carolyn

If an 'out a state-r' vote counts, I would say do the rope up in l'worth the weekend of the 17th-19th. Then the Smiffy gathering the weekend before with the FOOL moon!(oct 10-12). Logistically, Its tends to be easier for me to start my trips South and head North due to limited places to crash and finding rides/ using public transportation (cant afford rental car ). I imagine it would be eaiser to find a ride to smiff or hop on the greyhound to bend from PDX than seattle. Plus Ive been to lworth under a full moon. Bet the sky just lights up down at smith!

Sweet! Thanks for gettin started on the planning so far in advance for those of us who want an excuse to travel accross the country for the famous rope up! Oct sounds great (more time to save money). Full moons are awesome! ANyone want to think about a smith gathering the week before or after, let me know. I will probly plan a couple weeks out there around the rope up.

Found 16 ticks on me and 12 on the young'en I took for a walk with this weekend. I like picking them off and blowing them up with a lighter! When I was in college (in southern Illinois) I worked at a camp where we collected 'seed' ticks. Often times we would have to go out and do line searches for kids. Usually one or more of us stepped into a nest and got covered. We would pick them off and put them in a jar of water. At the end of the summer we would have a "quess the number of ticks" contest. The first dumbass to open the jar to start counting won! Toward the end of every summer we started wrapping duct tape inside out around our legs. Funny to watch those suckers stick. I would take ticks over mosquitos anyday!

Speaking of bbq's, Im going to try and hijack this post in regards to whether or not there will be a fall rope up this year. Ive missed the past two by mear weeks. I actually wouldnt mind planning a trip out there around the time of the rope up. I know its early....just planting the seed.

winter and paco took my list! but they forgot Michelle Shocked and Shawn Covin. (I was wondering how long it was going to take to include bob dylan!)

Ive been a witness to many of backes slide shows. Definately worth it. Just take his attitude with a grain of salt, cause he

nice hoax there, batman!! Daisy would like to be unbanned, btw I will hang around for another moosedrool and then Im outie!

Here I thought I would check it out and see if there was more action in the chatroom than on "shipmates". Guess its back to bad tv, eh?

Damn! Heal quickly!

Thinker- Last fall I was rained out of what would have been my first trip to Blue Mounds, so I have yet to get there. I hear good things about it and look forward to checking it out this year. Michelle - Im committed to a job this summer, but look forward to a trip in the fall. Possibly the rope up if it is planned enough in advance and flights are reasonable. I will let ya know....I would be happy to be the ropegun this time! NorthbyNorthwest - the route was no big deal. Short (40ft?). Mix of face and crack climbing (5.6-5.7). The person belaying (and mentoring) me tends to talk a lot and kept reminding me to place gear (just call me run out queen ), trying to explain things as I went along, etc. He likes to talk. I told him before I started if he talked to much I would tell him to shut up...and not to be offended. I cant count how many times I asked him to shut up! I didnt really feel scared, but my legs did...as I experienced the 'elvis syndrome' for the first time. Im determined to only use stoppers for now on my leads and I have a pretty good eye for what I need right off the bat, so placements werent too hard. I must confess, I do get confused a bit with which way to clip in the rope, so if anyone has any hints on remembering, please chime in! The route has a bit of nostalgia for me. It was the first climb I tried outside and couldnt make it up. Last year when at the top of the climb with two other guys, some tourists were looking and a little boy asked, "how is the girl going to get down?" So ya, taking this as my first lead was definately a good way to see my improvements over the past year or so. Anyway, I found some pictures via thinkers link of the North Shore if anyones interested palisade head shovel point

Thats just gross! Reminds me of when I was a kid in gymnastics. This girl fell off the balance beam and scraped her leg on the edge of some wood. DIdnt even know it until someone said her leg was bleeding. She then proceeded to look at it and pull the skin to see how deep it was, revealing a similar site to that hand. Needless to say I didnt eat spaghetti for a VERY long time following that. Matter of fact, I seem to have lost my appetite for spaghetti yet again. *insert puking greamlin* Maybe its time for you to visit your dad out here in MN, pete. We will get you all liquored up at the club again so you will feel no pain. Hope you heal quickly!

Hey thanks for the link. Will? You out there? Still using the pack? I got a sweet deal on the alpine light (basically have to write a one page review for Granite Gear). Ive been using their latest model the past couple months for rock and ice craggin, but havent had a chance to use it on an extended trip. So I was just wondering if others have, how its held up , etc. Im still playing with the bells and whistles of it all. So far I really like it a lot. Once I write the review I will go ahead and post it. cheers!

