chelle

Leavenworth in October. Yeah! Can't wait to hang with y'all.

AA - it was fun hanging with you too. Thanks for the good wishes. You bet I appreciate it all much more. I won't be complaining about how heavy my tent is any time soon. I'll pm you when I'm back in town.

RURP, I can't dispute that you may be right, given the evidence. It is possible that it was there the whole time and I got confused on a not very familiar street. One thing I know is that I had only two beers that night and did not smoke any herb. In the big scheme of things I guess it doesn't really matter if someone played a joke, borrowed it for a drug run, or if I was clueless. I got my stuff back and am leaving for the valley this afternoon. I think it's good to laugh at oneself and this was a funny story I thought would entertain some of the gang on this board. As for my homeless style of packing. I was planning to leave on Wednesday at 6 am for my trip. The fact is that my truck, climbing and camping gear, my CDs and my computer are my only posessions of value (other than a bit of furnature that stays in my house). Usually I keep my gear in my house. Next time I'll wait until just before I hit the road to pack the truck. Cheers!

Doug - My dad asked the same quesiton. I suppose that's possible, but to do that one day before I was supposed to leave on my road trip would be pretty mean. A few friends know where my spare key is, but they haven't fessed up. My first thought was that my roommates were playing a joke. If someone was trying to teach me a lesson, 1) Don't drive to pub club when it's only 8 blocks from home. 2) testing whether I really believe that people and experiences are more important than things. 3) who knows what else I was supposed to learn...I got it. Please don't do it again. Michelle

For those of you who are bored and want a laugh (at my expense)... 4:15 pm: Tuesday evening in Seattle was beautiful. I spent the afternoon with Chris_w getting my computer dialed in so I could print some topos for my Yosemite road trip. 6:00 pm: We decided to grab some Thai food before the pub club at the Ballroom. Saw 009 hanging out at the Ballroom and caught up on the work soap opera. Said we'd chat more later and crossed the street to eat. Had a good dinner. 7:20 pm: Got to pub club. Enjoyed a couple (note only two beers consumed) of beers, saw friends, shared some climbing stories, and finalized the plans for the road trip. 10:38 pm: Left the bar to get some sleep. 10:45 pm: I'd parked my truck a few blocks from the bar and when I walked up the hill I started to wonder where it was. I didn't see it where I had left it, walked up and down the corner where I thought I parked. Crossed the street to the street sign and checked that I was on the right block. Paniced because my truck was loaded with nearly all of my material possessions. My complete climbing rack, my tent, my down sleeping bag, my down coat, my CD collection... Oh shit! How could this be happening? 10:50 pm: Ran home. Called the cops and filed a report. Ranted with my roommates about what a jerk someone has to be to do something like this. 12:30 pm: Tried to get sleep, but maybe got 4 hours. Wednesday 7:30 am: Got up feeling totally violated, but thankful that I had insurance that covered my losses. Called the insurance company. Called Chris_w to see what time he got home to see if he saw the truck. He didn't see it when he got home. 8:10 am: Called Erik to get some advice from an expert on what to expect from the insurance company. Hung up after a brief chat and then got really angry at my situation. Cried out of frustration. Told myself it isn't that bad. Stuff can be replaced. I should focus on being thankful for a lot of the really good things in my life. 9:30 am: Erik suggested getting out of town to climb at Castle Rock. Grabbed my glacier harness and my 5.10 mountain Masters, and my one remaining Petzl spirit caribiner. Waited for my ride. 12:30 pm: Got to Castle had a great day climing in the sunshine. Tried to forget about my situation. Chilled out on the rocks thinking about letting go of my anger and that there is so much to be happy about. Good friends, good weather, my health, nine months off work to climb and travel... If I let this upset me then the jerk who took my stuff would win twice. Steal my stuff and also steal my spirit. 9:08 pm: Got home. Talked to family on the phone. Hung out with my roommate. Watched a little t.v. 11:10 pm: Went to bed to get some sleep. 11:30 pm: Cell phone rings in the other room. Chris_w on the line asking if I drove by his house. Said he thinks he saw my truck. Offers to pick me up and drive over. Get dressed and wait on the curb. 11:35 pm: Stare dumbfounded at my truck. Doors locked, stuff inside, no damage... Parked in nearly the exact spot it was left on Tuesday night. WTF! I am not crazy! The damned thing WAS NOT THERE 24 hours earlier. Don't have any idea what to say. Get in. Drive home. 11:40 pm: Call the police and cancel the stolen truck report. Nice woman on the phone laughs with me about the situation. Whew! Not in trouble with the cops. Midnight: Unload all of my stuff from the truck. Go to bed still scratching my head about what happened and giggling with embarrassment. I have no explanation about this whole Twilight Zone experience. Perhaps it was abducted by aliens who are curious about the life of a road tripping climbing chick. Spray away! [ 09-12-2002, 10:36 AM: Message edited by: ehmmic ]

The Ballroom is a great idea Kurt. See you and anyone else interested there around 7ish. [ 09-10-2002, 04:07 PM: Message edited by: ehmmic ]

I climb with a 50m 9mm rope, and 6mm prussiks. I think you're supposed to have a minimum of 3mm difference in the diameter between the rope and the prussik cords.

No gear to swap and no money to spend on more gear... If there's a group interested in Seattle, speak up! AlpineK - I'm up for somewhere in Ballard or Fremont.

