Bug

There are more pics under the Washington site. I didn't see the event site before I posted them.

What a disappointment. At 360, 5'9" and 44 years old, I was the youngest and in the best shape of all the dads there. Needless to say, all we did was sit around sloshing beers and chestbeat about how good we used to be. Once in awhile we had to throw a kid a marshmallow but for the most part, the Cosco box of fruitloops kept them happy. I tried to call CPS but I couldn't get cell service up Icicle canyon. Go figure, at least half these guys have called in helicopters to the Enchanments when their GPS failed but I can't raise a Wentchee detective in a real emergency. Oh well. Maybe next year will be better.

We have our own shark patrol. Meredith (5) always asks if this is salt water before she will even get a toe wet. One more thing. Bring pile clothes if you have them for the kids. They make good pajamas.

I sense an inner child that needs a big hug.

If your kids are like mine- little- they will like lots of sugar and very few rules. Cereal variety packs and hot chocolate are key for breakfast and many other times. Bacon is usually a hit as we never eat it otherwise and it sneaks some long lasting protien into their arteries. A tent to separate them from reality is nice. I bring a minimum of two sleeping bags per kid. The tent will resist being filled to the top but that is what my kids enjoy. Light sticks are goog for kids who are afraid of the dark. I will have a few extra just in case ($1). Bring one lunch of nutritional value that they are used to. Ham sandwhiches are good for my kids. It keeps the sugar a little balanced. Expect mud, dirt, dust and pitch. Extra clothes are nice. Something they don't usually get at home helps get them out the door next time. My girls like the general absence of rules and cleanliness that my norwegian wife likes to impose. Anything goes, as long as it's safe/legal. .

Jack and I were climbing Canyon peak in the Bitterroots about 15 years ago. It is an easy alpine ascent with a little 5.6 here and there and a lot of beautiful exposure and scenery. When we got to the base, Jack promptly rolled his ankle hard. We packed it in snow and he walked on it to test it. It seemed good enough so we climbed the peak and descended to the base. At this point he told me he was not going to be able to walk on it all the way out six miles and down 4000 ft. We devised a plan. I would take the rack, rope and other gear and high-tail it out to the truck and he would make it down as far as he could. I would jog back up and assist the rest of the way. Jack gave me his key and gear and I headed out. When I got to the truck that he had traded for some legal work, I found out that the key was for the ignition but not for the locked doors. Oh well. I stashed my pack and headed back up. I passed the first hunter about two miles up. He had passed Jack way up by the top and he was moving very slowly. I met a second hunter about three miles up and he had just seen Jack about an hour before up steep switchbacks. About half way up, I found Jack tying his shirt around his crude crutch as padding. I tried to help him but the trail was narrow, steep and precipitous and it was pitch dark. We had not brought headlamps. He had too much pride to let me carry him. He hobbled all the way out to the truck. That was when I informed him of the key not working. We found one fist sized rock in the parking lot. Think about that. A parking lot in the mountains, surrounded by vertical rock and talus and we could only find one fist sized rock. Of course it was dark but still.... So I grabbed the rock and struck his wing window. It made a thwack sound but barely even ticked the window. Harder still, I whacked again. Still in tact. Finally, I thwacked that sucker hard and my fist and the rock went right through the wing window slashing my thumb wide open from the joint to the base. It was bleeding profusely. I taped it up and we started the truck and went down to Hamilton to get some ice for Jack's ankle. We pulled into a 7/11 and I jumed out. The front right tire was hissing and deflating rapidly. Jack had no spare. It was Sunday night about 10PM. Jack's wife was seven months pregnant and had a broken ankle from a Rainier trip (different story) so we could not call her. I called my GF and she diligently searched high and low for a car to borrow. My parents were out of town, all our friends were unreachable. We were screwed. Jack called his wife who did not want my girlfriend to drive their new car (OK she was only 18). Lil showed up about midnight. She looked at me and asked if there was anything I wanted, a drink, snack, whatever. I said no, no, and no. She turned to Jack and politely said,"Don't ever do this to me again." and peeled out. Did I mention this was Jack's and my first trip together? We since have had a 90% success ratio.

