JayB

"Work Harder! Millions on welfare are counting on you!"

How about Leavenworth the third weekend in September and Smithfest the second weekend in October?

Classic.

Your observation is relevant ONLY if you desire the routes you climb to resemble your office building. We're talking about the mountains, for crying out loud. Maybe we should allow chopper drops into the heart of the N. Cascades, since your average climber can't really handle the approach. Why don't we blast the last 1000 feet of Rainier? I'm a climber of kind of average ability and occasionally I get sick up there. When you pioneer a new route that features a trail of trash, your contribution is dubious, whether you report it on a website or not, whether you think you're making the mountains safe for Joe Average or putting up a modern-day Astroman. The sooner we realize this, the sooner we can all stop getting our feelings hurt. Yeah. That's clearly what I'm advocating. Yawn. A couple of short sections of fixed rope over some low fifth choss on the way to a muti-pitch trad line does about as much to lower the bar on that route as the steps on the trail that lead out of the parking lot at Paradise lower the bar for people attempting Ranier. I could actually really care less about the ropes though. What I think is unfortunate is that people who took exception to the fixed lines couldn't seem to say so in a way that gets their point across without alienating the FA who posted the details of the route for the sole purpose of alleviating the overcrowding at one of the state's more popular climbing areas. It would be a shame if he declines to do so in the future on account of the response he got here, but I can't say I'd blame the guy.

Found this thread while looking for the original "THERE'S NO TIME!!!!!!!!!!!" story. Viva Le Thread Revival...

Remembering that you should have discussed how to communicate with a series of tugs on the rope after you discover it's way too noisy to communicate is always a good one. BTW - I remember the "There's no Time!!!!!!!!!" line from a story that someone - I think it was danielpatricksmith - posted. From what I recall, the storyteller was near the summit of a fairly casual climb on a pleasant day, chilling out and eating at a spot just before the final pitch or two of fourth or low-fifth class climbing. Shortly thereafter a party of two arrives in full battle gear, sporting enough hardware for a new line on Baffin. It's like 11:00 in the morning and the descent is trivial. After they build an anchor and the leader heads out on and sets his first piece, his belayer takes a look at the gear he set and mentions that the placement is less than optimal, and suggests that the leader might want to reset it. At this point, in the morning, under the blue skies, on the low-fifth-at-most terrain the leader whips his head around, fixates on his second with a wild-eyed stare, and roars "THERE'S NO TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" as though the belayer has suggested that they pause for a game of risk while rapping down the face of GasherbrumIV in a class V storm. Ever since then when Bronco and I have been out on a trip doing something hardcore like skinning up the road to the Colcuck trailhead ( ) and I stop to eat for a second I often hear "THERE'S.....NO......TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!," as does he when he stops to adjust a trekking pole or something. Good fun. I am not sure how accurate my recollection of the story is, but that was one of the funnier climber/belayer tales I have ever heard. "THERE'S ......NO........TIME!!!!!!!"

I haven't cast a lure since 1988 but I have seen lesser beings use the casting bubble with some success on the high lakes....

I agree that this is terrible, and that the international community should do something. The US millitary has its hands full elsewhere, but this This is a wonderful opportunity for the EU and all of the other nations to demonstrate both their compassion and the extent of their operational capabilities in the very kind of humanitarian intervention which they have been volunteering our soldiers for years. The UN has a golden opportunity to demonstrate its capacities. The millions who took to the streets to protest the American invasion of Iraq can prove to skeptics that they were in fact animated by humanitarian concerns. The human shields who missed their opportunity to make the ultimate sacrifice in Iraq can put themselves amongst the villagers targeted for slaughter. It's put up or shut up time, but sadly neither of the two will happen. The rest of the world will sit by and do nothing, yet continue to talk shit about the US.

Related sticker with the names of three Utah towns listed above a big red "Utah" sign. "Filmore - Virgin - Beaver. UTAH"

Love this one one old 70's vans with spoilers and airbrushed murals featuring unicorns on the side: "Gas, Grass, or Ass. No One Rides for Free."

I can't believe that this was your first slab outin. You live so close to Static. What a slacker. At any point during the climb did you turn to your belayer with a wild look in your eye and scream "There's no time!!!!!!"? For posterity. Pitch 7 is the best pitch on the climb. A#2 camalot and 4-5 tiny cams to 1/2" should be (more than) adeqate for leaders who are competent at the grade. I have some photos that I will post eventually.

I find it amusing that the same crew who passionately advocate on behalf of hate crime laws are up in arms about the Patriot Act. When the government adds an additional penalty for the beliefs that motivated a violent act rather than administering the same punishment for the same acts of violence irrespective of the motivation for the said acts, the government has effectively determined which beliefs are acceptable and which are not.

Nice line. So are you gonna hit the obvious series of runnels to the right of your original line this Winter?

It was just as you describe in the first weekend of June last year. I think the record number of days without precip probably accelerated the meltage by a couple of months by the time July rolled around.

Those are probably part of the debris that I collected on the Turtle when the camp above us got blown to pieces during some high winds the night before. When I woke up I was relieved to see that the weather had cleared but a bit alarmed at seeing a sleeping bag sliding down the snowfield that looked like it might contain a person so, I climbed up to a about 10,500' from the base of the turtle to examine the contents of the bag - turned out to be about 60lbs of spindrift rather than a person inside. In addition to the glasses, there were two sleeping bags, two therma rests, the majority of a tent, waterbottles, cotton shorts and a fair amount of REI rental gear. I stashed most of the stuff under some rocks at what was left of the guys' campsite at about 10,800', but picked up some more odds and ends on the way down and left them at one of the rock buttresses. Thanfully the owners fared better than their equipment.

