Off_White

You won't be saying that when the Karposi's start to bloom all over you. Umm, I assume you're talking to me, but I haven't gotten any PM's, unless maybe you mean in that other restroom??

Colonel! Good to see ya. Word on the street is that you've been a bike racing fool. Actually, I think the crag on my property is in the running for #1 least natural, I think it started out as a dirt hill with a few tiny outcrops. There is also the sandstone quarry in Wilkinson and there's gotta be a couple other quarries in the state. back then now We've trundled a couple large loose things with a 6' prybar and some muscle. They were pretty low down though and not as spectacular as they might have been. One of them did form the best stone bench at the crag.

Since you're there you ought to go up valley and tick the S. Face of Charlotte Dome. I've seen pics of wild climbs above the Gorge of Despair, but that's the middle fork of the Kings and you're on the south fork, and it's a bit of a grunt over to to there.

When I engage in that diversion, I think of myself as an agent of Entropy.

Nope, another Dead Milkmen tune. Right on Feckles, good to hear you're back on wheels.

Friend of mine was getting married and had an interview with the ceremony pastor dude. Ralph explained that he worked for Seattle City Water and that he was a naturalist. The pastor paused, took a deeo breath, and said, "Well, I've never done that before, but if you really want to get married in the nude I suppose I could do that." Yeah, he got the job.

You mean after his wife finds out he's been hitting on the single women?

It's funny that these two phrases are not mutually exclusive when discussing approaches in the Cascades. Gene, I hazily recall that TR, would you recommend the route? Seems like I've heard the rock is significantly better than that on the NE Buttress.

does pitchin' a stiffie count when a hottie walks by??? Dude, that's "stiffy" unless you meant to use the feminine form of the noun.

I thought it was rotation around the side to side axis, you know, like 90 degrees to yaw... In terms of climbing, well that all depends, don't ya think? Sometimes the pitch consists of 10' up from the ledge, then 10' back down, and that's it for that pitch.

Does anyone make a cordless angle grinder?

That's been one of my favorite outings in the Cascades. It's not that the climbing is so brilliant or it's an earthshattering route, but the total package is such a delicious trip. Did you descend the West Ridge? That way down makes for a great circumnavigation of the peak. Thanks for the pics, the snowy ridge shot is just classic.

Oh good, I feared this TR might dissuade you. Stay on the path and you will climb no kitty litter. Help me Obi One Cajone, you're my only hope.

Oh, and today being the 4th of July, many of the regulars have party and family obligations (myself included) so it's entirely likely that there will be no one out here. On the bright side, for me at least, some early morning beat the heat warriors did a few routes and I got to catch a ride.

We can also argue whether that hold was chipped or merely aggressively cleaned. Well, I say they all were chipped in 1912. From the article in Washington Geology: "A famous event occurred at the No.2 quarry on Feb. 17, 1912. It was called the 'Big Blast'. Two three-foot diameter tunnels called 'coyote holes', with a combined length of 1,400 feet, were cut into the base of the outcrop (Fig. 8). The tunnels were carefully backfilled with two train car loads of explosives (43,100 pounds of black powder and 1,200 pounds of 60 percent dynamite). H.P. Scheel saw the blast as a wonderful opportunity for publicity. Tenino residents turned out, officials arrived from Washington and Oregon, and camera crews came from Hollywood to film the explosion, probably for newsreels at cinemas (Roberts, 1912). Tenino residents were asked to secure fragile possessions in their homes against the expected ground motion. The 'Big Blast' was one of the largest single detonations in Washington history (Fig. 9) and it was larger than expected (an estimated 500,000 ton rockfall). It buried the quarry's rail spur with boulders (Fig. 10), damaged nearby quarry buildings with flying rock (Fig. 11), and pelted onlookers with rock fragments despite their 'safe' distant viewing positions. The cost of the event, including repairing the damage, totaled $20,000. However there was an additional cost—the huge concussion pulverized as much as 40 percent of the rockfall, making much of the rock either too small or too incompetent due to microfracturing for its intended purpose at the jetty."

Sorry Charlie, but Harry knows of what he speaks. Oh, you can go bash about on some glaciers (not a really great solo idea) or find some sort of snowish approach, but we're into the narrow window of alpine rock season. You're a recent California transplant, right? The Cascades are quite different from the Sierras. You might find what you're seeking by going further north, but you'll have to pry some info out of the Canadians, and approach beta can become crucial. You're better off cultivating a partner and go do some of that good stuff in the Stuart range.

This is about what I recollect... Does this look familiar?

Sorry if I sandbagged you into something distasteful, no offense taken of course. Got any shots from on the route? I don't recollect any tree climbing, but the corner in the middle and a good upper finger crack sound right.

Perhaps he thought he was flirting.

That was mostly a joke, but I did hear some grumbling just a few months ago when Darin posted a pic of Roan Wall in some summer stoke thread or other. Thanks for the report, that looks like a swell day out.

Yup, this thread is several orders of magnitude more information than has been readily available before. Get any death threats yet Darin or Blake?

Seems like Lowell Skoog keeps one, he can cough up some great detail on routes he did a long long time ago. Not a bad idea, but I've sort of gone the brown-paper-sack-full-of-slides route myself.

It's not a great place to feel timid. First pitch of Online, the closest thing to a trade route, has at most two pieces in a full pitch. It's easy slab though. In large part, friction climbing is a confidence game.

Well, you can't say that he doesn't understand commitment...

Well, it didn't come from Washington Pass, I'm almost certain that stuff doesn't grow up there. You can "scratch" it by letting a hard shower spray hit it, but be forewarned the sensation just might make your eyes roll back in your head and cause you to pass out, so be sure to have a spotter handy.