sketchfest

Yo b-rock, despite what the mythical Dr. feelgood says, I think you would do well to get yourself a racquet ball. while a tennis ball is usually to big to fit well into the palm of your hand or to hold in the crimp position with your fingers, a racquet ball fits the bill perfectly AND isn't prone to developing soft spots after many hours of squeezing. The technique that I found to work the best for developing a solid pump was to do several sets of slow squeezes and hold at the apex of each squeeze for a count of ten. I tried to do several sets of 5 or so with each hand. my.02

Dru, where is that? It reminds me of T-Meadows

Nice job Crackman!

Funguy and I went in search of ice last weekend and I ca tell you that there is very little to be found. This is what skibowl looked like Pete's was completely dry...not even a drip to be seen. We did see some stuff forming around Odell, but it's probably gone by now.

For sure, at least you got out. Still way better than being stuck in an office all day!

Hey Oleg, did you guy's get in to the N. face?

Johnny Cash

we were looking for ice, but the snow conditions that we found varied from a couple of inches to knee deep fluff. I wouldn't think that the current conditions would be very ideal for a NF attempt.

If you are going to try the NF, be prepared for a rough road. we only made it 5.7mi before the snow got to deep. The snow was soft and easy to drive through, but it just got to deep...snow splashing up over the hood, just like in the commercials

Not sure of the climbers, Maybe JosephH, but it was prolly Young Warriors

If you were doing something with bud, I'm sure you weren't drinking it

Sorry to have to tell everyone from out of town this....but all of the TG in Portland has been drunk and there won't be any new deliveries for a looooong time..yeah...that's the ticket...it's all gone...mmmmmm

you fucking pussy Whhaaaaaa!! Mikey you big meany...Why you gotta be that way

Man, I'd rather do this on a Friday or Saturday...doing it during the week makes it reeeeaal hard to drink to excess whe you gotta roll out of the sack to be at work by 7am...IMO

To whomever the Veterans Admin nurse was yesterday who talked with my wife and Grandfather (Barret) about climbing yesterday while they were there visiting her Alzheimer riddled Grandmother at the Portland Veterans Hospital, I would like to say thank you for providing a short bit of distraction for them during this difficult time. Your enthusiasm for climbing and tales of climbing Denali were definitely one of the bright spots of their day. Thank you.

as of this morning it is no longer passable. The snow is pretty deep just pass the second gate, my little 4x4 nissan just couldn't go no further.

