fleblebleb

It's pretty sweet right now. I climbed the gully that's so obvious from the Alpental parking lot today, with Geek the Greek and one other. It's very mellow, but nice. Then we had a Guye moment once we actually got on the west face, one of those "huh where the hell are we". We turned out to be north of the NW Chimney route described by Beckey, but had been hoping to climb that route. Oops... That gully we started in has nice ice in it, I'd recommend it for people that are starting out. We used two pickets, slung one or two trees and placed one screw, each placement about a ropelength from the previous one. This was mostly because we were three on a rope, it makes more sense to just lose the rope altogether if you're comfortable on crusty snow and low-angle ice. It felt very solid the whole way. The snow was a lot crustier and more solid down low than up near the north summit. There didn't seem to be much climbable ice on Guye proper, although we saw plenty of icicles and thin verglas. The descent from the summit to the car took ca. 45 minutes, without snowshoes

Maybe trask wants a crotchless eric8 furry too?

Hror, gnhror, zzzzzz... Furries are so mainstream now, they're getting featured on major network sitcoms and shit. I was expecting trask to brag about a costume collection of at least a dozen, featuring some rare specimens like a rat furry, a bug furry, a snafflehound furry, an alpine poodle furry, and that rarest of prizes, a mtngoat furry.

Fair enough

Ah, at last the long awaited payback for the dusting of snow

I don't know about you playing the accountant at Pub Club, it'll be raw chaos as soon as somebody says "bolt".

Mtngoatfuck is the one for politics.

Friggin classic. I'll have to buy you a beer for that ChucK

Boingy? You didn't drop back into wine-speak for a moment there did you?

The Cpt.? You have to be kidding. Check out spray to find out who's into politics

Good one

Well, I remember some Barry Blanchard comment to a Nepal liaison officer or some such, about the Rupal Face of Nanga Parbat being something like having sex with death. So there, that's as good as I can get you when it comes to a real alpinist. I'm just a weekend dabbler myself, try to mix it up when I can... (Dammit, must get rid of flu and stop read stupid Twight book)

That's more like it, I was getting worried I'd have to start frequenting summitpost for my entertainment.

HAHAHAHAHA stamina only means one thing to the sport climber doesn't it?

I'm kind of wishing my parents would chime in and limit my access to various parts of the bulletin board, to tell you the truth...

That wouldn't really serve any purpose, because whenever the Icelandic students at UW meet it's called winetasting too. (That's how I know so much about improving cheap wine through imbibing greater quantities you know...)

Fabulous bullshitting stamina? Coupled with fabulous typing stamina? Exactly which part of my post made you start thinking about sex anyway?

My thoughts exactly.

Aren't you supposed to rant something about emptying the magazine and shit like that? What's with all the rampant pacifism all of a sudden trask? Come on, give us something juicy!

I will share in the effort to make one and two-liner posts to make up for mtngoatfuck's fabulous stamina.

Come to think of it, lack of moderation is also an excellent way to enjoy pub club! Pub Club tonight, WOOO-HOOOO! (Now I better make it down there, right? Just making sure I have a damn strong case when my wife starts wondering what I'm doing this fine evening)

No silly, lack of moderation is the key to enjoying cheap wine.

Ah yes, shitty wine gets a lot better if you just stick with it. Too bad there is such pain in the wake of it.

Err, well, it was actually Mark Twight's conclusion. I re-read his book over the holidays because I couldn't get out climbing, because I was in bed with the flu. So I'm hip with all the funky quotes right now. Wanna know how many screamers to carry on an extreme alpine route? How about how much gu to eat every half hour and what intervals to set your heart rate monitor alarm to go off at and remind you to take a sip of water? Well, I know! I'm big on the academic stuff... Seriously though, I like double ropes for reducing rope drag and doing double rappels. I only use a pair for alpine/trad climbing and only do that stuff well within my limits. When I run into a difficult move with a potential splatter below I'll start looking for a rap anchor long before I start contemplating anything close to a factor 1 fall, or any fall whatsoever onto pro that isn't bombproof. I'm not that brave... The exception is right at the beginning where you're leaving the belay and there is always a possibility of a high factor fall - but those cases always involve both ropes and the concern is with the strength of the anchor. However, I like to use a single 30 m half rope for easier alpine routes that are mostly 4th class but with short steps of up to mid 5th. You can simulclimb most of the way which is just a blast, and then set up a belay for the occasional step. Since the entire rack is available it's usually possible to get a very solid anchor. But, this scenario has potential for a short fall directly onto the anchor, with a high fall factor - factor 2 if the belay were completely static and not through the anchor, maybe more like factor 1 given a proper belay. I don't like to go more than 10' away from the belay without placing gear, and I stack the odds towards me by belaying through the anchor which I think is appropriate in this situation (maybe even through a screamer after all that reading - but that's not going to help the rope any). What system do you use for climbs like this?

I once got to drink a glass of red wine from a bottle that was probably somewhere in the $500-$1000 range, it blew me away. Comparing that stuff with a $15 or $50 bottle (or $5) is like comparing vodka and 7-up.