No good deed goes unpunished eh? Sucks when someone putting up new routes decides to share them here and gets this kind of a response. Let's keep things in perspective - posting the details of a new route here is a major, objective plus for everyone. Putting fixed lines on the approach is a very, very minor subjective minus according to a few people. This should go without saying, but it might be worth taking a look at the lines - at the very least - before taking offense to them. The notion that anyone who is intending to take on a mutlipitch trad route in the pass will have the bar dangerously lowered for them by a bit of fixed line on some scrambling is a bit much. Odds are that if they can handle the multipitch trad, they will not have their ability to function in the mountains fatally impaired by a handline or two. I use the elevator to get to the office every day after I ride in but I can still manage to negotiate the stairs that lead to my apartment when I get home...

Spinning gear works pretty well on naive fish most of the time, but there are those occaisions when you see tons of feeding activity and can't get a bit on a lure to save your life. For those times - bring a casting bubble (bobber that has one chamber for water and one chamber for air) and a small selection of dry attractor patterns in the size 16-20 range. Supplement with a few beadhead chironomids in the same size range if you've got them.

On the climbers left of the last rock buttress before you reach the turtle. Mini-waterfall.

That's a worthy point, but health insurance companies don't deny health care to smokers, they just charge them a premium that reflects the additional risk that htey represent. Some life insurers are apparently already incorporating obesity premiums into their rates - their PR rationale being that both they and their policyholders have a common interest in the policyholder staying alive as long as possible, and any steps that they take that prod the policyholder into adopting a healthier lifestyle will benefit them both. I am a big advocate of preventive medicine, but it seems as though this ruling runs the risk of encouraging the very behavior that we should be focused on preventing, while at the same time promoting the falsehood that obesity is a disease on par with parkinsons or sickle cell anemia in that one has no control over it. At the very least modifying premiums to reflect the health risks inherent in voluntary lifestyle choices - like smoking or overeating - can serve as an incentive for a change in behavior. At the very least higher premiums have a the potential to put a dent in the twinkie fund...

"United States: Medicare Revises Policy on Obesity 20 July 2004 Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson announced at a Senate hearing on Thursday that Medicare is dropping language stating that obesity is "not an illness," although it is not formally recognizing obesity as a disease. This change in policy will allow Medicare beneficiaries to request a government review of medical evidence to determine whether certain treatments for obesity can be covered. Even though Medicare programs have previously covered illnesses caused by obesity (e.g., diabetes and cardiovascular diseases) such policy denied coverage for weight-loss therapies. Although this change in policy is not coupled with immediate coverage changes, Medicare signaled its intent to begin reviewing scientific evidence in the fall in order to determine what types of care to cover, including surgical procedures and behavioral and diet counseling." Unbelievable. The next time I see a morbidly obese person - which shouldn't take too long in this country - I will just open my wallet, give them $20 to put towards their bariatric surgery - and cut out the Medicare middleman. If anyone is looking for the date upon which this country formally renounced the notion of personal responsibility once and for all, this will be it. Rather than subsidizing medical care for the obese, we should introduce legislation that allows the insurance companies to increase rates to reflect the increased health-care costs that they generate and the increased insurance risks that they represent. You choose to overeat - fine- as long as you are willing to accept the consequences and impose the costs of your decision on yourself rather than the rest of society.

Yeah I will be there - maybe for a 3 day outing this time to make the driving-to-climbing ratio a bit more favorable - but I must say that the prospect of hanging out without Adam Duritz perpetually wailing in the background has considerably diminished my enthusiasm for the whole affair. Per the parting discussion last year, I am also going to invest in a cordura lined yoga mat so I can get some serious inner peace and harmony going on on top of one of the formations. Look out for some posts like this when I get back... "Now, even when I’m practising yoga inside a room, I try to recapture the intensity of that morning practice on the banks of the Muskwa River. When I look up between my hands in full Tadasana, I imagine clouds drifting by. I let myself sway gently to a rhythm I felt through the sandy earth at my feet. That connection reminds me there are wolverines loping over high passes in Jasper National Park and wolves traveling along pack ice on the Tuchodi River. In northern BC, for the time being, they are free to move to that rhythm.." Cosmic.

After reading through this thread, I feel compelled to ask - who is going to bring the All Counting Crows Mix to Smithfest this year?!!! If I recall correctly it was spirited away in a blue 4-Runner for safe keeping last year....

5'10 and varires from 165-175 depending on the season. Higher if I am lifting regularly and lower if I am burning muscle on lots of long approaches and slogs. It was a wonderful day when I hit 178 and officially got myself into the overweight category - probably the best shape I've ever been in.

Take a tour of all of the Glaciers in Colorado for a real insight into the ravages of global warming. Hell - take a drive to Ranier. The glaciers there have sustained a several thousandfold retreat since the last ice age.

E-Rock I think that fine particulates generated by diesel engines are RobBob is talking about, not individual molecules of CO2. Not sure if this particular claim has any merit or not, but particulates settling on snow or ice will surely accelerate melting to some degree.