Looks like a fine nap in the sun to me. Too conveinent for him to pass out for some other reason on such a comfy looking spot. Oh yeah... I think it is none other than AlpineK. [ 09-10-2002, 11:15 AM: Message edited by: ehmmic ]

The East Ridge is a great climb. Have done it twice. The first time we did not bypass the spires and it was a lot of fun to go up and over on the full ridge. The second time we bypassed the last tower in the name of speed. One the first trip we descended via the East ledges descent. 5 single rope raps to the ledges, traversed towards the gully and started following ramps up to avoid going up the gully. Got into some loose stuff and scared ourselves a bit, but made it without incident. Ended up getting to the ridge about half way up the first pitch and rapped back to the gendarme. Last time (a couple weeks ago) we decided to traverse the thing by going down the west ridge. This was a fun way to go too, but I wouldn't recommend it on a weekend with crowds. We had the mountain to ourselves on a Friday. Rapped down the gully to the left of the snow gully descent. Not that big a deal, but there are a few funky rap anchors up there. You may want to bring some extra webbing to reinforce things if you aren't comfortable with what you find. Enjoy! p.s. when we were up there a couple weeks ago the approach was sweet. steep snow nearly all the way up to the gendarme. Much nicer than the kitty litter covered slab climbing last year. [ 09-05-2002, 11:38 AM: Message edited by: ehmmic ]

quote: Originally posted by freeclimb9: quote:Originally posted by Dru:

Hey Cavie, are we going to see you there tonight? Lawgoddess - the Alki Tavern is more of a biker bar than a pub, but it's pretty cool. 75 cent burgers and good beer.

Alki would be way cool. Haven't been out there in awhile.

Had a stellar time climbing in Squamish last week. Saturday was a perfect "Fall" day. Climbed up the apron and then over to a new route called the Ultimate Everything. 10 pitches of face climbing with a few cracks sprinkled in. If you like that sort of thing it will live up to it's name. Clouds threatening rain all day. Cool temps made for sticky feet. Was sweet to be climbing with fun friends. Now I'm looking forward to seeing the leaves change in the Valley down south... Anyone else planning to be down there during the later part of Sep.?

How much are you willing to pay for a slightly used wind trainer? I think it was $250 new. May sell it for the right price, but then again winter is coming...

Telemarker - I've heard okay comments about the rubber room. The place previously mentioned was Barry's Resoles. 559-855-4511 They do a great job and are reasonably priced with good turnaround time. Got my shoes back in about a week.

Bummed I'll miss the special showing of Dwayner's new dance. But a few of us Seattle cc.comer's will be hosting a pub club at the Howe Sound Brewery in Squish if anyone else is in the area. See ya'll next week.

Followed Matt up princely ambitions at index yesterday. Wow! and Whew! were all I could say as I reached the ledge fully pumped. Nice climb.

Godzilla feels sandbagged to me, but that's just because I still struggle leading the off angle wide stuff.

Erik is absolutely right. The rescue insurance alone is a reason to join. I think it covers each climber for up to $5000 per incident ($10,000 lifetime limit) on peaks under 6,000m. You have to purchase an additional rider for peaks higher than that but it is really cheap and you only have to buy it for the days you will be on the peak. The organization does really important work in DC to make sure legislators are educated before doing things like imposing mandatory rescue fees on climbers. They are also really vocal about the fee demo program. I think anyone who climbs should be a member.

I haven't been to the Bishop gallery, but have seen his work at the Mountain Light gallery in Emeryville. I think this is one of my favorite photos and because Marmot used a portion of it for all their hang tags a couple years ago, many others have seen it too. Spectre of the Brocken, Gokyo Ri, Nepal http://www.mountainlight.com/gallery.nepal/aa970pic.html

The Ballroom it is. David Parker- if you need a ride from the ferry or speedboat dock, send me a pm. Address: 456 North 36th St Seattle WA (206) 634-2575 Map at: http://seattle.citysearch.com/map?mode=geo&id=11349314&map_lat=476520& map_lon=-1223532&id=11349314&fid=5 [ 08-12-2002, 05:36 PM: Message edited by: ehmmic ]

Why such a skeptic, Dru? Yep, they may crash and burn. But hell they're willing to put it out there to try to do something quality. So they're featuring the hard stuff. The other two mags do that and also alot of boring (to me) bouldering and indoor comp stuff. Many of us aspire to do harder alpine routes and reading stories about climbs by the climbers who are out there pushing the limits is nice for a change. The AAJ only comes out once a year. Having something more often will be nice if the thing actually succeeds.

Just back from the Outdoor Retailer Show. Lots and lots of cool stuff to drool over. One new item is a magazine called Alpinist. They put together a prepublication first issue to show what they're about. It has 30 something pages, no adds. This one focuses on the last season in Patagonia. It is really good. High quality pics and articles by the climbers who were doing hard alpine routes last season. According to the guy in their booth, they are planning to publish 4 times a year. Will be about 70 pages long and will limit each issue to no more than 10 full page ads. Since we all complain about the two main climbing rags, I thought you'd all like the heads up on this one. The only downside is the price, $46/year. But then if the advertisers aren't going to be given the opportunity to pay for publication, I guess we climbers will have to. www.alpinist.com

Anyone up for having our social hour outdoors at the Ballroom tomorrow eve?