Pencil_Pusher

Anyone know of volunteer opportunities to help kids get out and enjoy the wilderness, or organizations that need help from us climber-types with some ropes course or equivalent? I was thinking the Boy Scouts might have something along these lines. Maybe Big Brothers/Sisters too, but does anyone happen to know for sure by chance? Maybe special ed or disabled kids/adults orgs as well?

I bought a 3.3mp from walmart.com for $157 brand new. Vivitar 3715 though I don't think it has optical zoom, just something like 3.2 digital. For supersmall though, I saw a Casio 2mp that makes the Elph look big. Don't remember the name, but it is on their website.

Where's all this love for Walmart coming from? There's some good, cheap stuff in there. It is interesting how people associate quality with price when the consumer doesn't really have much else to go on in comparing similar products. It's just a fact of life that people blindly equate one with another.

So if you don't want these new "climbs" to get attention, why mention them?

what i don't get is that since conditions vary by year and the ice melts off anyhow, isn't most wa ice unclimbed on a yearly basis?

Man, it's hard to make any kind of argument for a real woman while looking at that eye candy. Yeppers, that is a lustworthy woman alright. Still, I'd take a real woman before any of these avon-queens or anorexic Maxim twigs. Although that Pat with a bra/bro above is a whole lot more woman than I wanna be lovin.

Hey if you're still looking, I just sent you a pm. I've got a whopping week off before school starts up again.

eternalX, hey, it's all cool. i think you just caught a different tune than the one i was singing. i wasn't making any cracks and agree with what you just said. still though, it would've been kinda nice if i could've been a client of, say, Marty Hoey. nevermind she could've probably squeezed the life out of me with those powerful legs of hers but damn if it wouldn't of been awesome to have said, "Gimme some sugar, baby," while way up high on some remote peak. There's just something about a woman in damned good shape... and then if she'll do some leading too :Homer-Simpson-drool:

Put it in Federal Way, there's tons of apartments down there and it's located close enough to Renton and Tacoma. There's tons of youth down there and I can't imagine the startup costs being too high although the legal/liability side might be a bitch. But then you could always talk with someone who works at VW or Stone Gardens, over a few beers, and find out the inside info rather than paying a consultant. I know quite a few climbers that live down south and why not? Housing is cheaper down there.

I actually enjoyed my mullet from 1993-1995. It seemed like something every white male now in his thirties did at one point or other in his earlier years. Well, for those of us that had the hair to grow it...

Of the Myo3, How long is the battery life, what kind of batteries, how much does it cost and does it come with a spare bulb inside (or is there a place in the headlamp to store an extra)? I've always wanted one of those regular/led combo lights. On a separate note, what a trip it must have been for those SAR folks to rappel from a chopper with night vision goggles on to rescue Stefan...

Campmor was my pro-dealing source and I got ahold of some schnazzy Julbos there. Man I had so many problems with those glasses! Thank goodness I didn't pay full price. I've got the $39 Julbo Sherpas now and they seem to take abuse well. Extremodude does look good in those goggles though; maybe I should get some of those goggles, a tan, and learn how to ski on this Washington cement.

What was your question again, Lummox? I don't know why I get distracted every time I read one of your posts.

I agree, riding in Seattle is good enough. You worry more about pedestrians crossing the street than cars. Riding on Airport Way sucks but then it's that speed differential thing. I'm not too keen on riding in the rain, more due to driver visibility concerns. Off topic, Denver is a good city to ride in because they have two separate off-road bike paths (paved) that take you right into downtown from suburbia.

Nice photos and TR. Maybe that approach coulior on W Ridge of Forbidden still awaits a first ski descent? It's hard to justify that I actually climbed that route when everyone and his brother is skiing down it. Eight screws and six pickets and then these yahoos make it look like Bunny Hill.

No kidding, like giving a stick to your fellow climber as he's about to go on lead. That'd be killer trying to piece together moves on lead with a raging hard-on!

