that are maybe a half size too small. Plasic boot shells are essentially all the same, its the liner you pay for. Should be able to find some for around $100. Throw out the ghetto stock liner and get some Intuition thermofit liners. I don't know who in Boise has these, but I think they run just a bit over $100. They're lighter, warmer, and WAY more comfortable than any stock liner. You should be able to get a good setup for around $200.

bonjour madamessouile

I thought Joffre might be the one alpine objective in western BC that actually had decent rock. Guess not. Just goes to show Canadians have no taste.

Huh? What's that?

SWIMMING AND DRINKING BEER season officially commenced on July 15.

I am Sofa King

Its too hot Its too cold Its too wet Its too dry Its too 77 degrees and sunny Its too breezy Its too still Sew your gash wannabe hardman.

10 feet of fresh pooder, bring your snowshoes. And crampons.

[insert puke gremlin here] With no disrespect, of course, to the dead poet.

I thought you might bring that up. I have no problem with a bedtime storybook fictional character. I do have a problem with the founder of the USSR and communism having a huge ass statue in the country that fought for some 50 years to defeat the spread of his followers. comprende? Come on dude, the Cold War was cool. The 70's and 80's were fun. Russian tennis playing chicks are hot. Lenin's statue is kitsch. If it were a statue of Stalin, it would be different ...

Your best bet at mountain boots for summer Cascades shit is a pair of approach shoes nikwaxed and seam sealed. If you MUST have something beefier that Garmont hightop is a good boot so is the Sportiva S.

Cool. Hope this falls harvest is bountiful