slothrop

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???

I see JayB behind Colin's fro and there's a draining the keg just out of the frame.

Is that an inversion or what? 10k freezing levels and 45 degrees at the passes?

eric8 and I took our gear for a hike up Guye Peak on Sunday. We were expecting much more snow and ice and about 15 degrees colder, so we had too much crap in our packs. Slippery snow on the trail down was annoying and more challenging than the climbing. Saturday was a low-value day at Index. I belayed and jumared City Park and climbed Blockbuster. Nice weather if you're going to be belaying for an eternity, though.

There is a sweet 5' handcrack on the South Rib of Guye Peak near the summit. Pro to 2.5".

There are some freaks out there with my avatar and way too much bad literary criticism of the book from which the name is taken. But then there's Slothrop the ladies' man:

I, too, didn't reach functional mental awareness until about 1pm today. The dark stuff was too tasty. Thank goodness my girlfriend dragged me home before I could finish my third.

Good times. Polish Bob had some sick slides and the new Darrington guide looks excellent. It was good to see some familiar faces and meet some new folks, too. Nice work, Jon .

Mozilla's free, has tabbed windows, lets you block popups and ad images (though not Flash movies), and has a dinosaur thing as its mascot. download PC World Best of 2003

Aw, sorry, my mind must have been playin' tricks on me.

I think I've seen this one airbrushed on a few t-shirts.

For next summer on the DC route, those will probably be just fine. The important thing is that they fit and keep your feet warm, both of which are subjective judgments, but feature-wise those boots fit the bill.

Is that Michael Irvin on the left?

REMF = Rear Echelon Motherfuckers "In the rear with the gear"