Toast

Koh Lanta is good stuff. If it's anything like what it was like when I was there it's NOT touristy. The island's mainstay then was rubber and coconts, and there was barely a paved road running down the center of the island. If you do go to Koh Lanta, dive. There's good diving with the most abundant and big ass'd Morray Eels I've ever seen. The dive spot roughly translates to Red Rock/Purple Rock. Also, there's a pretty cool cave on the island worth checking out.

Maybe I just lucked out. I have a pair of REI Ultralight poles made by Komperdell. I've beat the shit out of them, and I've made a habit of servicing them and bending 'em back to straight. They're not pretty anymore, but they still work and I trust them through tallus and steep slopes. I know that Leki makes a wire brush kit that's made to clean out the hollow tubes. I just wish Komperdel did too.

Hey Mattp, is that Ampzilla, Son of Ampzilla, or Grandson? If I had any spare cash I'd be all over this.

C'mon bro, you don't cut your board in half to ride in bounds.

Shwag galore last year...

Figuring out that you just need a little bit... a little bit of traction, a little bit of crack hold. The rest is confidence.

I have a friend who had a child when she was a senior in highschool. I knew the father, and later we were pretty good friends. My post-teen/early young adult experience was filled with seeing this beautiful child grow up. She was raised seeing Seattle's "Grunge" experience in the late 80's firsthand. Today she is one of the most articulate, balanced, and aware kids I've met. Yes there will be drunks and stoner and stumblers at the RopeUp, but hopefully few idiots. I'll do my part and stay away. Seriously, i have to work this weekend so there will be more and and for the rest of you. Have fun

Dude, she's so faux

Bruce Tremper's book, Satying Alive in Avalanche Terrain is good stuff

I think one of the best and most comprehensive classes around is put on by Paul Baugher and the Northwest Avalanche Institute (NAI.) Paul, Mark Moore and Rich Mariott form the core instructors. They actualy founded the NW Avalanche Center. for more info http://www.avalanche.org/~nai/

Yellow Jacket Tower has about a third of a pitch of fun climbing, but the approach is up a long, steep hill that erodes with each step. Party inflicted rockfall is likely on the upper half of the apprach. All in all, this is one I'd leave alone

Fuck dood, that's some crazy shite

A refrigerated wall night be a bit expensive, don'tcha think?

That's funnier'n shit.

Heh, heh heh...

Sure, real ice is better, but fake ice in a gym is a good way to compare ice tools if you're shopping. The wall at Cascade Crags is pure vertical with an overhanging bulge... not real, but hey, it's a gym. The foam has a squooshy feel, not quite like plastic, but it does allow you to feel the swing and action of tools while making your way up a wall. I think all you need to do is cover the non-pick pointy ends with tennis ball covers to reduce the number of sharp ends. Cascade Crags has plans for IceFest 2 sometime in October. Last year they opened the gym for demos, a climbing competion for free shwag, and Black Diamond brought in Sean Issac for an impressive leashless display of defying gravity.