Its not THAT flat...you must be thinking of Illinois or Iowa! Pete's got it right. We have cliffs along the shore of Lake Superior. Pretty freaky and intimidating shit. (if you dont get up, you be swimmin' accross that big lake). A few multi pitches, but nothing much over 200ft. Although I really love multipitch climbs, there is some pretty rad shit out here. Bigger isnt ALWAYS better And ice....right again pete...SICK ice in Ontario, especially! Short approaches, no avy danger. Well worth dealing with the cold.

Hey I did my first lead this weekend (trad, of course)! It was AWESOME! I am soooooo hooked! Its been a struggle to get myself in a mental space where I was ready to do this. Ive done a lot of following and a few mock leads last year. I kept questioning..."how do I know when Im ready?" No one could answer that for me. They would just say," ya just gotta try it". Well I cant say how true that is. You really DO just have to try it. Everything people explained to me on the ground in the past (which I wasnt sure sunk in too well) ALL makes sense after going for it. My rope management skills suck, but when faced with the situation of having to set up my own anchor and belay the second up I was able to do it safely. This post is partially to chestbeat and let some of you who Ive climbed with out there know Ive finally done my first lead. The other part of it is to encourage folks who are thinking about leading soon. A lot of support, a bit of pressure, basic knowledge, and trusting myself was the combination I needed to give it a go. it must have been an omen to find a n0 9 metolious cam at the base of a climb earlier in the day!

Anyone use this pack for an extended period of time? whatcha think?

KISS, early 80's, chicago My brother was babysitting and made me go. I was very young and VERY scared! Non-forced was either Naked Ragun or PigFace at the metro in chicago (late 80's?). Just as scary, but much more fun!

I think I forgot to add neil diamond to my list! Yowza!

mmmm...music.... Best shows Ive seen... Iggy Pop Soul Coughing (in a tiny venue) Cheap Trick (always put on fun shows) Mike Watt (anywhere, anytime) The Time George Clinton De La Soul Michelle Shocked Lucinda Williams Fugazi Ive worked at a nightclub for about ten years , so the list could go on...but those would be my top choices. Ian ,I used to work at the caboooooooooooooze. *cough cough* When did you leave mpls? I dont listen much to radio anymore these days. Ive had Jhawks, Neil Diamond, Fleetwood Mac, Bob Dylan, Beck, de la soul, some blues mix, johny cash, and lucinda williams stuck in my cd player for a very long time now....maybe its time to do a little switch , as Im sure my neighbors are sick of hearing me play the same things over and over.

You are probably thinking of Red Wing, which is a little south of the cities. Sandstone. Mainly sport routes. Iain's got it right...TF is along the st croix. Did you go to Macalaster, iain? There are a number of other areas besides those two and the N.shore. There is also lots of good ice in the UP to climb. Too bad you didnt pick up ice climbing adventuregal, you would be loving it out here.

haha! I KNEW someone would bring that up. I have an "L" marked on both of them (even though there is a definate r and l). Defected prodeal Thats okay. I know Im still the dumbass that put em on wrong.

Visually the sabertooths have a very subtle difference when putting them on (my straps came messed up and havent gotten around to switching them, so I have to look at the curve carefully). When put on backwards the inner point is just a tad further away from your front toe...which would explain why I climbed pigeoned toed all the way up AND had a good deal of ankle pain. I wont ever be in such a rush and so focused until AFTER the gear is on. At least I confronted a fear and accomplished the climb despite the setbacks. Your drive to the border is only a few hours, right? Unfortunately we have a solid 6 hr drive. The cost to clear your record is anywhere between 250 and 2500 bucks...american. I imagine things are going to get tighter as tension rises, so be aware...and have a back up plan....you just never know what might happen! Happy crossing!

