slothrop

Good to see Herbert getting out in the hillz.

eric8 did the FNA of the HUB Auditorium stage.

Allison, you have no clue. When you are accepted to a PhD program at the UW, you may commence whining on the subject. If your job doesn't pay you to travel, like millions of others in the US, get another one, preferably one that keeps you away from a computer so you can't spray your bullshit on cc.com. Thanks to Gary for taking the time to put together this show, it was great fun!

Jennifer Love Hewitt gave me a smooch on the cheek as my grandpa picked me up from school one day. He teased me for months. We were in second grade, at which point in her career she was already wearing makeup. She didn't look like this yet, though: Oh, and Scot'teryx gave me a belay test at Cascade Crags.

A consumer group did a survey of glucosamine/chondroitin products sold in places like GNC and found that many formulations did not contain the advertised amounts of the active ingredients. Perhaps the FDA doesn't check up on such products if they're sold as "supplements". I'd do some research before rushing out to Costco or whatever and picking up a 55-gallon drum of the cheap brand.

I backed off Blockbuster the first time I tried it... it's so awkward. Only two moves, but I shredded my arms with "offwidth technique". My second liebacked the stupid thing. Is it just me, or is the rightmost crack on the north side of the big tower of the UW rock a lot like BOC?

My personal favorite. On a hard lead, I make it sound way harder than it is by cursing voluminously. Helps to focus, though.

So your ethics are "ala locke" and "Moses", eh? Based on some vague notion of improving yourself and the rest of the world? I wanna see them stone tablets, man! Where's MtnGoat when you need him? I think I'm done with this thread. Have fun!

I'll be falling off the V0s, too! I'm hoping to win a sick beanie or 5-gallon jug of chalk from the freebiez giveaway.

You can admit when you've transgressed against your own ethics? How do I know you're not lying? Do you expect to be punished by others when you break a personal commandment? If not, what is the use of your ethics to anyone but yourself? How do I know your ethics don't change? You say they're set in stone, so where are the tablets? Is that the third edition, the large print edition, the translation to Swahili? You are arguing for absolute ethics set in stone. Who set them there? Why are they the right ones? If someone, long ago, decided that this is Right and that is Wrong, how come you can't call their decisions situational ethics? These "books" that you suggest everyone read to bone up on Truth, how come they're better than you and me? You've got a hard row to hoe here, man.

What direct rappel are you referring to? From what anchor? I wasn't blaming the crack for anything. I think GNS is popular for its good climbing, ease of access, sunny location, proximity to Seattle, and moderate grade. That's a pretty good combination. When I first climbed GNS, I was not expecting the mondo bolt anchor atop the twin cracks. The existence of the bolts didn't convince me that the climb was worth doing. It's a well-established crag, so I guess I did expect rap anchors of some kind, but I don't care what kind of anchors they are (bolts, slings, pig head wedged in a crack, etc.) as long as I can rap from them. I think we discussed this in another thread: if you can place gear, you can set a gear belay.

That anchor on GNS is a mess, sure. There's no reason not to set a gear anchor there or continue up to the tree or to the top of the slab (rope drag notwithstanding). But that anchor is nice for rappelling, and two bolts w/chains are less obtrusive than a nest of webbing around a tree.

I can't imagine that the only thing keeping the newbies from running screaming from the fine climbing on the GNS is the security of those two giant bolts (which were not placed by climbers and never intended for climbing use, I would suppose). Would you go to the gym instead of climbing outside if you had the choice? I like the cracks at Stone Gardens, but not that much. On the subject of top-roping: Leaving aside the fact that not all sport climbs, even single pitches, can be set with top-rope anchors by walking to the top or even rappelling, why is leading on bolts more popular than top-roping those same climbs? Perhaps the overhanging nature of some sport crags has influenced the preference of bolted leading vs. top-roping. It's a pain in the ass to TR something if a fall sends you ten feet out from the wall.

About why Exit 38 is so popular: if there was a place to climb dozens of cracks, some of them sheltered from rain and climbable in the winter, with a minimal approach and close to the highway, would you go there? What if it was the closest such place to the largest metropolitan area in Washington? Would you expect there to be large groups of people there? Would the largest concentration of people be on the easier routes? Ever been to Index on a nice weekend and seen the Great Northern Slab? Maybe we should fill cracks with concrete, since they obviously cause environmental impact by their mere presence. This is the same kind of hyperbole you're spraying, Scott.

Rock 'n Ice also recommends "BZZZAATTT!".

Sure, that's the name of the game, and it's why chipping is wrong. But how many bolts are too many? Should you only climb routes that you can walk off or downclimb, thus enabling you to leave the rock clean of fixed gear? Are bolted anchors acceptable? Are slings better because they degrade more quickly? You seem to admit that there's some leeway for bolts, but your earlier posts make it seem like a fully bolted route is unacceptable. How many gear placements are enough to make an otherwise bolted route acceptable?

Huh? Are you paying attention? Is the Mirror lying and Bush really is giving that speech before Parliament? No. The facts are that Bush refused to give the speech because he didn't want to be criticized in public. For the same reason, London is being asked to spend millions not just on security, but to keep any and all protesters out of camera and microphone range. What a coward.

A good story well told. The inevitability of your situation is captured nicely. for the ’'s, though.

Great news! who beat up unarmed visitors.

Out east to visit family in NC and GA. Got in a day of sweet granite last Thanksgiving, so maybe I'll drag my lil' bro out to Stone Mountain again. CBS, your turkey day menu made me drool.

Dru, you're so needy. Veggie's photo is linked externally, so he can't do that as easily as you can with your photos, so I forgive him.

Ok, so Dru suggests that we should all be unafraid to post TRs because the ensuing criticism will help improve our writing skills. But what can one learn from insightful comments like "you suck, gumby" or "that route blows, you should have done X" or ""? The only people who would post TRs in the face of such pointless negativity are the clueless and the egotistical. So your style of backhanded, sarcastic criticism, Dru, is only likely to support a culture of chestbeaters who like to hear the sound of their own voice. Be a part of the solution, not the problem.

I pretty much quit posting TRs to this site because all I've been climbing lately is Crowded Climbs kinda stuff or crag routes and no one who is willing to post here seems to appreciate that sort of thing. Like cracked said, I started writing TRs because I saw what other Internet chestbeaters were doing and thought it'd be fun. I like to write, too, like Dave. If your TR can be informative about conditions, inspire someone to put that route on their ticklist, or just provide some good laughs or self-reflection, then I think it's worthwhile. It's usually pretty clear from the thread title what kind of route a TR might be about, so those bored of Tooth Reports can skip 'em. It sucks that more gumbies don't post their gumby TRs because the vocal and elitist among us just can't be bothered. Use the thread ratings to rate TRs. That might help the TR nazis to filter out the undesirables, too.

Looked pretty rocky on Sunday, but there was a discontinuous line of white near the NE ridge up to the summit block. I didn't get any pictures.

Get people used to the idea of paying fees for development they may or may not want. This looks like a minor appeasement meant to ward off criticism. But yet some undeveloped sites that are usable for camping may require a new, separate camping fee???