slothrop

I was bored at the gym reading the various magazines and came across a fine bouldering photo credited to one Will Strickland. The photo was taken in Georgia somewhere. Is this cc.com's own willstrickland? If so, congrats. I hope you got at least a new crashpad's worth of dough out of it.

Yeah, good fun. Mattp, AlpineK, and jjantz's slides were great! How come I didn't meet trask or DFA?

That's some half-assed thinking, there, Dustin. You assert that a person's perception of reality is subjective (whoa, dude! no way!) and then claim that you somehow have access to a superior objective reality? Does being a Mountie grant you omnipotence and wisdom beyond us mere mortals? I climbed the Tooth with many Mounties and watched the leaders act with incredible condescension toward me and their own students. What the fuck? Why would I want to climb with, or even near, such a group? That day my partner was a Mountie, though not climbing with the group. It's the group dynamics and leader-student relationships I have observed among Mountaineers that make me not want to climb in the presence of their groups.

I saw his slideshow/talk about the book and really wasn't all that intrigued. "Prospectors tried to cross the Cascades in winter and were killed by an avalanche blah blah blah..." Maybe the book is less like a dry historical text than his speech was.

The first time I climbed the Tooth, both Mounties and WAC were there... oh, boy. I was hoping to get up there again this weekend with my girlfriend and even had Lundin as a backup, but looks like the whole pass will be swarming with helmet-nametag-types.

Hey chucK, that's a nice photo! Climbed for the first time on Snow Crick Wall Friday. Orbit is fucking rad! I weaseled out of the first pitch (chimney) and ended up getting to lead the best pitches. We deposited several ticks in the bathroom sink at Gustav's. Saturday went up to Givler's Dome and had the place to ourselves for a while. Givler's Crack rocks the dome! Watched a couple guys make Bo Derek look easy, then grunted up it less gracefully. Back down the trail to Dogleg Crack, a tricky climb for me. With a few hours of daylight left, we parked at Icicle Buttress, intending on simulclimbing to the base of Cocaine Crack, then taking it to the R&D Route to finish. I only brought quickdraws, so we had little gear between us after the slab. At the crack, we wimped out (getting chilly, nervous from the simulclimbing) and retreated down a gully. I bootied some techy cord and a locker from the anchor partway up Cocaine Connection. A few beers at a guide service's campsite and then back to Seattle. What a great weekend...

I'm going to visit my mom and brother in Germany this June and we're probably going to Interlaken or somewhere else in the Alps for a few days. Any guidebooks I should check out for that area? Anyone been there and want to suggest some routes? Places to meet partners on short notice? I don't have any moral problem hiring a guide, but my budget won't allow it. My brother might be willing to accompany me on some easy, short rock climbs, but he doesn't have the gear or experience for harder stuff. So basically I'm looking for alpine climbs to solo (easy snow or rock) or crag-type stuff (unless I can find a partner...).

And watch out for the ticks! My partner and I flicked off a half dozen of the bloodsuckers last weekend while at Snow Creek Wall.

Bummer, man. I've got some leftover percocet if you start running low. Hope you heal quickly!

Werd, as they say.

Apparently iain's got what you're looking for.

Is Beckey working on a new edition of the green guide (Stevens to Rainy Pass)? Any idea when a new version is to be published? I'm wondering if I should just go pick up the current edition or just wait for a new one.

If you buy Freedom of the Hills you can lug it on your training hikes and read a chapter at the top. Bring it along when you go to practice crevasse rescue and use it to pad the lip. I bet if you showed up at the crag and started leafing through it, everyone nearby would either A) clear out for fear of having to rescue a newbie or B) helpfully answer any safety questions you might have. Either way, you win! I prefer books because you can read them away from a computer.

I think you've hinted at the answer to your own question. Maybe it's because he's out climbing instead of sprayin' on cc.com.

Ray-neer is the big one in the distance, Stuart is the big one in the foreground. To the left of Stuart is Sherpa, on the ridge from Colchuck. Dragontail is out of view on the far left side.

Awesome! Mom will be proud.

Ironically enough, I was warming up on some easy boulder problem at the gym this past week and felt the three middle fingers on my right hand go "crunch". It was as if the bones and tendons rolled over each other (I was holding a three-finger pocket). I quit climbing and biked home in disgust. It's feeling better after some icing and three days of rest. Sheesh.

The Climber's Guide to the Olympic Mountains (Mountaineers Press) has good information on this area.

Punctured lung? Did one of you guys prod him too hard with your trekking pole to get him hiking faster?

The two pitches of 5.easy, though fun, aren't really worth the hike, but it's not a bad outing if you climb the east ridge first, then rappel and climb the south face. I thought the super-slippery green rock in the initial chimney on the e. face route was cool. Great view of Mt. Stuart, too, and Ingalls Lake is a pretty spot.

What kind of climb requires a simul-rappel? I'm having trouble picturing it... you have to reach the ground way over to either side of the anchor? Do you simul-rappers (heh heh) always knot the ends together to prevent the dreaded double death fall? It all depends, I suppose, but knotting the ends seems doubly important in this case.

Fascinating! I've always wondered why my dog went to great lengths to eat out of the catbox. I always thought he was just mentally deficient.

Thanks, Mountie!

I had the cell phone plugin for the Handspring and it blows. The phone gets shitty reception compared to any regular cellphone and it's awkward to hold. The ringer is impossibly quiet. I hardly ever talked on the damn thing. Great idea, poor execution. Maybe the newer fully-integrated Handspring PDA/phones are better... I got a regular ol' phone with the same service plan and it's so much better that I actually use the phone now. I still keep the PDA around for the calendar, todo list, and address book. I'd be lost without it, even though it's broken in strange ways: the screen has some permanently black areas and the thing eats one pair of batteries per day (I use rechargeables).