Bug

Actually, just like internet dating, meeting people in person is a great way to get a better feel for how deep the BS is. There are frequent PubClubs and this Oct 12-14 there is the annual RopeUp in Icicle canyon at the Eightmile group site. Don't bring beer.

Yur screwed.

Where is Wayne's left hand? That may explain "a few drops". Nice looking route!

I ment to r'late t y'all thet we kin learnya gud.

That's good planning. I don't have my girls so I can drink more. I will be looking for a ropegun to lead me up some 5.8's on Sat and some 5.6's on Sunday.

No. That's a vasectomy. For instance, I shoot blanks but still roam and sniff. The technical term for neuter surgery is orchidectomy. The surgery is also called castration. Neuter surgery removes the testes. So if you have a couple kids and decide that's enough. Don't ask the doctor to nueter you. On the other hand, I highly recommend getting a vasectomy.

Seriously Jamin, your time on this planet is limited. At least you are leaving behind some fun stories. We will sit around the fire at rope-up in 2030 and tell Jamin stories to newbs.

Not if the dog was nuetered.

Is he still alive?

I do not know many people who I have climbed with who have not at some point purposely and willfully caused a large rock to fall over a cliff. Myself included. It is less and less acceptable even in remote places as the population continues to explode. But to call it anything more than a tragic accident seems inappropriate. We all have to learn from this and adjust our practices accordingly. Just my 2 cents.

My condolences to his wife and family.

I sometimes carry one as an extra nut tool when climbing with a newbie.

I was on the lower NR several years ago when a VW van size block came off from way high. The ground was shaking, we were screaming our approval and so were the guys above us. It was spectacular. That's the nice thing about climbing ridges, rock fall goes left or right.

Icicle creek will freeze you to death in about 15 minutes. Getting out of fast moving water with smooth sides is very difficult. Since the irrigation ditch is well marked with "no trespassing" signs they are not responsible for safety features or providing for the possibility of someone floating through it without dying. Strainers are common in irrigation ditches so that pumps are not damaged by floating deris. I used to float irrigation canals in Montana. Things got really weird twice. Once we were pulled under a gate that was raised and lowered to control the flow. Lucky for us there was no strainer. Another time we went into a tunnel that came out into a canal with vertical concrete sides. It ended with a strainer that we were able to grab hold of and pull ourselves up. The force of the water pushed us against it so hard, we would not have survived if our heads had been under water. We were exhausted when we got out. Panting and laughing we noticed multiple cuts and scrapes on each other fron the climb out against rusty iron mesh. We were 12 or 13. That was the end of my canal floating adventures. But let us know how it goes.

Growing up in Missoula is a realative term. When I was in highschool we used to send up a cloud and free solo on-sight. We were up by the ghost town Garnet on a pile of choss one day. Dave took the right hand crack and I took the left. They were about eight feet apart. I got up to where mine ended and the face was blank. Dave passed me by on his so I started traversing to his over a few 5.9 moves. Just when I got into the crack Dave yelled "ROCK!!!". I looked up and saw a head sized rock coming over his head. I launched myself back to my crack thereby performing my first Dyno. The rock would have dragged me down 35 feet onto large talus where my bones would have broken in a thousand places. Dave finished the climb and I traversed back over and finished when he was done. Stupid kid tricks.

I suspect you don't have any children.

Fun TR.

Don't change anything. We are all OK and will be forever.

I want to get off the couch.

Wear a brown fur coat and demand food.

I like climbing because it gets me outside and breathing. My favorite moments are when I am pushing my limits and get to that point where thinking about it only clouds the process. I simply move through the climb as a body without emotion or abstract thought. I suspect it is similar to the Zen state but I do not claim to be an expert in Zen. I am an expert at having fun however and more often than not, this includes mountains. I like great views but climb to be climbing not to get to the top as a goal. Certainly there is satisfaction at completing a climb but for me there is also a certain remorse at having ended the adventure. Unless the descent is technical or a massive storm is threatening to kill me.

To sum it up, I believe there is a God and He/She wants us to be ourselves as long as that includes respecting others. Beyond that, there is much confusion and room for debate.

I agree completely. The religions of oral societies were what anthropology calls "fluid". When our mythology was written down it was frozen or no longer fluid. "Oral fluidity" is what allowed the Shamans or holy people of oral societies to change their mythologies in order to meet the new or percieved new threats to their world and cosmology. With the introduction of literacy, this process was encumbered greatly and then even used as a tool for social manipulations. The religions "of the book" are far more prone to fundamentalist persuits and misinterpretations. If taken in their historical context, our books, Old and New Testament, are an incredible source of human wisdom. They who claim to know the exact interpretation of any passage is worthy of suspicion in my opinion. I have read the OT in ancient Hebrew and it comes out very different than the King James version. At least in my mind it does. Due to the multiple modes of conjugation and inflextion, any given chapter may have several legitimate applications in a given circumstnce. This is a throwback to oral fluidity and its reflection in the language of the time. There is a great book that all westerners should read called Boundaries. It is a modern phycological work on relationships and healthy interactions that uses the latest applied and academic phsycology and sites passages in the OT an NT as examples of the concepts. In this way it demonstrates to believers and non-believers (if they can get past the religious origin of the text) that the wisdom of human nature is stored in our mythology. Applying this stuff to astronomy or chemistry or something like that would be a mis-application in my opinion. I am very suspicious of organized religion even though I believe that our responsibilities to each other require our participation. I seek out the less structured and the congregation centered as apposed to the leader centric model. By the way, if anyone feels that their opinion is better expressed via flaming, feel free. Just try to make a point.

I worked with the Blackfeet traditionalists for a little while. We were trying (successfully) to keep the Forest Service from opening up a Blackfeet sacred area (mountainous) to oil and gas development. Their views on things mountainous and/or spiritual are quite different from our western way of percieving our world. Science is a great thing but to set it in opposition to religion or spirituality is as ignorant as setting religion or spirituality in oposition to science. Our society is based onthe Judeo/Christian Bible. Like it or not, if you were to get into a political or social discussion with someone from another culture, they would recognize you as Christian and American right away. We are so shallow as a people. We are so self centered and arrogant. We have more power than most peoples and act as though that gives us the right to use it in other countries and other cultures. Disaster lurks around the corner for the US. Our policies of late make the likelyhood of another terrorist strike on our soil MORE likely. We breed contempt amoungst the largest populace on earth, Islam. This says nothing about the good works accomplished by the armed forces. They are following orders and working for the best possible outcome. But my words would infuriate the likes of Rudolf Guliani or Rumsfield etc. Climb on. But keep looking over your shoulder. This is not over.

Enchantments but go out over Prussic pass and down Rat Creek. Sahalee Arm, through Boston Basin and out Hidden lake. Circumnavigate Adams. Snoqualmie Pass to Stevens Pass.