catbirdseat

The one in the middle appears to be bleeding from a leg wound. I'm sure he was feeling no pain.

We're set for climbers.

It's milepost 39. I did a couple of routes at Cobblestone wall. I never experienced anything quite like that before. All the holds are rounded stones. Lots of slopers.

Did you happen to see the interview of Sally Jewell, the CEO of REI? It was in the PI Business section this morning. An amusing snippet: Q: "What are you doing about the trend toward obesity?" A: "We're trying to get a lot better at fitting all shapes and sizes. It's a huge challenge..."

I had to do it once. I got to where I saw that I wouldn't reach the anchors because one of my two ropes was shorter than the other. There were no knots and I stopped about ten feet from the end. I found myself quite alarmed at the situation. First I put on some leg wraps. Then I pulled up the ends and tied knots. Now I felt a lot better. Then I put on an autoblock. Finally, I was able to let the longer rope out and thank God the knot was on the right side of rap ring to allow this, otherwise it would have been a long way to prussik back to the anchor.

Just a paranoid thought creeping in here, but perhaps they like the brush so they can discourage casual hikers from going into the basin and creating additional SAR work for the staff.

Dru, the self-appointed Tilt Police.

When I learned about the autoblock method of putting a friction knot below the device, I thought "this is great, much better than putting it above." Well, now I have changed my mind. Why? Only if the friction knot is above the belay device is there even a chance that it will save you if you rap off the ends of the rope. [i fear that in practice, you'll be holding the knot, and you'll still die.] Second, I have come to realize it is pretty darn easy to free up the friction knot if you you accidently let it grab, as mentioned above, by simply wrapping the rope around a foot and standing. I'd like to hear one example of a prussik saving someone from rapping off the end of the rope.

Sad. Mine shafts are extremely dangerous places. To enter one alone is not a good idea.

Don't know how we missed you, Off! We did meet a group of three coming in. One poor fellow was wearing plastic boots and wasn't looking too happy.

I know some of the people who were part of that group. There were three ropes of three. The first rope of three waited over two hours for the other two to top out. And this was after waiting for another party in front of them.

Looking for one or two partners to join myself and a group of three Canadians coming down from Canmore to do the Kautz, or possibly Fuhrer Thumb or Finger routes. The plan is to hike into the 9,200 ft high camp on the Wilson Glacier on Friday and summit on Saturday with Sunday as a backup day.

You can set your sights low and never fail or set them too high and fail all the time. Somewhere in between is the middle path you should take.

Oh, no we didn't do Forbidden- just Sharkfin and Sahale. It was my first time to Boston Basin. What a beautiful place it is. That trail needs some brushing out. Just a couple guys with some light tools could make a difference in a day's work. Probably would have to go through a beaurocratic nightmare to get permission to do the work, though.

Pleased to meet you Goatboy, Tamara. That was us camped right next to you. I saw you leave and greeted you when you returned. Our climb of Sahale on Sunday was great.

Try this: www.seattlemountainrescue.org Our own Gary Yngve and Dave Burdick were involved in a rescue that took place on the NE Buttress of Chair Peak. Nice work guys!

Try repairing it yourself. What have you got to lose? If you succeed you might just get another three years out of the lamp. Do you have a soldering iron?

Joke? True story. Happened to me the other day. ... water was really deep too. Watch out for snapping turtles. No joke, either!

Yeah, you sanitized it. I was an ethnic joke.

OMG, there are actually people who will pay for them!

Shoreline

That's a funny story. I'm glad you weren't arrested. If it had been Layton, there would have been some sarcastic comment and that would have been all the excuse they'd need to give him a ride downtown. By the way, what rope did you get?

Years ago I heard a version of Miles Davis classic Nardis with lyrics. I just tried googling it. The only line I can remember from this version, goes like this, "In time He became resigned To use his hands, But not his mind" I found a Dave Olsen Band version, but it had different lyrics from the one I was looking for. "The sound, like waves upon the sea Travels towards eternity The thought that travels with the sound Will make its way through time unbound Spirit merges with the music Forever intertwined" The truth is captured in the sound Moving through time and space unbound"

...and as long as there is a Republican majority, Congress will continue to move us closer to an Orwellian reality.