ivan

how were the crowds this weekend? what sadness climbing partner moves away and i get stuck at some shitty conference when the weather's fucking beautiful! this is the last time i attempt to take on some sort of serious professional responsibilty on a weekend i'm not sure will be shitty a week in advance

bob what a name

sucks to hear man...guess it keeps the objective in its proper perspective though. shame you couldn't stick it out and give it another shot today as the weather was once again quite sweet which way were ya'll planning on descending, prior to the snowbridge gods saying fuck off (and don't forget to toast the aforementioned deities before your next )?

wish i could go...post a t.r.

tried for a week to get on the ledges right around new years...snow was very deep and the weather most foul the whole damn time...rmi failed the whole week to get any of its folks even up to muir....i myself have never felt so whipped on that mountain as i did the last 1000 feet up to muir in the screaming wind that said, if the weather cooperates and the snow conditions have improved slightly, the ledges looked quite tasty...i'd plan on taking 3 days for it, and don't get stuck up top in a storm (for 2 days i thought the muir hut was going to blow away)

drift? rangers are for yelling at, not paying...haven't had too many problems at beacon yet (though my iranian friend and i did climb the barricade on the trail right after new years to return to an irate puppy...something about trespassing, i don't know, i wasn't paying attention) having out of date, out of state license plates seems to help

yeah josh, it was a no summit, and once again i didn't even set foot on the ledges (nor even ever get a view up to the beehive)...however, just reaching muir felt like quite an accomplishment as rmi spent a whole week failing to do it and it only took us 2 1/2 days, only to spend 2 days seriously wondering just how much stronger the wind would need to get before the hut collapsed...hoping to get some pics from me friends soon, one is a classic video, what appears to be an astronaut emerging into a 70 mph snowy-breeze to take a shit, but only after grabbing onto a fixed line with one hand and an axe in the other, still managing to get blown over, wallowing up a 10 foot snowdrift that formed overnight in front of the john, then proudly posing atop said drift only to be hammered again.... good times

not making the long drive to seattle tonight to call The Man a money-grubbing whore, but if someone wants to do it for me i'll take the fall for it...

i found lugging 70 pounds of crap all over mt. rainier in snow up to my ass quite effective in keeping the holiday weight off (despite the fact that much of what i was carrying was food that i spent all my off hours consuming)...now if only there had been one damn sunny day the whole week...

hendrix...morrison...elvis...shit, all the cool people are dead, it's practically a requirement but they sure don't smell too good

i seem to recall being asked that same thing at the rope-up oh wait, that guy thought i was on speed funny thing was i was heavily sedated at the time

i find long drives are shorter when i take a nap on the way...i woke up in my front yard, car still running...sweet, i'm home, time ta see if i can get me something

right on tex...death, much like beer, is the solution to all of life's little problems i find screaming at rangers in alternating pygmy versions of russian, german and portuguese also to be, while not effective, damn enjoyable hey, since there's some rangers out there, what's your response to a climber sans permit at 14K? i encountered one on top of shasta a few years ago...i'd actually had bought a pass, but left it at 10K...i was feeling so ill at the time i couldn't have given a shit if christ himself had demanded it...was he prepared to hold me hand the whole way down the hill (the ranger that it, not our dear lord in heaven who's naturally hydrophobic feet provide him an exceptional edge on the big glaciers )?

yeah, i'm not really human...my heart pumps a strange lumpy green fluid that stinks heavily of elderberries i only mate once a minute my favorite color is lillac it is friday, right?

shit...i'll pick everyone up, it'll be just like the partridge family van...the way i see it, this gets me drunk for free and all you fucking killed on the way home. wee! i'm gonna spend xmas in a box ya'll!

don't know if i can give a ride to someone who already has so many damn stars to his avatar after only 12 posts...course, for the mere price of a beer i'll pick you up at your door and deliver you back by midnight (or vice versa)...me phone is 882 6589 or pm me

see, it don't take that long to get shit in order when there's shit to order (though i hear this place has fine beer)

made my gear loops for the same harness for 21 cents at home depot...used steel wire and tubing...still not as good as honest to god loops, but certainly lighter

damn, i had to look that one up on a map...you mean people live out there? semi-nomadic hunter-gatherers, right?

where is this great treasure, oh far-sighted one? how are the climbs?

thought it would be fun to practice with the old gps and headed up the south side of hood...got immersed in the white out about halfway to the top of the lift...occasionaly got glimpses of the lift (probably could'a heard it too if i wasn't listening to the flogging mollies the whole time), which eventually ended up scaring the shit out of me...it was off when i decided to go up the ski area instead of far off to the side, so i figured i was safe...then i saw it was on, and the occasional skier heading up...as i could see no more than 20 yards of so, i was certain i would be killed by a speeding gore-tex coated bullet...had fun above the lift, navigating to some pre-entered coordinates...eventually got bored since i couldn't see a thing and even the dark sparkling hallucinations were beginning to become banal...enjoyed falling several times on the descent as i tripped over mini snow steps that totally didn't register to my eyes

bringing it back to the top again and, desiring to skip rereading the whole damn thread, ask when and where the hell the great silient majority decided to do this thing

dammit! i desperately need to get a good and social drunk tied on...ah well, reckon i'm soloing the north face of john walker again

so is that actually happening tonight? i'm game if someone's wants to give me directions (and i lack the lettuce, much to my great agony, but i can bring beer)

there are worse things than having too many places to drink at all at the same time