Off_White

You can't go wrong with most of the suggestions here, and Utah, Jtree, and Red Rocks have a lot to offer. Here's another couple more-off-the-beaten-track ideas. Its getting to be a dodgy season, but consider the Needles, Sequoia, or Domelands in the southern Sierras. If the sun's out, you'll be comfortable, and you might go a week without seeing another climber. Great rock too, you'll get a little more mileage out of your tips too compared to JTree Canon Tajo has a lot to offer, like Joshua Tree without the crowds. (A friends report from last weekend was that there wasn't a campsite to be had in the entire monument last weekend) Tajo also has Trono Blanco, with walls and long free routes. Beta is tough to come by (mine is all old and fuzzy) but the beer is great and the location is fabulous. It is at 5000 feet, and if a bad weather system comes in you'll see why it's been nicknamed "poor man's patagonia." The Bishop area is another possibility, though I fear its becoming increasingly trendy. Weather permitting, you can scurry up into the fringes of the range to places like Pine Creek and Bishop Creek, the Buttermilks are stacks of fun with Jtree like roped climbing in the area. Deadman's Summit may be cold, but the tuff bouldering there is just awesome, and the soft pumice makes for great landings. Owens River Gorge is lunkhead sport pulling terrain for sure, but bound to be fun for a couple days. Of course, there are also the newly popular Happy Boulders with a couple bazillion problems (and lots of easy ones). I'm only going to have a week, so that's were I'm headed come October 25th.

yes, I've seen that report before, its totally great. The virgin beckey bit is truly inspired.

quote: Originally posted by Dr Flash Amazing: If it makes you all feel any worse, Dr. Flash Amazing (Northwest Legend) hates this joint too. DFA, you were made for this place!

quote: Originally posted by Bug: Most likely I will die of old age in a soft bed with Dark Side of the Moon playing one more time.... I wish you all the same. Here's to a long life The thought of a noble death in the mountains long ago lost its appeal for me.

quote: Originally posted by iain: how did this thread come back alive? make it stop Cuz the Lawgoddess asked for recommendations! Though I'm thanking her, because without the revival I'd have missed Dwanyer's pic of the Captain and Tennille. And for SK and the rest questioning what did the hippies ever achieve (and they are strictly a historical category, mostly all thats left are wannabes), I do think they shifted the center of what is socially acceptable. Thats a good thing, whether you're a right wing gun nut or a white boy rasta. They cracked the 50's dress code (which extended well into the late 60's), helped bring your beloved chronic into mass acceptance (though I confess I'm stunned it's more illegal now than it was when I was in my 20's), and delivered classic rock songs to autombile ads before they faded into the swelling mass of faceless boomers worried about getting more than their share.

I'm Spartacus.

Hey DFA, over the pole makes anything possible. Handle bar mounted rocket launcher (see GregW for details) makes the polar bear threat negligible.

quote: Originally posted by jkrueger: ...Air Guitar... I stood under that climb this summer, marveled at the beauty of the line, took a photo for inspiration, and added it to my tick list. When I do send it, it will now be all the more meaningful to me. On behalf of all of us, please pay close attention to your placements. I'm not a carving fan, but there is a funny point at which someone else's graffiti becomes history. Some great odd carvings from the 30's in an obscure canyon in the Waterpocket Fold of Utah, including an art deco picture of a guy with a pipe spring to mind. Personally, I'm more fond of the plaque or separate monument idea than a carving at the base of the route. It might be most appropriate to ride your bike from Vantage to Everest basecamp with the plaque and install it there, since Goran's (sorry Erden, haven't figured out the umlaut thing) legacy is much greater than anything Vantage has to offer.

Awright! Freshiez on page six of "Freshiez" Awww, Petey's okay, he's just ashamed to own up to his lapses in perfect public behavior. That's a good argument for full disclosure: if its identifiable as you, its unlikely you'll say much more with your fingers than you would with your mouth. Hats off to people like Dwanyer, Retrosaurus, Necronomicon, Figger Eight, Cpt Caveman, and other's who have made apparent the real person behind the avatar. And once more, just to be sure, I am Off White goddammit, that's what my family calls me and I can cash checks in that name. [ 10-08-2002, 01:35 PM: Message edited by: Off White ]

And Popa Chubby is defintely the best fat white boy blues guitarist with a thing for transvestites ever. Wasn't it Thelonius who said "There are no wrong notes." ?? The man rocks, for a guy who doesn't rock at all. [ 10-08-2002, 11:57 AM: Message edited by: Off White ]

