Greg_W

what are you reading? "how to repress Dr Phil and Dr. Atkins in 10 easy steps?" "Every Knee Shall Bow", the true account of Randy Weaver and the government funded murders at Ruby Ridge.

minx - I doubt the book I'm reading is on that fat whale's list.

Hey, clean humor is funny, too. Bwahahahahaha!!! I'm here to entertain, dude.

Let's keep that type of hooey in 'Spray', okay, Dru?

No, quite the opposite, actually. And, I now know who you are.

REI Flagshit Store? Free? jja & I saw Roger cruising out from Source Lake on our way in to Chair the other night.

I am laughing so hard I am Oh, really? You think denegrating one of the premier climbing resources in the Pacific Northwest is funny? It's people like you who give this site a bad name - always calling people 'fucktards' and telling them to "eat my ass, buttmunch", and other such grossness. You probably don't even climb. If you want entertainment, switch on Oprah -It's Book Club day.

If you've noticed, the hermaphrodite currently known as 'snugtop' hasn't posted in awhile. This is typical of the imitation female troll perpetrated by some on this site. Soon, 'she' will see this post and post that she got called out of town, was in a seminar, was real busy, etc. to cover 'her' ass. Frankly, I find this type of abuse of a site dedicated to climbing and the outdoors rather silly. Can't we talk about serious climbing instead of all this juvenile, playground/lockerroom bull-pucky?

Dump that bitch, dude. Even if she's good in bed, the chica's got to carry her own gear. Oh, and you're a pussy for fucking doing it. Find your balls, man.

Here's a raised glass to these guys. I happened to see the headline Sat. night in the grocery store and it definitely put a damper on my evening. I have found it interesting that the more I climb the more these types of accidents affect me. I didn't know these guys, but it is saddening to lose three guys who gave back to the local climbing community. My heart goes out to their families.

Well, there you go. That settles it. Let's all move there. Actually, you guys all go first, 'cause then my commute will be a lot easier.

This tags you as a high-maintenance chic (or herm, if you actually exist) who is afraid to get dirty and refers to dirt, moss, and mud as 'icky'. You probably won't carry your own gear without whining, bitch about the bugs, and spooge a guy's rope with sunscreen that you liberally apply every five, fucking minutes whether you are belaying or not. Based on that (which I'm sure is fairly spot-on), you won't find much action here outside of the "late-teens early twenties super horny don't know any better" crowd. Good luck

Vegas is a shithole.

No way, too much weight. If I have to take out a killer snaffle it'll be hand to hand combat with an ice axe. I'd be interested in something other than the Emmons; I'll take a look at this S. Tahoma Gl. route. I'm free any weekend except the ones I'm busy.

Bug, I'm already a flaming asshole. Can I still come?

Phew, it's good to be back. I'm sure many people thought that I had been banned, but in reality I've been out of town on a special diplomatic mission for the State Department. A few months ago, some individuals unofficially associated with Secretary of State Powell and Former President George H.W. Bush approached me with an offer I couldn't refuse. I seems that during GWH Bush's tenure as the CIA Chief, there was a small flap over some "black helicopters" that spent a good deal of time cruising the deserts of Nevada and making forays into California. I didn't ask why they had approached me, although I was curious, but said I'd do it. I didn't really have a choice - they threatened to reveal some particularly sensitive information about me. It seems that a small band of Bush's former cronies within the Trilateral Commission had taken to observing certain elements in the Berkeley peace movement back in the '60's and were tracking their association with known hardline Chinese Communists. The extent of this activity included the handing over of funds to one Al Gore by ChiComm operatives posting as Buddhist monks. Bush and Powell were convinced that this activity went very deep into China and into the U.S. I was asked to track several key individuals and report on their progress. No problem right? Well, fuck, they were dropping my tall, gangly white ass into short, dark-haired Mainland China. I assumed the identity of a former Russian military advisor and entered via the rugged mountain regions in the South. My goal was to travel unobtrusively Northwards to the border of Mongolia where I would meet a contact who would get me the information I was looking for. After 4 weeks of covert travel, I reached my objective: a small tavern run by an Australian ex-patriot by the name of Wally. Late one night, in a raging snowstorm, I finally shouldered my way through the door and into the tavern. Now, I expected to find a mid-forties, fat, sloppy drunk of a tavern owner named Wally, get my information, and get the fuck out of Dodge (weird name for a Mongolian city, but whatever). As I stepped through the door, my gaze fell on six feet of dark-haired, green-eyed, amply breasted Australian womanhood. Surely, this can't be the Wally I'm looking for. Well, boys, I'll be damned to hell if it wasn't. That accent and lilting laugh cut through the din of the bar like a sharp knife through horsecock. It was near closing time and the bar cleared out, except for Wally and I. Oops, I've got to go...there are Chinese Secret Policemen outside the internet cafe I am writing from. I'll write more when I get to Siberia and safety (if there is such a thing in this line of work)... For now, fighting for freedom, democracy, and America, Greg_W

I'd like to take the opportunity to thank the makers of Rockstar Energy drink and M&M/Mars, the maker of the Snickers Bar. They fueled me to the top. It was fun, but some of the snow was a little nervewracking. Beats sitting in front of the tube on a Thursday night, that's for sure. Greg_W (risen like a phoenix from the ashes of Hroark)

Went hunting, shot elk. Pictures to come.

