Greg_W

Are you ever going to shut the fuck up about bouldering?

Thanks, Muffy. (Someone actually asked me that the other day.) What are you doing posting at that time of the morning? Don't you have a job you're supposed to get to? Me? No, I'm unemployed, 14, and irresponsible. How do you think I got so many posts?

Sport-wank bullshit. Figures.

Thanks, Muffy. (Someone actually asked me that the other day.)

Enchantments Plateau

No Slayer this time, Ben: Lacuna Coil, Nevermore, Hell Promise, Strapping Young Lad, and more... jja - Prusik looks good. South face routes were dry. West Ridge was looking good; might be some icy spots back in the cracks or in shaded areas.

Fuck 'em. Whatever you do whilst leading or following is what it is. If they take offense, they can say something or move on.

Thanks, Radon. That's a cool site. Definitely, it was Sagittarius smack dab in front of us.

An additional note: Does anyone know what Sagittarius looks like and would it be in the Southern sky right now? As we were waiting for dawn, I was looking directly at a constellation/collection of stars that looked just like a horse. Low in the sky. Anyone? Muffy?

I know, personally, it has to be life-threatening before I'll say something. Case in point: I arrive at the belay on "Classic Crack" a few weeks ago to find the TR anchor a couple gumbies had set. In my view, it was unsatisfactory and unsafe (I wouldn't have climbed on it). I said something, my partner brought up some of their gear and reconfigured it. These guys learned something about anchors AND climbed safe that day. When I am led to address something, I always ask if I can provide some input or advice: "Could I make a suggestion?" or "I noticed you <blah, blah, blah>. Would you mind another opinion on that?" People are usually open to that. I also gauge the party to see if they ARE open to suggestion. If I don't think they are, I say nothing. Greg_W

I just had this idea for inserting the 9/16: Use a stout monofilament line (20# test fishing line?) with a chunk of lead sinker material and pass that through the 1" first. Then, attach the 9/16 to the monofilament and pull it back through. Good luck.

You know who you are...

Billygoat = Tentless.

I'll answer that one, since I brought it up initially. We wallowed through some healthy windblown/wind-packed powder on the approach slopes to the Ledges. This concerned me, since this type of snow (crusted-over sugar snow) would make traversing the ledges a rather unnerving affair unroped (we had decided to go unroped as there probably would be no pro to speak of). Further, odds were that the upper portion of Gib Chute was fairly loaded with snow. Those were the concrete factors. The not-so-concrete factor was a feeling that I had. Call it what you will, I just had a weird feeling. Greg_W

Yeah, and you're really good at it; like it takes no effort.

I would think that the Carbon would be pretty broken up, making crossing a bitch.

Geez, address the fucking issue, dude. Or, are you refusing to discuss the issue because you think that the current progressive tax is "fair & equitable" in you belief system?

Like the Rush fan club newsletter? Do you ever come up with an orginal thought to troll with or just rummage through your mail for this crap? Nice way of addressing the issue, Jim. I like how, since you cannot refute it, you slam it.

Best Political Thread: "Congressional Debates" That was a good one; nice and measured debates. Necro only got out of line once or twice. MtnGoat didn't post too many long-ass diatribes.

Two words for you, bro: BABY TYLENOL

There are many of us, we are growing...

That pic was from last May (I believe) and it was, as Caveman said, 50-100 meters downstream from the parking lot.

Yep, that was me. How was NBC? How was the hike out?

Climb: Little Annapurna-Snow Creek TH through to Stuart Lk. TH Date of Climb: 4/10/2004 Trip Report: I got the jones to traverse the Enchantments again, but couldn't find a partner so, I went solo. For some reason, I had the desire to do it at night. I cached a bike as far as I could drive up the road to the Stuart Lk. TH Friday night and then slept for two hours just up the road from the Snow Lakes TH. Awake at 11PM, and on the trail by 11:30PM, I headed out. There are a few downed trees on the trail below SCW, but not much snow. Past SCW, there is a lot of blowdown and the snow starts. My original plan was to make it to Lake Vivianne by 4 a.m., or so, and be on Little Annapurna by dawn. I failed to take into account the difficulty of navigating snow-covered trails by headlamp. I didn't really lose the trail too many times, but did some searching and backtracking to stay on course (especially below Nada Lake). I was moving fairly well, but it still took me about seven plus hours to make it to Vivianne. I don't know what I could have done different given the conditions to speed up, but anyway. Sunrise at the lake was beautiful, but cold. The snow was variable, depending on the slope aspect; there was good styrofoam in places, with crusted-over sugar in others. Halway across the basin, I took a longer break as I was feeling spent. I wrapped up in a space blanket and took about a 20 minute power nap with the sweet growling of death metal in my ears. Slightly refreshed, I headed off for Little Annapurna. The summit was beautiful - awesome views of Rainier, Stuart, Baker, Glacier, and TONS of other peaks. By this time, it was shirtsleeve weather - totally bluebird. The first people I saw were a pair of climbers heading up the walkup route on Dragontail. I hit Asgard and headed down; again, the snow was variable. I wore my aluminum crampons down and was glad to have them in a few places. A huge slide path had come down on climber's right just above the lake. I found out later that it had come down during the night. Crossing the lake was a little nervewracking as I was alone, but it seems pretty solid (a few soft spots near the northern shore). Hike out was uneventful except for meeting Travis and Dave who gave me a ride back to my truck. Thanks, guys. Gear Notes: Standard shit Some shit I didn't need snowshoes (used) aluminum crampos (used) ice axe (used, but unnecessary) the same 30' of webbing I took on McClellan (still clueless) Stove and pot (didn't use, found plenty water on both sides of the plateau) space blanket (used) PalmPilot with mp3's (deathmetal rocks for hiking) Approach Notes: LOTS of blowdown above SCW

Dude, a squid is limp and floppy. Maybe you're doing something wrong?