allison

Demi Moore will be playing me, as usual. This time I'm going to have to ask her to get a 'reduction', back to a standard rack. I'm tired of people thinking I'm being played by Boobie Bensman. [ 08-29-2002, 05:04 PM: Message edited by: allison ]

Just don't forget to feed the kids every few hours!

While maintaining my neutral postion on the Muir sitchmo, I've got to say that Canada has a real asset in the creative writing talents of our own Dru. Nicely done. LMAO.

Chatroom's open if anyone's inclined to waste a little of their employer's time. To enter, click on the chat icon at the bottom of the Climber's Wall page.

Apparently you can now get a $5, $30, or $50 ticket depending on the ranger for not displaying your stupid parking pass. The $50 ones apparently will be reported like parking tix to the DMV and could be a problem when you go to renew your tabs. Everyone I know who's gotten the $50 one has been somewhere around the Teanaway when it happened. There's a proper discussion on nwhikers.net if you want more info on this. I think the whole thing is completely fucked, but manage to get a free one without volunteering.I figure it keeps me in licence tabs and by not buying them, I'm not voting YES for stupid parking passes. If I felt that they were using the $ to work on trails it would be a different story, but most of it seems to be going for enforcement at the moment. Plus as long as the FS continues to have such bad financial policy re logging, it really pisses me off that we are paying to use our own land for relatively low-impact activities like hiking and climbing. Did I mention that I think the whole deal is fucked?

I have a feeling I won't be wanting those back...

I'll second the emotion for YAB, but you're best off going in the middle of the week unless you like a whole lotta people in on your wilderness experience. I hear they've done bad things to the trail on par with what they did to the Lk Serene trail....used to be steep and fun, now maybe more PG rated. In any case, a really beauty-ful spot with lots of wandering from camp.

quote: Originally posted by Dr Flash Amazing: Typical wishy-washy middle-of-the-road bleeding heart liberal pansy anti-jobs head-up-the-ass environmentalist trust-fund up-tight left-wing democrat black helicopter conspiracy un-American terrorist-sympathizing pinko traitor sellout sport-climbing bolt-clipping rap-bolting half-a-trad not hardcore unalpine snaffle-sucking fancy-beer-drinking Subaru driving yuppie idealist attitude. (posted on behalf of Trask, Greg W, Pope, Dwayno, et. al.) Hey now......hitting a little close to home here!

quote: Originally posted by Dru: ya, otherwise necro might have to buy beer for alex bertulis or pete doorish or something Hi, Ms. Tread drift here. Anyone seen Alex lately? He was a great gym partner for me for a year or so and then mysteriously fell off the face of the earth. Is he maybe living FT at his place in Hood River?

Sweetheart, I don't insist of the Gerber, but the Leathermans are hovering at around 70$ right now. I might lose a tool or 3 at work from time to time, so that's too much money. I should invest in Spyderco stock, as I'm on my 4th Delica in 3 years, and only one got lost in the mountains! Drop it in the mail to me, wouldja?

Sorry, coming in a little late, had to work again today. Some posts ago the notion of sport climbing being perfectly safe came up(because of course all sport climbs have a bolt every 18"), and that's simply not true. Need I remind anyone that I had a debilitating accident sport climbing, not involving any equipment failure? I hear about grid-bolting in this argument every time we talk about sport climbing. The only places I've ever climbed that are seriously overbolted are Vantage, maybe Exit 38, and some small parts of Red Rocks. The first two are really nothing special in terms of aesthetics, what's the great loss if they ARE overbolted? The other maybe 10 places around the West I've sport climbed are not overbolted, even Smith is in pretty good shape. What's the deal? Trails do grow back. This is true. But while they exist, the swath is much wider. In the high alpine, trails grow back in decades, it is no small feat for heather to get lush again once it's been mashed. Routes can grow back too, both in terms of moss (Index and DTown), and also the rock can be restored by chopping and filling. It's not that big of a deal, stop making it that way. And Pope, you kind of outed yourself. Sounds like you're more concerned with "your" sport becoming too popular, than in the actual impact on the environment.

Well, here I go with a little test....if this works, the next time I see you dru, the canned peaches are on me....just don't try to tell that freaking STORY again!

If the Gerber tool has a locking mechanism (and I think all of the Gerbers do), I'll take it off your hands. I'm still using one of the original Leathermans and the non-locking thing is so annoying.

