sketchfest

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Jon, that's the funniest shit I've read all week...Nice job. BTW what's the conversion from liters to horsecock?

Trask, where you at this weekend? Are you going to Smith or just pre-planning for potential jail time where-ever you end up?

We will be there around mid-day on Friday. Gonna head up into the Gorge to attempt to stay away from the masses. Many libations to be consumed once back at camp, hoping to see other cc.com'rs there for a rousing good time.

What's everybodies plans for the weekend? Anyone planning on joining the throngs at Smith? Pube club at Grasslands Friday and Sat night if anyones interested.

This guy is sooo hard, I can't believe he didn't self diagnos HAPE, when he realized his lungs were filling with fluid. I figure he was only able to pull thru due to his trusty bible and trusty alarm clock.

I guess one of the issues that piss's me off about this whole thing is that I'm not some burly crank master. I climb mostly between .9 & .10c on a consistant basis. This paticular route was one of the first routes I climbed where I felt like I had pushed my limits, not because of the grade or especially the length, but because it was protected by three old and rusty 1/4" bolts with angle hangers and the crux bolt is ready to pull out. Now these new bolts have not only changed the nature of the rock, but the style of the climb itself and that is something I do not agree with. I've never chopped, nor wanted to,(although thinking about it more and more) I just feel like these recent enhancements were not very well thought out.

TG, I saw two climbers on the route from a distance, and from my angle , could not see that they were climbing on new bolts. I actually thought they were climbing "Live wire". It wasn't until they left that I wandered over to set up and climb the route that I saw the new "handy work" Baisically, I don't know for sure it was these two, so I don't want to accuse these two if they didn't do it.

I realize that Rocky Butte isn't the best crag around Portland with all the freeway noise and trash, but I have to seriously question the thought process that went into placing the "new" bolt line out at Video Bluff. The bolt ladder you put up is right in between "Eve of destruction" and "live wire", both of which are only four feet apart and can be top roped. "Live wire" is a short .10D with three old manky bolts (a great route)that needed to be replaced, so why didn't you just retro the route? If you didn't want to lead it, you could top rope it. Instead you bolted the face and added absolutely nothing, not even a new line. What you did was wrong, go practice drilling somehwere else! Not to mention the so called improvements you made to the climbers left of "Eve of destruction". You came in and ripped out vegetation and cut down small trees to put up some other obscure line, without the least bit of thought to what little architecture this crag has. I am not on a rant about bolts, I climb trad and clip bolts because I like to climb, but there is no reason to what you did. The bolts are unnecessary, the three old ones are better than the five new ones you put up and need to be removed. I know that bolting is a hot issue around this site, one I have stayed out of. However, bolting just for the sake of bolting is irresponsible. Leave the Bosch at home. You have changed the nature of two climbs without improving either one. Take your bolts out and fill the holes, if you want to bolt so bad, retro the three originals on "Live wire".

If you find skeeters to be a massive pain, go to your local pet store and buy a bottle of cat nip oil (no joke) this stuff work better than anything on the market and of course is way safer to use than DEET! It's kinda spendy, a little spray bottle cost about $7.00, but well worth it. As an added bonus you smell kinda herby and if your into wild life and in the deep woods, your likely to attract a mountain lion or two for some up close action photos. Heeere kitty, kitty!

Well here I sit feeling like crap because I pushed for the venue, date and time. Cajoled the Eugenies into making plans and now mine have changed and I will be unable to attend tonights P-C. But PLEASE, anyone who was planning on coming, continue on. Portland has a strong contingent of climbers, we just need to hook-up and make it happen.

about 3 miles.

Mark Twight?

All to true, but they have a full bar.

Well gang, last night was another Portland pub club, with the usual turn out. We had B-Rock, Lisa, Fun guy and a few others, sitting outsite at the Lucky Lab. New adventures were shared and new plans were made. All in all a good time. In an effort to be extremely proactive, we are going to try something new. We are going to plan next weeks p-c now. So here goes...Rock Bottom, 7:00-ish, Tuesday, 6-25-02. With that said, let's have everyone plan ahead, (that means you SK, JK, Bella and the rest down south) AND all the Portland area lurkers (shredusmaximus)Now there is no excuse not to be there.

The climbing scene in the Portland area isn't all that great, but then again, it isn't all that bad either. Rocky Butte is the closest to downtown, but you need to be aware of what's going on around you and specifically who is hanging around the top of your route. The garbage is deep, but there are some good routes. Broughton has some nice stuff and Beacon is good when it's open (nesting birds keep it closed until mid-July). Petes Pile, out of Hood River, has some good routes and of course there's always Smith. As far as Alpine goes, you can find great routes on Jefferson, Washington and the N. Sister, but you won't find the same quality as the N. Cascades. Make the move, Portland is a good place to live and it's fairly close to most everything.

I'll probably be there closer to 8:00, but I'll be there, gotta get some climbing in first.

Come on SK, grab the hubby, leave the kids with the sitter and head out. It's only a 1 1/2 drive

I'm gonna be there tomorrow around 4:30 to climb around Video Bluff. Gonna crank some nasty spooge encrusted slab before PC, let me know if you want meet up. I'll be there with one other climber, maybe two.

Eugenies are welcome too! Make the drive, enjoy the beer. You know you want to.

Wednesday works perfect. Let's say around 7:00, hhhmmm, but where should it be, we did west side last week, maybe some place centrally located, like the lab or pro row. I'm gonna brave the empty beer cans, broken glass, used needles and old condoms out at rocky butte so either of those two will make a short drive after climbing. Let's say the the lucky lab 7:00'ish on wednesday.

OK kiddies, it's time to hold the bi-monthly, portland area pub club. I know that there are more than five climbers in town and we don't need a founding father (gappertimmy) as a reason to swill beer and spray. It's time for Portland lurkers and sprayers to unite and gather for beer. Last time was westside, any suggestions, although I don't know how you can beat a Beetles cover band.

AAAhhh come on folks, is this the best that we can do. Look to our bretheren in the North, pube club is a major event every week. With Portland being the micro brew capitol of the world we should have hundreds of places to drink and tons of people flocking to any location. We need an official day..say Tuesdays or Wednesdays and an established time, say 6:30 / 7:00. Let's pull together my CC.Com'rs, come together for beer and stories. Looking for help/support here guy's, I don't really need a reason to have a few drinks, but will drink alone if need be. BTW, Lompoc would be good, but Mondays are tough, probably not for me this week.

Excellent topic. As everyone knows, we all climb for different reasons and all pull different experiences out of our adventures. I agree with Iain about summits, even though I may have had the best trip, climbed the sweetest line, I still feel like not touching the top is unfinished business that eats at me and gives me greater determination when I do make it back. I try to let go of the "goal" and focus more on the journey, ie. planning, packing, etc. and I relaize when I get home that after however many days I was gone, my mind was focused on only the task at hand, no other distractions, just pure, focused energy. That helps ease me through the down side of the "what should I climb next" syndrome that creeps back in a few days after getting home.

I have used both the foot fang and the sabertooths with my T2's and both have worked excellent, although neither are the lightest of the bunch. The extra weight hasn't seemed like much of a problem considering how much nicer it is to carve turns while everyone else is schlepping their way down.