Off_White

I suppose the ability it eat crow is an asset to any well rounded spray queen (and no, I'm making no allusions to your figure. Well, maybe. I dunno)

Okay, I'll just wear my mountaineer's helmet with my name on it.

Maybe its a stupid question, but how do you recognize a bunch of people you don't know? Pink carnations? Balaclavas? God, anything but carabiner key chains.

I'm not familiar with a lot of Product Scott's postings, but I had the impression he was a bit of an overenthusiastic puritan peak bagger (and the all time favorite whipping boy on this site) rather than an agent orange clone. His bit about Retrosaurus' kid was way out of line, but has he made a habit of that shit? Was he just trying to spray like the bad boys and didn't have a clue or is he really a sinister slanderous beast at the core? I haven't seen an apology, and some serious grovelling is certainly appropriate, but it seems like you should have to be repeatedly over the top to actually get the boot. And maybe he is, I don't really know, I just wanted to ask the question.

Being as how its Tuesday, I thought I'd drag this back up to the top. I'm game for Tacoma, but there doesn't seem to be a lot of other folks down this way piping up. As far as venues, the closest I've ever come to being beaten up in a bar is one time a guy was knocked sprawling across my table, and wherever you pick I'd prefer it was no rowdier than that...

Well, since sk seems to have commandeered this topic away from Steamer, who was asking a rhetorical question anyway, I'll give her an answer. Donner Summit is not too far away, and there is just a great array of crags there on very nice granite, nice temperature up there too in the summer. Plenty of nice cracks to groom up your trad self-image

There's a good little crag called Spring Mountain in the Blue Mountains, near the Wallowas. Its a mixture of trad cracks and bolted faces on good andesite, free camping, no parking pass, low key kind of place. Here's the online guidebook: Spring Mountaing Guidebook I gather there is a longish slabby adventure route on some granite (I think) near the ski area at North Powder too. Thats about the sum of my knowledge on the topic...

quote: Originally posted by Dennis Harmon: My name is Dennis Harmon and I live in Wenatchee. If you want to come kick my ass... better bring a lunch. Dennis But you'd have to supply an address, since you are unlisted

Ever buy a pair of shoes just a little too small to bear in the pursuit of performance? Ever do it twice? *sigh* Gotta get around to selling those little-used poor investments one of these days. For alpine jaunts I have an old pair of first generation Fires, the ones with metal eyelets all the way down to the toe. They've been resoled 4 or 5 times, and the construction is very unsophisticated compared to modern shoes, but I can wear them comfortably all day (with a sock). Performance is perfectly adequate, they were the first shoe I ever climbed 5.11 in, and they appeal to my frugal Norweigan genetic heritage because I traded some local fungus for them in Joshua Tree about 18 years ago. Haireball's Asolo scheme sounds pretty awesome though, I'd love to dispense with carrying other shoes on some climbs.

quote: Originally posted by David Parker: Pretty remote location and fairly chossy from what I could tell. Its not that remote if you're willing to boat it up Lk Chelan and take the shuttle, just a few miles up the park creek pass trail from the road. You're right about the choss though, I seem to recall a patch of dinner plates stacked on edge that inspired us to reconsider our objectives. The angle assessment seems accurate too, not BASE worthy.

Yup, Trask has you all pegged.

quote: Originally posted by Tommy: Thor (or was it Asgard???) was jumped in the 80's as part of "For Your Eyes Only" opening scene. Not sure who the jumper was, but I think it was Javier Bongard (sp?). Hmmm, was that the one with the ski jump to start it? I thought that was Rick Sylvester, though I could be thinking of some other Bond flick, they tend to blur together... Also, re Libraries, do the Mountaineers still have a library in Seattle? That was a pretty good collection but I haven't been there in years. The public library in Banff had a good special collection too.

I'd heard of this loophole awhile back, tried it a couple years ago at the Ingalls Pass TH, got a ticket. Argued with the Cle Elum District via phone and letter for about 3 months, finally agreed to send them $5 and we'd be done with it.

quote: Originally posted by Dru: Dennis is pretty obviously an avatar of somebody on this board I've wondered a bit about that, since he seems to have a pretty limited script, like a character that wasn't very well written. He does get credit for spinning this thread off deep into the "no climbing content" void though, even if it has been pretty entertaining.

Do you mean the NW Face, which more or less comes down at Goat Pass? I've heard of that one being used as a descent, and loose rock was mentioned. It would be nice to avoid the dip down to Ingalls Creek if you're coming and going Teanaway, but if you came in Mtneer Creek, probably better to use Sherpa Glacier for your descent.

