Off_White

I remember upgrading from coathangers to Salewas, they were so advanced! And ooh, a short axe and a Chouinard alpine hammer? That was the ticket.

Those shots are just brilliant Kevin, thanks for sharing. You clearly spend a lot of time chasing the right light.

Thanks for the definition Jay, few in the conservative camp use the term in any context aside from the modern redefined pejorative.

That's damn near every route at the quarry in Tenino. "No, hook your thumb under that roof!" "Up and left, hidden hold, no, further!" "NO, don't touch THAT!"

Syntactically abysmal, factually incorrect, but thanks for posting!

That's funny, JayB is the first person I thought of when I heard the news too.

I've got a copy you're welcome to borrow, along with some ancient local knowledge. I'll pm you.

Hah, that's funny. The top two are spurious. (sorry Chuck) Dru is in a class by himself, especially if you include his other puppets as well as the long time his post count was capped by imperial fiat. I'm impressed that Iain comes next, given that he's largely given up on that name and moved on to others, as well as the evidence of all of CBS' hard work. I'm equally shocked to find myself in the top 20, I think of myself as a modest sprayer with much to be modest about.

Oh Pope, I wasn't issuing a challenge or some such nonsense, just a friendly invite to come climbing. You live in Tacoma, right? That makes it relatively close to home for you. Pete & Ted's can be started off to the right without the holds by climbing through some really rotten rock, but as I stated, the holds weren't put on to make it through a section that's too hard (like the holds at Dishman or on the Comp Wall at Castle Valley Ranch), just to make it more enjoyable to get to the good climbing. You're certainly welcome to try both starts, and based on your experience lobby for a change, but there are better routes to do for a first day at this place that also dry off earlier in the season. I have no doubt you'd make it up the 5.10 bottom of the route, the crux at the top will offer some challenges though.

not anymore, soft tissue does decay you know...

Be careful, I remember hearing some guy named Divot may have disappeared on that route.

Oooh, a big shout out to our latest entry in the "I'm not a woman, I just play one on the intardweb" category.

Sounds to me that the real root of the original question hinges on whether it's a good idea to have your lover and your climbing partner be the same person. Otherwise, why would it matter what your climbing partner's sexual orientation is? Given that it's harder to find a sweetheart than a climbing partner, you'd be better off training up that emotional/sexual compatible individual into a climber rather than hoping to find your ideal dreambot right out of the box.

Where are you staying? I'll fax you a Mickeys.

Those things are such wicked hunters, every time I see one I'm glad it's not the size of a horse. I hardly ever see them out in the wild, I think their camo must work splendidly.

Yes! You should come down some time Eric, I bet you'd have fun, though it might make you feel like a dirty dirty boy. Since you bring it up, let's talk about my awful faux pas. Those four holds allow passage through the fabled "shitstone band," a layer of crumbly choss which is all that ensured this quarry was blasted for rubble rather than cut for block. (hence leaving a quarry of climbing interest unlike the other quarrys around Tenino) It seems the vein of bad rock must have run upwards, because all that's left of it in the current face is an arc through the lowest section of the cliff. It doesn't matter how much you scrub, it's choss all the way down. The last time I climbed the loose and manky work around to get to the base of Pete & Ted's Excellent Adventure I pulled a briefcase size hold off onto my leg and decided I'd had enough of that. I could of course have bolted a ladder to the wall, or made a via ferrata, but the four holds up the most solid segment of choss make for a climbing like experience with less visual impact. Note that this is both private property and a man made crag. The holds were not put on to bring a crux down to my level, but to provide a way to reach the good climbing above. With only 35 routes here, I was not willing to abandon the line. It's also not anything I would do anywhere else. Curse me for a moral relativist if you will, at least I've got a climbing area in my front yard. The invitation is sincere btw, you're welcome to come check it out. You should bring Chirp with you.

Wanna watch some trains? Maybe you'd rather go to the dump and shoot some rats?

remember when Dan Ackaroyd was skinny?

I always had a fondness for the "giant gophers" explanation.

I moved the thread from Climbers Board to Oregon Cascades with the intent of keeping the information in the most relevant and likely to be searched forum.

This is actually good advice. Sounds like you're getting some good info here (I have none to offer), but I'm sure you'll get some additional useful information from some of the folks over there who favor the concealed carry option.

Chalk balls are pretty useless if you're crack climbing, but if you're doing the face thing and all you want to do is chalk your tips, they're pretty handy and have the beneficial side effect of leaving less chalk on the route. I've been using one climbing at the quarry down here in Tenino. Actually, I've been trying to use it less in general, to separate that part of chalking up which is truly helpful for climbing from the part that is merely a calming ritual, like fingering your rosary beads.

I couldn't agree more. It's what Thurston County has gone to, and they're far better than the punchcards we used to have, no hanging chad, and for the vote by mail, no trying to punch the correct tiny little number tab because you didn't have the pin registration ballot that they used at the polling place. Simple and pretty damn foolproof? Where's the profit in that?

I saw Borat over the weekend. I share some of KK's squeamishness about using a real country as his purported home, but aside from that qualm it was pretty damn funny. There is nothing innocent about most of the people skewered in the film, they do it to themselves by the things the believe and say.