crazy_t

so, monkey fuckers, if some dude sent you(another guy) an email like this then you wouldn't find it the least bit patronizing? If that showed up in my inbox I'd throw you in a fucking lake. crazyt, you sound so deep and sensitive when you use the word "relationship". Who would you rather do...Jake or Heath? Someday your balls may drop...keep the faith! Are you fucking kidding me? Funny stuff.

That must have been a great day. Soloing for me was always the most rewarding, such a deep experience with yourself and the natural energies. Good for you to step into that space and that challenge! It sounds like you were prepared for it, and it was part of your progression and deepening relationship with the mountain. Cheers to you!

a friend used to call it "Life Mart"

Liquor Mart )

Have you climbed in Eldo? The South Platte? April you can sometimes get the epic front range dumps (once every year or 2), but usually if that happens it snows hard for a day or two then melts off quickly. Otherwise it's in great shape those months. If you haven't climbed Eldo, you should. It's metamorphosed sandstone, but doesn't feel or climb like "sandstone". I have Rossiter's Eldo book you could borrow and could give you recomendations, beta etc. The South Platte is also awesome. Granite, cracks and faces, clean, not too many people, lots of crags, towers. Both beautiful areas with lots of amazing quality short + long trad routes. But maybe you already know this...

has anybody been in to colchuck lake this week? or recently?

does anyone know how far you can get up the road to the Colchuck lake th?

Cannon sounds interesting. Any more info on it? I'm checking online..

I'm really, really feeling it this week too. City + grey, + rain, + lack of outdoor adventure, kind of a downhill spiral for me. I know other people are fine with it, but it's hard. I used to go to SA a couple of times per winter but with a 1 year old that's over for now. Buy a ticket to San Diego for a weekend, gives you something to look forward to and the sun and temps will help. Superfoods too to keep immunity, energy etc. up. Good luck ), you'll get through it. For me it's a question of do I want to endure this every year? Making a long-term plan might be part of this year's solution.

good idea, but a bit long with our schedules including driving.

A note, each of us has plenty of technical experience but due to all the snow are looking for a couple of long days that are safe and straightforward and will focus on a steady aerobic workout (but are a bit more interesting than a "hike").

At Snoqualmie? If yes, I'm not against recommendations up there if anyone has recent beta on conditions.

Hi, I'm planning to hike in and camp somewhere in the Steven's Pass/Leavenworth area tomorrow and friday and wondered if anyone had any suggestions or had been up in these areas this week. Our plan is to hike in (snowshoes, unfortunately) tomorrow am, ideally for 3-4 hours and set up a camp, then have the option to do a short tour that day, then a longer one with maybe a summit Friday, and be able to get back to the cars at a reasonable hour. It would be great to gain 5000' from trailhead to highpoint. The main goal is a good workout; a couple of big days w/ nice ambience vs. something technical, though a rope and axe could be used. My other concern is the snow- has it set up in the last few days, or are we looking at epic slogging? Thanks for any suggestions!

So, you remember Ernie and Bert from Sesame Street? Bert asked Ernie "Ernie, do you want to get some ice cream?" What did Ernie say? "Sure Bert"

Have you guys ever spent time in Pittsburgh? It's a tough place to be a climber, but actually a great town. The people there are really friendly, warm. There's a real community feeling there, something lacking in a lot of cities (hint?). And if you like bar type food, it is like Mecca. Primanti's, the O, the Strip,... A lot of midwest cities may blow, but the Burgh definitely isn't one of them. As far as football and sports fans, they blow Seattle away. It was a tough game to watch, since it was generally poorly played. If both teams had brought their A game, that would have been great. I feel that Seattle as a team and organization was shaky, as it was their first trip there. Pittsburgh played poorly too, but made less mistakes. To blame the loss on bad calls is simply an error. Seattle shot themselves in the foot too many other ways to leave it at that. They robbed themselves (how about letting the clock burn at the end of the 1/2??). But they also gained valuable experience. I hope they have a great year next year. Coming from the east coast, as a Bruins and Red Sox fan, I was always put off by the weakness of Seattle fans. But seeing the stadium rock for the division championship game was something wholly different than I have witnessed in Seattle. This season, Seattle grew as a sports town, and the fans realized their power. Good luck next year!

Two snowboarders are in a car. Who's driving? The police.

Hey, it's a Mountaineers Book. Whadda ya expect? As stated, it's clear that these people (this "bumbly segment") has A LOT of extra money to spend. And to boot, they have no interest in ultimately climbing larger or harder routes, they are simply a scourge subset of the population who wants to project 5.1s for decades at a time. Someone stop them, or at least put them to shame! No one here has used a Mountaineers guidebook. One of the Beckeys guides, one of Nelson's? Of course not!

"Bassboosa's debut album is released on the prestigious independent Champion Records. For more information on Bassboosa contact Mel Medalie at 011.44.208.961.5202, or E–mail mel@championrecords.co.uk. "

That's lame. Why the slam? It's easy to play the nihilist on the internet, a lot harder to put a book together. He chose his focus, I'd imagine the book will be useful to many. "Climbers" may only be constrained to occasional weekend cragging, or may work half the year to travel and climb the other half. No one is better, or more "real". As far as grades, I'd imagine you didn't begin your climbing career by jumping on 5.11 . And where does the "lots of money to spend" come in? Are the readers of the book combining their "weekend rock" excursions with high end retail shopping sprees or something? I don't quite get it. If the book isn't for you, don't buy it and leave it at that. Sorry for the rant everyone, I just got annoyed. Congratulations on your project, David, I hope it is well received!

Oleg- those are the pants I was talking about. They are sweet, and I think would be very worth the weight. Consider skipping the Scholler and going with gore tex and these. If your sleeping bag is not a super warm one, they'd come in handy sleeping up high too.

The Stillers are a pawer-hass. I wish we had a Primanti's here. And the O. And good wings...

I'd say we can claim Ranier or Olympia, but since they are both brewed in Milwaukee now, the Seahawks will have to claim Triple Skinny Rasberry Lattes with Dillatante chocolate flakes or some shit. IC, baby. And how about the Primanti's reference in the original article? When I have a choice, it's usually a Belgian for me. Tripel Karmeliet, St. Bernardus Quadrupel, St. Feuillen Tripel...and how about Wesvetletern 8?!? But as my Kiwi friend says, the only bad beer...is no beer.

These are still available...

That dancing man looks like a Slavic Frampton

Bozhe moi!!