Off_White

I'm pretty sure that face was climbed by a couple of visiting climbers from Colorado a few years ago, rotten 5.4 kind of affair.

Phil, isn't the big mega gully what ya'll skied? Nice pics & TR, thanks.

1978 is still less than 30 years ago. Funny, I just now put another coat of oil on the 70cm wood hafted axe I used on that trip.

I got a feeling Bob will laugh harder than me when he reads this comment. Post of the day if you ask me.

Yeah, my guess is that the altitude allows for a summertime melt freeze cycle that we just can't get here. Lower altitude does have some plusses though when you've just left home at sea level for a trip. There's a thread now in the California forum about some of those yummy Sierra gullies. Time was September was the month to do those things, but I think there's been enough climate change that my sense of timing is archaic.

I moved here from CA back in 1979, and it took me awhile to realize you just don't get the kind of alpine couloir action that you do in the Sierras. As a rule, snow gullies here do not transform into blue ice over the summer, they disappear instead. You won't find much in the way of the wander-anywhere-you-want off trail travel you get in the Sierras (particularly the eastern parts) either. Still, the Cascades can offer a huge amount of adventure and solitude. Have fun.

Well, the original post was pretty sweet too: pudgy welsh cellphone salesman with bad teeth moves people to tears. Who doesn't love a good underdog story? I know it's come out that he's had training, but so does everyone on those shows. Glad to hear he won.

Yes, I have great hope for the world. 0bK63uSTTNs

Joseph, it's an interesting question, and I don't know the answer. I had the sense that your statistic was manufactured to support your conclusion, a common move for anyone arguing a position. FWIW, most of the areas I climb at have a mix of routes. I'd be interested in trying to figure out some real numbers, and not in some meaningless internet poll kind of way either. As a first given in sampling our population, I'd like to suggest that if they never make it out of the gym, they don't count. They have no impact on the non-commercial outdoor world, and they're no more climbers than someone who works out on a rowing machine can be considered crew. Anyway, what we're fretting about is the impact out on the rock, right? My time in gyms suggests that you may be correct that a number of people take up gym climbing for a fairly short period of time and never really go anywhere with it. I don't think these are the people we're really concerned about, unless you're developing a business plan for a climbing gym. As a sample of climbers, lets talk about the folks who come to my Wednesday night gig. There's a fair number of people in the regular crew that I would know some of their biography, their age range is from 15 to 55. The crag itself is a quarry that has been converted into a bolts only sport crag, so it doesn't self select for climbers who are necessarily gear oriented. The ratings range between 5.10 and 5.12, arguably a middle range of grades. As a set of questions, how about: Age? Years Climbing? Started indoors or out? Leads sport? Leads gear? Ever FA sport? Ever FA gear? Ever placed a bolt? Suggestions for other questions? I think it would be best to keep them simple and quantitative rather than narrative, since I doubt anyone here wants to read 30 climber biographies in a single thread. Some sort of tabulative summary would be more concise. I dunno, maybe this is a stupid and boring idea. I think Taanstaffl's narrative is reasonably ordinary, and her arc of development as a climber from the gym to the outdoors is not particularly rare or special. Then again, I suppose that's my hypothesis, so I'd have to say that 80 to 85 percent of gym climbers who move into the outdoors eventually become gear leading climbers with alpine aspirations who never place bolts.

If I hit my thumb with a hammer, it will hurt.

I was wondering about that, you looked so tall and proud out there. Almost everyone winds up doing some level of grovel on that pitch. You do know that people used to spend two nights on that route? Splendid job. In fact, stellar trip all around, thanks for sharing pics and stories, they're very welcome on an intermittently soggy Saturday.

Got a source on this statistic? Suspecting from whence you may have pulled it, I hesitate to smell it. Valley classics like the East Buttress of Middle, Reeds Direct, Sacherer Cracker, NE Buttress of Higher, and Nutcracker are as busy as ever. Locally, destination moderates like Outer Space, Orbit, the Beckey route on Liberty Bell, Midway on Castle, Godzilla at Index, Inca Roads at Tieton, and stacks of others see constant traffic. Whenever I go out, I see a lot of people placing gear. I think your number is about how you feel, not how the world actually is.

As noted, Mt Darwin, Mendel's neighbor, is a fun outing in it's own right. Here's Mendel from Lamarck Col: and from right below I think you could make a fun multi-day loop: From North Lake, head up to Lamarck Lakes and do the couloir on Lamarck, head over Lamarck Col and do Mendel and Darwin, head out over Alpine Col and do Goethe (there's actually a couple of gullies here), then descend to Paiute Pass and back down to your car at North Lake.

Here's Mt Goethe, easy enough to hit on a trip through Mendel country.

I don't think it's Lambone, his access is restored but he doesn't post here much. You can frequently find that Matt over on Supertopo.

Another fine example of why state sponsored religion is a bad idea. Jay's point about endorsement of a process as distinct from endorsement of an outcome is well taken. I still support US democracy despite some obvious missteps and unpleasant consequences.

The subtext you're missing is that Woodchips is actually my best carpenter, project lead, and an all around good guy. Everyone in my construction company is going to miss him when he moves.

3:00 report says we're good to go

You'd better hire Zogby or some such outfit if you want anything meaningful in terms of information.

That's cool, so where exactly are those 500' tall limestone walls you were carrying on about?

Welcome back

If Tesla is spinning in his grave, is he generating any current?

That first black & white is particularly sublime, good jorb.

Utter choss, only a silly person would move from Olympia to Waldron.