willstrickland

quote: Originally posted by plexus: Get off the numbers kick! Read the thread topic!

I'm on the 8-ball shift lever (even if it'll be sitting on the end of an automatic shift lever). I'm also currently looking for some (here's your cue Dru) hot-purple dangly balls to go around the interior. The back windows and the one side window (no side windows except the 3 in the doors)are tinted, but not the front ones yet. It was a toss-up between chain-link and leopard-fur, at $4.99 leopard fur got the nod (plus it's getting cool out, chain-link is cold). For bumper stickers I'm looking for a "Benevolent Frateral Oder of Police" bribery system sticker to go next to the "Grass, gas, or ass..nobody rides for free" sticker. If I got the mullet-barbarian mural I'd have to get those heart or spade shaped bubble windows installed back by the rear corners, and probably would be entering an entirely higher level of pimp-style, I'm not that cool yet (need another six months to grow out the hair so I can mullet it). Hey, anybody got some Kid Rock on 8 track?

So this weekend I started the quest to customize my new (old) van in a period style known as "nuveau pimp". In it's previous life it was an '85 Ford E250 wheelchair cargo van. It has started down the road to full-tilt g-ride. I started by removing the rear seats, added gray fur seat covers on the front seats, purple fur covering the dash, the windshield trim, and the console. Added a $0.49 cup holder to the door and a leopard print fur steering wheel cover. Also a fisheye mirror disc for the passenger side. New oil, filters, some Duralube, plugs, and carb cleaner...yeah. Next up the wheelchair lift comes out and the shaggin' station (bed) goes in. Bed will be on a hinged deck that will fold flat onto itself to open the rear carge area to it's full 6'2" clearance height (wheelchair van with raised roof). Under deck will be 4'x4'x4' storage. More purple fur for the door panels, and a battery-powered mini-disco ball for the rear. Eventual plans include a propane catalytic heater and stove in a cabinet, a steel lockbox bolted to the floor and turned into a bench seat, and a sink with a gravity feed water supply. The final touches...a mural or painting for the side...something along the lines of "Hung Far Low Delivery".

Fair enough, originally given 5.8 I might be confused, but I'd swear I've seen that given 5.9 somewhere. There's really only five or six ratings anyway: 5.easy, 5.hard, 5.awkward, 5.fun, 5.dirty, 5.scary....

So Cavey, How many times did you climb Damnation before it went from 5.9 to 5.8?

Dru and Charlie both make really good points. I think three or four things determine how an areas ratings compare. 1. Era when most of the routes were established (climbing some pre-1970 5.9s will confirm this one)2. The type of climbing as compared to your "home area". I learned on the steep, short, sandpaper friction of southeastern sandstone with positive crimpers and open handed slopers...my first tangles with smeary granite slabs were desperate, likewise with basalt stem-jobs and endless parallel desert cracks. 3. The nature of the routes (sport/trad/mixed). Most folks would agree that a 5.8 Valley crack is likely to feel harder than a 5.8 Vantage clip-up. 4. The strengths of the local climbers. A load of well traveled locals seems to help zero in on a proper grading. I've been on stuff that kicked my ass and then romped up something rated much harder simply because I wasn't good at the style required. If I'd been putting it up as a FA, I'd undoubtely have rated it harder than it should have been. That being said, I think it's a no-brainer as to where the best ratings are. Two places: A. Wherever you're lucky enough to be climbing at the time B. YDS = Yosemite Decimal System, enough said.

Just noticed on BentGate's page http://www.bentgate.net/greatdeals.htmlthe following deals that might be of interest: Bibler Big Wall I-Tent $485 (basically an I-tent made to double as the shelter on a BD double portaledge) Sportiva Trango Plus $150, Trango Extreme $230 Scarpa Inverno $230 Makalus $150.

quote: Originally posted by BIGONES: This is for Mr. Will Strickland: What is this sport "posing" that you are always referring to? You must be good at it since you bring it up often and seem to know where it's happening. Those "posers" in Boulder you mentioned must be people like Mark Wilford, Roger Briggs and John Sherman who, I seem to recall, attended CU. Gosh, I wish I could be a polymath like you (or it is a maxipad? .. or whatever you call a font-of-all-wisdom up there in Seattle). Nice troll. Never said there weren't good climbers and climbing there, just need a set of hip waders to get through all the trustafarian and yuppie bullshit and a truckload of money to afford the cost of living. And when you troll, you might want to get your facts straight...those Seattlites wouldn't claim me even if I did live there.

quote: Originally posted by Bronco: You guys are nuts. $30 is enough to buy a season's worth of GU You ain't climbing enough. $30 will get you about 36 packets, at one every 45min-1hour that just gets me through those two-day continuous push routes. It'd take a good Benjamin's worth of GU to get a team up the Chech-Direct ehh!? Besides, us dirtbags got plenty more time than money. Or maybe cook a little meth while the GU is cooling and if you don't blow up the house you could fund the season and get up routes really quickly

