Off_White

Well, there's that route in Beckey... I tried it long ago (back when the shuttle van would drop you at the trailhead), got partway up and ran into a pitch that was like a vertical wall of pie plates stacked on edge, and we decided we'd had enough.

"I got my eye on a couple things" would be a great epitaph when that time finally comes around. Thanks for posting this, the stack of quotes concept really works in this piece.

What Steve said: we didn't do anything on Gibraltar back then. I'm a little fuzzy on the year, but I think it was 1990. We also did a grotty 5.8 crack to the right of this one (it never made the guide, prolly still awaiting another ascent), and a nifty 11a left of Prime Cut, out on an island. That one, "The Men Of Banks Lake", had a really cool smooth quartz lined tips crack at the top, though the balancy face at the bottom is the crux (shares anchor with Prime Cut).

Looks great, good kid rock for when they're that size can be hard to come by.

Caution is justified, I think of gyms as being where you go to get injured... That said, that season does seem to be upon us, doesn't it?

Heh, my buddy Steve Grossman and I put that up years ago, possibly the first route on that wall. We called it something like "Karma Mechanic goes to Banks Lake" or some such, part of a series of Karma Mechanic routes scattered about the west, but the guidebook author's name for it is just fine by me. Last time I was out there it looked like no one had been on it in ages, folks just did the nearby clip ups, so it's great to see a little traffic. We ran into Bryan Burdo out there that weekend, drilling and cleaning on Roadside Rock by himself. We laughed guessing it was the first time in the history of Banks that two unrelated climbing parties had ever run into each other out there.

So, you're saying you have an adjusted gross income for you and your wife greater than $400,000? Hell yes they oughta tax you, I say VOTE YES.

Hey Steve, is that first shot from in the Gibraltar Rock corridor, two 3/8" buttonheads with stainless hangers to get up to the crack?

I take it you're not talking about Delaware? Ho man, that sucks, I'm sorry to hear it.

Trundling is just acting as an agent for entropy. Those boulders are just aching to achieve a lower energy state, and it's an act of mercy for the cosmos to do every little bit to hasten the heat death of the universe. It is bad to trundle on others though...

kinda like body flossing... safe for work, but not for the weak of stomach

Reno proper is kinda sucky as a city, but it's a short jaunt up into the mountains. Plenty of cragging a reasonable drive away, Donner Summit is one of my favorite short cragging areas anywhere, but the big big oooh wow things are further away. Especially given the weather, its better than Bellingham for climbing, but probably a good step down from what you've got right now. I have friends in Truckee I could hook you up with - a better place to live than Reno, but they've mostly drifted from climbing into mountain biking/backcountry skiing/unicycling.

No need to be so harsh on the guy, but its true that hiring a legit local guide will likely result in a better & safer experience, and a more locally knowledgeable individual. Inexperienced guide wannabe (which is what you're likely to enlist with the offer) coupled with inexperienced mountaineer wannabe (that'd be you) is a combination that can easily result in an unfortunate obituary.

Guess that's why Serena Williams is like a bad divorce, eh?

Sounds like a twelve stepper who's hit step nine if you ask me.

I never figured you for an Apple guy, doesn't that automatically make you liberal?

Hey, no fair, I don't have a liberal playbook, where do I get mine?

yep, a much better use of the resource.

+1 for a sense of humor, nice to see you exhibit some potential. I agree that the middle picture is the winner of the bunch, you should send it in to the climbing rags.

History has never smiled on book burners, no matter what the book was.

It's a pretty good rant, the more so because few enough today acknowledge what organized labor brought to all of us. Oh, I know, corruption follows money and the unions had their share of it, but Mr Moore is pretty spot on about the creation of the middle class. Rahm Emmanuel is pretty much a bastard without a rudder, the Democrat's version of Karl Rove. Some will argue that you have to bring that kind of weapon to the fight, but I still think it tastes like shit on your toothbrush. Those Wall Street guys? A lot of them did in fact steal a lot of money from average folks, and were dealt with much more gently than your average crook who boosts $67 from the corner mini market. They're lucky to live in a place that goes soft on white collar crime, but it definitely wouldn't be a better world if they were strung up from the streetlights.

I dunno, erotic capital seems like a pretty fleeting and volatile commodity. Seems like right after I cum, you're not so cute anymore PP.

Pinto's got killer huckleberry picking, probably good right about now. Awesome 3 volcano view point too.

outstanding, really great pics too