Yes, it is, I love it, can I have it as my avatar? Jon, Tim, can you make it so?

quote: Originally posted by pope: Are we confusing happiness with narcissism? You'll get equal pleasure, adventure and sense of accomplishment from a toprope, without the mess left on a typical sport route. No. Mess? Now don't start on me about how the bolts are a major incursion, or I'll start in on how trails are an even bigger incursion, and how if you are anti-bolts, then you should be anti-trails. I bent Dwayner's ear about this pretty bad a few months back. Oh and for what it's worth, the satisfaction of completing a climb on lead, even on bolts, is different. Don't be too judgemental of the experiences of others. [ 08-27-2002, 11:51 AM: Message edited by: allison ]

No regular piece of gear is going to survive being hauled. You hope for it, but you shouldn't expect it. It's like it my work, there's stuff that is durable and reliable on a flat horizontal surface, and there's stuff that's made to be lifted, toted, and dragged, new set of rules, and that stuff is way heavier and durable. GoLite gear is only comfortable if one is Jardinian, and certainly not expected to be durable for rock.It's a long way since Friends, my friends. It barely works for carrying stuff, barely heavy. there is a tradeoff, and in this case, no abrasive surfaces are part of the equation.

The Mountain...something or other...rations are good, especially the chicken stew and the Kung Pao, and Beef Strogy. I prefer to carry junk I got at Ballard Maket with a few home-dried add-ins, but always sample the stuff that costs $7 a pack my buds get. They save no weight and they $pend more $ but hey, it's easy! If it says 'serves 2' it serves 1, unless you're recreating around the campsite looking at the scenery. Your folks should blow through that $50 in about 2 days. Here's a little tune about dried...watermelon! You think I'm kidding, try it. [ 08-27-2002, 02:28 AM: Message edited by: allison ]

Got to send my regrets this week. Working a big corporate event for a company whose innovations have touched all of us, even if we don't want them to. Last year's meeting (which I *hope* my non-disclosure paperwork allows me to talk about now) included the cutting edge idea of making something with a hard drive that worked almost exactly like....a legal pad. I'm sure Caveman, Alex, and the rest of you will be positively stunned at the latest and greatest of this year's meeting. More stuff no one's ever thought of, for sure. You'll be rocked by the hugeness at hand. Bring earplugs, the Pyro's really big this time around. I could tell some pretty funny stories about the week leading up to this year's meeting, but I'm sure something really bad would happen to me, possibly involving Intellectual Property, or the legal system. The got cancelled at around noon today, BUT, I....HAVE...potential. OhMyGawdstandbackbecauseIamgoingtoHURL. [ 08-27-2002, 02:13 AM: Message edited by: allison ]

#$%^&!! double post. See below. [ 08-27-2002, 01:57 AM: Message edited by: allison ]

Having spent the last six years climbing on bolts that just sort of appeared like magic, I recently boght my first bits of hardware that don't go home with me at the end of the day. Of course I would never suggest that one start installing without some guidance, and I haven't, so don't flame me, but I've got to say, it feels good to put some $ into the rocks. Maybe the easiest way to do that is to donate a few hangers to your favorite route-maker or -maintainer. Pro Mountain sells them, and you should buy them there. They're only a couple of bucks apiece. Here's a little something for the guys who do all that stuff to support my fun: [ 08-27-2002, 01:24 PM: Message edited by: allison ]

quote: Originally posted by pope: My favorite sport is climbing. Clipping my way up a monotonously bolted rock doesn't feel very sporting and one could argue that it isn't climbing at all (or at least that it has more in common with toproping than real leading). Not trying to sound condescending here, just trying to understand why somebody would put all of that effort into bolting(littering) when the result isn't going to be a real lead. Hmm....gee, I don't know, Pope, maybe because it's FUN, and it makes us HAPPY? Here's to appropriately placed bolts, preferably of the FAT variety!

Disagreee with his politics, wouldn't pitch a tent within 50' of him due to something that sounds like snoring only louder....BUT..... Here's to MtnGoat for his incomparable abilities as a buddy for outdoor pursuits [ 08-26-2002, 07:10 AM: Message edited by: allison ]

Never had a problem with leakage with the modern canisters, though I do make it a practice to unscrew the can from the stove when not in use in case the valve on the stove itself is out of whack. A variation on the Nelson method is to write down amount of burn time on the canister with a Sharpie after each trip. I do this, but honestly once you get used to using a canister stove you get a good sense of how much fuel is left in it by a highly scientific method: shaking the can.

I've tried to have this conversation with people, this whole "what is a sport climb and what is not a sport climb" and have come to a measured conclusion: There are climbs that have bolts on them bottom to top, there are climbs that are mixed lines, with bolts where sections are not protectable, and there are lines that have no bolts. Maybe even no bolts at the top. Whether it's "trad" or "sport", well, it's impossible to define, and it doesn't matter one whit anyway, unless maybe you are a trad climber trying to rise above riff-raff sportos, whoever they may be, and then, well, of course it's still ridiculous!! And now a little from the California's own Redd Kross....

Except for the part about always having weekends off, my suggestion is what has kept me in Top Ramen and gear for sixteen years: stagehand. Flexible hours, great overtime premiums, you work like crazy and then you don't at all, medical, dental, 401(k), challenging (when it's not boring), well the list goes on. I'm pretty burnt on it now, but it is a great job for a slacker outdoorsy type. Pretty much took the whole summer off this year.