catbirdseat

Dude, you are one tough muthaf*****. Congratulations on beating the odds!

You were right, Matt. We should have just taken a nap for a couple hours, what with the failing headlamps and all. My wife was sound asleep when I got home and wouldn't have even noticed I was missing for another couple hours. I slept a couple hours until hunger motivated me to get up. With the act of doing that I got one of the worst hamstring cramps I have ever suffered. It was like being stabbed.

The burning question is why have you returned to using the old avatar? Wasn't Jerseyscum working out for you?

Summit Lake on Pilchuck is isolated but I don't know how to get there.

Now it looks like Mars. I still think its a gold mining operation and it's probably cyanide heap leaching.

Looks like a tailings pond or heap leach operation to me.

NE Buttress of Chair is another one you could do after work.

Gary's right. Mods please delete the offending post.

The ramp you refer to must be the "catwalk" with the famous step across. It's awfully hard to miss.

It's not surprising you know all about date rape drugs. Dru, drugs are my life and my living.

I've got to personally thank all you Eastern Washington posters for enlivening this site. You are collectively quite entertaining. Carry on.

Nylon is fine and it dries quickly but it is clammy and clingy. I prefer polyester. Oops! Not THAT polyester. This:

Slade! Welcome to cc.com! In answer to your question, I don't think it matters. Both are very popular routes. The sun might be a little less intense on the way down with the Coleman-Deming in the afternoon since it faces a little more north.

Speaking of which, John Long's new book should be out any time now. I believe this is the one.

Good advice from Monsieur Fox. It's easy to poo poo the importance of dressing a knot properly. What you are doing really is inspecting the knot to make sure it was done right. For example in the double fisherman, looking to see that the "two Xes" nest one one side and the two pairs of strands stack on the other. You get used to how a knot looks and insist that it looks right before you trust it.

This knot is safe, but has no advantages over the double fisherman other than being a little easier to untie. This knot is not safe and should never be used.

I use a double fisherman if I'm on ice or snow or a really clean rock face where I am quite sure the knot is unlikely to hang up on something, otherwise, I'll use an overhand knot (EDK).

Zig Zag wall faces east. You can climb there on a hot day. One side of the Feathers is always in the shade also.

May I suggest that you put links to those pictures in your report and provide some captions?

It's going to be hot this weekend. I'd normally say Leavenworth and Playground Point, but it's going to be so hot there. It won't be fun.

Your two rope idea is best if you can afford it.

I'll give you an example. I'm on lead on Princely Ambitions, a 5.9 at Index. I am 10 feet above my last piece and I slot a nut. Now I traverse up and to the left. I didn't set the nut hard enough and the rope drag pulls the nut out. Now I'm 15 feet above my last piece, a yellow TCU behind a flake that might hold or might not hold if I fall. What to do? Sack up and pull the next move? I ended up reversing a couple moves and putting in another nut, setting it tightly this time. All these machinations use up physical strength and mental energy. Anyway, I pulled the mantle without falling and the nut stayed in place. If this climb were bolted, it would be trivial.

You might want to bring a few wands. I am sure that there will be wands at certain places, but you can mark certain points like turns, crevasses etc. on the way up if you like.

Yeah, tell me about it. Everyone and his brother wants to build on a vernal pool. It's nice and flat, once you've drained the damn thing and gotten rid of those pesky endangered species, it makes for cheap construction.

The plants grow well if they are in the right environment. It turns out that the seeds were sown in a vernal pool environment favored by the plant. So are they really going to rip out an endangered plant that is growing happily?