We planned on leaving Thursday morning and hit some climbs along the N.shore in Minnesota on the way up to Canada for the ice fest. Initially it was my climbing partner and myself, but eventually added another rider. Some how we didnt get out of the cities until nearly 4:00pm. So much for climbing on the way up. The three of us are still pretty psyched that we will get an extra day of climbing in before the crowds come on Friday. We figured we should be checked into the hotel and drinking by midnight. We did expect somewhat of a delay at the border and a possible search because we were bringing up a good deal of demo gear and raffle prizes, along with our own stuff. No biggie, though. We had nothing to hide....or so we thought. The wave of the hand tells us to pull up. Passports and Id's ready, we look into the stern face of the border officer. Get the typical questions and asked to pull up and come inside as he keeps our id's. Due to the weather we were even more behind schedule. Optimistic we would make it by last call, though. Nearly an hour later, the officer calls out my climbing partners name and asks to speak with him. A bit of concern washed over me. They could just be questioning all of us to make sure we have our stories straight of where we are going, what we are doing , etc. A bit later, climbing partner comes out...hands us our passports and says he cant cross. However, we were welcome to cross if we wanted to. Since he is well known for his practical jokes AND good at keeping them going, I didnt believe him. The officer asked us to leave and he would notify the US side to let them know we were returning. Still...this was a joke, right?! Apperantly Canada didnt want him there because of problems he had as a kid over 15 yrs ago! Doesnt matter that he hasnt even had a speeding ticket since the age of 14. Not only is this a huge disappointment for all of us, but we have one more problem. I have a truckload of demo gear and other stuff that people were expecting to arrive by saturday....and the vehicle we were driving was owned by the person denied to cross the border! Well, we drive back to the US side and get the full search again. Rack our brains trying to figure out what to do. He insists we take his truck. We drive him to the nearby casino where he gets a room and leave him with a 6 pack. We were not going to ask him to stay there for 4 nights. So we have to figure out a plan. The other rider and I make it to the hotel in Canada ten min before bar close. Fortunately there is a bar in the hotel and the owner is patiently waiting for us with beers in hand . A few hours of drinking canadian beer, followed by even less sleep set us up for a great day ahead. The next morning was spent trying to formulate a plan. We decided to drive the truck back to the casino, hitch a ride back into to canada from someone and continue on with our weekend. The plan actually worked! My poor climbing partner was incredibly shitfaced when we arrived. And saying goodbye was like sending a child to preschool for the first time. I cant find the words to explain how much it sucked to leave him behind. sooooo... Friday...no climbing...just a butt load of driving. We did get to check out a bunch of climbs from the car though Friday night...drink Saturday...obligations doing gear demos, but get a couple climbs in. Temp was somewhere around 0 F. Fortunately I was in the sun most of the day and kept pleasantly warm. Saturday night...slideshows...and drinking fine canadian beer. Sunday....the day to finish the climb I got hurt on last year. THIS is what I was looking forward to all weekend! Weather...sunny...light flurries...-10F, -40F windchill. 8am...load up the car...quick breakfast...and off we go. Get to the climb. Looks fat. Optimistic. Leader starts. I follow. Ten feet up the climb my tool gets stuck. Never have I had a tool get stuck this bad. End up kicking in a small ledge for my feet and chiseling the ice around the pick. nearly 20 min. later, frustrated, pissed, exhausted, and determined NOT to let this climb beat me, I continue. Ice is brittle, placements are sketchy, and feet for some reason would not stay underneath me. I felt like I had never climbed before. Good thing I wasnt leading! I topped out and tried to figure out what in the world happened to me. Granted there was a bit of a mental game going on in my head, and the weather sucked. Still, I KNOW I can climb better than I did. Perplexed, we rapp down. Happy I finally got the climb done, I take off my crampons for the short glissade down. What do I notice? They were on the wrong fuckin feet!!!!!!! What an idiot! (need a smack myself over the head icon) On the positive side the commoradarie at the fest was great. Saw some excellent slide shows. Enjoyed spending time with Rapheal S. (he is a way kewl person!) and, scott backes, along with climbing friends from around the midwest. I learned if you have any type of criminal background, dont expect to get into canada. and Always put your crampons on the right feet!!!!!!!!

Alright! First of all Im offended by the "frozen wasteland" under your name. Frozen...yes. Wasteland...hardly! Especially up there in Duluth and beyond. Second, the midwest has BUDWEISER , damnit! How about a summit, James Page (mmmm,..good)?! Ya, ya...I know the northwest has a good deal more to offer. But we dont have it that bad! Go accross the bridge and get yourself an old milwaukee. Trust me , you will feel better!

Put her on Quetico Crack or Danger High Voltage during a storm at Palisade Head. Seriously, sounds like maybe youre a student up there. UofM Duluth has a GREAT outdoor program. Maybe bring some info back for her. VE also has a number of classes/clinics. I agree with erik...if she doesnt give 100% and REALLY want to climb...to climb...then is it worth it? Its your safety, your life involved. Be upfront and honest. Good to see another folk from Minnesnowta around! btw...how is someone living in Duluth NOT involved in the outdoors some way or another?!?!?!

Wow, wish I could wake up to that view. Instead, I woke up to frozen noze hairs and difficulty breathing while listening to my car putter. -18 this am!(no windchill) Will, N.Georgia? How often does that happen?!?!?! Btw...Erock, my favorite is listening to the snow crunch under your feet OR driving down an unplowed road (when the cars are cleared) and sliding all over the place. One of these days Im going to slide into a tree if Im not careful though.