I'm not referring to any guide service in particular, but I did hear a story not too long ago from people who had hired a guide however many years ago to go up Olympus. There was something like five clients and the guide and guess who fell in the crevasse? I mean, it sucks for the guide because he hurt himself and had to be flown out of there (while the clients humped his gear out, in addition to their own! Two of the clients had gone down and out for help, if my memory is correct) but it is kinda funny in that the one guy that knew what he was doing was the one in the hole. Nothing against guides either. If I had more disposable income, I'd be a client too. I can see why folks would want guides, skip the learning curve and gruntwork and do lots of cool routes where routefinding and leading aren't issues. I mean, hell if I had the moola, why not just hire Fred (chick magnet) so I wouldn't have to guess at which "obvious" notch he wrote about? Maybe it's spoon fed, but I sure wouldn't mind! You know, hire a chopper to ferry us to/from the Pickets... green eggs and ham for breakfast... maybe hire a female guide for

Damn, I thought we were about to get slammed by that topic title! Cool reading though. There's lots I can remember from that trip, the scenery was excellent and we had great weather (not counting the shiverfest). Norman sent us some great digital photos to help remember. We did it for the challenge but the icing on the cake was getting to enjoy each other's company and the comraderie of enduring a little suffering together. If we missed out on any scenery, it was during the last stretch getting out of there but then, how much time do you exactly need to "enjoy the scenery"? Okay, time for me to stop, now my brain is thinking in Matrix-mode... "You have to let it all go, Neo. Fear, doubt and disbelief... Free Your Mind." Chestbeating? I guess it depends on perspective, it sure does make for a good story to tell (from a guy that can't even lead 5.8). Nah, swissman and mikebell did it two hours faster and Blight says someone did it in 15 hours... THAT is a trail run. Not for me this year, I'm too fat and lazy and school is royally kicking my ass. -DH

Yeah, ask for a raise "American Beauty" style! Where the dude basically tells his boss he'll file a sexual harassment charge because his boss told him to give him ( the boss) a blowjob! Hilarious!

I'm not usually prepared when I go climbing so the simple task of copying the text is way too complex for someone who can barely remember to bring the book (I've climbed Ingalls, Tooth, Marymoor and Exit 38 in Dockers [dress shoes for Exit 38 and Marymoor] and coveralls for Smith [with a case of Snickers I inadvertantly had in the car, which worked out well because I forgot to bring food]). Hell, I've even gone for a hike up to Muir in the then girlfriend's clothes (they were pretty tight) and my cross country ski shoes because I forgot my stuff... my friends said they'd never look at me the same. I'll tear out of Nelson, but not Fred... My bad, I thought the new green Fred was already out. And, I don't know anything about this new Nelson book because I didn't buy it, just thumbed through it. An annual student Mounties membership costs $45 and members get a 20% discount on all "The Mountaineers" books. There's tons of activities going on each month though I have yet to go on one. They'll let you bypass the basic class with their basic equivalency, but because they need instructors, there is no intermediate equivalency. Yeah, I asked and they said no... maybe it was just me.

Saw in the Sunday paper some hiking/camping deals for those of us that take pride in being cheapskates. Sorry, no REI dividend...

Clear the decks yourself, or hike the cable line on Tiger hard and fast to the point where you're about to pass out and you can swear you taste blood in your mouth. Then keep burning uphill. Go home, pass out for the count, wake up and go to work. If still pissed, repeat. Or buy a baseball bat and one of those heavy punching bags and whail on that thing till the cows come home. Putting a picture or sign on the bag might help, for inspiration. Just make sure you have plenty-o-room to swing without damaging things or yourself.

Wow, that's an impressive TR. Good job.

Damn. I'd heard this was coming out but figured the first edition was good enough. Well I was at the Mountaineers Bookstore yesterday and there it was. I thumbed through it and it's got some good photos in there as well as some more routes. Bastards , the damn thing makes me want to buy it... it's pretty inspirational. If Beckey can do it, others can too I guess. Besides, the 1st edition is in pieces due to tearing out the pages for each trip. BTW, the new green Beckey book is out so don't go buying the old one the bookstores are pushing.

Somebody (?) told me you can do something like two double rope raps from the false peak and then walk over to the notch at the base of the w ridge, versus downclimbing. It supposedly shaves the time back down to the notch in half. Beyond that, maybe you could parapente to the car.