billcoe

I'd forgot all about that guy. Wow, did anyone ever figure out who that was? That must have been a screwed up thing to be thinking you'd watched a dude pitch to his death.... I wrote that 2nd part poorly and didn't mean to poo-poo what is really a significant screwed-up environmental disaster. My brothers and I are all part of the Hanford study, having been an infant at the wrong time at the wrong place of Washington state. I've gotten enough radiation as a child to cover me for all the years of my life and I don't even need even trace amounts added to the tally. The Japan thing is not anywhere near enough to trigger me eating my PI stash, and I am paying attention to both what the government is saying, and what people who do not trust the government and have established radiation detectors at their personal homes are saying about the levels. My point to OW was it's probably not a good comparison for a couple of reasons. 1st) middle markers can save your life as your story illustrates. 2nd) Well, no reason to repeat myself unless you like to hear old people drone on. ps, for you. Mokies daughter as crag dog. (I took that leash off right after the picture and it stayed off all day)

Welcome to the dark side....took ya long enough. BTW, wasn't your last post how the retard level was so high HERE on CC.com? See how easily even we can be eclipsed! Stay safe.

Don't be so damn complacent. I was out with 2 otherwise competent folks @ 15 years back, one I use to guide with, an AMGA fully certified and body-cavity searched bonafide guide - who set the (unmarked) rope for the 3 of us at the anchor. I was fucking around backing up the anchor while he set the rope then other dude connected and rapped down. Rope would have reached if the middle had been at or even close to the anchors...no one knows what went wrong. Dude got down a ways and was PISSED that one end reached quite well and then some: but the other was easily 20 feet off the deck. He caught it but that's how crap happens. You'd think I'd know better but I'm out with Adam last year and I KNOW that the damn rope will reach, its a fucking bicolor Mammut and I pulled it after a new route we had finished. We needed the last rap to the base and we both ducked and covered for all the rocks and crap raining down, then with the unsettled dirt in eye syndrome, Adam get on rappel and (thank the dear lord) after committing notices that the rope doesn't hit on both ends. We figured that it readjusted itself as the dirt clods were raining on us. Here he is after having survived the stupidity of neither of us double checking a bi color rope being centered! It's true that it's orange on both sides and only the pattern changes, and it was dirty...whew... I see Richard Goldstone doing a fund raiser now for one for the more experienced folks he knows who got dropped and hospitalized due to the rope being too short and no one noticing or tying a knot in the end. They weren't noobs. Don't be so complacent is the message. The dirt is actually harder to eat as you get older. [/end rant which is really reaffirming some noise to myself and not directed any one person] ps, I got your stock of Potasium Iodine right here, but I'm holding off for a dirty bomb with possibly heavy cesium and plutonium coming off the docks mere miles away, not some imaginary light radiation drifting over that might or might not arrive from half a world away. You got a hold of Josephs nutz Steve? Good for you! LOL!

Well, at least we still have the Columbia River Gorge forum for all the usual endless augmentative chest thumping, arm waving and Beacon spray.

My wife said that was going to be on. Nice vid, too short. If anyone has any contributions of history, (Ice axes, books, pictures etc) you can tell that it will be well taken care of in Jeffs hands and he'd love to have it. Simply contact the Mazamas: that stuff should be preserved, and we all are grateful for Jeffs and especially all the people out there like Jeff, efforts. Jeff on Tribal Therapy last year. Still has the grace and balance of a master, needs to work on his strength. (don't we all lol) Jeff has quite the encyclopedia inside his head on history, such a joy to be around for so many reasons.

I was just thinking today how nice that East Face line up Liberty Bell is. Crank that grade 5 in a day and you get a wide variety of free and aid with an amazing view from the top that is sure to put a smile on your face.

Well, the "days" we were expected to be in there are now stretching into "weeks" and the price just keeps increasing. They had claimed 100 million at first, price tag is approaching $600 - $700 million and the budget deficit continues to rise at home. Yesterday or the day before, Warren Buffett said that the dollar will continue to drop. What that means for you is that about everything you buy will cost you more. Today, the chairman of Walmart says to brace for some "serious inflation" coming our way and the Euro central bank also announced interest rate increases. http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/retail/2011-03-30-wal-mart-ceo-expects-inflation_N.htm ]http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/retail/2011-03-30-wal-mart-ceo-expects-inflation_N.htm [/url] and http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/31/ecb-fed-rates-idUSLDE72S1AE20110331 Interesting in that they usually follow the fed on this, but have acted before the fed in this single instance. I know, lets go have another war someplace so we can forget this disturbing trend. Sure thing, that will help. Check this shit out. Amazing photos. US fired 22 Tomahawk Missiles today is the headline. These are not Tomahawks, but appear to have been dropped out an airplane onto Gaddafi's house. In other related news, Obama announces that we would not try to kill Gaddafi. Huh? How f*ing stupid is that? WTF not? We've already killed innocent civis in there, where the F&* does Obama think those 22 Tomahawk missiles will be landing? Shit, put the man out of his misery and lets get the F out of there.

