willstrickland

We're at about 4:30, rising around 10am, setting around 2:30pm.

Who wasted time replying? Oh, that'd be you. Reminds me of a rhyme: Chuck chuck bo buck, bannana fanna go fuck yourself

Nice! Don't get much coverage with those spaghetti straps you know. I've actually got a fatty down jacket, my ice climbing gloves, Sorels, and some windstopper fleece full zip pants I can throw on (and do when it's time to get in the car), but it's not that cold yet, and it wouldn't coordinate with my shirt, tie, and slacks. We just discussed taking some files and going to the bar in the hotel across the street to have some bourbon and sit by the fireplace. The ice-fog is thickening up pretty good too. Nasty shit that ice fog, it's when the particulates in the car/fireplace/etc exhaust freezes up and hangs in this toxic cloud. Kinda like frozen smog.

I think the inside pics that are up on the website are still from the old gym. It sounds like you've been inside the new one? I think it should be a big improvement on the previous situation. First, the monthly rates are cheaper. Second, the space is bigger. It would be nice to have more "regular" gym equipment there, after all you can do Yoga in your living room, my living roomm doesn't have a stairmaster or squat rack though. But the old gym had neglible free weights and no aerobic equipment either. The rates compared to other gyms and in light of the facilities was my biggest beef. I didn't care about attitude and I can deal with the chalk (and it was REAL bad in the old PRG, probably because of inadequate ventilation and the fact that they never cleaned off the surfaces of the top of the walls/rafters/etc). The free weights were also in an area so small and congested (it was where everyone changed shoes and taped up and where the storage cubicles were) that it was almost dangerous to do a bench press workout. Gary seemed a little miffed after I posted the original post in this thread. Confronted me as I entered the gym one day shortly after that, it was kinda funny because I was IRIE. We had a lengthy conversation about his two year plus search for a new building, the realities of the gym as a business, recently losing one of his key employees (Martin, who was a very nice dude, and basically his operations manager, moved back to Texas). Still, I told him I wrote what I wrote and I'd stick by it, his rates were too high and the gym too crowded and chalky. I'm glad to see that he finally got a new place, and I'm sure it's a huge burden off his shoulders. I'm also stoked for the climbers who live in PDX proper, a new gym to train in! Cool! I never thought there was bad attitude there...every gym has a few jackasses, but I found the regulars there to be very laidback, fun to train with. Also found that the route setters were above average...of course that changes with the seasons.

So I wake up this morning, look at the outside thermometer , says -40F. A little on the chilly side. Get to work, office seems a little chilly. Look at thermostat, set on 68, says 60. Hmm, nothing a little turbo coffee won't cure. An hour later, temp in the office is still dropping, 50 something. Guy walks in the door. We're a regulatory office so I get mom n pop homeowners and small businesses coming to pick up permit applications etc. Can I help you? "Nah, I'm just seeing what the temp is like up here. We're ripping out the old boiler and replacing it." HELLO? This is a complex of about a dozen OFFICES. We work here during the WEEKDAY. Isn't this job something more suited for the weekend? Or after office hours? Or at the very leasy on a day when it's -15, not -40? So I'm spraying hard to keep my fingers thawed out. Stupid bastards.

The answers you seek: Revlon powder base and a hint of Max Factor rouge. Paul Masson super hold extra. Mary Kay Really Red is an exact match with the Berry colored sheath on Maxim ropes. Black harness will make your ass look fatter if wearing lighter clothing. Best would be black harness on black pants, or medium tone over black pants. Another option is to coordinate the shoes/nails/rope by choosing the "Evergreen" Chaco straps for the approach, Anasazi Mesas for the climb, "forest green" polish by Covergirl, and the "pine" sheath of Beal ropes. Ta-ta honey, I'm off to the Pottery Barn for some FABULOUS new candlesticks.

My Smith experience is limited to three trips and about 15-20 routes from .10a to .12c (it's not a chestbeat if it's that f'in weak, OK!). I've climbed at a bunch of areas around the US. My feeling is that Smith grades are middle of the road. The climbing is a little more delicate, especially above mid .11 or so, than many areas I've been to. It's one of the few areas I've climbed where the predominance of climbs are dead vertical. Many other places seem to be just off vertical with an occasional overhanging section, or way steep. In my mind, the benchmark for stiff grades has always been Yosemite, the Gunks, and Josh. You could probably throw Seneca in there as well. Red Rocks sport routes and this place in AZ, Jacks Canyon, are pretty soft. Everything else just kinda falls in the middle and I attribute them feeling a little different because my own strengths/weaknesses and/or how much I've been climbing lately, how I feel that particular day, etc. It sounds like the guy who posted the thing was just more suited to other types of climbing. I can usually onsight harder grades at areas that are real steep with good holds than I can at a place like Smith, likewise at places with short, hard cruxes compared to endurofests. Everyone has their natural strengths and weaknesses. One possibility is that many of the harder climbs at SMiff see alot of traffic and get polished and spooged with shoe rubber, making the 200th ascent a little rougher than when it was graded.

