willstrickland

Car to car is do-able (about 10 miles and 7000ft gain and loss), but take advantage of the three day permit to climb some other classics in the immediate vicinity and make the most out of the hike up Garnet Canyon (a true ass-kicker in the second half). A good agenda is to hike about half-way up and do Irene's Arete, sleep there, hike to the lower saddle the next day and rest. Do a route on the Grand the next day, and sleep on the saddle again (although you will have to get permitted for somewhere else like the moraine since you can't be at the same spot 2 consecutive nights). On your fourth day climb a route on Middle from the saddle (NW Ice couloir) and descend to the south fork of Garnet Canyon. You'll be hauling all your gear up the Middle, but you'll also have eaten all your food and burned your fuel. Recommended Routeson the Grand: Complete Exum Gold Face Variation of Exum North Face North Ridge While the Owen Spalding is interesting from a historical standpoint (and has some wild expsosure at times) the climbing itself is pretty lame. The Upper Exum has great position, but by traversing in on Wall Street you miss the best climbing on the route (the lower six pitches). The complete Exum is good enough that I did it two weekends in a row, taking the Gold Face variation the second time. Car to car in a day is brutal. You could do it, especially on something that is way mellow climbing like the Upper Exum or the OS (the OS can be nasty if the chimney is icy though). I'll actually be there in the last week of August or first in Sept and have a 3 day agenda similar to the one above (with a little twist on route selection).

If that dude puffs enough of that Congo Chronic he won't need them 3-D glasses to things in blues and reds and purples and oooohhh look at that flower...and pass those doritos, I sure am parched.... So what's he smoking? Congo Chronic,Kunta Kente Kind, Nile Nuggets, Egyptian Endo, Somalian Sensimelia, South African Skunk, or Ghana Ganja?

Ahhh, the notorious book(s) of Zion fiction. There's more bogus info in those than in my posts to this board. People off route on pitches "correcting" ratings and other such nonsense. Although they are better than Bjornstadt's topos which are completely full of shit. Guy might want to at least look at the route with a telescope before publishing some half-truth "topo". It's kinda cool to see original hand drawn topos from first ascentionists (plenty of "names" in there)and various funny notes. Zion rangers are hit or miss. While waiting for the walls to dry out this March my partner and I were contemplating doing some slot canyons and the ranger we spoke with all but forbid us to do the ones we were considering. We asked "Are they closed a certain time of year, or are all the permits already issued, or what?" . Reply: "It's dangerous". Well no shit asshole, that's why we're trying to go there. So we ask "Well is it against the regulations to go there?" Reply: "It's too dangerous this time of year". Then finally we get to the point: "Just tell us, is it going to get us in trouble with the law and are we violating any rules, regs, or statutes?" Reply: "Well no it's not illegal, but I don't recommend it and wouldn't do it this time of year." Well thanks for your concern RangerRick, you wouldn't be up on the wall routes either, but we are not you and you are not us so cut the bullshit. I know one guy is no basis to judge people, but after multiple run-ins with another prick ranger in Camp4 that eventually led me to file a formal complaint on behalf of myself and six others, I'm beginning to dislike those Smokey the Bear hats.

Found this pic in Pope's copy of the Cascade Select guide...guess that's him over her shoulder. Too bad she dumped you Pope, that's a fine woman! [This message has been edited by willstrickland (edited 06-29-2001).]

A little off topic, but man that Kropp dude is impressive. Ride a bike from scandanavia to everest and then climb it without O's? Makes me feel like a big loser, which of course I am

cool specialed, If you need any lowdown or suggestions drop me an e-mail or private message.

Nahh, even with my limited short term memory I think I'd remember that one. The scene down there is bigger than you might think. There is multi-pitch quartzite and granite within a hour and a half and an unbelievable amount of bullet-hard sandstone within two hours. On a side note, the NW Georgia, NE Alabama, SE Tennessee (TAG)area is probably the best caving area in the country and most of the cave entrances are right at the junction of the sandstone and limestone bands in the mountains...which means climb on the sandstone all day, rest a bit, eat some shrooms and cave all night. On Pigeon Mt in GA, there is the popular bouldering area of Rocktown, Lost Wall-a mile long trad cragging cliff, and a few caves including Ellison's with a 80ft followed by a 100ft then a 600ft pit drop, another has a few miles of horizontal passage complete with many tight squeezes, underground rivers, and even sumped passages. There's also mountain biking trails and even first ascents to be had...but I'm not saying where! In the south when winter hits and the weather sucks there's no ice or snow to be had so we turn to caving..night or day, hot or cold, rain or shine it doesn't matter because it's always 60 degrees in the cave.

