ivan

pat n' me are going apeshit w/ the relentless dark 'round here and are heading south for the last week of the year - i've only been to zion n' red rocks in spring n' wonder what you super-brains think about good winter routes? in zion i've already done spaceshot n' touchstone, which i might redo as i recall they get a fair bit of sun - what else is there that's relatively warm? red rocks i've done the solar slab n' olive oil n' cat the hat n' geronimo, all south facing i think - what else is good? note to self: buy real beer before entering u-tard!

the willis wall! extra points for skiing back down it

top 10 presidential lies of the past 100 years - go! what i got off the top of my head: "read my lips, no new taxes" "i am not a crook" "i did not have sex with that woman" "we will be greeted as liberators" gotta be more gold to mine there...

his oration every bit the equal of august cicero, i was so humbled i had no recourse but to renouce whiskey n' women n' join my local chapter of the young republicans

tent-pegs hammered into mud are legit, no?

i try to bolt only well-established trad routes....

if i had a dollar for everytime i heard that larry feller say he don't climb no more yet ran into him climbing anyhow...

naw, we should just write the introduction for the bum who should write the true introduction - but only after all of us have drunk a case of beast ice light a piece that night showed my true colors - sure, i usually act the died-in-the-wool libtard pussy, but when push comes to confronting meth-heads, i show up to the party armed to the teeth w/ steak knives n' at least moderately sober

if there's not a picture of glass shards n' tweakers in the parking lot, i, for one, will be unimpressed

not alpine, but close and very fun: beacon rock's south east corner - 5 pitches of easy 5th i soloed vesper a few years ago and enjoyed it and it wasn't too harebrained, w/ the exception perhaps of the first few feet off the ground forbidden of course would be good, dragontail's serpentine arete too, north ridge of stuart if you're confident

it's all fun n' games until the sex-toys become self-aware

may's often spectacular for any of the many cascade volcanoes, should you be into that sorta thing...

which should i fear more, a human w/ malicious intent or a machine that's figured that out on it's own?

my favorite moment of the year - celebrating a successful get-up'n'get-off of the lost arrow in venutian temperatures in the ethereal upper yosemite falls

12/14 - day 59 n' can i possibly squeeze one last visit before the year fuckers off? too slimy for climbing rocks today, so i suited up the chilluns n' put the dogdamned god in the car too n' headed on out in the early afternoon - side visit to fallen-leaf park in camas along the way for chucking rocks across frozen lake vistas - franzia lake too for swan oogling - swaggered up the trail w/ the kids in tow n' had a picnic up on the summit, then back down for hot-cider n' a quick transit back to st clouds, via the skamania mart for cervazas - wandered along the riverside amongst the mud n' ice n' spent shotgun shells, chucking branches into the river for the dog to fish out, then wobbled on back home for ravioli n' rare-hot red sauce n' bunches of burgundy

12/14 - day 59 n' can i possibly squeeze one last visit before the year fuckers off? too slimy for climbing rocks today, so i suited up the chilluns n' put the dogdamned god in the car too n' headed on out in the early afternoon - side visit to fallen-leaf park in camas along the way for chucking rocks across frozen lake vistas - franzia lake too for swan oogling - swaggered up the trail w/ the kids in tow n' had a picnic up on the summit, then back down for hot-cider n' a quick transit back to st clouds, via the skamania mart for cervazas - wandered along the riverside amongst the mud n' ice n' spent shotgun shells, chucking branches into the river for the dog to fish out, then wobbled on back home for ravioli n' rare-hot red sauce n' bunches of burgundy

Uhhhhhhh, I have absolutely no idea what this means. But I suspect, just maybe, you have been reading a little too much from the fantasy or Gothic genres. means you have no appreciation for classic science fiction i reckon?

looks to be a good chance the mountain will be socked in, but not so bad that you can't at least wander on up and see what happens - take a gps and/or altimeter and you ought not have any problems getting back to the parking lot - the south side's pretty tame, and i know many people have climbed it lately, so either the pearly gates or the old chute will go just fine.