I hear ya, but they don't bottle either of those and it's about a 2500 mile drive from here to PDX. I'm partial to Scotch style anyway, Kilt Lifter is a perennial fave. Only seasonals I've found on tap up here are Alaskan Winter, so-so, and Sierra Nevada X-mas. Whats up with Bridgeport anyway? The Ebeneezer sucks. Hands down the worst seasonal I've tried. Oh yeah, tried the Pyramid seasonal - Snowcap I think it's called. Pretty tasty.

Erik, I never would have pegged you for a Danzig fan.

Cheers Mate! Here's a pint of Full Sail Wassail to you

Actually MattP, I think a more fitting reply on my part in light of this thread would be: Piss off Kris Kringle! We know you'd just whistle for the flying reindeer to snatch your snapperhead pussified "I want my mommy" partner and your red-suit wearing clownpunching elf raping fat ass off the mountain. Once again St Nick

C'mon MattP, why you always gotta be the voice of reason? Anyone posting shit this late...and I'm an hour behind you, should be good and drunk. I'm saying climbing is intense, so are the climbers. You can check your societal niceties at the door. Yes, we can be, and are, upstanding. But OF COURSE you don't see it here because we're among our bretheren and the inane customs of "civilized" society aren't required. Well gawwwwlllleeee, SHAZAMMM!! Surprise, surprise surprise! And tell me Matt, if you drop your parter to the deck from a mere 70ft, what are the survival odds? How about 150ft? Not too good I'd reckon. But shit, what do I know? I'm not a lawyer afterall, just a hick engineer. Now back to more pressing matters...like the rest of this pint of Wassail

So it's that time of year, and I've been doing my share of sampling Fairbanks ain't no Portland when it comes to beer, but we get alot of stuff from the PNW up here. I'd rank this years seasonals something like this: Wassail Ole Fezziwig Jubel Winterhook Winternacht Alaskan whateverthefuckthenameofdatshizzis Ebeneezer What else is good out there? I'm going through a sixer of seasonal a week on top of the normal assortment until I've sampled most of the available seasonals up here. (On the normal assortment Alaskan ESB has been in heavy rotation along with Deschutes stuff since they're both cheaper than anything else good up here...like $6.40 /six compared to $8.50 for everything else, schtuff is expensive up here) FWIW, I'd rather have some of TGs barley wine or porter than any of it. Barley wine

And we should care because? If someone is too fragile to post on a freakin internet bulletin board, where they could be anonymous if they so chose, for fear of being flamed, they're definitely too fragile to tie into a rope with me. Catturd, do you ever realize how much shit here just goes completely over your head? I don't mean intelligence, I mean either generation gap, or "square factor". I don't know your age, but I'm guessing generation gap. Like it's big news that we're assholes? Most climbers I know can (and when the situation calls for it are) as respectful and upstanding as the next guy. We can be crude with each other because we've seen through the basic bullshit involved in day to day society. When the chips are down, niceties don't mean shit. Climbing is a game where the cost of total failure is death...that tends to cut out all the superficial bullshit that most of society stays emerged in. If you can't deal with something as silly as the tone of some words written in cyberspace, what the fuck are you gonna do when the storm breaks and you're on day 3 of no food, your partner has just passed out, and it's a 25 mile cross country trek to the nearest help? You gonna go to the chat room and work up the courage to post. Jeez-zus H on a popsickle stick, whadya want a blankie?

Might I suggest she try Beano, or perhaps Gas-X?

what part of Idaho did you grow up in, you fucking racist? Fuck you sizzlechest Maybe you wanna put the rest of what I said back into the quote, which was "...listen to this genre OR WOULD TRY TO SELL IT OFF TO USED CD PLACES..." Maybe you wanna talk to my former black housemates, black bandmates, asian housemates, or Korean climbing partners about how racist I am Go sell your cryin to someone who's buyin, jackass.

Yo Arlen, if it was the 2 disc set called "Guitar", I've got a copy I can burn for ya. If it was one of the "Shut up n play yer guitar" discs, no can help...my copy got jacked. PM me if you need it. Man that music WAS NOT tossed out by some car thief. For one, all the music you listed was hip-hop or urban contemp. I'd wager 98% of the car thiefs out there either listen to this genre, or would try to sell it off to used CD places, etc. Some dumb shit probably drove off with it on his roof. I speak from experience because my dumb ass drove out of the parking at Area 51 in Joes Valley with 200 CDs on my roof and when I saw them fall off in the dirt I could have kicked myself. Probably 50 of those 200 ended up with nasty scratches from the sand that worked its way into the CaseLogic book. And the Black Eyed Peas Outkast are ATL boys and their new album SpeakerBoxx/TheLove Below , well it too.

