D-dog

It is an odd out-of-body experience, reading what others wrote about you when you were in prison. Kudos to the posters who saw the weak legal status of the "pretext" traffic stop. That issue was very important in the eventual disposition of my case. Peace, D-d0g

Photo from exit. . . looking East, towards the town of Winthrop.

Last week, a Seattle-area BASE jumper named Josh Whipple took his life. I had known Josh for several years, and shared some good times with him. He was a good man and his presence in the world was always a positive one; he will be missed by all who knew him, and the world is a darker place for his passing. Valhalla becomes stronger with one more addition. . . In honor of his memory, today I opened a new BASE exit from Goat Wall, just outside of the town of Winthrop. It was a beautiful day to be on a beautiful object in a beautiful area of the world. . . a fitting place to honor my departed friend. I`ve named the exit Frasierdog, in memory of a lifetime friend and partner that has left the world forever this winter. I have taken some photos of the winter sunset from the exitpoint, which I will post once I am back home and pull them from my camera. Josh, may you fly free and bring smiles to your new friends wherever you are. Here amongst the unclean, we remember you fondly and the Frasierdog exit is my own personal memorial to the fond memories I have of our times together. Josh: "Well I thought you were going to be the voice of reason and caution when we jump together. . . " DW: "Who? Me? Hahahahahah! You must be joking." Peace, D-d0g

The surpreme court in BC found that photo radar was in violation of the Charter, if memory serves. Consequently, anybody who had a photo radar ticket that they hadn`t paid was off the hook, though I do not believe refunds were offered for those who had already paid. That`s one funny thing about Canada, and BC in particular: the whole concept of individual rights and the concomitant limitation of state police power is still relevant here. Funny, because technically Canada is still a monarchy. . . and America, the land of the free and all that, slides to within spitting distance if a police state. Peace, D-d0g

Our farm in Chilliwack is less than ten minutes from Cheam, so if you ever want to know the current conditions all I need to do is look out our back window and I can tell you! From one spot on the property, it is possible to see the tip of Slesse peaking over the proximate ridgeline that separates us from the mountain. Peace, D-d0g

Absent a half-decent landing area, simply "parachuting in" is about as safe as just dropping in freefall and hoping against hope for a soft landing. A thrutching, crashing landing into trees or monster talus is all but certain to induce serious injuries - and the twitcher the landing area, the more it pays to walk it beforehand to get the lay of the land. Clearly not very helpful in terms of random backcountry approach plans. There's not many things less fun than pounding into a grove of big trees under canopy and ending up stuck 80 feet off the ground, dangling by a bit of nylon and some cracking twigs. Take it from someone with too much firsthand experience doing just that. Peace, D-d0g

I do hope it's appropriate for me to post this topic in this forum. It's been a couple of years since I've posted here, so I'm not very current on my cultural etiquette. Anyway, I'm wondering if any folks are planning a run up the NE of Slesse this Sunday or Monday. I've been wanting to get up there myself for years to check the verticality of the drop form the bivy ledge. Last summer things were all arranged, and I was awaiting a visit from my BASE mentor to do the trip together. He killed himself last October, and since then I've not jumped. But I think now the energy is turning around for me. Also, the world being ever an ironic place, I now live about 4km from Slesse, in Chilliwack. Thus, the long drive to Slesse is no longer a viable excuse preventing me from going. Anyway, if you are heading towards the NE and would be amenable to an old-time climbing has-been tagging along, please do drop a note (ds@stallions.net). Peace, D. Spink

Thanks again - that pretty much settles it in my book. No easy way to "traverse in," so I'll just plan for the climb up which is certainly not a bad outcome! Hmm, anyone out there have firm plans to head up the NE buttress in the next few weeks? Peace, D-D0g

Not to be too idiotic about it, but can I get to the Beckey ledges (above the Heart of Darkness) from the S? Up over Connection Pass? Or is the downclimb around and above the Heart of Darkness totally gnarly when approached like this? In other words, if one were climbing the regular route and bailed after around 1500 feet of climbing, would one simply rap down or is there an escape out over Connection Pass that I could reverse to get to the ledges? Well, that'd be seriously pimp but I am doubting that the entire E face from summit down is vertical. You've been there however, so what do you think? If you threw a rock from the summit, would it hit at the bottom of the face or would it bounce 100 times down before hitting bottom? Not that I'm planning to throw rocks about, but that's the key metric in terms of jumpability. Now that sounds like fun, for sure! Peace, D-d0g