That plan is on hold, I got a blister.

Don't you have a life?

I find it interesting that you, knowing absolutely nothing about me, automatically insult me and call me white trash. You know nothing of my upbringing, education, life experience, etc. Whatever, nice debate skills. I see your examples refuting the theory, but what have those people done to EXPAND, PROLIFERATE, AND EXCEL? Only European Aryans have seemed to go forth and expand to a great degree.

During a discussion last evening, I good friend of mine of Danish-German descent made the assertion that there was a certain superior quality to the Nordic-Aryan-Teutonic peoples. I had trouble coming up with points to refute her claim; I, personally, found those of such descent much more intellectually and physically stimulating than other, maybe less developed, peoples. Today I started thinking of it in terms of accomplishment and proliferation and realized that so many major feats down through history have been spearheaded by the Nordic-Aryan-Teutonic peoples and their descendents (henceforth, let's call them 'Nordic' for simplicity). Without getting into a huge comparitive discussion of history, let's simply look at our sport of climbing/mountaineering. Arguably, modern mountaineering can be traced to the Swiss, British, and/or Germans. Thusly, the early feats, accomplishments, and stunning advances were pioneered by Nordic peoples. The Brits are descendents from Scandinavian/Viking raiders and the Germans and Swiss are Aryan/Teutons. Edmund Hillary? New Zealand was settled by British colonists. Whymper? Brit. Heckmayr, Harrer, & Messner? Germans. What about the Spanish, you say? The Spaniards are, actually, bastardized descendents of the Moors; an Arabic race. Wait, you say, what about Abruzzi? You've got me there, eh? Well, the Duke of Abruzzi gave new meaning to 'siege tactics', and may well be the exception that proves the rule. Let's look at the contribution of the Slavic peoples. Now, Adolf Hitler believed that the Slavs (Russians, Poles, Czechs, etc.) were untermenschen. However, we cannot discount them without looking at their ancient heritage. Russia was settled by Teutons moving East and Nordic/Scandinavians moving South. So, you see, they fit into the class of peoples we are discussing. Surely, we have had limited information about what mountaineering feats were accomplished under Soviet rule, however, we do have evidence of what their mountaineering academies produced: many hard, high altitude routes have been put up by Czechs, Russians, Khazaks, and others. So, you see there is a definite superiority in what these peoples have contributed and accomplished just in our niche sport alone. The Nordic peoples have made tremendous strides in mathematics, technology, the sciences...and climbing, throughout the years. It seems they are gifted with the drive to push ever harder to succeed, excel, and proliferate. It may be that these peoples should be honored for their achievement and given their rightful place as superior. Feel free to discuss. Greg_W

After being dazzled initially by the neat-o pictures and shit in the new Leavenworth Rock Guide, I finally got out last weekend to see how it performed. I wasn't overly impressed. Disclaimer: I put this in the "Climber's Board Forum" because it is a serious comment on the guide and am curious what others' experience has been. While in some cases I prefer a photo topo over a drawn one, the photos of Bridge Creek Wall, Careno Crag, and several others were of woefully poor quality; the image resolution or enlargement process made them fuzzy, making it difficult to pick out prominent features. The use of picture topos, without a requisite alteration in narrative, adds some potential confusion when searching for descent routes Victor mentions in the book. Case in point: Upon topping out on the "Bale/Kramar" route, Victor says to move right, do one rappel, and walk off. I didn't find the rappel, mainly because I didn't look hard enough (mine own fault, admittedly); I did recall that there were rappel stations in the area that may, or may not, require more than (1) 60-m rope. Upon consulting my 1996 Rock Guide (at home the next day), Victor's hand-drawn topo shows several rap stations in the vicinity and gives you the ability to link rappels down to the base, avoiding the walkoff. Now, to quiet the cries that this is just a slam job, I did enjoy the history he interjected and we climbed some of the new routes in this updated version (really enjoyed "Keen Acres", although giving "Snaakes!!" (5.9) a star is overly generous in my opinion). The photos of Leavenworth climbing notables, such as Ben Stanton, were interesting at first but I realize that he sacrificed space that he could have used to include the information he gave in the 1996 guide. It appears that, in Victor's attempt to create some similarity to the Squamish Guide, he left out some information that he had in his first book. Maybe he felt he had to do this to justify the $7 increase in price; it's not really my goal to analyze that. In conclusion, I think Victor has created a very nice book; however, it seems that he has taken steps forward in some areas and steps back in others. We all look for different information from guide books, to be sure, so this is my own opinion. Although, next time I go to Leavenworth, I'll be carrying two books. Greg_W

lol. actually it was more like squamish, salt lake city, lover's leap, yosemite, lover's leap, yosemite, and joshua tree ... but as soon as i move my beloved stuff to telluride the creek is full on! Get an apartment with a soft floor and/or couch...

no, you're not. in general i prefer to lead on gear. you "know" how good your gear is, and you can put gear in wherever you "want". Didn't you used to be the other way at one time, though? If so, why the change? (just looking for insight).