Hey, anybody know where I can read about the Middendorf/Bongard 5.11 soloing on acid as training thing?

Anatoli Boukreev, "The Climb": I climb my own way because goddamnit it works, oxygen is a liability and is for punters like the assholes I'm guiding. I saved a bunch of people's ass alone in a storm above 8000m after breaking trail and dragging a bunch of whiners around and all I get is blame so fuck off armchair boys.

Actually tweaked the finger...drumroll: bouldering in the gym, how lame! Haven't been on a wall since March in Zion. I prefer small towns (lived in a town of 300 in Utah and loved it), but of all the cities I've spent extended time in...Atlanta, CO. Springs, Denver, Salt Lake, Chicago, St Louis, Boston, Orlando, D.C., Seattle, and San Fran... Portland is the best hands down. I chose it specifically for its access to resources, cool people, progressive politics, amazing beer/food/coffee, cool summer weather (I grew up in the steam bath/sprawl monster known as Atlanta), low crime, low rent, and relatively small size. Just don't tell anyone, ok?

Joe Simpson, "This Game of ghosts" I was a little brat kid then almost got killed then almost got killed again. Mark Twight, "Kiss or Kill" I hate myself and I hate you too, you fuckin gumby. Steve Roper, "Camp 4: Recollections of a Yosemite Climber". There are alot of funny partying stories to tell but I'll give you a history lesson instead. Greg Child, "Postcards from the ledge" All around hardman escapes by the narrowest margin, every time, all over the world. Paul Petzoldt, "Teton Tales", Young bumpkin invents US mountain guiding while climbing a load of first ascents in the Tetons.

quote: Originally posted by lisa: Strickland, have you climbed the Sisters? You naughty girl you, I'm not Catholic, but even I wouldn't fool around with a nun! (the latest Tom Robbins character didn't seem to mind it though). Seriously though, no I haven't been on the Sisters, haven't lived here long enough to do more than a few routes in the mountains. The traverse looks like a nice long day, wonder if that's any good.

Dwayner: Agree with the sentiment, but in this case I just don't think it's gonna happen. If I saw it right, it was about the Winds. I did Pingora two years ago and I think the approach and the fact that you are almost guaranteed to be racing some weather will dissuade most folks. It might surge this year and maybe even next year, but once the "epic" stories start rolling out "Yeah brah, it was fully sick, we got horizontal hail and almost got nailed with lightning like six times" people will reconsider. Besides, most people making the trip all the way to Wyoming will probably be clogging up the Grand and Devils Tower. An article about the Colorado Natl Monument ran a few years ago and the only climbers you'll see down there are on the one "classic". Independence Tower I think it is. I wish they would run some more spew articles about Smith, American Fork, Rifle, and Shelf Road.

Something you might try if you really want the performance of climbing boots is to use a snowboard instead of skis. You can get a split board that has the advantage of being able to wear like skis while skinning up a slope, then connect them and bomb the run. I actually rode a whole season in a pair of Invernos because me snowboard boots got swiped and I was broke. Again, not ideal but the short cuff and flexibility in climbing boots is not a big issue on a board.

hey lambone, Did Chongo talk to you about "spin theory" and his book on physics?

yeah, you're right specialed, I'm being a damn weenie, I started to write an excuse, but for a guy whose self-proclaimed favorite climbing is "adventure trad routes" there is no excuse. Thanks for calling me on it!

Anybody done this? If so, what's the poop on the A1/5.12 section? How long, what kind of climbing (if done free)?

Hey, I'm good looking, I'm savvy, I'm single. I like bagging a chick, uhh I mean sneaking a peek, uhh I mean climbing on top, dammit! I mean, yeah I like to climb too. I don't do rock anymore either, I've switched to meth, cheaper and the guy down the block cooks up a batch weekly. Sorry Lisa, I couldn't resist. I'm a little far away in Portland, but I think there are plenty of guys up your way that will reply.

