Toast

Trask, I didn't ask how you'd clean a used vibrator...

I spent the weekend in an ice climbing clinic on the Nisqually ice field. Now my gear is all squeaky and full of silt. How do clean your locking biners? I tried flushing out the screw gates with Orange cleaner and spraying with machine oil, but I'm thinking that's prob not so wise given the petroleum residue that could compromise the strength of rope and slings. Got any tips on how you would clean them?

I did the north ridge last weekend, and I was pretty glad I was in boots... of course, we got a little off route on the descent

Last year was an incredibly fun time. Imagine, I show up Friday night at o'dark-thirty not knowing anybody. The first person I run into is Captain Caveman tossing me a palm sized puppy.... yeah, he's cute already... no, I got no problem with your dog, really. Okay, okay, I'll take him... beer? Cool (now I wish somebody would offer me a fucking bong hit, godammit... I just spent the last two hours in my car)... panckakes? Sure. So do I want to climb tomorrow? Sure. Orbit? Uh... yeah, sure... what's that? I had a great fucking time. I met the regulars, I met a legend or two, I met some wantabes. So this year somebody has stepped up to the plate to take on some of the organizing, and all you fuckers want to do is rip on him. I don't see you volunteering your time. Regardless of what you're whining about, shit won't get done without somebody taking some kind of initiative, and Beck is doing that. Decisions get made. You don't like the plan... then begin a dialogue and participate in the planning. Otherwise, sit down, shut up and enjoy, or throw your own party.

Then go somewhere else, fool

WORD! The bugs are insane there right now. Your lady friends won't like you very much if you ditch them there. It is pretty there, though.

Nice Job! Now go get more

Trask, what the fuck is up with the suicide thing? I'm beginning to think we need to worry about you... and I don't want to do that.

So true, So true, If I were a chick, That's what I'd do

I just want to know who's lost control of thier ship LEAST frequently.

Stuart Glacier was no prob this weekend. There are open crevasses on the lower half but none through the traverse route. Do bring crampons. The snow was hard to ice in some places. You can get away without an axe, but I was glad I had one. We wore mountaineering boots, and I was glad I did given the descent route. Not much water after the glacier. Though, we did catch snow drips in one of the gullies on the way... enough to fill bottles if you have the time to wait. Bring plenty of bug juice. Flies and mosquitoes are vicious right now.

Stim came into the shop the other day looking for a 60 meter 8.5 bi-weave rope. That struck me as a little strange. We don't get many climbers looking for a sophisticated rope, let alone ones in their twilight years. I gave him a bit of a cockeye and asked him what kind of climbing he was planning on doing. We got to talking and bit by bit I recalled I'd seen this guy before. At the end, I asked him his name and he replied Stimson Bullitt. I'm glad I've had the pleasure of meeting the fine gent... and I hope I'm still shopping for climbing gear at his age. Here's to you, Stim

On the last night of a four day trip through the Pickets, my partner pulls out a package of Stove Top Stuffing and a few dried cranberries. It made enough for him and enough to tease the rest of us with a few spoonfuls. Yumm, it was dreamy Kinda weird though... it doesn't taste as good at home

I just think of all of the heavy roadway particulate that will fall to this area. It's about the last place I'd want to send my kids to recreate. I's about the last place I'd want to. Just think of the black boogers and snot you'll be blowing out... yuck. My fault for not reading the thread closely, but this money that's earmarked... could it be spent elsewhere? I can think of a dozen other better places, Gasworks, Myrtle Edwards, Volunteer, Freeway Park...

Think about volumes... it's very much a specialty item that addresses a very narrow market. If manufacturers were cranking through several million of these a year, I could see the cost driven down to soemthing well below $100 (prob < $20.) However, how many of these things move off the shelf per season... a couple ten thousand maybe? Given that, $200 - $300 sounds understandable.

DAVE SCHULDT... where are you??!!

Yeah chucK, but were the taps clean??

I have DeLorme Topo and HATE IT It uses USGS data points to render fancy 3D profiles that I never use and has a hard time drawing the smooth contour lines I'm more famiar with in USGS maps. It fails to reference many common places, peaks, ridges... and that's makes it next to useless for searching for all but the most common destinations My advice, get National Geographics Topo.

Can you stinkin' believe it? We got rained on.

She's good lookin and can climb... double plus

I might wear a sarong when in a tropical climate, but utilikilts are fuckin' corny

CBS is being a little bashful about details on the late start. He failed to mention that we picked the wrong granite sidewalk to start off on... we passed the camp and drove up the road till it abruptly ended a couple hundred feet up the road. The avalanche debris seemed to fit the description, and we saw what appeared to be a granite sidewalk... yep, that must be it. An hour later, unwilling to admit that we could possibly be wrong, we found ourselves skittering precariously over sketchy slime covered slabs. The route description did say "and try not to slip", this must be it. We finally tossed in the towel once we began battling BW3 devils club. Note to others, it's the wash you just drove over, silly. Look "up" for a hubcap that marks the spot. Whatever the case, the wait was well worth it. Darrington is worthy Now go get some!

Dave, what's an onee?

Looks like mixed reviews on the Kort Haus. Let's see if we can sort this out: So Suck or Not So SuckSo SuckBlows GoatsI'd come backThis Place Rocks!