ivan

i thought about just sticking the bolt back in the hole and setting up a camera to watch the poor soul who next wandered upon it...i think maybe the tent pole solution is more amusing! wow, tremendous dedication too to run all the damn way back to the car. i think that those familiar w/ aid might still be able to top-step to get past this section. giants like meself need not worry.

perfect conditions...rain and snow in the week before the climb, followed by extreme cold snap (30 or so down here in vancouver, 'round zero in the gullies themselves). the upper mountain was not terribly covered in snow, and the whole gully was glazed in ice. all sand/pebbles/etc were frozen solidly together and could be hooked and stuck while climbing. descending off the south side was far, far more entertaining then ever it had been before though.

ya, the west face variation, i'm not quite up for 5.12 or whatever the west face goes at. i was in fact on the pioneer route's bolt ladder, which is now going to require a high step to complete.

metolious bolt is all i know..quite new n' shiny. what fucked it was the direction of pull. the bolt i was stretching way out to clip required me to lean back on the bolt i was fified to, so the pull was coming strait out. a novel experience, and much fun on the west side of monkey phallus, as rob n' i tried out all the variations possible for pitch 2 (the left most one being the most enjoyable pitch of the day)

whilst laying siege to monkey face y-day, i learned the lesson that bolts ain't necessarily as bad ass as you might think. about half way up the bolt ladder, i was attached to a big, solid metolious hanger, high-stepping in all of my 6'7" glory so i could skip a bolt. just as i clipped my daisy at the limit of my reach...POP! i swung a bit, felt confused, looked down...there, still attaching to monsieur fifi hook was the hanger, complete w/ 4 inch bolt and washer (i could just make out the metallic ringing of the sleeve which was bouncing it's way down 3 pitches). i was very happy my upper daisy had just been clipped, as i only fell an inch or so. also, to make life easier for my partner, i'd only been clipping every 4 bolts or so! maybe i'll post a picture tomorrow. the bolt makes for a nice keep-sake.

climbed dod's jam at beacon, then finished via dastardly (? not certain, i didn't have a guide book w/ me, but jim says that sounded right). this route rocks big time! the second pitch is offwidth but has pro in the back, the 3rd pitch was an easy aid climb for a wanker such as meself, and the 4th (dastardly, i think) was great fun.

hey man, long time no see! yah, i do this, but mostly 'cuz my wife is totally flakey and could use some reasonable outside consulation before getting the whole wife involved. i figure if she can talk to a few knowledgable friends first, she's more likely to chill and allow me time to exticate my stupid ass from whatever situation i've worked myself into.

so i'm morally free to be an asshole than if i have a living will? partner w/ no helmet at crag = fuck'em, no serious danger to myself or inconvience in disposing of his carcass, so be cool w/ yer bad-self partner w/ no helmet in the alpine = asshole partner who could very well leave me up shit's creek all by myself, w/ a very dangerous responsibility to care for his incapicitated self. probably wouldn't climb w/ that guy a second time unless he had great herbs.

on the seatbelt rule, the only logic i've only bought is the idea that, in many accidents, the driver still needs to be in control of the vehicle to prevent even more bad shit from happening (which is of course impossible if his head is through the windshield or a passenger has been thrown into him). i fail to see the corollary to the climbing-helmet debacle. here we see the pure essence of dumb-fucks being allowed to dash their own dumb-fuck skulls in w/ impunity.

just y-day at beacon i got hit in the head with a golf-ball sized rock from about 30 feet above. that's the second time that's happened to me at beacon, while on easy, sound routes. on both occasions i was wearing a helmet and shrugged it off. on both occasions, if i hadn't been wearing a helmet, i'd have had a large hole in my head. seems like a no-brainer to me. i compensate for looking silly in my helmet by writing witty things on it like "what the fuck are you looking at?"

You're kidding right?? somebody was complaining about Eric's early morning ramblings...No way! some people deserve death...and if you're a dilly, frustrated little beyatch who stands but 4'10", you really gotta expect it when you get into a pissing match w/ a mean ogre armed with two steel murder hammers maybe it was just that i hadn't had any coffee...

also went ice crag'n on the elliot on saturday...also found wierd old shit (a section of old hemp rope, 3 braids, about halfway through the lower icefall) mountain looks sweet w/ all that new snow up high

i went late in the season and found the only good place for bartering was 14k; any lower and they'd already ditched what they didn't want, any higher and they were hoarding.

i agree w/ my stone cold pimpin' partner...traversing the scree slope was annoying, but hardly horrible

taste kinda like chicken good w/ a pale ale

yum, mt washington shit rock at its finest...i think the guide book calls this area the "cascade dinner plates"

ditto what iain said on the n face of hood in perfect fall conditions...fuk'n spectacular! still curious what's so great about luetholds...maybe paul knows?

well, i don't know about that....

skyclimb, what variation of luethold you speaking of? up yocum's?

ya, that's the guide alright. particurarily despises mt washington. on the plus side, it does have the cool dog icon superimposed over hood's south side.

i always wondered if that walk over on the path to the base of the money pitch on the se corner was worth calling a pitch....a bold lead to be sure

don't know if anyone mentioned it in this huge thread and i'm too lazy to check, but: 5.7 - beacon rock - se corner, pitch 2. amazing pitch in a sweet setting. contains opportunities for every major type of climbing move.

got some digital video, but the best pic i've seen of the route is iain's helicopter pic from the recent rescue, as it looks right up the ridge.

jeff has much better chronic than me, no doubt his superior performance whilst in the throes of intense pains. mostly i just feel angry (thus a good reason for getting drunk)...falling into a 2 foot deep heather sink hole 6 hours into a 24 hour day was not what i had on the party itinerary...it's kinda made the last few days total suck. but again, beer heals all...

nice, so that was you guys! did ya'll end up walking out in the dark? we were a bit worried as we partied at the summit and you never appeared. i admit i was much confused for awhile as to what ya'll were doing...looked like you were trying to pioneer something new and getting spanked int he process. thanks for serving as a relay station for us...it was too windy to hear a damn thing. finally, much kudos to the unknown stranger who ferried josh and i up the road back to our car. standing on the back bumper, daisy-chained to the roof rack, racing down the road in the slip stream w/ a wet shirt on was better than sex that day...