Off_White

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.

Oh, things look okay now, it's the chance of precip tomorrow that's the bugger. Keep an eye peeled, but I choose to believe Wednesday is on.

See, and bacon goes well with peanut butter too. Full circle, like, unity man. A lot o' people don't realize what's really going on. They view life as a bunch of unconnected incidents 'n things. They don't realize that there's this, like, lattice o' coincidence that lays on top of everything. Give you an example; show you what I mean: suppose you're thinkin' about peanut butter. Suddenly someone'll say, like, PB&J, or bacon, or peanut butter and bacon out of the blue, no explanation. No point in lookin' for one, either. It's all part of a cosmic unconciousness. I think about these things a lot.

Who invited the adult to the party?

Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are the foundation of good nutrition.

That all sounds highly speculative and made up to me Joseph. Does any of your scenario come from contact you have had with the Baker Snoqualmie National Forest? Has anyone there called for the route to be chopped? With regards to IB, my sense was that ALPS was the force behind the tizzy, that it was one person in particular in that organization, and the big issue was the trail, not how the bolts were placed. There is a fringe deep ecology segment of the environmental movement that is opposed to human presence in designated wilderness, and they work against repairing damaged roads, trail maintenance, and the public's right to access public land. They don't care how the bolts were placed, anymore than snowmobile opponents care whether it's a two stroke or four stroke machine. The core issue is whether people belong in the wilderness. What you're on about is an internal disagreement between climbers, not something of import to how the world at large perceives what we do. Stating that IB and the Delicate Arch incident are equivalent is dramatic hyperbole of the first water. There is no general public outcry about Infinite Bliss, it's just another skirmish in efforts to keep people out of the middle fork of the Snoqualmie. It seems to me that the issue for you, Raindawg, and Pope is a general opposition to sport climbing as a branch of climbing. This handwaving over wilderness is really just a tool to further the underlying agenda. At it's core lies the belief that what you do is valid, and what others choose to do is invalid: only the one thing is real climbing and people like boulderers, mixed climbers, and sport climbers are infidels to be purged from the one true religion. The core philosophy is fascist in nature, and that's what repeatedly gets my hackles up. Despite what some may assume, I am not a fan of overbolted routes and guaranteed risk free climbing, but I am a die hard believer in plurality and individual freedom.

Hey, visors are set to make a big comeback. You should get on the front end of the curve and start printing some up with clever lingo for the youth.

Thanks for providing the hip and wack modern translation, that's exactly what I meant.

It's journalistic hyperbole to characterize Hitchens as a neo-con. Sure, he had a falling out with his colleagues over at The Nation over his embrace of broad anti-terror warfare, but he is self described as a contrarian. Just as my pro-drug legalization opinion does not make me a libertarian, neither does his pro war stance make him a full fledged neo-con. Hitchens has long been an anti-religion sort, he's the guy who called Mother Theresa a "twisted Albanian dwarf."

Pfft, I outweigh any two boulderers added together, bring 'em on.

Ooh, one more, I just can't help myself.