Thanks - this is sort of what my theory was and I was not sure if it would actually work or not. I'll likely head out there and see how the snow conditions are, one way or another. Attached is the photo I'm using to visualize the approach, with a totally ghetto arrow painted on to show what I think is the most likely exitpoint. Peace, D-d0g

Super glue. Lather the regrowing nail and surrounding soft/sore tissue with super glue and let it dry before you put your climbing shoes on. It'll form a nice, hard barrier and keep the nail from pushing on the soft nailbed as it is growing out and under pressure in the shoe. The glue will last only 1-2 days and will flake off harmlessly after that, but for short-term fixes of nail problems it is a wonder to behold. In the "old days," many of us regularly glued all sorts of gobies, gashes, flappers, etc. to keep on climbing. Never heard of any adverse reactions, and I also have it on good reference that similar chemical compounds are used by the military to field treat flesh wounds and stop bleeding. It can be a bit warm as it dries, but nothing uncomfortable even on torn or sore skin. I have two fingernails and one thumbnail that regularly fall partly or all the way off (due to old traumas from climbing, i.e. too many overhung thin cracks and one lost on a lieback problem at Joshua Tree when my entire nail and a big chunk of the finger itself simply tore off from too much pressure). I am regularly dealing with one or two fully-exposed nailbeds as the nail grows back. . . only to fall off again and start the process over. This has been going on for years. I'd take photos and post but that seems too much like work. Anyway, I use glue to paste over the nailbed whenever it is sore and getting bumped during everyday use. For a day or two, problem solved! No downsides. You can even paint pretty nail polish over the glue and pretend the whole nail is intact, if that's your thing. The polish will flake off with the glue in a day or two, fyi. Superglue is a wonder tool. It is one of my "ten essentials" for backcountry work, in addition to amphetamines, opiates, pr0n, and of course suture material. Peace, D-d0g

Heya folks, I'm seeking advice from anyone who is familiar with the NE Buttress Slesse route. Specifically, I'd like to track down beta on traversing into the buttress from the East and then downclimbing/rapping to the bivy ledge. I've done all the requisite Becky and topo research, now looking for firsthand data if possible. I'm hopeful though not 100% sure that there is an exitpoint around the altitude at which the ledge sits, exiting to the South. However, I am a lazy shit with lots of broken pieces and if I can sneak onto the buttress without doing the bottom pitches, that'd be ok for my broken-up BASE body! Advice regarding this plan? Yes, I am competent traversing alpine terrain up to around 5.9-ish unroped so long as it's not wet mossy slabs or scary dark offwidths! Edited to add: this is the line I am trying to describe: Many thanks in advance. Peace, D-d0g

Yes, the jumper in question is a very experienced BASE fellow with deep experience in several other sports as well. I'm sure this statement will make more sense in due time. There was a Swedish BASE fatality in Norway yesterday, so it seems it was a bad day for BASE. Our thanks again for all the climbers who were so unselfishly helpful and caring during the incident at Squamish - climbers rock! Peace, D-d0g

Nope, wasn't me. I had jumped first and had a somewhat gusty but otherwise uneventful canopy flight to landing. The second jumper had problems and was forced to take an "out" and land in the upper gulley. Many climbers in the parkinglot were super helpful and several took supplies up the gulley trail - thanks, guys! While it was windy overall, there was an exitpoint and jump plan that worked given the wind conditions, rotoring from the first peak, etc. It was a technical jump in those conditions, but not reckless. Unfortunately it left little room for error or mishap and the second jumper (who will likely not mind being named, but I don't want to assume that until he lets me know, fyi) had to take a pre-planned "out" from the standard flight plan. Peace, D-d0g

Well here is a blast from the past. Due to injuries on my part as well as several fatalities involving friends of mine in BASE, I didn't get much backcountry stuff done in 2002. However, this summer I have moved to Maple Ridge BC and I am readying a few trips in the next month or so. First up is Bear Mtn., with Slesse next on the list. Dru, I finally got ahold of those maps of Mt. Albert. Are you sure it is vertical? The topo lines I see are sure steep, but from the map alone it could be 80 degrees or 100 degrees, no way to tell! Peace, D-d0g