Dr_Flash_Amazing

Another rider on the idiot train, eh? ALL ABOARD!

Well, keep hitting the books, young vegetable. Perhaps one day you'll be smart, too!

SWEET! DFA's a damn Left-lib'ral! Divert all military spending to social justice immediately!

Fuck that goat. Libertarians and their libertarianisms make DFA itch. Sort of like fucking goats. Sexual Chocolate was mucho mas tolerable.

no shit? what gave you that impression? It might've been that time when he said "give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses, and I'll grind them up and use them to power Enron's generators, and make whatever's left into pate for Halliburton's executives to nosh at their next business lunch at the White House! This message brought to you by Pfizer Pharmaceuticals!"

That's a "pair o' docs", you foolish feline. Say it fast a few times then look at the posting again.

"His approach is impressively simple: no fixed ropes, no pre-placed gear, and no week-long rehearsals."

CONCISE!

See you at Red Rocks; otherwise, you're shit, as they say, outta luck.

Whaddaya think of this? It's a question and response from R&I's interview with some Austrian hardman/dark horse named Michael Mayr who has, in the past 4 years, repeated El Nino (.13c), Freerider (.12d), and Golden Gate (.13b) which are all free routes on El Cap, for those not in the know. He's also done some sicky things in Europe, including an onsight solo of the Cassin-Ratti Route (.11d and known for loose rock), and bagging the 2nd ascend of a .13c/d horror show put up by Bubu Bole in '01. Anyway, here: R&I: Conventional wisdom says you need years of traditional-climbing experience to free-climb a big wall. Is having trad experience overrated? Mayr: I think so. A person who has never climbed trad but has climbed 5.14 is much more likely to free-climb a 5.13 route on El Cap than someone who has climbed trad all his life but never climbed hard. Just figured this might rub someone the wrong way, or spark one of those rad sport vs. trad debates that we all love so much.

That would have to be The Quickening (referred to then as "The Chickening", as committing to the moves over the roof was kinda scary). Definitely marked the transition from years of relatively unfocused fucking around on the rocks to a period of focused, goal-oriented sending. Really, if it hadn't been for Andy, who knows where DFA would be at, climbing-wise. But Andy got the Doctor on the thing, and Andy climbed hard and was just psyched to be out climbing and making sure everyone was having a good time, and the motivation was infectious. So after some prodding and some work, both on sequences and a pathetically fearful brain, The Chickening went down. That same season saw some of DFA's most cherished climbing moments, including sending Chain Reaction (at that point still a mythical and awe-inspiring guillotine, to be pointed at and whispered about, but climb the thing? Yeah, right!), again with Andy's beta and motivation; and onsighting Up For Grabs (or "Up For Slabs" as Andy liked to say) and Flat Earth in the same day; and turning Toxic into the most casual of warmups. It really opened the Doctor's eyes as to what it took to advance in climbing, and what was really possible, and replaced the hands-off sense of awe with a take-it-by-the-throat sense of enthusiasm. Those were good times. Sorry, Andy.

and I swear it's the last time and I swear it's my last try and we'll walk in circles around this whole block walk on the cracks of the same old sidewalks and we'll talk about leaving town yeah, we'll talk about leavin' I swear it's the last time and I swear, it's my last try etc. etc.

A) What do you expect; he's going to donate a bunch of iMacs running OSx? It's not like 99% of computers that get sold aren't gonna be running Windows anyway. B) Gates Foundation gives out a LOT of money for a LOT of good causes, and, self-interested PR or not, they help out a lot of people who need it.

An air strike, eh? Not too subtle, there, Mr. White.

What's this slagging on the Ebenezer?! That shit's a consistent favorite; Bridgeport can do no wrong. And it's probably unlikely that you'd find this up there, but if you see Jolly Roger from Maritime Pacific, buy as much as possible. If DFA recalls correctly, it's over 9% alcohol, and taaaaaasty to boot.

