slothrop

yup, i second the ballet thing. my girlfriend did ballet for a while and she's picking up climbing pretty fast. she doesn't have the arm strength to pull up over roofs yet, but she balances her body very well and got the "climb with your feet" idea right away. btw, what's the difference between a pullup and a chinup, anyway? [ 12-07-2001: Message edited by: slothrop ]

you keep it "down low" for the kiddies' benefit, eh? i think we should keep you away from the kiddies and let you ride your farm animals in private. i was just feeding cavey's woman a hot bag of my wild oats the other day...

you must have won in your category, cavey! were you the guy who walked away with the Flash Jet-assisted Bong by Metolius? some schwag, that miker, i didn't actually stay for the awards, i had to, you know, like, go do stuff with my girlfriend [ 12-03-2001: Message edited by: slothrop ]

hey miker, i thought you left before the awards... how did you find out your ranking? ralph

holy crap, this thread has been here a whole day and Dru or Cavey haven't stopped by to take advantage of the huge spray potential! come on! "Backdoor" access? Knob Gobblers? dereliction of duty, Caveman!

buzz = bonzo ?

The descent from Eldorado Peak kicked my butt. I was sore for a week afterwards, walking-funny kind of sore. The climb itself was pretty easy, and we had great weather and plenty of food, but we were dehydrated by the time we got down (one of the guys I went with chugged two quarts of gatorade as soon as we got to a gas station). I guess I wasn't in spectacular shape... I'm sure Eldorado's approach is no match for the Pickets. But the DC route on Rainier was much less taxing than Eldorado's miles of talus and steep "trail".

Climbed up the outside of a lighthouse in Door County, Wisconsin before better judgment took over about 25 feet up as I looked down at the ankle-breaker rocks in the landing zone I'll submit pics to buildering.net! The lighthouse is real easy, just a series of mantels and heel hooks all the way up. No protection, though... Mostly just survived total boredom and the consumption of huge quantities of meat

slothrop is right next to winthrop. everyone who lives in slothrop is the retarded cousin of someone in winthrop, so you can imagine that the Authorities don't like it when we try to reproduce. that's why we take to the hills -- to escape the winthrop goon squad. most of us have actually moved to canada, which explains a lot.

we must all lament the demise of "i am bone", one of the most vocal cascadeclimbers he appears to have been replaced by someone named "Lambone", who sleeps with cobras (not young sheep, as his name would suggest ).

Found a fogless patch along I-90 to watch the meteors and froze the ol' ass to the car roof doing so. There was a car parked along the road ridiculously full of weed smoke and giggling teenagers. Got tired of not being outside and barreled up Granite Mtn. late Sunday. Got to the flat snowy spot below the talus on the ridge and turned around. On the way down, smelled something burning (it was pitch black by now) and heard cries up ahead -- it was the last two fellers I passed on the way up, with their dog. One of the guys was burning his sweatshirt as a torch, since neither of them had a light. I led them down with my light and we talked the whole way about how I "saved their asses". They gave me ten bucks so I could buy myself a beer. My potential climbing partner had a date this weekend... dammit... all my plans lately seem to get ruined.

aw, you set up the rope swing, dru? that thing was incredible!

i wish... i heard war whoops coming from that wall (we were on morning glory wall closer to the bridge) and thought it was just someone sending their project. we only saw the swing as we were leaving for the day (dammit!). mad props to you and mr. arvin. next time...

we got lost for a bit coming back from smith last night. where is the turn off of 26 to get back to 205? and did anyone else drive through choking black smoke on 26/97 friday night? oh, don't forget your credit card for the all-night self-service gas station near warm springs... the grasslands campsite (skull hollow?) was overrun with canucks this weekend. that's at least a ten-hour drive! just for a weekend! canadians don't even get veterans' day off, do they?