David, I gotta say that Static is one of your greater gifts to the NW. Weren't you one of the originals to suss out the stunningly clean granite? Certainly your guide was what made me aware of the area. That's also the first time I recall anyone using a cordless drill around here, pre-bosch to boot. Inspired me to use a 9.6 volt Makita hammer drill. I was stunned to find just how little hole I got for a battery, but little did I know that the rock at the Skookumchuck Quarry was some bizarre granite (actually rated the hardest in the state for wear) rather than the sandstone I assumed it was.

quote: Originally posted by Dr Flash Amazing: qb] Off, how many albums would you estimate that you own, out of music-geek curiosity?[/QB] Oh, I'm a total music geek, but I've never counted. Boxes and piles all over the place: cd's, vinyl, and tapes. Not to mention the 4000 mp3's on the hard drive. I'm also a slob, so things are not organized by genre, era, or personal association. I'm not as far gone as the John Cusack character in High Fidelity, but that movie did make a few friends smirk at me knowingly (hey, I've been raving about Stiff Little Fingers for ages, that doesn't mean anything).

This weekend it was: Wire -- Pink Flag Swingin' Utters -- Streets of San Francisco Detroit Cobras -- Mink Rabbit or Rat Phantom Limbs -- Train of Thought Teenage Fanclub -- Thirteen Barcelona -- Zero, One, Infinity Ennio Morricone -- The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly Crabs -- Brainwashed Spelled With A W -- my compilation of garage rawk The Antidote -- a friend's hip-hop compilation Hazel -- Are You Going to Eat That?

quote: Originally posted by Cpt.Caveman: Also try not to bivy on a few of the Doorish routes. Yup, my thoughts exactly. Throw in the Diamond on N Face of Bear on that list. I wholeheartedly agree with bobinc on the subject too. I don't go to the mountains just so I can be as busy and overscheduled as the rest of my life. Maybe any route CAN be done in a day, but it doesn't mean it SHOULD. Speaking of busy and overscheduled, its Monday, I gotta go.

I'll have to consult my old guide to spin you some good names, but there's lots of great routes. Almo (named for the small town nearby, not the Alamo) Massacre is certainly good, and is not at all soft for the grade.

Okay, nevermind then JZ. There's just been so much crabbiness going around lately, it reminds me of how the hornets start acting this time of year. I weary of it, but so what. Winter's coming. Peace.

Kinda snide there JZ, and as you don't work with Allison I suspect it's heresay and character assasination. What's your real agenda here?

I'm hemming and hawing on this spendy piece of gear. A search showed that the last time this came up was last February, which is a long time ago in the tech world. I've liked the Sony MVC-1000 precisely beause it feels like using a film camera, with a good viewfinder, an awesome 10x optical zoom, and a substantial shape (and the writing to cd storage is appealing too) but I fear from a climbing standpoint its the equivalent of hauling my old Olympus OM-1 along, which takes great shots but is large and heavy. For climbing purposes, it would seem that something small, with a modest zoom capability, and a quick press-the-button to record-the-shot lag (with a quick decent burst mode too) would suit the purpose of taking more pictures. I'm not looking to get published, just to have more images to look at in my doddering old age. What have others used and liked or hated about them?

If you're not actually Dru, you might try talking to him.

Cadaver Gap is at a really swell angle for avalanches. In the wrong conditions, I think there are no safe routes. Start from Paradise with a good weather window and go fast. The hut at Muir is much more attractive in the winter than in the summer.

quote: Originally posted by To The Top: A married man. Most happily so, I might add.

quote: Originally posted by To The Top: A married man. Most happily so, I might add.

What's the trick, do I have to pry off the colon key on my keyboard and re-install it sideways to make the umlaut?