That just hurts. Does this mean your free copy of the infamous 'Dr. Flash Amazing Sex Tape' wasn't a soothing enough balm for your damaged feelings? Oh, life can be so unjust!

Damn. Looked like there was water coming down on almost everything. Wet enough, anyway, that it looked like it wasn't worth the trouble. It does seem way wetter than usual. Having been completely rained out on two days earlier this Fall, and then getting the hose this past weekend, the Doc would say this is totally unprecedented. Can't recall EVER being rained out more than once in a season; usually once a year at most. Must be this global warming shit, dicking with the weather or somethin'. You gotta be worried about Spring, too, if Fall was this wet. The Doritos ain't been sent yet. Weather, illness, and life in general derailed the process, so it'll probably have to wait 'til Spring. As for this weekend, let's see what the weather looks like, shall we? Expectations are not too high at this point, and the Amazing family is not too keen on getting rained out again.

Spent an hour or so bouldering with Boone Speed and Mike Call at the PRG a couple years back. You'd think we'd learn by now not to be surprised when well-known climbers turn out to be cool people like anyone else, but it still happens. Discovered firsthand how quiet and reserved Mr. Sharma is as we walked by him at his truck at the B-Milks and swapped hellos and chit-chat about the weather. And who'da thunk that the much hyped Tori Allen was such a gracious, humble, polite person? Very encouraging and friendly as we shared warmup routes with her at Maple one day (well, she was warming up; we were getting pumped stupid). Was pleasantly surprised when Kurt Smith returned an e-mail (promptly, even!) requesting advice and info on running a climber's hostel type operation, and again running into him at Smith -- if he's as cocky as he seemed in Masters of Stone, it sure didn't show in person. Lynn Hill was awful nice as she belayed a hopelessly flailing DFA, dogging Deep Splash into oblivion and cheese-gratering her rope in the process. We're all just climbers, and all just people, it seems. Anyone had any ugly brushes with the well-knowns of our fair sport?

Nice. Mrs. DFA has been known to 'cause fellas to flee from the vicinity of the lat pull-down machine.

How 'bout those huge waterstreaks running down from the top of ... well, everything? The Amazing family drove to the parking lot and got out of the car, determined that since it was cloudy as hell, raining, and many of the huge waterstreaks were actually reaching the ground on most of the walls, it was maybe a good idea to just continue on home. Guess that's the end of the Fall season at Ye Olde Pile 'o SmithMud!

Didjoo run into anyone from PDX?

It really depends on what sort of climber you are (i.e. your strengths and weaknesses) and what sort of climbing you're doing. e.g. a person who has been climbing lots of slabby Smith Rock routes and wishes to try a route such as Latin Lover will probably not need to build much strength. If the same slab voyager was looking to do Torrid Zone or Crack Babies, it might behoove them to hit the pullup bar or the bouldering cave for the big, muscly moves. And, of course, if you're coming from Red Rocks or someplace that is likewise steep and juggy, and your biceps are huge from slogging up Yaak Crack and you wanna take a crack at some crimpy techfest, you're going to be very disappointed when you discover there's nothing to pull on and even less to stand on. Time to jump on some easy .10s and .11s and hone the footwork! Really, though, that's oversimplifying things. There's never really just one thing one needs to work on to progress, and ideally, to really keep improving and doing well as a climber, it's best to take a more holistic approach. Climbing routes of all different styles to expose you to different kinds of technique and movement, doing a bit of bouldering to push yourself in the power department (and 'cause it's fun!), training for endurance and stamina; all the pieces should be in place. The broader the base of your climbing and training, the bigger the pool you can draw from as you try to progress and push yourself, and the more natural your progress will be.

What do Michael Jackson and K-Mart have in common? Little boys' pants are half off! What do Michael Jackson and a grocery bag have in common? They're both plastic and dangerous to children! Time to burn, sicko.

War IS hell, and being rude to a captive should be permissible. FUCK THE FLAG AND FUCK YOU!

FUCK THE FLAG AND FUCK YOU!