I've got a Petzl Pro-Traxion. Good system. Definitely better than the old WallHauler I had, and much better than the "use your jumars and a regular pulley". Only drawback is the the smallish pulley wheel. It could stand to be about twice as big. I believe the Kong Block Roll device has a rather large wheel on it. Gri-gri sucks to haul anything other than maybe a light pack, and in that case I'd probably just use a couple biners and a garda hitch (one of the more useful knots to know). But, you said you were El Cap dreamin, so see if you can find a Kong...I'd try ClimbMax in PDX, they are the only full-on Kong distributor I know of in the PNW, and if they don't have it, I'm sure they could get it. I did my first wall hauling with a regular pulley, a jumar, and a tibloc because I was soloing and had to use the other jug and my gri-gri to rap down and un-stick the bag a coulpe of times. After that episode in stupidity/cheap bastardness, I coughed up the money for a wall hauler...which kinda sucked. I'm happy with the ProTraxion.

Wal Mart is a plague on society. Their staff is underpaid with terrible benefits, all so we can save $0.49 on a $20 item, then go buy a venti half-caff skinny low foam latte for $4. They have a vicious union busting crew, and have closed a least one store where it looked like their union busting wasn't going to work and the workers would organize. Why should we care? Because while you save $0.49, and the Walton family gets rich, the under-compensated Wallyworld work force is sucking the public tit for health and social services that YOU are paying for. Save a dollar while shopping, cough up two in taxes. The only winners are the WalMart stakeholders.

Good cause, for sure. How are you getting it to let you click more than once a day though? What's the scam I'm missing? B-Rock pointed it out earlier, it's cookie based, so erase your cookies (tools->internet options->general tab->erase cookies). Do that after each time and you can ping it as much as you want.

Mad props to B-Rock for the cookie tip off. I been pinging that mother 20 or 30 times a day at work. Don't have much of a homeless problem here in Fairbanks, they turn into popsicles about November...and no football either....which I couldn't give two shits about anyway, only good football is COLLEGE football. Anyway, I encourage you to give it up for Atlanta, they have a huge homeless problem and the stupid yuppies there obviously are oblivious to this cool thing Cambells is doing.

Scott, maybe you misread my post. I don't care if it's hard, that's not the point. My point was that it's some rinky dink ass little craggin cliff, NOT some big mixed alpine line that someone will covet as a "worthy" ascent. You wanna put up mixed stuff on Prussik, cool man, just leave the bolts at home and do it in a proud style. My view...and that's all it is, MY view, is that if someone wants to practice mixed climbing on some inconsequential cliff and they feel the need to bolt it...go ahead, IF it's not established as a ground-up only area already. Would I rather them not bolt it? Sure. Do I care? Not much, it doesn't intrude on my experience, and unless there are people that were looking to do those lines ground up, it's not intruding on anyone else's experience either. I think sport-bolted routes (mixed, rock, or whatever) make climbing the equivalent of an outdoor gym...that's a big reason why sport climbing doesn't appeal to me. I won't deny that it's a great way to get strong, but to me it's pointless other than as a training activity. That said, it's pretty hard to train mixed climbing indoors...unless you own a three story meat locker or something. Something has to give somewhere. So I guess I'd rather have them get strong on some bolted little training cliff and then take the skillz to da hillz to climb something big and proud without the bolts.

Little story: In Kennesaw, GA local laws require every homeowner to own a firearm. This law was put into place in the mid to late 80s if I remember correctly. Do you know what happened? Crime rates dropped like a rock. Home burglaries wen from average to almost non-existent. I'm all for background checks, waiting periods, and restrictions on certain types of weapons. But, I'm also very against sweeping laws restricting firearms. The old cliche rings pretty true "If you outlaw guns, only the outlaws will have guns". I'd prefer to be able to fire back, or wax the tweaker who decided to break into my house at night and try to rob me and rape my wife. Of course that assumes that one day I'll be married...pretty big assumption, that one YMMV.

I'm not a Bush supporter, but I am a Georgia native. Max Cleland was a nutjob who rode his disability through a sucession of state politcal offices before becoming a US Senator. I wasn't happy with his replacement - Saxby Chambliss, but nevertheless, whacko Cleland needed to go. The guy seriously had some out of touch views on plenty of issues...take look at his voting record and some of his statements sometime. I don't discount what you're saying about Rove, particularly the dirty press about McCain...who I hoped would pull down the nomination (McCain isn't my ideal candidate by far, but was better than most in that race). Anyway, it's not big news Scrambler, dirty press and backhanded rumour spreading has always been a part of politics...it goes hand in hand with the lust for power.