Well, I can't speak to this particular model pack, but I do own three Dana packs (all made before he sold the company to K2). The terraplane is the best pack I've ever seen for general backpacking/load carrying. I carried it for 400 miles in '97, then 1000 miles on the AT in '98 before switching to a small daypack. I used it while working hoods-in-the-woods for as year and have carried it on plenty of climbing trips. Just plain bomber...it doesn't even look too bad yet and I regularly throw it around, sit on it in the dirt, etc. They made (don't know if they still do) "overkill" versions of some models that used the heavy-duty cordura that covers the bottom on the whole pack. So I'm curious, why not replace the CCW with another CCW? Any drawbacks to speak of?

Just a heads up... The Moonstone Profusion full-zip and half-zip windshirts are on sale at REI-Outlet.com for about $40 (msrp $100-140). I've got one of these and it's virtually the same piece as the Marmot winshirts...ripstop superlight nylon shell and a thin wicking/brushed synthetic lining. Sizes only up through mediums though...I'm 5'8", 140lb, 40" chest and the med fits me perfectly.

Jon, just wanted to report a peculiarity with the PM stuff. Some of the stuff in my inbox disappeared when I replied to the messages. Others stayed put. Nothing to indicate that any of them were different from others or any correlation between the ones that disappeared and specific action(s) from my end. Thanks for your work, makes my work day more enjoyable for sure.

I've been considering these as a replacement for all around stuff. The question I have is this: Has anyone seen the frontpoints of these in person? They are vertically oriented and changable between duals and monos, but the back-end (nearest your toes) of the points looks flared out toward a horizontal orientation. I'm assuming this is for better support in softer snow/rotten ice...and I'm asking because this feature is the biggest reason I'm considering these. Are the points flared enough and constructed in such a way (preferably with a flat surface on the bottom) as to provide some additional support compared to regular vertical frontpoints? I don't worry about the flare inhibiting penetration in hard ice, it looks far enough back on the point that it wouldn't be an issue. Anybody got the knowledge?

Enlighten me, what are these taxes you refer to? And how can I get around them?

Dru, you act like this is something new. Back when I started climbing, the Pope was just a young polish choir-boy, and we called it pounding bongs. Why we'd go out to a hairy aid climb, sit under the overhanging first pitch on the packs and rip lungfulls...that had to be A-1/4, or at least A-1/8. We were toying around on bowlders as a mere training exercise. We never took a mere bowl-load seriously, only good for keeping you toned...not too useful really and how high can you get on a mere bowl-der?

Actually he BOLTED, or attached to an existing bolt (I'm unsure which is the case) an AlfaRomero hood ornament as an A0 piece(supposedly it's a spinner too) So who's the rapist Lame-O, uhh I mean Leo? In my dealings with him (before I tried to ram a stick into his bike spokes) he was amusing, but quite annoying actually. I found the dirt poor irish lads and OE swilling welshman in the next site to be much more personable fellows. Of course, I'm sure people are turned off by me and my attitude as well, so whatever...he just seems to be a punk-ass hypocrite in this instance. [ 11-01-2001: Message edited by: willstrickland ]

quote: Originally posted by David Parker: Personally I think the best mountains in New England are the Whites in New Hampshire. There are tons of side trails too. Will, at which end did you start/finish? I'd give a high recommendation to the Long Trail (Vermont up to Canada, about 400? miles) as well, fewer hikers, more remote. From memory it crosses and runs in conjunction with the AT at some point. In '97 I started in mid June at the North end and hiked down to Mass. In '98 I started in mid-March at the south end and hiked to the north end. Got a little sidetracked once in VA (ran into a high school friend and partied in Damascus for about a week during trail days fest) and then got sidetracked again in southern Mass...just got really tired of walking around all day, decided to sit around and smoke bowls and see all the hikers (one little hottie from Houston in particular) coming through who I'd passed along the way. Yeah, got a little sidetracked in TN too, spent a week at a commune-farm getting my head together. Northbounding starting in March-May is like a big roving party. You don't really feel isolation unless you seek it until mid Virginia when alot of would-be thru hikers have thrown in the towel. Town stops are frequently prolonged by hangovers and the proximity of food and showers!