Ahhhh , found the copy of that Beal letter to me: "9th September, 2004 ROPE MARKER - There have never been tests conducted by the German Alpin Club together with 2 of our competitors. - The tests made by the German Alpine Club with the “Sharpie” are old. - Mammut made tests with the “Rope Marker”, placing a greatly excessive quantity of ink on a great length of their ropes. Results : no change in the static strength of their ropes (which proves no chemical attack of the nylon by the ink), significant decrease of the number of drops if you place the inky zone in the orifice plate of the test rig. This decrease is due to the large quantity of ink which involves a great stiffening of the rope, and, therefore, an impossibility to fold correctly in the orifice plate. Note that after a few hours of use, the excess of ink eliminates, the rope recovers its softness and then its dynamic properties. Furthermore, you must ink a long zone of rope to be able to make the test. If not, with the deformation of the rope due to a successive falls, it is not possible to have the inked zone in the orifice plate during several successive falls. So if you mark a rope normally (10 cm for example) you can’t even achieve the test, and therefore you will never find a number of falls decrease. In the same report Mammut said that the middle mark applied in the factory on Beal ropes did not affect their number of falls. - This publication from Mammut was purely commercial against Beal. It is interesting to note that Mammut now mark the middle of their ropes with ink… - They tried to make people believe that Lanex was associated to those tests. It is totally wrong. The proof is given by the fact that Lanex officialy approved the use to the Beal “Rope Marker” on their ropes. See the attached agreement. - The “Rope Marker” has also been tested and approved by other manufacturers, including Blue Water and New England. Agreements attached. - It is strange to note that only the UIAA notification of April 2002 is published. The addendum of June 2002 is forgotten ! In this addendum the conclusion is clear : the rope markers do not present any danger to climbers, so long as they are used sparingly on the ropes of the manufacturer marketing this rope marker, or if they have been approved by the manufacturer of the rope. See this addendum attached. - You may wonder why the Beal “Rope Marker” seems to affect the Mammut ropes and not the ropes from manufacturers who approved it…. - The ink of the “Rope Marker” is the same as the one we are using to mark the middle of our ropes. We remind you that even Mammut said that Beal ropes were not affected by this mark ! - The Rope Marker is supplied with the list of the manufacturers who approved it." Note this part: "In this addendum the conclusion is clear : the rope markers do not present any danger to climbers, so long as they are used sparingly on the ropes of the manufacturer marketing this rope marker, or if they have been approved by the manufacturer of the rope." I don't know where the rest of the addendum's Beal alludes too are though...hmmm, sorry dudes. Beal does make and sell a rope marker. http://www.mec.ca/Products/product_detail.jsp?FOLDER%3C%3Efolder_id=2534374302691399&PRODUCT%3C%3Eprd_id=845524442621248 Buy it and you'll have enough that you can fix your buddies and folks like Wallstein up.

I've always wondered why fabric dye wouldn't be the bees knees for marking the middle of a climbing rope. Just get some black liquid Rit dye that is designed to not hurt fabrics of any type and dip the middle in. Done. I had some back and forth Emails with Michael Beal back when concerning the use of middle markers as an issue. He thought that the tests that they did to ascertain that you don't want to mark the middle with a marker were over the top and overblown. Black Diamond later tested the marking causing failures and this is the result: http://web3.bdel.com/scene/beta/qc_kp_archive.php#120308 ie, they couldn't get it to break at the Sharpie mark but thought you probably shouldn't use one...just because. "I don’t think Sharpies or any other permanent markers have really been proven to actually damage nylon—short-term or long-term. However, I can’t recommend them for use on rope either because the manufacturers will not and cannot guarantee that the marker will always be free of possibly harmful chemical ingredients. In other words, they can change the formula on a whim and none of us would be the wiser."