Man, shit is pretty bad to get bombed with, but you'll live through it...what's worse is when (here we go again): Standing at the base of Lurking Fear, watching two dumb fucking spaniards try to learn how to aid climb while we were waiting to get on route and we manage to get this out of their limited english and my very limited spanish: Me: "Hola compadre, quantos dias nosotros en Lurking Fear?" Spaniard: "ascendan en tres dias" "Cool" we think, they're not fixing, just blasting. We'll wait till they're on three and blast. So we hang at the base, pack the pigs, rack up, and wait. After taking a fall on the bolt ladder (still don't know how they managed that) we start goading them a little. We're all laying on our backs staring up at them when I see the dude break out a HUGE cheater stick, an 8ft extendable painter's pole. He clips past something and clips the stick back to his rack. An hour passes and one of my partners is snoozing, the other is half asleep and I'm still watching the show. Next thing I know he's got the pole out again, then as I'm contemplating how big it must be (not as big as Big Lou's stick I'm sure) I notice that it's getting bigger all the time "HOLLLYYYYYY SHIIITTT!!!! MOVEMOVEMOVEMOVEMOVEMOVEMOVEMOVE!!!!!!!!!" WHAMMMMMM!!!!! Bastard dropped the cheater from near the top of the third pitch and never said a word. It came down into the manzanita like a javelin, glanced off a boulder and stuck about a foot into the ground. My screaming roused the crew in time and we all went scrambling/tripping/diving out of harm's way. It was a pretty funny scene because noone really knew where to run to and we were running around like headless chickens. The missile missed my bro Jamie by about two feet. We screamed at them for about an hour, and then they dropped a tube of lip balm, then a stopper...we definitely didn't want to be below these guys on the wall so we humped all our shit back to the meadows (and if you've been up to L.Fear or the West Butt, it's a long approach by El Cap standards). Back in camp after a few beers we decided to go and see if anyone was lined up to get on Zodiac, we get to the meadows and "Hey, where are those assholes?" They fixed from 3 to the ground. Seeing the line to get on Zodiac we went back to camp for more beer and to try to find that cheater stick jerky in the yellow tights. Good thing we didn't run into them, someone would have gone to jail...Jamie in particular was ready to rumble. So, you know, it's all a matter of perspective...I hear some folks even like poo...Pope? [This message has been edited by willstrickland (edited 06-28-2001).]

Hey specialed: add a rimjob from Donna and we'll talk! Cavey: You never know, stranger things have happened.

lambone, You should point him toward a book called "Living Buddha, Living Christ" by Thich Nhat Hahn. Goes along way toward reconciling the gap between eastern/western religious paths. I grew up in the bible belt, suday school teacher stepdad, church every sunday, the whole nine yards. My folks just about shit when I revealed to them that I didn't buy it and hadn't since I was 13. The fact that I thought organized religion in general was a bunch of crap didn't go over well either. The fact that Buddhism was the closest thing I indentified with also didn't gain me points in the family. I made my mom read two books: Religions, Values, and Peak Experiences by Abraham Maslow, and the book I mentioned above. The former was the first book that really laid out what I already felt and the latter allowed me to reconcile with Christianty in a way (although not in the sense of what most people call christianty which is a product of Paul and not Jesus but that's another story)

1999 Toyota Tacoma Extra Cab. TRD Off-Road Pkg, SR5 Pkg, V6, automatic, AC. Power everything. Sliding rear window, tilt, cruise control, CD/Cass, Allow Wheels. Black w/grey interior and matching Leer 1022 Fiberglass canopy with Yakima roof rack. Sleeping deck built in the bed, 40K highway miles. This is one sweet climber rig. Legendary toyota reliability and toughness, beefed suspension, set-up to travel, interior and exterior are virtually perfect. I put 6 coats of wax on this thing the day I bought it and have put about 4 more on in the last year. It's lived most of it's life in the desert and the south, so no road salt exposure. Most of the miles (about 3/4) are from my year long climbing road trip. I am trying to get out of the working world as soon as possible and part of the plan is to replace the truck with a beater van than I can live out of/back into trees/generally abuse. The average retail for this truck is $18,500 (Kelly Blue book) to $20,000 (NADA Book). I will let it go for the low low price of $17,000. This really is a great deal, I just want out of this bullshit government job so bad that I'm willing to make some sacrifices.

Pike Kilt Lifter! I second that emotion, that's some damn good ale. If you guys think american beer sucks so bad, you should come down here to Portland for the waterfront brewers festival. P'town is beervana!!! Rogue Shakespear stout and Mocha Porter are pretty damn good too, although way overpriced. Maybe we should break this down into categories: Stout, Porter, Pale Ale, Red Ale, Scotch Ale, Amber Ale, Brown Ale, Pilsner, Lager, ESB, Alt, and alcoholic sodapop. For the cheap shit, PBR can't be beat...$1.48 40oz at the Safeway on my block.

Best beer on earth? The one you find at the bottom of the haulbag on day 4 of a planned 3 day wall.

bottled: Sammy Smiths Oatmeal Stout draft: Tie: McTarnahan's Black Watch Cream Porter on nitrogen, Luck Labrador's Stumptown Porter on nitrogen