Yeah, but it's just as fresh as it was a month ago

You might think this would be a pretty short list..... GEORGE W. BUSH ACCOMPLISHMENTS AS PRESIDENT: I attacked and took over two countries. I spent the U.S. surplus and bankrupted the US Treasury. I shattered the record for the biggest annual deficit in history (not easy!). I set an economic record for the most personal bankruptcies filed in any 12 month period. I set all-time record for the biggest drop in the history of the stock market. I am the first president in decades to execute a federal prisoner. I am the first president in US history to enter office with a Criminal record. In my first year in office I set the all-time record for most days on vacation by any president in US history (tough to beat my dad's, but I did). After taking the entire month of August off for vacation, I presided over the worst security failure in US history. I set the record for most campaign fund raising trips by any president in US history. In my first two years in office over 2 million Americans lost their job. I cut unemployment benefits for more out-of-work Americans than any other president in US history. I set the all-time record for most real estate foreclosures in a 12-month period. I appointed more convicted criminals to administration positions than any president in US history. I set the record for the fewest press conferences of any president, since the advent of TV. I signed more laws and executive orders amending the Constitution than any other US president in history. I presided over the biggest energy crises in US history and refused to intervene when corruption was revealed. I cut health care benefits for war veterans. I set the all-time record for most people worldwide to simultaneously take to the streets to protest me (15 million people), shattering the record for protest against any person in the history of mankind. I dissolved more international treaties than any president in US history. I've made my presidency the most secretive and unaccountable of any in US history. Members of my cabinet are the richest of any administration in US history. (The poorest multimillionaire, Condoleeza Rice, has a Chevron oil tanker named after her). I am the first president in US history to have all 50 states of the Union simultaneously struggle against bankruptcy. I presided over the biggest corporate stock market fraud in any market in any country in the history of the world. I am the first president in US history to order a US attack and military occupation of a sovereign nation, and I did so against the will of the United Nations and the vast majority of the international community. I have created the largest government department bureaucracy in the history of the United States, called the "Bureau of Homeland Security"(only one letter away from BS). I set the all-time record for biggest annual budget spending increases, more than any other president in US history (Ronnie was tough to beat, but I did it!!). I am the first president in US history to compel the United Nations remove the US from the Human Rights Commission. I am the first president in US history to have the United Nations remove the US from the Elections Monitoring Board. I removed more checks and balances, and have the least amount of congressional oversight than any presidential administration in US history. I rendered the entire United Nations irrelevant. I withdrew from the World Court of Law. I refused to allow inspectors access to US prisoners of war and by default no longer abide by the Geneva Conventions. I am the first president in US history to refuse United Nations election inspectors access during the 2002 US elections. I am the all-time US (and world) record holder for most corporate campaign donations. The biggest lifetime contributor to my campaign, who is also one of my best friends, presided over one of the largest corporate bankruptcy frauds in world history (Kenneth Lay, former CEO of Enron Corporation). I spent more money on polls and focus groups than any president in US history. I am the first president to run and hide when the US came under attack (and then lied,saying the enemy had the code to Air Force 1) I am the first US president to establish a secret shadow government. I took the world's sympathy for the US after 9/11,and in less than a year made the US the most resented country in the world (possibly the biggest diplomatic failure in US and world history). I am the first US president in history to have a majority of the people of Europe (71%) view my presidency as the biggest threat to world peace and stability. I changed US policy to allow convicted criminals to be awarded government contracts. I set the all-time record for the number of administration appointees who violated US law by not selling their huge investments in corporations bidding for gov't contracts. I have removed more freedoms and civil liberties for Americans than any other president in US history. In a little over two years, I have created the most divided country in decades, possibly the most divided that the US has been since the Civil War. I entered office with the strongest economy in US history and in less than two years turned every single economic category heading straight down. RECORDS AND REFERENCES: I have at least one conviction for drunk driving in Maine (Texas driving record has been erased and is not available). I was AWOL from the National Guard and deserted the military during time of war. I refuse to take a drug test or even answer any questions about drug use. All records of my tenure as governor of Texas have been spirited away to my fathers library, sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view. All records of any SEC investigations into my insider trading or bankrupt companies are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view. All minutes of meetings of any public corporation for which I served on the board are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public view. Any records or minutes from meetings I (or my VP)attended regarding public energy policy are sealed in secrecy and unavailable for public review. PERSONAL REFERENCES: For personal references, please speak to my dad or Uncle James Baker (They can be reached in their offices at the Carlyle Group where they are helping to divide up the spoils of the US-Iraq war and plan for the next one). (Note: this information should be useful to voters in the 2004 election. Circulate to as many citizens you think would be helped to be reminded about his record.) The White House, USA GEORGE W. BUSH

Fucker

I read this as my answer to life enemas

I got five: - car - front door - basement door - bike lock - roof rack I would have six, but I chucked my ex girlfriend's key out last month

Per Erik's request... We had plans to climb Orbit this weekend, but a super late start, a hangover or some shit from my partner, and the discovery of a newly minted hole through my rock shoes dictated something a little less aggressive. We chose White Slabs. The route is fairly low angle given its neighbors - Outer Space and Orbit sit just to the left and Champagne to the right. A small tree indicates the start of White Slabs. When I'd asked about this route earlier, people rolled their eyes and asked why would you want to climb that shit... it's full of moss and dirt and grass. True enough it was wet and messy looking early season when I was asking around, and there are some bushes to dodge along the way, but it's a nice moderate lead for a chump like me Actually the route's quite fun and has mini-versions of the same features on neighboring routes (twin cracks, hand jams, a flakey lie back, a quasi-chimney like thing...) We brought a modest rack up to 2". Hexes could work as the cracks are pretty featured. The route is roughly a short 4th class scramble to get up to the start, one super short pitch, one full 60M rope length to a killer belay ledge, and a half rope pitch up to Country Club Ledge. All is pretty straight forward. Supposedly there's a linkage to three solid pitches on the Umbrella Tree, but we were short on time. Shizzy, if you got beta on that, fill me in. The rap down was made easy by buddying up with another party for a double rope rap (thanks Jeremy and Dan.) The net net... short and moderate but fun. I give it

Nice job Doxy

I climbed White Slabs. It wasn't nearly as grassy/mossy/bushey as some would hae you believe. However, I am still picking out moss and twigs from my pack

It's the six million dollar man