catbirdseat

Right now we're leaning towards Amazonia or Substation and climbs from 5.10a to 5.10c.

Gary, if you want to be helpful without embarrassing people when they post trip reports,send them a PM and offer to help. They can then either accept or reject your offer. If you want to educate the masses, start your own thread on Photoshop.

Ken, what are you taking? Artemisin or one of the Chloroquine type drugs?

Did they do the one where a plate of skull is temporarily removed? They freeze it and put it back in after the swelling has subsided. They didn't have to do that with my son, but it was very close. The pressure was high for 8 days before it finally went down.

That car was under several feet of snow all winter, that's how.

It's a good thing he is at Harborview. They are among the best in the country for treatment of head injury. My son was treated there. Best wishes, Kurt, for a full recovery.

Michael, you might be disturbed to know that billions of extraterrestrial carabiners are streaming through your body every minute.

Climb on Thursday then!

A sheet bend is not what is used to tie the sheets to the clew of the sail. The bowline is used for that. The sheet bend is used to join two sheets together. Anyone who says differently is three sheets to the wind.

You should have made the illegal left turn.

Through my work as a chemist, I have learned about a drug, approved in Japan, but not in the US, called Tranilast (rizaben), which is used to treat allergic diseases. It is an inhibitor of mast cell degranulation and it also inhibits Basic Fibroblast Growth Factor bFGF, which is involved in collagen synthesis. The drug has been used experimentally in preventing keloid scarring and in restenosis, which is the reclosing of arteries following angioplasty. There are reports of the drug being effective in scleroderma, a skin disorder involving scar-like contractures. The drug has orphan drug status in the US for malignant glioma, a brain tumor. It has occurred to me that this drug might, in fact, be useful in the treatment of Dupuytren's Contracture. I've heard from fellow scientists that the safety profile of this drug is quite good. That is in keeping with what I know about the Japanese drug regulators. There, safety is first, and efficacy is secondary. Of course, Japan has lots of approved drugs that don't work. Does anyone know if it is possible to get drugs like this in the US?

Dude, if you were hanging a hundred feet off the ground by one arm, naked, without a rope, you'd suffer from shrinkage too!

I'm going on Thursday. Carpool at 4:30 pm from Preston Park and Ride.

I gotta get me some of that! Those are quality recordings!

You finally nailed it.

Hey folks, I climbed with Kevin on Sunday and Vantage. He's a really good guy. He climbs as hard as he says, and he is very safe, careful and conscientious. I enjoyed climbing with him.

Nice job. You were right to rush. The faster you get that oil off you the better.

I've walked by this lichen-covered, north-facing wall many times on my way to Sunshine Wall. On this trip to Vantage to get some sun, it was a bit warmer than we bargained for, so we were looking to climb in the shade. My understanding was that Middle East Wall was closed due to raptor nesting, so that cool spot was out. I'd already climb a lot at Zig Zag wall. How about Green Wall? This wall has about 20 climbs in the guide book, the vast majority of which had probably seen only one ascent, mostly by Bill Robins and friends in 1998. His bottom up style didn't involve much, if any, cleaning, so we knew it was going to be messy. We started with Hand Jive, 5.8, the only route that has a star in the guide book. It was the first route climbed at Green Wall in 1987 by Russ Johnson and to appearances one can see why he picked it. It's a nice hand crack set in a dihedral. Kevin led the route nicely and I followed. There was some loose rock and a lot of lichen but it wasn't too bad. The column top was of course littered with loose plates, but Kevin found a place to anchor. No bolts up there that we could see. Next it was my turn to lead something. I picked a double crack a few routes to the left of Hand Jive. We believe it is the route No Buckets, 5.7. It looked pretty good from the ground, but looks are deceiving. The bottom ten feet was too chossy to take pro so when I did get to a place that would take gear, I put in three pieces! The cracks were chossier inside than I had believed and wider, but I had enough gear. The top part was so loose it was like climbing over a stack of dinner plates. Fortunately, I didn't break any holds or make any slips. It seems to me that perhaps at least a handful of those routes might clean up to be okay. It's nice to have cool places to do easy trad leads on hot days.

You guys are so jaded. Maybe it really is Richard. He wants you to feel the love. This is in keeping with Club Sensitivioso.

Does this mean the end of a beautiful friendship?

I could have told you you would get stuck there. It's easier to get the shovel out BEFORE you try to cross.

Aluminum weakens markedly when it is bent and straightened. You'd want to anneal them so they will regain their strength. Annealing involves heating the entire article to a specified temperature and cooling at a proscribed rate. Not sure where you could have that done.

In my defense, I did do a search but I used the terms liver and caffeine and I should have used cirrhosis and coffee.

Stupid in retrospect because of the facts discovered by the mission didn't support the administration's desire to invade Iraq?

Science proves that what you already knew. Caffeine is good for your liver.