Gary_Yngve

I thought that the Zig-Zag flakes pitch was more strenuous than the offwidth pitch, which really isn't >3.5" for very far. Also, there's a sweet 5.9 fingercrack on SEWS SW Rib, above and right of your third dot from the ground, just to the left of some roofs. Dumps you out onto the 5.6 slab. Very fun.

that's really cool. i've been working on something like that for the past few years as a hobby (just a few hours a month, so slow progress), though mine will be slower but prettier. now i just need to psyche myself up to finish it.

does above average mean that you feel like it's fun? that you could make money from it if you wanted? other folks would enjoy listening/eating/participating? what's above average trad climbing? 5.9? above average cooking?

I guess it really depends how to describe average.

i'd rather be average at a zillion things than just really good at one thing

cool! i'll need to take you up on that sometime this summer

my game of choice these days is bridge. in the past, chess/bughouse and scrabble. i enjoy cooking and trying out new ingredients/recipes. working on the argentine tango now.

The only plastics you should own are ski boots! Unless you plan on spending extended time on the snow at high altitude (Denali, stuff in Peru, etc.) or plan on spending a lot of time on Rainier.

The intermediate anchor is still gone as of today. There's also a project bolt (w/ red ribbon) as well as a fixed line to the left of Iron Horse.

Does Mark use those for donkey-punching the sheep?

University Village should be renamed Bellevue West.

have fun... i'll be at index instead

holy shit man, what an awesome roadtrip!

Don't be such a hardass, Jimmy.

I've always disagreed with that guidebook notation for HoC p3. The crux to me seems like the dogleg start, where it's thin hands. Then it's bomber #2 camalots. Finally there's little bit of cupped hands/fists before reaching the ledge. Blake, the third pitch starts as that thrutch. It's easiest if you can walk back (and up) till you can reach high for a hand. Once you've mantled that and want to work up and right to the wide crack that Matt describes, there's a key thumbs-up right handjam you want so you can make upward progress. I say key, because you will find it hard if you place your pro there. Rather it's better to place a TCU in the horizontal crack just to the left. You can also access the top of G-M p3 by climbing the "bonus" part of HoC p3. It's 11a in the guide, but it's really one or two moves that could be easily aided.

I don't like the idea of top-roping on chains past the end of the flake because of the pendulum a follower could take if they fall on the traverse. It's much less of a pendulum when TRing from up high.

the chimney part is low-5th. then there's a nice .75 camalot crack to the top that's 5.10a. as others have pointed out, well protected and clean falls.

I showed up right at 7:30 too. Bummer we couldn't find each other.

sweet, i think i can make it

it could mean women who want more sex and less pregnancy

Do you find that climbing hard interferes with your violin? The next day after climbing hard interferes with my cello.

Lately I've really dug Alan Hovhaness. Also been on a Scandanavianish theme... the standards are Grieg and Sibelius, but there's some other cool ones out there: Eivind Grover Carl Nielsen Einojuhani Rautavaara Harald Saeverud Peteris Vasks There's a really cool CD of Vivaldi's Four Seasons interleaved with the lesser known Piazzolla's Four Seasons. The dovetailing of the two together is brilliant.

on the fin... I heard the hanger was smashed so badly that it's hard to get a carabiner through. that bolt has been there for a long time... let it be.

You could also girthhitch, or otherwise rig, a hero loop to the harness as a gear loop.

it does have those small loops on the side that will fit 1-2 biners each. you can clip a biner in and use the biner as a "gear loop." not a big deal on a glacier because you're not carrying much. you might be able to use your pack for racking gear too