wonder who the winner was in 2003?

i'm too busy fighting the War Against Christmas to mix it up w/ nitwits i reckon

harshing on folks in the partner forum's generally considered poor form, fellas

they legalized weed, dontcha know? ya ain't gotta be all coy these days

Trip: New World Amphitheater - Blaaaackjack! Date: 12/9/2013 Trip Report: the dark dregs of late fall, my soul in deep doldrums - a Big Cold come over the gorge for many days, but always something to keep me away - work, birthdays, lack of tools, lack of talent, lack of general ambition in this fading life - sigh... the weekend was worst - raging sun n' arctic temps but a Full Press of Pater Familias Responsibilities upon me - ably dispatched, i swore off gainful employment monday and threw in my lot w/ beatard-ben n' his new friend, eric - no pavid parcel of simple fools, we made off from troutdale as the sun ambled up into the gunmetal sky, the fun forecast of days gone by on the wane i was stoked to get the backseat to meself on the ride in, them white-boys hobnobbing 'bout christ-knows what up-front while i nipped coffee to quell my quotidian whiskey-sick n' contemplate my lot in this lackluster life - i guess i didn't exactly put my full shoulder into my photographic obligations? black jack at light speed blasting down 84 - it's like...uh...the middle one! ben had epiced way-back in the day he said in trying to access the blackjack flow - the olson guide description certainly involves some hairy hi-jinx n' didn't look to make much sense to me in hindsight neither, but hey, whatever it takes to isolate 3 tiers of solid adventure ice w/o too steep a crux from the thrutching masses cluster-fucking the crown jewel! so apparently the lowest flow rarely connects to the ground? it sure was still a long way off after all this freeze, and rather than repeat his rewardless stumble-fuck of years ago, ben roped me in a few weeks ago to round out an aid-alternative he's been at now and again - horrid rock n' wicked steep, why not? i did my bit n' retired to read n' puff butts n' hide from rockfall as he pushed it higher sunday ben n' eric completed the line and got it to the top of the first tier - all that was left monday then was to jug up the lines they'd left fixed eric just a few moments before realizing it suuuuure is easier to jug w/ yer pack dangling... a long bout of hauling shiny gear n' whatnot up the cliff n' soon enough we were all up there, ready to get at the reward of all this labor ben getting rigged up for his romp up the first real ice pitch sure are some saturnine vistas over there in far-off warshington? nice pitch - not too hard w/ plenty of good feet - far from solid frozen to be sure though i have an 8000 meter parka n' you don't ben at the top i stomped n' snorted n' smoked n' generally bided my time till it was my turn - eric heading on up the bowl below the 2nd tier was brush n' bracken n' bullshit but some clippers made it better - ben was a good, good boy, so got to climb this next (short) pitch plenty thin ice here - taking out one of the anchor screws here resulted in a geyser of liquid water raging on odd - musta explained the bit of cut brush ben had shoved down the bore? the third n' final tier was wicked wet and scraggly, and the sun was damn near well-set - by the time we were all up there the mere prospect of getting back down in one piece was menacing enough, so we set ourselves to figuring that out - no small task - no trees, no cracks in the rock, no quality ice to get a v-thread, n' no drill to put in an anchor bolt - in the glowering dusk we talked ben into trusting our lives on a dainty li'l sapling he was sitting by another fun rap off a half-rotten log frozen into the muck and we were down to an all-together trustworthy station - the base in the frosty dark, breath heavy around us -packing n' smoking n' chuckling - we wandered down the steep crick, ben needing a rudolf to guide him as his headlamp was like a sun gone dead shame this here gorge don't freeze more frequent - might then have to get me some tools that don't leave me looking like a bare-knuckle prize fighter who went 12 rounds n' lost big?

'specially when i'm batting