Off_White

Right on, sling us a few pictures now and then from that side of the world, its always swell when old hands gone far away visit with a little eye candy and a story. Maybe you need a helmet cam to send a little vid from a ride on that machine.

If the Klenkster gives you a thumbs up, that's a pretty good endorsement. This puts your labeled panorama from up by Burgundy Spire in perspective, you've been working on this identification business. Nicely done.

Good job making a judgment call about your own safety, sounds like you had a good trip to a cool place.

That's a great TR, thanks for the story & pictures.

Age 96. Nothing wrong with a long life well lived, we should all be so lucky.

I was under the impression that a lot of those routes at Boux were not closely bolted, that you're more likely to log significant flight time than z clip. I've never been there, so rest assured my opinion is equally uninformed as Bill's.

Thanks for the process photos, wood framed climbing walls are about as engaging as framing ever gets for a carpenter, good twisty thought provoking work.

Anxious sketchy slab groping is character building. There may be some bolts, but you sure can't call it sport climbing. If you have a hankering for friction climbing though, Darrington is a great destination. My first (and only thus far) visit to GGB went pretty flawlessly, aside from sleeping in a little too long. Approach beta worked just fine, existing topos handily got us up the safe sex start and traverse into Dreamer, but a need for my partner to return to PDX in a timely manner dictated that we had to rap off after the Blue Crack. Of course, I've served plenty of time over in the 3 O'Clock & Comb areas, and have loved that slabby stuff long time, so it wasn't like I was green to the Darrington thing. I gotta go back & clean that one up one of these days.

And kicks your ass in the push up contest! Sorry to miss rope up this year, it was terribly inconsiderate of my Massachusetts dwelling mother-in-law to have a 90th birthday party on the same weekend, and my attendance there was less optional than I once thought.

He'd make a good moderator.

I don't think it would be considered A "Tramp Stamp", because it is located on my hip, not lower back. I hate the term "tramp stamp". It is belittling that this word gets applied to women who decide to get a tattoo. For many of us, a tattoo is an important, personal thing that carries meaning. And then to have other women defend their tattoo just because the location isn't the back is pussified bullshit. I prefer the term that folks out in Maine use: Ass Antlers.

I could always burn you a copy if you promise to send David Whitelaw some money, though perhaps that offer alone will perk up his ears and get you a response.

I don't think anyone is giving any of the folks involved grief over this, most folks here have been involved in some similar situation, on one side or the other. I'm glad this worked out just fine, as it has for most of us. I got benighted out with my son, which really amped up the homefront concern level. Fortunately it was the Stuart Range and the county sheriff had a lot of experience and counseled my wife that it was a long route and not uncommon for people to be overdue. Arch, sorry to hear about your event, was this recent? Hope you're doing alright.

That's great, I've always thought those Hawaiian ridges looked amazing.

Are we talking about that wide layback that starts from the ledge after the first undercling on NW Corner of NEWS? Takes you up to the smaller undercling-layback section before the belay? Does a #4 even fit in that thing? I recall it being really wide and the only thing to do was suck it up and climb. Oh, and thanks for the TR on this route, its on my list for the next outing into that cirque. I love how you guys went from too cold to wearing shorts, the late alpine season is so schizophrenic.

I like how Chris is giving you the "Come sit by me, little cupcake" sign, patting the open spot next to him.

Since there's been no news since Cathi posted at 5am yesterday, and we haven't heard anything on the news, I think its likely just a routine benightment. If anything happened there would be some follow up or news.

Careful Arch, if they find out you're saving seeds, Monsanto's strike force is likely to come visit you.

We have secret ballots, and signing a petition for referendum is a lower level of voting, people should be able to vote their conscience without repercussions. Funding information should be public though,following the money is an essential part of honest government.

The Nodder? OMG!

Funny Rudy, I could have sworn you said "Beacon" but I guess its just a different iteration of the same disorder...

I nominate Steve House for the Shirtless Kirk award!

Jay, I believe just a little exposure to amethyst crystals will provide the correct vibrational frequencies to open up your third eye to the truth you are denying.

Vanity Fair is not Cosmo, and any mag that publishes bitter contrarian Christopher Hitchens is worth checking out.

Does your oldest climb in Olympia at the Warehouse Rock Gym? There's a bunch of good folks and great kids down there, she'd probably like it. You could try it too, 44 is not that old and taking up new things is a great thing to do. As a nearby trip, you could check out the Black Hills/Capitol Forest. There's a good trail that goes up from Falls Creek to the top of Capitol Peak. (road goes there too). Thanks to the various installations on top the trees have been cleared and there are some fabulous regional views. That one has some elevation gain though, so you might want to start small. McLane Creek Nature Trail in the Delphi Valley is entertaining, Watershed Park near downtown would be a fine daily loop for you, and you might check out the rails-to-trails things like segments of the Chehalis Western Trail and the Yelm-to-Tenino trails. Put that 14 year old on roller blades so she can scoot back and forth like a golden retriever while you slog along as fast as you can. The loop around Tumwater Falls State Park is a little short (do a few laps maybe) but is big fun during extreme weather: deep freeze or flood season. Olympia has a lot of walking you can do, both recreational and just urban function.