The coolest sections IMO were: 1. White Mountains in New Hampshire, specifically the 20+ miles through the Presidentials. Very rugged, very steep in the whites, and fall is unlike anything you'll experience in the west. 2. Mahooksiks through 100 mile Wilderness and Baxter St Park on the far north end. Awesome solitude, lots of water, bogs, etc and it's the home stretch. Baxter St Park is cool and the knife-edge on Mt Katahdin is wild exposure for a hike. The Mahoosiks are pretty rugged too. Don't do this section in spring or summer (the bugs would kill you...I speak from experience as I did this section in summer '97 to scope my interest in a thru-hike, almost went insane). Great wildlife here too...bears, moose, martens. 3. Nantahala's through the Smokies (NC/TN border). This is a great stretch and just fucking relentless through the Nanty stretch. You'll cross balds, see plenty of wildlife (wild boars, black bears, turkey, grouse, deer, and more). From the south end (GA) the climbs and descents gradually get longer and with less switchbacks until the Nantahalas. Then it gets gnarly, culminating with a 6 miles of rocky downhill into the gap at the Nantahala river and 7 miles of uphill out of the gap.There's really virtually no flat hiking until the end of TN going into Virginia, a ridgetop section called the Tennesseee Turnpike where I did my first 30+ mile day. If you do this stretch, beware of the ranger/cops at the "Fontana Hilton". This is the huge shelter(would hold 25 hikers in a pinch) at Fontana Dam at the south end of the Smokies right before you hike up onto the ridge proper. I know six different people who got busted smoking herb there. Also beware of the towns of Roan Mt, TN and Elk somthingorother, NC (it's accessible from the same road as Roan Mt). These are notoriously unfriendly towns to hikers. Also avoid any of the towns around the Smokies (Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge, Cherokee) they define tourist hell.

Or just go to www.alpinedave.com and get a recipe to make your own GU for CHEAP!!!!!

quote: Originally posted by Matt: Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff is a good school in a great town with fine climbing and cool temperatures. I've got friends in school there who would disagree about the school, and the town. Strange super early bar closing times, apparently a bunch of "poser" EXTREME folks at the U (their words not mine) University of Vermont in Burlington is very cool. More like very cold. A fun town for sure (and ranked as the best place in America for Lesbians...maybe fufill some of those fantsies while you're there) but the climbing is nothing to speak of...maybe with the exception of Cathedral and Cannon SUNY (State University of New York) in New Paltz has great climbing and a very friendly town. The gunks are fun, but you'll think the crowds at Smith are tiny compared to a busy day in the Gunks. Just my $3.41

quote: Originally posted by Gerg: 2000 miles was the original length and is kept as the offical length rather than remeasuring the length every time there is a change to the trail. Not entirely true. Original was 2159, and that is still typically used as the length. The 2000 mile bit comes from the ATC's "2000 miler" designation, which sounds a little better than the "2159.63 miler club".

quote: Originally posted by offwidthclimber: it was a lot of fucking hiking, committment and isolation. has anyone here even hiked ONE of the the THREE trails in a year? Yes, I hiked the AT in '98 solo. Did the first half in about 2 month, wised up, slowed down, partied more and took 4 months for the second half (which is actually alot easier than the first half).

Uhh, that's a good question Dave. Mainly because I was already on the west-coast and had friends in Portland (my friends who attended Ft Lewis were long graduated and gone), knew I needed to be in a big city to score a high-paying engineering gig. I also love Portland as a city, clean, low crime, great beer, good transit, resources, etc. Now one of my best partners is actually living there, but apparently just scored a patroller job at Squaw so he's splitting. Summer is pretty comfortable, Durango is around 5500-6000ft and the section of the San Juans right there has some of the highest average elev of any area in the lower 48. Ohh, did I mention the hot springs? The hot girls? Ski-area on the outskirts of town? (Formerly Purgatory, now Durango Mt resort or some such unimaginative crap) Don't know about the job market there though.

Here we go (not in any order): 1.UTC (Tenn-Chattanooga): More climbable rock in a 30 min radius than almost anywhere. Cost of living is low, awesome whitewater, great winter rock climbing (although no alpine and very little ice), close enough to high country climbing to beat the summer heat, great whitewater, biking, and insane caving. 2. SUU (Southern Utah-St George). Ok, Zion 30min, Red Rocks 2hr, Snow Canyon 15min, Canyonlands/Moab /Fishers/CastleValley/Indian Creek 3hr, Little Cottonwood/American Fork/Big Cottonwood 3hr, Joe's Valley 2hr, Ibex 1.5 hr,Virgin River Gorge 40min,Best powder in the world 3hr, closest skiing 40 min. World class crack,big wall, sport, mountain biking, skiing, only drawback is the Mormon factor 3.UC Boulder. Overpriced, full of posers and uberathletes, plenty of rock and alpine. No wonder they're all trust-funders you couldn't afford it otherwise. 4. UNC-Asheville. Possibly the coolest town on the east coast. Insane whitewater(think steep-creek), biking, and tons of climbing in the hillcountry. Pretty cheap to live there, very hippie-friendly, beautiful women. 5. Ft. Lewis College (Durango). This is the one... 14ers, tons of powder, close to the desert (easy weekend trips to Canyonlands/Moab), ICE ICE ICE! Telluride and Ouray right up the road, US Mt Bike team trains there. Black Canyon, Crested Butte, friendly town. 6. Fresno State. Yos is close, that's the only thing going for it.

'bone check your PMs