panther, you are one scary fucker. "seditionists"? guess who were the seditionists in 1776? the only real way to get rid of this problem is to make the idea of attacking the US irrelevant. if everyone who's now a terrorist were fat, busy, and happy, not a one of them would give a shit about learning how to make car bombs. not much of a means, but certainly the end. the parallels to vietnam are numerous: enemy blends with the local population, hides in an extensive network of caves, and is opposed by a faction of dubious legitimacy who we're supporting with military advisors and airpower. yeah, yeah, it's not vietnam, but it's still going to drag out for years and end up a big fucking mess. just because we're aware of our mistakes doesn't mean we won't repeat them endlessly. if we could kill osama bin laden tomorrow, great. i don't see how aiding the northern alliance will get us anywhere, but now that we've committed to it, we better wipe the hardcore taliban off the map and install their weaker members in a stupid coalition gov't with the alliance that will collapse in a few months. a way we might earn peace from afghanistan is to make sure the vultures in the region, especially pakistan, don't carve up the carcass for themselves. after we fuck up the place real good, we have to stand watch on the borders until it gets back on its feet again. if we don't help the afghanis get up after we beat them down, they'll just wait until we're not looking and strike back hard.

I have the precip pants. They're pretty light and simple, but they don't seem to be terribly durable. The coating on the inside of the pants is not covered with anything, so it might rub away after a lot of use. They breathe pretty well and water beads up nicely, so overall I'm happy to use them for hiking and approaches. If you're going to get waterproof/breathable stuff, go light...

Point taken. I wonder if ski patrollers and the like have ever had problems with their radios interfering with avalanche beacons...

Running lights, lots and lots of running lights. And a CB so's you can make yo dealz with the truckers as you pimp on down the highway. [ 11-05-2001: Message edited by: slothrop ]

What use is the FCC rating that (I thought) was supposed to guarantee some degree of resistance to radio interference?

Here's some commentary on the topic from a maker of avalanche beacons: http://www.bcaccess.com/fdpressrel/cellphone.html The story above sounds like an internet rumor to me... and why would you bring a cellphone to the mountains anyway? I know I'd just smash mine, and it wouldn't get reception until I got back to the highway anyway.

I was at the Coleman icefall a few weeks ago and had a great time on some smaller seracs and crevasses. There are definitely some hidden pools, one guy we were with started to punch through the softening ice after he jumped off a wall. Take the right just past Glacier at the sign for Heliotrope Ridge and park at the wooden outhouse about 8 miles down. The trailhead is just a few yards downhill from the outhouse. Some of the creek crossings were troublesome in the morning when ice covered the rocks, as there weren't many shallow places to just wade through. We camped at the lookout a little ways up the road and woke to an awesome view of the sunrise over Baker

You can take Gary Brill's course through REI, there are three sessions this winter, each with 3 lectures at 6.30pm at the Seattle (or Redmond?) stores, and a field day. It's something like $130 for members. It's also offered at Marmot Mtn Works, who are doing a short, free clinic, too: http://www.marmotmountain.com/events.htm This post is part of my plot to outdo lambone [ 10-30-2001: Message edited by: slothrop ] [ 10-30-2001: Message edited by: slothrop ]

I got a Patagonia Dimension jacket not too long ago, and have unfortunately not been able to try it out in the mountains. I do, however, bike into work every day (and for most other transportation), so i can attest to its powers of anti-wetness. I rode a few uphill miles through a steady downpour with a poly t-shirt on underneath and arrived at home with only a small wet patch at the neck where the rain had drained off my face. Kick ass.

a good place to practice is on an icefall, say the coleman at mt. baker or the nisqually at mt. rainier. put in a few ice screws, throw down a top rope, and climb in and out of crevasses all day. i was at the coleman a week or so ago with the UW climbing club and had a great time (i'm just starting to ice climb, too). as for getting tools, there are some sweet grivel rambo IIs on sale at barrabes for just over $200/pair with shipping (sorry, lambone )

went ice climbing for the first time with the UW climbing club at the Coleman Icefall. we set up a few top ropes, and after i hacked my way up those, some of us headed up the glacier to some good bouldering walls for some fun bulging, overhanging stuff. had an awesome time... now i want to pick up some cheep ice tools and head out again. rambo II's for ~$212 a pair on barrabes (with shipping!)...