ivan

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

you cape horn fellers are kwaaaazy - looked wicked steep over there today - here's a much mellower 2nd pitch on blaaaaaack-jack just across the way

just finished the 8th inning of ken burns' "baseball" - holy sheeit muslims - 18 hours almost already!

that's upper cape horn there, right chris?

good to see we have the resident members on the board from both sides of the political divide opposed to drone use over our own skies - what's it gonna take to concede maybe we shouldnt' be using them willy-nilly above the skies of the rest of the world?

had the boy in tow today so no climbing, but took a spin through the gorge w/ him anyhow - had some great fun w/ a kid-sized ice-hammer destroying phat iciles in the multnomah lot and elsewhere - saw folks on mist falls but nowhere else - crown jewel looked worthless, as did pretty much everythign else - seems odd how little ice there's been w/ all this cold - no wind really at all today either, which i imagine has been the problem?

wow, that's NOT a gap ad?

they can have my trebuchet when they take it out of my cold, dead backyard!

goddammit, i'm on the other side of this issue!!!!

hunting's not dead yet there, pat, 'specially since, once we establish our united anti-jesus-libturd-holocaust-home-coming-dream state here in 'merica the Spawn of Koch will be reduced to trapping squirrels out in the yard of the gulag in order to supplement the bland bowl of healthy granola they'll be served up every day

i've always been surrounded by pistol-packing fools, family n' friends, so long ago learned to accept it w/ a smile and move along - its not an issue i get excited about - i just try to avoid movie theaters, bars, churches, schools, sidewalks, sporting events, airports, parking lots, battlefields, hospitals, the woods, concerts, campgrounds, my home, the kinda places folks typically get shot, ya know? this strategy has thus far been 100% successful for me and i'm content to have it continue as national policy

perhaps a compromise is in order? everybody can have whatever kind of gun they want and shoot whoever they like, but, once shot, all victims can get "free" medical services?

odd, i hear, in america's deathcamps, smokes are used as a form of currency

school just got canceled - i'm done at noon today - anybody wanna wander into the gorge? extra-points if you have a vehicle less scary than mine

Is this an article of faith or something that you've arrived at by argument (seriously)? E.g. Is this an argument from an abstract/arbitrary notion of fairness, efficiency, superior clinical efficacy, or what? faith, what's that? the simple gut-feeling that a thing is right? i'm not a brain in a jar and ultimately any decision i make is an emotional one, it's just a question of how extreme... i love mr spock n' all, but quite a few of them vulcan fellers were flat-out assholes - how many bright phd's helped the nazis, for example?

and yet?

bummer - bit of a way to walk this time of year to be confronted w/ bullshit least there's ice in the gorge now

"Hear me! Brothers not yet born in lands far-flung from beyond the setting of the baleful sun, that here I lie, broken but unbeaten, done dark by Death, yes, but determined to rise again in glory and pass my tests!" - From the Funereal Stella of Madd Aeothless Magnus, 316-359 PAE __________________________________ "...and so we left Him there, our Lord struck down by savage Death in that dark place, there to molder and make of his Majesty but the scantest pile of common rags and musty bone - sadly we set off, our hearts Hard with Sorrow, fated to find in his Immense Emptiness the Echoes of our own Impending Greatness." - Fragment found of the largely-lost "Account of the Companions of Madd" circa 400 PAE