Off_White

Well, I'll cast a lone vote for Bachelor. But then again I'm a boarder who's fond of powder and trees, and the lovely folded terrain off Northwest or poking around off the Red chair is so much fun. True, nothing really steep, but the lifts process people so much faster, and all the really great stuff at Crystal involves multiple chairs to get back to the start. Summit is shut down too often, but when its great its hard to beat. One of my fave days was finding where wind transport had piled all the fluff and cutting huge arcs down the face trailing 100' long plumes behind in the sun. It also seems like you run into some stick up the butt skier who's so full of it their snot runs brown. I'd rather get lectured by Dwayner about sport climbing than deal with those twits.

Yeah, I doubt it. They wouldn't even let me take a nap on the Tabernacle lawn.

so you hate banks too? and how is Martha doin'? And I ain't too fond of the cable teevee company neither. Martha I expect will turn up in some "where are they now" filler piece on Entertainment Tonight with Tom Brokaw.

Its an excellent example of why malls are not an adequate replacement for public space. The mall, like this board, is private property. They're way over the top on this one, since the message was innocuous and non-specific, but malls are hugely inferior to traditional concepts of shopping districts. I agree with erik and mojo nixon: burn down the malls.

The only problem is that Hello Kitty is now permanantly linked to Dru in my mind (due to those months with the animated jogging hello kitty) so that when I see Necro post I think of Dru. In a platonic way, you perverts.

What's particularly sweet is they're calling it "Camp 4" even though that has not been the offical nomenclature for a very long time.

While browsing though some discarded Pack and Paddle magazines that my wife brought home from the Library I came across a long trip report of just this outing in the July 2001 issue, and I could scan and send the article along if anyone needs it.

Like B-Rock, I've always done that out of fear of dropping the rope, plus a certain nervousness that comes from not being tied in. I never do the off-belay thing at the top of a route unless I'm setting up to rappel It seems like I've heard of too many accidents from miscommunication about what's happening at the end of the pitch, so I just prefer to stay on belay.

Are you that gullible Trask? Let me tell you about the time I woke up in a bathtub full of ice after I flashed my headlights at a car full of gang member's who'd just stuck their fingers on aids infected needles while calling Microsoft to cash in on the deal where Bill Gates pays you big bucks to send emails to people.

Living a non broadcast/cable lifestyle, the ones I hate most are what they bombard you with at the movie theater. I had ten ( ) of them the other day at a Regal Theater(bankruptcy in process) the other day. With enough repetition, even clever ads, like catchy pop songs, become nauseating.

Yeah, being an old fart tightwad I've got all that stuff still: foxheads, hexes (including some of the non-hexcentric) slung on perlon and 1" tube, Chouinard stoppers ver. 1.0 (does anyone else still think in old stopper sizes, complete with half sizes?). I used to have something called a Nychock, sort of like a hex but made from round black nylon stock and slung with 1" tube. It was essentially useless, but there was one particular place it was perfect at the crag I started climbing at. There's also an old smc camlock on the battered biner of old wireds that sleep in the attic.

Dwayner: did your source note how many of the KIA were from friendly fire? I thought I'd heard that it was a significant chunk, but clearly I'm too damn lazy to check it out.

Yeah, but the conditions are so much better there than on Colonial Peak.

92 and in her sleep, and hasn't even been ill lately. We should all be so lucky.

maybe not.

I dunno, a troll is not necessarily a bad thing, and he's really quite restrained compared to when he gets all worked up in a lather.

Going to lovely southern Illinois for my grandmother's funeral. Gonna be a little too damp to go climbing around Carbondale.

GregW, you agree that alpine climbing starts with a good sport climbing background? I thought you were in the trad camp, my mistake. I think Bob's got an interesting point there, and I tend to agree that the strength, agility, and focus that sport climbing can develop easily crosses over into other branches of climbing (if you want it to). But then again I'm just a recreational climber who's a total slut: I'm willing to have fun on just about anything. I do think it would be really dull around here if a license to spray was really dependent on ability, rather than an assumed inalienable right. Fact of the matter is that climbing difficulty is relative as well as absolute, and pushing yourself a little farther than you thought you'd go is laudable, whatever the absolute level of difficulty you're working on. I don't really care how "good" anyone is, I care more about how "good" the story is. More people around here toot their horn about what it meant to themselves, not about what it all means on a worldwide stage, and I'm okay with that.

Great beta Jay. The Buckskin/Paria loop is the only one I've done and it was splendid. I think it was late May or early June and not bad temperature wise, since down in the slot there's lots of shade, and you can often find a big crack in the sidewalls that's emitting a steady breeze of cooler air. Damn, now you've got me feeling all twitchy.

Trask, I count four major proponents, which would make it an orgy. However, I just read through a bunch of it (well, a page or two) and thought the level of discourse was pretty damn good.

What do you mean? All you have to do is pick them....

It's all a conspiracy by 3M to boost sales. This last weekend's buying spree has been the point of this whole operation.

If I recall correctly from my green Beckey, that face is reputed to be loose and awful, and the first ascent party recommended against any other ascents. Its big though.

Maybe its just that deep basso rumble that comes out of my subwoofer when you hold forth! Keep up the good work.