Bug

He can share with Olivia and Meredith. If you want to buy him a harness and shoes that's up to oyu. But he is welcome to use our gear

He does not need a rope. I have a harness he can borrow. and a couple smaller shoes. We can mix and match as the need arises. What size are his feet?

Your reasoning on the one on one time is sound. My daughters are 6 & 8 and I make it a point to give them one on one time. It makes them glow. They tell their teachers about it. So forth. When your 2 year old is 10, your 10 year old will be out with his friends. Make sure he has the tools and training to make good decisions. The sooner the better and never let up. He will not get that by playing two year old games. Just my two cents.

True.

OK. I'll save the group site as it seems momentum is building. We have it reserved for Sept 17-sept 19. Chatter Creek Group site. Up Icicle canyon a long ways. There will be the Chatter Creek ranger station on the right. The turn off to the campground is the first right past the ranger station. My 2 daughters (6 & 8) will be there late Friday night after watching clowns do unnatural acts with elephants.

The group site costs $150. divide by $20 to get what the indivdual sites would cost us and you get 7 with $10 left over.

Final call. We have HillWeasle, Billygoat, Snowbyrd, Fatswaler and Bug committed to going. If no one else commits today, I will cancel the group site and we will have Fatswaller reserve three individual sites tomorrow. This will make it harder to include droppers in.

I am going to the Circus Friday night and driving up aftewards. So we will show up in the darkest hour after watching strange animals do unlikely tricks with humans of questionable repute. I have 3 tickets ordered for Snowbyrd & crew.

What does $33 cover? two sites? How many total cars can we have per site? Two plus $10 per extra? Eight mile is more central. I would like the idea if we could get everyone in but with 5 of us now (plus one who will pay $20 but may or may not show), that makes the group site $26 apiece and we have plenty of room for stragglers (some of whom may also pay). Opinions?

Well done! Thanks for the report.

I went in late May and still could have taken half or less of what I had. Any time in June and you can count on doing people the favor of taking their extra weight. You will get tons of gas, cookables, and 2nd rate munchies. Bring your own chocolate and booze.

We will be in Icicle canyon Sat and Sun Sept 18 and 19 for sure and maybe the 17th as well. If a couple more people commit, we can keep our reservation at the Chatter Creek Group Site for the 17th, 18, 19th. If no one else commits by Tues Aug 31, I will cancel the group site and we will meet at the Climbers bivy above Bridge Creek. So far,including me, only four people have committed to paying and only three have committed to coming (with kids etc). It is going to be fun regardless! The kids love it. Many marshmallows will die.

That's why we would drive up after the show. So we can be there Sat AM.

Here is an idea. The Circus is in Everette Fri the 17th at 7:30. Circus, drive to Leavenworth that night and bivy. Everyone else meet at the Bridge Creek bivy Sat AM by 9 or 10. If this sounds good, I can get tickets $15 for reserved seating and $9 for the second tier (have to order Friday). Or I can shut up.

The count is hovering at 4 families.

Aye... I feel for them as well. But having survived a few epics myself, it's knowin what COULD hit ya what put's the salt on the potatoes. I'm glad they are back and I hope their wives aren't too hard on them.

My girls started bouncing around at the end of the rope at 4 but their attention span was short. They mostly liked to pendulum across the wall. The oldest one climbed a 5.7 awhile ago at age 8. The important thing is to make sure they are having fun and want to go again.

Maybe we can have it at the climber's bivy above Bridge Creek if there are only 3 or 4. There is no sense paying $150 if we don't have enough people.

The response is underwhelming. Rather than pay $50 for a weekend at Chatter Creek, (assuming the three committed show up and pay a third), I will cancel the reservation on Wednesday September 1, unless there is more of a response.

Bring a friend. There are no rules.

I bought a pair this spring. I have not walked very far in them but had to replace the liners with something wider. After doing that, they feel comfortable. I have a wide foot (E). This does not answer your question but is worth knowing I hope. Having climbed ice in Koflachs and other ice boots, these feel like they will be good ice boots. Having skied in all the above boots, these feel like they will be for transportation, not extreme skiing. They are nice and light and I got the whole dynafit setup to match. See you out there!

My pocket rocket goes everywhere with me in the summer. It saves time, weight, and doesn't spill, stink or make loud noises. When it gets cold, I break out the MSR XGK. It stinks, sounds like a rocket, weighs more, and is just gettin fired up when the canister stove would have a pot half boiled (in warm temps). But I have had enough bad experiences with a cold canister that I will not trust my life to them.

Kid's Ropeup is September 17-19 at Chatter Creek Group site. Same place as last year. Bridge Creek and 8 mile were not available. Cost is $149 for the site. We will pass the hat. Confirmation number is 1-3435078. This is a family campout/climbing weekend. It is not an organized event per se. Bring your own food, beverages, cooking apparatus, tentage, my beer, etc. No cussing, cursing, or unsavory language unless it is part of a climbing story. To get there; go to Leavenworth. The first right is Icicle RD. Chatter Creek is several miles then a few more and maybe one more after that. Eventually, you will pass the Chatter Creek Ranger Station on the right. Take the first right immediately after and we are in the first loop to the left. There is a gate but it not locked. We check in at 3PM Friday and out at 11AM Sunday. Chatter creek is a ways up the valley where it can get cold. Bring appropriate dining attire. If you are coming, respond to this and post your name under COMING: Bug. Olivia 8, Meredith 6. Tentative: Can't find Leavenworth:

Kid's Ropeup is September 17-19 at Chatter Creek Group site. Same place as last year. Bridge Creek and 8 mile were not available. Cost is $149 for the site. We will pass the hat. Confirmation number is 1-3435078.

And my point is, regardless of religious persuasion, or scientific beliefs or whatever, people are going to find a reason to blame other people for their misfortune. We are changing rapidly as a society and even as a global society. The institutions of religion, in their many facets, cannot keep up with the rate of change. This does not mean that everything we held true up to now was wrong. There is 10,000 years of human wisdom in the Old Testament. It is woven into the New Testament and the Quran in many ways. I am willing to have Muslims, Jews, Christians,all religions, and atheists have their fights so that we can preserve as much as possible of the wisdom that is stored in the books and in the personal experiences of practicing those modalities of wisdom. We will need everybody to contribute when we start a new structure. History suggests that the kind of change we are seeing does not continue indefinately. We do not want to give up on anything that might contribute to a solution just because it changes with less frequency and is being wrongly used as an excuse for cruelty. Change will come. Keep the tools for rebuilding handy. What you do with the tools is up to you.