LOL! Other thread http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/699419/Board/31/page/1/fpart/all/gonew/1#UNREAD

@ 3,300 less than you and I've been here 2 years longer...I must be slackin in comparison:-)

http://www.nationalparkstraveler.com/2011/03/updated-big-bend-national-park-proposing-cut-mountain-bike-trail-peer-nps-retirees-raise-objections7827 Here's one I could understand argueing over, building a new single track trail...one that exudes horses. This will be a substantial and somewhat costly project. I think bikes are much better than the roads and massive projects they are still building in Yosemite valley, but I've never been to the Big Bend area, and if Don wanted to argue AGAINST a new mountain bike trail at that location, I could see, understand and even empathize that. But he wasn't, he was saying don't cut a few inches off of a dead stump......

I've been hiking longer than I've been climbing and I've been climbing longer than Don has. It's not about age. It's that Don talks out his ass. Same reason I get my hackles up over the Westboro Baptist Church's approach. Don's the same way. He's not about a dialog, he's about spewing his belief's. "Blah blah blah he's the righteous one blah blah pontificate pontificate...blah blah...." He want's everyone to believe that if he is out hiking, and there is a large downfall/branch across the trail blocking it, he would turn around and not touch it, otherwise it's an environmental disaster and he's leaving a trace. Bullshit. Most of us would do the right thing, make the world better, and move it so that others may benefit. On this issue, like the church, he's full of beans, wrong, and the rest of us are right. It's really the way he presents the message that is so painful. He will continue to bray like an intolerant holier than thou asshole, you can rest assure of that, however, no matter how long or loud he brays and pontificates, it changes nothing except to make a lot of noises in public much like a jackass. ...jus sayin' too... Regards to all

That's so awesome and inspiring on so many levels. All of those lil kids are so much fun to watch: they get all up and happy and have so much fun, but that there is another plane altogether. Congrats to the lad as well Rudy. Photo below borrowed from RC.com. Ian Caldwell on Rude Boys, 5.13C

It's about making the world a better place. There was a near full sized Doug Fir tree up at Rocky Butte that everyone used to anchor Crack Warrior. In 1996 we had a winter windstorm that snapped it off @ 6-8 feet up. Made a nice stump and everyone still used it as an anchor as it started to rot (fairly fast). I didn't go there for some time but went up there @ 2006 or 7 with Crackman and someone else and the entire stump had disappeared just from natural rotting and was basically gone....except for some detritus still rotting at the base. Natural process. That's what is going to happen to this stump as well. I asked around if adding some bolts for an anchor at the top would be OK, (including here) only got yelled at once by some dudes out there and those guys didn't even know where Crack warrior was. They just were pissed that people were putting in convince anchors where gear had been easily used for 30-40 years. I agreed with their point but explained this former anchor rotten away issue, and they did get on board. So I didn't discount them as just knee jerk ravings like yours Don, but edumatcated them to the facts. Put in some chains and cleaned the rotten wood out. I also sprayed some poison oak there. I don't consider spraying that stuff environmentally wrong, although others, like Lucky Larry does. The entire top of that climb is much much better. As humans, it's what we do, make our world better. In this case, from what I can see, leveling that single dead stump would make the world a better place. Sure, it's selfish and self-centered just like Dane says up thread. But when they do it, if they sprinkle some dirt on top of it, you'd never know, and the world is better for both the stump being gone and you knot knowing of it's presence or absence. I'm sure that you would argue that the park service folks and climbers who leveled out the bases of Smith Rock routes and built some trails ruined the environment, and I would argue that they made the world a better place. Both of us will not change our views and opinions, but just remember that I'm right and you're wrong on this. Ta ta!

Man, you really aren't paying attention. I went into the convenience store for a Pepsi like last month, which is a rare thing to do for me, they wanted about a buck more than the last time I'd bought one....I mean, I know I'm old and all, but that shit is out of control. BTW, reading comprehension alert: no one ever said "only solution" (to budget cuts), until JB brought those words to the table. Pay attention jb, you're even driving off your allies with all this hand waving, bad reading comprehension and misunderstanding. There MUST be and WILL be budget cuts as well as tax and fee increases where they can make them stick, Please, don't be ignorant..