I tumbled into this site this spring, and I’ve really enjoyed it. Let me tell you a little story about a different agglomeration of climbers: In 1985 I moved to Tucson, to accompany my girlfriend and her son when she enrolled in grad school at the U of A. The one person I knew in town was Evetree, a friend from Evergreen in Olympia. Through her we met a fully formed community of climbers, and very swiftly had good friends and an active social life. All told, this group comprised 40 to 50 individuals, from stellar athletes to rank beginners in their first and in addition to climbing in various collaborations, they had parties, hung out, went to dinner, and did things that a group of people do. Not everyone loved everyone else, there were definite factions of sport and trade, a bonafide bolt war complete with community meeting where three guys dumped a motherload of bolts and chains they’d removed from the Beaver Wall (Mt Lemmon) on the floor, two rollicking Beanfest parties per year, and a fair share of rivalry and oneupsmanship. It was a lot like this virtual bunch of active posters, and it was glorious. My girlfriend (now wife) and I made friends there in our year and a half of residence that we’ll know for the rest of our lives, and in fact went out to see a band in Seattle last night with one of them. I’ve grieved to lose three of them to death: one with crampons on, one on rock, and one to cancer. Some of those folks are more acquaintances than best buddies, but to encounter each other on the road in the still relatively small world of climbing is to be old friends reunited. We traded yarns, shared personal histories, swapped beta, talked about dreams and ambitions, and made some of those come true. Hanging out here on this board feels a little like finding that bunch of people in Tucson all over, and its been splendid to be around a bunch of climbers again. Its true that there is not a cohesive climbing community in the NW, and as the membership of this bunch shows, we’re spread out over a lot of territory. So much information about the areas we climb and the routes we lust after are only revealed in conversation. Finding this network has opened up my eyes to just how many people are doing so much stuff in a way that two decades of toiling away in obscurity with a small pool of friends never has. Fred’s Cascade Alpine Guides are a great piece of work, but the amount of information you can find and elicit on this site is much greater. Yes, there are some very ugly interpersonal incidents that happen here, and several individuals get abused to a horrible degree (Scott’teryx and Allison spring to mind from recent history) and yet it is remarkable that these people shrug it off and persist in hanging out with us. There was a spectacular mutual evisceration between Dwayner and Peter Puget a few months back (which many missed because it happened late at night, and those involved went back and erased their posts) that I think is actually the personal “jump the shark” moment for Dwayner, since he hasn’t fully really recovered his jaunty attitude since. People do get snippy with each other, but face it, humans can be irascible. Aside from a couple pub-clubs (a great tradition by the way) I’ve not much encountered any of you in the physical world, but that’s mostly due to the demands of that vast part of my life that is NOT about climbing, but I know that meeting some of you for the first time will have some of that same sense of old friends reunited, because I have come to know you through your words. Some may call this thread a troll, but I think Dwayner asked a great question that has moved many to both reflection and great responses. I hope to meet some more of you at the rope-up in Der Leavenworth later this month...

I tumbled into this site this spring, and I’ve really enjoyed it. Let me tell you a little story about a different agglomeration of climbers: In 1985 I moved to Tucson, to accompany my girlfriend and her son when she enrolled in grad school at the U of A. The one person I knew in town was Evetree, a friend from Evergreen in Olympia. Through her we met a fully formed community of climbers, and very swiftly had good friends and an active social life. All told, this group comprised 40 to 50 individuals, from stellar athletes to rank beginners in their first and in addition to climbing in various collaborations, they had parties, hung out, went to dinner, and did things that a group of people do. Not everyone loved everyone else, there were definite factions of sport and trade, a bonafide bolt war complete with community meeting where three guys dumped a motherload of bolts and chains they’d removed from the Beaver Wall (Mt Lemmon) on the floor, two rollicking Beanfest parties per year, and a fair share of rivalry and oneupsmanship. It was a lot like this virtual bunch of active posters, and it was glorious. My girlfriend (now wife) and I made friends there in our year and a half of residence that we’ll know for the rest of our lives, and in fact went out to see a band in Seattle last night with one of them. I’ve grieved to lose three of them to death: one with crampons on, one on rock, and one to cancer. Some of those folks are more acquaintances than best buddies, but to encounter each other on the road in the still relatively small world of climbing is to be old friends reunited. We traded yarns, shared personal histories, swapped beta, talked about dreams and ambitions, and made some of those come true. Hanging out here on this board feels a little like finding that bunch of people in Tucson all over, and its been splendid to be around a bunch of climbers again. Its true that there is not a cohesive climbing community in the NW, and as the membership of this bunch shows, we’re spread out over a lot of territory. So much information about the areas we climb and the routes we lust after are only revealed in conversation. Finding this network has opened up my eyes to just how many people are doing so much stuff in a way that two decades of toiling away in obscurity with a small pool of friends never has. Fred’s Cascade Alpine Guides are a great piece of work, but the amount of information you can find and elicit on this site is much greater. Yes, there are some very ugly interpersonal incidents that happen here, and several individuals get abused to a horrible degree (Scott’teryx and Allison spring to mind from recent history) and yet it is remarkable that these people shrug it off and persist in hanging out with us. There was a spectacular mutual evisceration between Dwayner and Peter Puget a few months back (which many missed because it happened late at night, and those involved went back and erased their posts) that I think is actually the personal “jump the shark” moment for Dwayner, since he hasn’t fully really recovered his jaunty attitude since. People do get snippy with each other, but face it, humans can be irascible. Aside from a couple pub-clubs (a great tradition by the way) I’ve not much encountered any of you in the physical world, but that’s mostly due to the demands of that vast part of my life that is NOT about climbing, but I know that meeting some of you for the first time will have some of that same sense of old friends reunited, because I have come to know you through your words. Some may call this thread a troll, but I think Dwayner asked a great question that has moved many to both reflection and great responses. I hope to meet some more of you at the rope-up in Der Leavenworth later this month...