slothrop

If I bring pins, it's only been on routes where I also have an ice tool with me, so I use the ice tool hammer. Almost all established moderate alpine rock routes I can think of around here don't need pins since they protect well with a regular free climbing rack (cams & nuts).

Pick up a guidebook and start climbing well-established routes that look a little harder than what you're doing now. For example, NBC on Colchuck, White Salmon Glacier on Shuksan, NF Buckner. Look at Steve Ramsey's website. He's been writing TRs for a lot of moderate steep snow/ice alpine routes lately. "Just go out and do it" is pretty damn good advice, though.

Come on, Scott. Get a grip. Do you really think I'm that callous? If you can point me to some news sources that describe general anarchy in that region (aside from the recent flare-up, of course, which is duly noted), I will gladly read them. I just was not aware that Kosovo has been racked by bombings, genocide, and anarchy since the late 90s. This is the period I'm referring to. I know that things were very bad around the time that NATO got involved, but I had thought they had improved: in a cursory search, the only news stories I find in the past 6 months are about the war crimes trials and rumblings of Serb nationalism in parliament. I am well aware that other regions of the world, like Iraq and Haiti, have seen some serious strife lately, hence the comparison.

Dude, have a ! That's exactly what I said: it's not going to be a fucking picnic anytime soon, given the region's history. But, prior to the recent flare-up, I don't remember hearing about Kosovo the kind of news that has been coming from places like Iraq, Israel/Palestine, Afghanistan, Western Africa, or Haiti in the past year or so. Which of these places have you been to lately, Cheif? I mean, you've really been "in the shit", right?

cleansing

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:

It's ok to click those links, though they won't take you to the items mentioned. DLL files aren't programs that can be run on your computer just by clicking links to them.

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.