1: Despite the Becky topo, there is no 4" crack in the lower portion. Actually, it was more like a 2" layback crack, at least the way we went. 2: First time was in mountain boots in the rain: don't do that. We bailed at the notch after doing the bottom part. Second time was in rock shoes carrying boots in good weather, much better. 3: Its a pretty long day, but should be doable roundtrip from a camp in Mountaineers Creek. We didn't make it down, but it was September which made a shorter day length and the Sherpa was not a friendly descent route at that time. When it became apparent we weren't going to walk down the couloir due to an inch of slub over rock hard snow and a lack of crampons, we set up a bivy at the top of the gully and spent the last hour collecting tiny twigs for a teeny fire at the bleakest hour. Cold night, I think it was 33 in Olympia at sea level, who knows up there. Only time I've woken up from shivering so hard I was bouncing on the ground. We rapped the gully, which sounds kind of silly in light of recent tales of quick walk downs, but it was the right thing to do at the time. There was one set of slings all the way down, each one on a piece of crap natural anchor. The funny thing was a great anchor could be found within 3 feet of each bad one with a little nut tool excavation. If someone has a good tr of a single day roundtrip push from Teanaway, I'd love to read it. You'd have to be in Lambone shape, and that last grind over Longs Pass would be a real soul destroyer. [ 06-26-2002, 10:35 PM: Message edited by: Off White ]

quote: Originally posted by erik: [/qb] not after i just found out you are a pinko leftist commie!!!!! [/QB] Well, actually more of a socialist green libertarian with anarcho-trotskyist tendencies if you want to be picky about it.

quote: Originally posted by erik: slightly overwiehgt male, who sees his abilities declining and wishes to tell others how it should be. Hey! I resemble that remark!

Ummm, Dennis, since you are essentially the same age as me, I know you were too young for the draft for Vietnam, but by the time the Gulf War came around you were too old and they wouldn't take you if you wanted, unless you were venerable career military already serving. From what I read on the board, the Caveman's got more combat time and more right to spew about the cost of freedom, its you and I who send them out there to make the world safe for Exxon/Mobil and our mutual funds. And unlike young Erik the neo-con republican, I'm your worst nightmare, a flaming left wing liberal who thinks the damned republican-wannabe democrats are too far to the right. But screw the political debate, I'm planning on climbing with Erik in the near future.

quote: Originally posted by David Parker: Dr. Scholl blister pads come in flat blue box and they are oval, very sticky, second skin substance. These can be used as preventative or even after blister has formed. They have stayed on my feet for up to 3 days. If they're still on, keep it on. Healing takes place underneath. Follow directions for best results. The empty blue box makes a great joint case! I saw these the other day, thought I'd give them a try. Stuck 'em on my heels the night before for good measure, being impressed by the "don't try to remove them for 3 days instructions." At the end of a half day in mountain boots, I found one up on my ankle bone and the other drifted off to some other location. I didn't get blisters though...

Dennis, dude, get some sleep. I trust you are very careful to avoid all of the beta available on this site, or do you just cross that objective off your list if you inadvertantly learn something about it? Climbing isn't just one sport anymore (yes, its time you face the facts) and while for you it might decrease the adventure, thats not true for everyone, if they ask, they want to know. Besides, climbers have been spewing beta since long before the betamax format was ever invented for videotape. You won't get kicked for voicing your views, but being overly repetitive will probably get you ignored. If Agent Bob reincarnates as someavatarelse, that's probably the best way to deal with him. The problem I have with your opinion on the sport is that its a "common wisdom" sort of bigotry: you just know its true, but you have no evidence whatsoever to support your claim, and you don't seem to hear anyone else that disagrees. 44 isn't that old btw, I'll cross that hurdle in about two weeks myself, and there are more than a few folks on this board that are my peers. You might imagine yourself in a room full of children (especially from the level of discourse sometimes ) but it just isn't so. Besides, do you remember being 22? Didn't you think of yourself as an adult? You certainly could make a point that the nature of climbing, (or as I think of it, the range of the palette) has changed over the last 20 years. You can't lay the blame for that at the feet of "Gen X" though, that's just limbaughesque jingoistic spray. If you know otherwise, please provide some backing facts. Here's one for you: Kevin Pogue, the guy mentioned in that newspaper article about bolt wars at Vantage as the one most responsible for bolts at Vantage? I've met him and he's at least our age, sporting a fine example of male pattern baldness, and teaching at Whitman College. Cheers mate

quote: Originally posted by Dennis Harmon: We still haven't drilled bolts. Dennis Hah! Hoist on your own petard! As you yourself stated, "because we still haven't figured out how to operate them underwater." C'mon Dennis, drill a hole, you know you want to. You can even come over to the Wet Side of the Cascades, blame it on your descent into the den of debauchery. PS: points to you for showing a sense of humor, nice work.

Maybe he was just trying to tell you that you spray like a boy...

The locking biners wasn't my post, but I've heard of folks coming upclipped from lockers in some mysterious manner, just scan threads here or on rec.climbing about tying in with a locking biner. I'd think you could do the old double biners with gates reversed and achieve a good level of redundancy if that's going to be your main connection.

As a southerner, I'm a gonna vote that ya'll git together up yonder this week, and ya c'mon on down this a ways next time.