Just read this from The Oregonian: Fans of rock-climbing site try to scale the political wall The former Hardscrabble Quarry was a popular spot, and conservationists ask Clackamas County to make it into a park Thursday, December 09, 2004 CHRIS EHRLICH Rock climbers and land preservationists want Clackamas County officials to protect and reopen to the public the Hardscrabble Quarry -- or Madrone Wall -- a 100-foot vertical cliff considered one of the best rock-climbing sites in the Portland area. They have proposed creation of a county park at the scenic 44-acre site that overlooks the Clackamas River. The land, now zoned for rock and timber harvesting, is estimated to be worth about $10 million. "Once it's gone, we can't get another one. It's irreplaceable -- there's only one," said Keith Daellenbach, 37, an avid rock climber and director of the nonprofit Madrone Wall Preservation Committee. "It's a very rare and unusual civic treasure. These kind of places just don't exist in other places -- I know it." The preservation committee, which, according to its president, Ian Caldwell, represents the whole Portland area's rock-climbing community, has been in talks with the county since 1998. The group also has sent mailings to rock climbers throughout the region, initiated letter-writing campaigns to the commissioners and co-funded a study with the county in 2000 that determined it wouldn't be cost-effective for the county to quarry the site. County commissioners and staff are expected to discuss options for the former quarry site that runs along Oregon 224 between Carver and Damascus at a study session early next year. Portland area rock climbers scaled the site's cliff for years until 1997, when the county closed it to the public to absolve itself of legal liability for the property and to consider quarrying it. The 2000 study concluded that legal liability may not be an obstacle to making the site a park. "My vision would be for it to be a climbing wall until such time that we need the area for gravel mining, and I don't foresee that to be in the next 10 years or so," County Commissioner Larry Sowa said. "I think other areas have operated under county auspices and liability is taken care of, so I think that could be done (at Hardscrabble)." Sowa would like the county to make a final decision on the site's future in the spring or summer. Popular climbing spot Members of the regional rock-climbing community said they lost one of the most beloved cliffs in the Portland area when the county placed no-trespassing signs at the site in 1997. "When it was open, it was easily, in the spring and the fall, the most popular climbing area in Portland," said Gary Rall, owner of Portland Rock Gym, an indoor rock-climbing facility people typically visit to train for outdoor climbs. Based on his own market research, Rall estimates the number of rock climbers in the Portland area has grown from about 3,000 in 1997 to about 10,000 today. "There's a limited supply of cliffs. We don't have that luxury of having another cliff made. It's a natural resource," he said. The site includes a basalt cliff formed by ancient lava flows as well as more than 100 plant species, including old-growth Douglas firs and Pacific madrone, and blacktail deer, according to the preservation committee and a Portland State University ecology study that the committee funded. Daellenbach contends that mining the site would cause an "environmental disaster." Quarrying, he said, would result in increases in traffic, noise, dust, wastewater flow into the Clackamas River, and habitat destruction. "It's all in your perspective, I guess," said Dan Zinzer, the county's transportation engineering and parks manager. Any commercial project at the site would have to be approved by various local, state and federal environmental agencies, Zinzer said. He said wildlife and habitats at the site would be disrupted if the site were a park. Site's value considered Sowa said the county must determine whether it can "forgo" the $10 million it could possibly earn by selling the land to a mining company. The county's annual parks operating budget, excluding Stone Creek Golf Club, is about $1.2 million for 17 parks, Zinzer said. The county has spent a nominal amount of funds to maintain the abandoned site. If the site were a park, Zinzer said, the county would not have to make a "huge investment" to open and close gates, set up garbage cans and portable toilets, and maintain trails. Zinzer said county officials should solicit and consider all public input on the site before making a decision on its future. "This is coming to the forefront today based on what a lot of the rock-climbing groups are asking for," Zinzer said. "I haven't heard a lot of interest from anybody else." Daellenbach, of Northeast Portland, said the site would be a perfect park for all Portland area residents. It is an excellent place for picnics, bird-watching, wildflowers and hiking, he said. The site also could be used as a field classroom for students from grade school through college to learn about diverse ecosystems, wetlands and geology, Daellenbach said. "It's an excellent resource for the community," Daellenbach said. "We need outlets for schools to go to, and if we have none, then we can't do that. We have opportunities to set aside land now for future generations." Rall said the regional rock-climbing community alone is not a large enough constituency to protect the site or lobby the county. "We're large enough to be noticed, but too small to stand up for ourselves, so we rely on common sense and commissioners and politicians," Rall said. County hearings officer Larry Epstein -- a lawyer and contract employee appointed by the commissioners -- must approve any plans that would make the site a park. Chris Ehrlich can be reached at ehrlichsports@yahoo.com.

Prolly, we were the only ones heading towards the spur from what we saw. We waved at dog-man around 11:30, he waved back and disappeared from site. I kept looking back to see where he would show again, but never did. It was a pretty nice day overall, when we got back down to the truck there was about 6-7 kids loading up who had been playing around on the lower Elliot, didn't look like they had much in the way of gear, but they were mostly loaded up by the time we got back. They sounded pretty stoked to have been out on the big hill.

No, we got a really late start and we had only intended to screw around on C-Spur for conditioning. We turned around just below tie-in rock. Didn't see to many other folks until late in the afternoon, but the one that got my attention was a guy and his two dogs coming up the Elliot. It looked like the dogs were tied to him and they were making pretty good time, but I never saw them come back down.

Went up yesterday expecting total whiteout nastiness, but it never happened. In fact it was a pretty nice day, with a little wind and high overcast skies. The road to cloud cap is in very good shape right now, 4-wheel drive is nice, but high clearance is not needed.

Don't forget Shred's incident on Hood!

This is my personal favorite, but you gotta be ballzy to wear it!

I wish I had been able to get my camera out quicker because the powder cloud was a lot bigger and darker...pretty awesome though none the less.

Yeah that's the one, I found the story here http://www.katu.com/news/story.asp?ID=72061 ....Oh..just like B-rock did!

That was all I caught on Saturday's morning news. Sounds like he was somwhere on the Palmer...anyone know what happend...Ian??