slothrop

Sheesh! It's not like everything's going to be all lovey-dovey in the Balkans anytime in the forseeable future. However, things were remarkably calm for quite a while and compared to Iraq, Kosovo is like Seattle on a sunny day in March. The EU doesn't have much of a policing capacity, do they? That's what NATO's for, and they're sending more troops. What else should they do?

Nice job, SEF and mattp!

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2004/03/13/MNG905K1BC1.DTL

Right. But that's no reason not to snipe at Republicans, because they are currently in power and making the bad decisions. There's not some kind of cosmic balance in which the misdeeds of Democrats cancel out those of Republicans just because people like to think of them as matter and antimatter. It's not that simple. The more useful debate is the one about what's going on right now, not about what happened back when. Did the Bush administration lie to bring us into a war? Yes. Do many more people/countries hate us now because of said lies and their consequences? Yes. Are these things bad for the US? Yes.

There's not nearly enough climbing at Exit 32 to make it interesting... I assume there would be some climbing involved to take the edge off the debauchery?

I've been training for that one by washing dishes, but a dirty bathtub is to a few cups and bowls like the Willis Wall is to Da Toof. My hands sweat just thinking about it.

Yeah, definitely work on balance and strengthening the muscles so you don't reinjure it. After I sprained mine, I did lots of standing on one foot (leaning forward/back/left/right), hopping on one foot, hopping back and forth and side to side, writing the alphabet, walking on heels and tiptoes. I only needed to elevate and ice it for about a week, but I kept it wrapped for a month or so. I went back to bouldering in the gym in my hiking boots after three weeks. Just make sure you give your ankle some kind of daily workout. Elevate and ice it a bit when it gets sore.

C'mon, someone say it. "Dropping coils." Oh, I forgot. All the potty-mouthed spraybots are getting drunk in Banned Kamp and can't come to the computer right now.

Yow. Nice first post.

It is indeed the Mammut Flash, erstwhile holder of the title "Rope That's On Sale at REI". What's yer beef with it, eh?

Thank you, lummox, for that bold interpretation of photo #1.

Climb: The Rope - Washing the Filthy Bastard (10.5, 60m, FWA?) Date of Climb: 3/16/2004 Trip Report: I had been eyeing this line for a while, but I felt it was better saved for a bad-weather day. I knew I'd be hard-pressed to find a partner for the sufferfest I was expecting... Washing the Filthy Bastard is the kind of route everyone wants to say they've done, but I could tell it wouldn't be the most enjoyable experience. But, like the man sez, it doesn't have to be fun to be fun. I felt strong, and was mentally prepared for a solo ascent. The approach was no sweat, since I'd done it countless times over the years: cross through the Kitchen, contour right, and you're there. Before I knew it, I was starting up the first pitch. At first, all was well, but then the visibility went to shit: Hoping the upper pitches would be above the dark cloud that now enveloped the route, I quickly pressed on. The first section of the route is mostly a dirty squeeze, but a speedy ascent demanded use of every move I could think of, from hands to elbow-deep rattly wet jams. Some aid gear, for example an FLWM (front-loading washing machine), would have greatly eased the difficulty of the climb and saved me some time, too, but my strong sense of ethics demanded a clean free ascent. Some forgettable climbing led to the mental crux of the route: The Rinse. Careful observation of the climb from the ground had led me to believe that The Rinse would only be a couple tedious pitches, but as it turns out, it was more like four or five. And what a slog! The moves were repetitive and boring, but visibility was improving markedly: Eventually I was staring up at the summit, just minutes away. In front of me, though, was a sopping mess. I used my entire rack on this final pitch and emerged, dripping but triumphant, on top: An easy walk-off descent makes this a reasonable one-day climb. I was back at The Desk, drinking coffee and spraying away, in no time. I believe I have made the first winter ascent of this route (not that anyone would want to waste their time on it in the summer). Gear Notes: Sterling rope wash pro to 60 gallons (bathtub-size), though you can get by with one #5 bucket plenty of water

Sucks about your tickets, but I agree with chucK: don't drive if you don't have insurance. What if some uninsured driver hit your poor ass while you were riding your bike? You'd be up shit creek with medical bills and a mangled bike, too. Sorry to preach, but I think you oughta accept responsibility here... it sounds like you don't really have a stellar driving record (you've been in jail before?), so maybe you need to work on cleaning that up. Then you won't have to worry about The Man hassling you and insurance will be cheaper, too. Good luck in court, man.

Nice restaurant reviews! Though you don't really have any negative ones... more slander and you'd have an excellent online climbers' resource there.

What the hell were you doing to get a $570 ticket?! Is that for the suspended license? What was the first one?

I've traversed very close to the crest and crossed over to the west side just south of the north summit: one slab move to get over to the west side, traverse, then one move up and over. The gullies on the east side are sucky... well, they were in summer and fall when I've been there.

Proof that you don't have to be sport climbing to hangdog the shit out of something. (Hi Dwayner!) Awesome climb, though! Those moves around the roof:

Nah, I wouldn't have been on that thing in the first place. Props to you, Tex, for climbing hard and having your shit dialed. Anyone who's rapping the 30 pitches they just climbed obviously doesn't need a lecture on how to rappel safely. I don't really care how you gain those precious extra seconds, because I'm more conservative than you and will do things differently. Relax and enjoy that 2-liter, man.

Riiiiiight. It takes 5 seconds to double-check your setup and zero extra time to leave yourself clipped in until you can weight your rap device to test it.

To restate the obvious: an autoblock is great for keeping control of the rope, but it doesn't obviate the need to double-check the ends.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/163748_climber08ww.html

If you get into a routine of double-checking everything, weighting and testing the rap line before you unclip from the anchor, and making sure the ends are down or tied, you will ingrain good habits in yourself that may make rappelling safer. Your spidey-sense may alert you if you skip a step in this routine, even after you've gotten over the fear of rappelling. It took me about half an hour to rappel from the top of a climb for the first time (at Smith on a busy day, no less). I think I rechecked everything about ten times. Lowering off the chains, to me, is even more dangerous, since there are two people who can screw up. For that reason, and because I never practice it and don't have a developed routine, I never get lowered off the chains.

Interesting, iain. I don't think any of the people giving CPR had a mask and latex gloves were in short supply.

The climber fell to the trail at base of his climb and then down the next tier of columns to the talus. There was a very narrow gully/corner directly below the climb.

That's not the first time I've heard that today.