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Pencil_Pusher

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Posts posted by Pencil_Pusher

  1. ...catbirdseat for suggesting newbies be quarantined at certain bumbly crags.

     

    I missed that, Dru. Where was it CBS said that?

     

    My only suggestion is there are multiple lines up these easy routes; the Tooth, Ingalls, Castle Rock, and R&D come to mind. So you don't necessarily have to wait in line.

  2. Keep an eye out for the looking-for-partners forum. Distel did a pretty good job getting into the sport, from what I've read here over the months. So long as you can belay and have the hunger to learn, you should do fine.

  3. That split your weekends thing doesn't work. There's a little variable called WEATHER. You could never climb again if it rained every other weekend and you would wind up hating your S.O. if it was bomber blue skies on their weekend.

    A single dude arguing this to a married dude...

    I'm mum on this subject, if I knew what I was talking about I'd be married with kids already.

  4. I've rafted the royal gorge in CO a couple of times. The swift stuff is before the bridge and it's relatively calm underneath. Come to think of it, it was about ten years ago and we were on the river and watched one of those Magnum PI helicopters fly over the bridge, do a 180 while doing this massive dive underneath the bridge and then buzzing the river. Looked very cool, but I didn't have the dinero (it was a tourist helicopter).

    Heard an incident that happened with two skydivers with wingsuits at this bridge. One was to wingfly under the bridge and the other over, both at nearly the same time, as some sort of promotion. Apparently 'over' dude decides it would be cool to thread the needle between the wires, his legs hit the bridge and either kills him immediately or when he hit the ground.

    Last, but not least, the wood planks have about a half inch to an inch between them so as you're walking along you can see the bottom between the planks. Then when the cars drive over, the planks shake.

     

    MisterE, if folks have bushwhacking grades, rap grades seem reasonable cantfocus.gif

  5. I think rappelling could be considered a sport. I remember as a kid watching these guys rappel these cliffs every time we drove by in the summer. Australian style, it was impressive. I've met a few rappel groups all over the US and when I learned to climb, I forced myself to rappel just for the fun of it. Well, I did rappel for fun afterwards, but had to 'force' myself to overcome memories of sadistic army drill instructors.

    I suppose it's like aid climbing in that you're forced to rely on the equipment, whereas in climbing, the equipment is your backup. Maybe people don't like it because they don't do it much. Or maybe it's because climbers rappel after the climb, when they're tired and more prone to making mistakes.

    I've always wanted to rappel the Aurora Bridge, but don't really want to get arrested for it.

    As for the Royal Gorge bridge in Colorado, yeah I remember there's a plaque about midway that tells of the rappel dude that did some record rappel from that location. It's about a thousand feet down to the water or railroad tracks.

  6. Yeah and if you don't have bad BO, a bathroom will suffice. Just some water on the face to make you feel good and a couple handfuls of water through the hair to get rid of helmet head. Take sweaty clothes off, put clothes that were rolled up in pack on, add some deodorant and off to work. I usually wore dockers and a nice shirt. I guess because of the humidity I never really had a problem with wrinkles. The thing I really hated about riding in the rain was the limited visibility and distraction factor for the auto drivers. Seattle is awesome for bus transportation, so the above reference to being near or knowing where the bus routes are, is a great one. Especially during the morning commute, you probably won't have to wait more than 15 minutes for the next bus to come along. I wore a whistle around my neck that I'd mouth when downtown. Too many cars trying to turn or park or peds trying to jaywalk. Never had any maintenance problems and only carried a scewdriver, tiny patch kit, and pump.

  7. Man I would love to see someone's TR of how they went light and took up a big bag of weed to trade for food and fuel while on the route. What do they call it, an 'urban legend'? God, just think of the weight savings...

  8. JoshK, you pollute the atmosphere worse than a guy on his sled. Spin it any way you want, but that's a fact. I don't know what their mpg is, but I'd imagine quite high. Their season is short and it's a recreation. Versus you drive your ass-hauler probably every day, all year long. Gas is something like six pounds per gallon, average car goes 12-15,000 miles per year... how many pounds of pollution are you putting in the atmosphere each year?

    I think others have summed it up well. I've gotten a real kick in the pants sledding in Colorado. It sure is fun. The sledders I've come across here have been nice and slowed down as they drove by. In fact, two sledders drove an injured climber and her boyfriend back down to the trailhead, a few years back. We didn't know these guys, but they happened upon our group and helped out, at Mt Baker no less.

  9. I'm more in agreement with mattp. Add to climbers' impact us driving our smelly polluting cars to trailheads and destroying alpine vegetation in the name of 'routes'. Snowmobiles and dirt bikes are a real kick in the pants. As for pollution, even the peacenicks contribute significant amounts of pollution to our environment while yelling at others for doing the same.

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