catbirdseat

Post like this can make up for a 100 bullshit posts.

Big chief Ascensionist actually reserved "trask" and asked for ID before issuing it.

It is like that Star Trek episode where they end up in a parallel universe where all the same crew members are there, but they are evil. Spock: "Mr. Checkov, give me your agonizer". Checkov: "Mr. Spock, please, no". (Hands him the device) Aaaaaaggggghhhhhh!!!!

trask lives!

There was a sport route someone told me about where there was easy access to the anchors from the trail and some bastard stole the chains and hangars. Few of the trad routes have anchors, you have to build your own. But sport climbers obviously aren't prepared to do that.

Small world.

So a dog with no anus? He'd get full of shit after a while and explode.

If you could make a knockout dog, what would you knock out?

Thread killer!

It's a slippery slope. Let's not go the Dishman route.

A British company has used biotechnology to knock out the gene from British Shorthair cats that codes for a protein in saliva responsible for cat allergies in humans. Scientist have been using "knock outs" to model human diseases for many years (usually in rats and mice). This is one of the first to result in a "consumer product", a cat you can buy for $3,500 beginning in about 2007. Get your order in today. Article

Now let's hear from the baryons.

Micro Camalot 0.2. I'm not saying it is a terrible piece of equipment, just that it was a poor purchase decision. This is the same size as my black Alien 3/8, which is stronger, places more easily, and is more versatile because it is more flexible. I've placed the Micro Camalot 0.2 only once in the two years I've owned it.

We you the fellow who's toprope we pulled from Peaceful Warrior? If so I was the guy leading next who brought you back your anchor gear. And you are the guy who got his rope stuck on SVAAM, right? You got it back, right?

You can say that again.

Must be I have either short fingers or the distance between the end of the stem and the trigger is large on Clog cams, but I could not do it the way you describe. I plan to gradually migrate to the new Costalots anyway.

That works...if you have simian hands- I don't.

Clint Eastwood in Pale Rider, "Nothin' like a nice piece of hickory".

Presumably from climbing too long with cold hands and/or belaying with cold hands, my thumbs stopped working as I was leading a wide 5.10a crack climb at Vantage. They were cramped in such a way that I couldn't open them. The good news was that I could still make a fist jam. The bad news was that I couldn't extend the thumbs enough to retract the lobes on my single stem cams to make a placement. I found myself wishing I had U-shaped cams because you don't need thumbs to place them. I was finally able to shake out a hand enough to place a cam and finish the exit moves. Anyway, I remember thinking, "Gee this would be really pretty comical if it weren't so damn serious".

TG, that's a great story.

A friend of mine decked on Neat and Cool after a cam pulled. He broke both wrists. So many people get hurn on this one climb that the nurses at the local hospital know it by name.

Can anyone comment on recent snowfall up on Rainier?

Climb: Vantage-Chips and Dips, Oral Office, and others Date of Climb: 10/25/2004 Trip Report: We traveled to Frenchman's Coulee on Friday night and found the camping area remarkably clean thanks to the recent efforts of the volunteers. We heard a lot of giggling coming from two large tents nearby, which turned out to be ten high school age girls from Forest Ridge School in Seattle, there to climb at the Feathers. Their instructor was a young fellow from the school who was a member of Seattle Mountain Rescue. He'd taken several of the girls to Joshua Tree in April for ten days. The wind was blowing, as it usually does, from the west as we set up the tent. Just as we were falling asleep, an almighty gust came out of nowhere and blew a cloud of dust into the tent through a slightly open window. We battened down the hatches and tried to sleep through the noise. We awoke to quiet and discovered that both of the porta potties had both blown over. Fortunately, there was no mess, as they had recently been serviced. Tipped back up, they were good as new. We met two friends who had never been to Vantage before and we warmed up on Chossmaster and Peaceful Warrior. I led Chips and Dips, 5.8, which was better than I predicted. It would probably see a lot more ascents if it had a chain anchor at the top of the crack and before the dirty alcove you have to tiptoe through to get to the mesa top. I think this route deserves a star in the guidebook, if someone would remove the dead bird carcass from the crack and scrub some of the excess quano. On the other hand, Oral Office, 5.8, at Kotick Memorial, doesn't deserve a star. The only good thing about it is there is a convenient chain anchor from an adjacent sport route. The crack is so rotten you can't get many decent jams in it and it is tricky to protect because I didn't want to trust the soundness of the rock. I ended up using almost all face holds. If you are careful to pod your cams, it is safe enough, but if I want to do face climbing there are plenty of bolted routes. There was rockfall sound going on the whole time, which it turns out was caused by some fellow cleaning a route on a heretofore undeveloped far right area of Kotick. Saturday evening was cool but almost windless and pleasant with a full moon. We enjoyed a delicious meal prepared by dryad, which she calls a "cassoulet", which features this really good chicken-turkey pesto sausage from Trader Joe's. It wasn't really a true cassoulet, but needed a name. The morning brought more high clouds but a bit more sun, but still pretty cold for climbing. The pancakes were tasty. We ran into Leland Windham at the parking lot. It turns out he was the one doing the cleaning the previous day. We asked him for advice on sunny climbs of moderate difficulty and he suggested Riverview Columns, which I had being eying in the guidebook anyway, so off we went. Turns out he was the one who put up all those routes back in 1997. They were fun as it turned out. We warmed up on Red Hot Chili Peppers (Tomato Wall), which was cool, then did #s 1, 2, and 3 all with Windham-esque names, of course- high falutin' words like "crepuscular" and "aeolacrymation". Route #3 had this thin crack as the only useable hold, just above the second bolt. I just couldn't get enough of my fat fingers into it to make it work and had to cheat my way around the move. Dryad, on the other hand, found the thin crack to her liking and pulled the move. For her this was a huge coup as it was the first time she'd pulled a move I couldn't do. We moved back towards Tomato Wall to say hello to some people we knew there and I led the 5.10a fist crack to the left of Ten Bucks and a Sandwich, 5.9. The guidebook says "standard rack" WTF is that supposed to mean? I was a little short on big cams as it turned out, but I got by. The book should read "Friends to #4" or "Gear to 3-1/2 inches". Anyway the route is very soft at 5.10a because of abundant face holds and the adjacent arete. I'd give it a 5.9-. We finished up a fun weekend by top roping Ten Bucks and a Sandwich, PG-Rated (bolts plus gear) and decided I was glad I hadn't led it. Whoever put it up put the bolts in the middle of the face so you could go up either arete, but it just makes for difficult clips. They should have bolted for the right side which is much better. Gear Notes: 1-3.5 inch cams Approach Notes: Gully #3 is the best approach for Riverview Columns

Oh Canada, to the rescue. What what we do without her?