I use bread bags alot. I have never lost a toenail. My boots are a little big for me. My feet are about a 10 3/4 and I get size 11 boots. When I used 10 1/2 tele boots, I jammed my toes a few times so I tightened the ankle eyelets. That seemed to work. I still had to keep my toenails short. But, to keep your feet warm in really cold weather, keeping the insulation dry is good. I wear a thin silk or capilene sock , a bread bag, and then a heavier wool sock. My socks fit snug without constricting and my feet aren't swimming in the boots either. I also use footbeds. I have made them out of lots of different materials since the early sixties. Felt, styrofoam, wool, insulite, and Aerogel. Aerogel was by far the warmest but disintegrates too quickly. I used an insole from each boot as a pattern. Now I have orthotic inserts that I glue various forms of insulite to.

If marriage were an easy project it wouldn't take a lifetime to complete it. If it weren't for my kids, I would have left my wife years ago. We've gone through a lot of changes and now I am glad we are still together. It doesn't matter what you have going now, it will all change. We will go through more hard times but now we have better tools for working through them. It is not too early to start working on that tool chest. Best of luck!

Good luck getting a date in Seattle now. The girl network knows no boundaries.

you haven't been married have you? uh, no, but by the time I ever do I think we'd have a pretty good idea about out "goals, expectations, loves, likes, dislikes, etc". Good luck with Cinderella big guy. Women get married thinking they can change the man. Men get married thinking their women won't change. The rest is in Trask's little chart.

Nice.

Here is one legitimate piece of good advice. Go to a pre-marriage counselor and have a compatability test carefully done. You can get this done by most competent counselors or through most churches. The Catholic services will do it wether you are Catholic or not. It is not some heavy phsyco drama thing that you have to lie on a couch for. You just fill out several pages of questions about your goals, expectations, loves, likes, dislikes, etc. Then a trained counselor reviews the results with you. Even if it points to some potential problems, at least you two will not get blindsided by quite as much. It is the surprises that will get you.

Right on dudes!!!! Give us a good TR. I want to hear your story.

I like the part about the 16 year-old "wearing denim cutoffs under rain pants". Good alpine apparel.

Get a room you guys.

What did you do in Blodgett? I was at UM for undergrad and climbed lots of stuff down there. In Blodgett it was the parking lot wall, Shoshone at least a couple times a month and Nez Perce & Flathead spire. Ice in the winter was fun too. Cool. Did you do Modern Home Environment on Nez Peirce? I was in on the first ascent. Got to be first through the 5.9 roof near the top. I was just over there to go up Blodgett but it is closed for construction like the Enchantments. I smell a conspiracy.

This thread desinigrated quickly. If your lichen encrusted face is starting to feel windburned, your water ran out hours ago, you have lost track of how many pitches and how far you have simo-climbed, and you meet someone from this board.............

What did you do in Blodgett?

The headache went away.

We have the group site. See the pictures in the gallery in WA state under BUG. The reservation Check-in is at 3pm on Friday the 5th. Check-out is 2pm Sunday. The reservation Confirmation # is 1-2556688. We need that number so whomever looks to get there first will need it. See you there.

Friend of mine got taken that way. Bwahahahahaha!!!!! My first trip to Seattle 1976, I was at the Seattle Center with a friend trying to buy a bag. We were approached by a couple of guys who said they didn't have any weed but had some coke. We went out to the parking lot and checked it out. DUH, I was fresh out of Montana, 16, and had no idea what coke was. So it checked out fine. We "scored" two grams and I got out of the car. One guy got out with me and closed the door. He immediately pulled a badge and told me to get up against the truck. I looked at him and looked at my friend who was oblivious inside the car with the other guy. Then back to my guy. He was getting really nervous. I asked him what he thought he was going to find that I couldn't show him. He showed me a gun. I was still wishing my friend would turn around and see what was going on so I could trash this little asshole but he didn't. My guy started to pull his gun so I went up against the truck and got frisked. Then the other guy pulled his gun and forced my friend out and frisked him. Then they told us not to buy drugs and left. They didn't take our wallets. The badge was an obvious fake but the guns were real. Weirdness. The crushed asprin was no fun either.

That was oregano.

It's a big bad world out there boys and girls. There is no excusing death threats but they will always be around. There are even some who will follow through. We are in a public place where no one is screened carefully. You are at risk. There are no parental controls to protect us. I have lived in some rough places and I would not want to cross a few of the people I have observed from a distance. Most of them were sharp minded. My daddy always said "Don't fuck with people you don't know because you don't know what they will do". Long life and happiness to Jon and Timmy.

Go climbing every weekend from now until she says something. How long it takes her to respond to your fanaticism will indicate how much she will think of you as one of her toys. Remember, all bets are off once you have kids. Moms' priorities take precedence over wives' priorities.

ain't that the truth but remember, there is always love to be found in the alpine environs: Hmmm. Interesting perspective............