Speaking only for myself, I will be extra careful when climbing over Ivans fence that his pots don't attack me....Last Saturday, I was only following but with my left handhold snapped off a rock which broke into 2 pieces. I didn't fall and hung onto the large part but the small one peeled right off down the cliff and caught the belaying Plaidman in the chest after a single bounce. He was fine but I felt like shit. This is why I'm not climbing at Cathedral:-) I had figured it was me pulling too hard and fast, not paying attention, like a noob..... but maybe this is a better explanation cause then I can ignore my own culpability...hmmmm, I like that:-) BTW, side note for anyone who cares: Timetraveler Steve rules! Not only that but he insisted we leave the poison oak (still scratching now) and slick mossy cracks and meet him at a dry warm high friction place where he then ropegunned all these sweet easier bolted routes which we caught a free ride on till the ibuprofen started calling:-) Yeah!

The legislators actually have to confront and balance this budget and must still deal with it by the end of the day, and can't just drunkenly wave their arms all askew incoherently on an internet bulletin board to get the job done....unfortunately. I can assure you that the state of Washington has hired some folks who's sole job it is to track down every scrap of extra corp. tax revenue they can grab, every damn nickel, and they are working over every company pockets they can both in state and out with a high powered Hoover vacuum. It's not all cuts cuts cuts, but that has to happen too, as Jim said. If you think that they have missed some corp or target, then you have an obligation to send them that info. Some interesting thoughts and ideas for the national issue: http://topforeignstocks.com/2009/11/15/should-the-us-drastically-cut-its-bloated-defense-budget/

....Crickets....

Well spoken. Nationally: http://www.cnbc.com/id/42246531 "In the Sovereign Fiscal Responsibility Index, the Comeback America Initiative ranked 34 countries according to their ability to meet their financial challenges, and the US finished 28th, said David Walker, head of the organization and former US comptroller general." .............

I had seen that positive story and was thinking of posting it Pat, but figured you'd be along sooner or later. Congrats to you, the ACLU, and all American citizens. Should be a long and interesting road from here.

Yes. Some bad ones - but if you find a good bottle you can go score lots of it for a mighty good price. I picked up a 2000 Bordeaux Wine there like 3 years back. It was in the 2 buck upchuck price range. Tasted fantastic. Went back and bought everything they had, 5 to 8 cases of the stuff. If anyone ever invites me over to your home to nosh, I'll haul one over, finally down to about my last case and now I'm starting to be careful on opening the bottles:-) Another time, they had Haagan DAz something of cheese ice cream. I was calling it Fumunda cheeze. They had cases of it for $1. each. I filled up the freezer at home and at work. Took a long time to work through it, stuff was amazingly great tasting. Another fantastic deal is sunscreen. Like a buck. The trick is to buy a single thing and test it or to go with a sharp eyed Asian lady who is smarter than you and will tell you to put back the Chocolate cause it will taste like gasoline, or the expired drugs I always seem to toss in the cart:-) PS, she told me to always pass on the perishables that are canned or bottled, like olive oil, etc etc.

Good points all. In fact I congratulated our new President on this board for doing the right thing and increasing the cafe standards not long after he'd gotten elected. Here's to hope! The WW2 time was a radically different time. Certainly darker and scarier in many regards. In many ways that was mandatory and this is voluntary, which makes the budget trend these days even crazier..to me. Me? Everyone who knows me knows I do live about as close to inner city without actually being under a bridge as it gets in a house 3 blocks from a close in light rail stop. My wife walks 3 blocks to work and I'm not ridiculously far.

Nice chart....they were looking at the opposite of this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_oil This one below better explains it for the US during that period to now. ..of course, there could be a magic potion invented any day now that will alleviate this concern....and all the US manufacturers that left the building will come home...and and and

Wow! I am in total agreement with that article Jay. I swear I didn't pen that:-) Being in a hedge fund that short sells the Treasury on margin is a stunning position which I never believed I would find myself in. 1 year Treasury's at at .25%...how far can that rate go down and what will happen when the Fed stops buying? If the rate goes down I'll lose my bet, but I'm predicting a rise in interest rates and am acting on my beliefs. So to do the opposite, you should buy Treasuries Pat, cash in on that .25% interest rate and retire rich! It's a "safe" investment after all, everyone says so. Everyone flys to "safety" like US government T-bills when times are strange they say. This is as strange as it gets. Our country is in unprecedented and unusual times with as uncertain of a future as we have ever seen IMO. Get the booze, guns, stockpiled food, gas masks and potasium Iodine kind of things you mention covered soon everyone:-) Nice bed Prole, the top looks like a coffin though. Anyone else into eyeballing the future? Lay it down here for evaluation, love to hear your thoughts.