catbirdseat

Steely Dan was way ahead of you guys. Standing tough under stars and stripes We can tell This dream's in sight You've got to admit it At this point in time that it's clear The future looks bright On that train all graphite and glitter Undersea by rail Ninety minutes from New York to Paris Well by seventy-six we'll be A.O.K. What a beautiful world this will be What a glorious time to be free Get your ticket to that wheel in space While there's time The fix is in You'll be a witness to that game of chance in the sky You know we've got to win Here at home we'll play in the city Powered by the sun Perfect weather for a streamlined world There'll be spandex jackets one for everyone What a beautiful world this will be What a glorious time to be free On that train all graphite and glitter Undersea by rail Ninety minutes from New York to Paris (More leisure for artists everywhere) A just machine to make big decisions Programmed by fellows with compassion and vision We'll be clean when their work is done We'll be eternally free yes and eternally young What a beautiful world this will be What a glorious time to be free

I don't use the smallest size. I believe the size is about 3/16" - 2" or 1/4" - 2 5/16". Keystone I've bought them at various and sundry places such as Archie McPhee's in Ballard and the Marine Hardware store in Anacortes.

The doctor said it does not appear to be fluid-filled. It is light colored.

Just checking in to make sure this thread is still lame. Yep.

Have you read this book? On the Beach, by Neville Shute. It is probably the most powerful novel I have ever read. I read it five years ago, but I still think about it from time to time.

Psst, hey comrade, wanna buy a hot TV? For you, we make spashel deal! "When the town siren went off on Sunday morning, mass panic ensued. With the police evacuting along with everyone else, banks and even jewelry stores went relatively unnoticed, but looters emptied this shop out in minutes. The police began shooting looters in May, when radioactive TV sets began to appear in the pawn shops of Kiev. "

Chilling. And No Iain, she knows what she is doing. I was thinking about that old man she met who survived even as others succumbed to radiation sickness. It is known that some people have more of an enzyme called superoxide dismutase in their bodies. It destroys free radicals that are created by radiation and chemical processes. Perhaps this man is one of them.

Quick links at $0.85 are cheaper than biners and weigh less. I always carry a couple.

What this testing says to me is that 1) having a sufficient length of rope between partners is very important and 2) having a team of three on the rope provides additional redundancy to the system.

I still don't know why people leave biners on rappels. It's one more possible point of failure and it isn't necessary to make it easy to pull the rope. I'd rather not use anything or else a proper rappel ring or possibly a quick link.

It may actually come down to having to leave someone to watch the cars. It's pretty sad. The best thing you can do is to leave absolutely nothing of value in the car. Clean it out the car before you leave home and when you arrive take everything else to the crag in your pack. If you want to catch a crook in the act you are going to have to hide a video camera in a crevice somewhere on long play. Nobody's going to bother.

I've seen natural cracks in various places that flare. They appear to be the product of erosion rather than fracturing. Examples include one on the summit block of Concord Tower, various places on Mt. Erie, the eighth pitch of Dreamer in Darrington, and Windward Direct on the Sickle at Peshastin Pinnacles. Thus far, I have been using either nuts or tricams for such cracks.

Here's a noob question. Are offsets as useful for free climbing, as they are for aiding? It seems to me that in the flaring cracks for which they are designed, the successful placement depends on the piece staying at a certain angle. They would be less able to swivel around to different directions- less active. True? Not True?

I am always finding holes in my pockets.

If your heads weren't screwed on tight, you'd use them too.

Listen up, Toast.

I have a nice collection of unmarked gear. Eventually I forget who it belongs to and it ends up getting marked. Then it's mine.

Blue electrician's tape. On thick band, and one thin band. Most popular color schemes: purple and yellow, yellow and black.

Erden Eruc leading the fourth pitch, 5.7, of the West Buttress (5.9) of Blueberry Hill.

Climb: Opening Day at Blueberry Hill-The West Buttress Date of Climb: 4/4/2004 Trip Report: Erden, Jim, Carl and I left Seattle in two pickup trucks with four wheel drive at 6 am. We had a snafu when we got separated and lost about 45 minutes. Road 2060 has had a lot of water washing over it in places and it is very rough. Only high clearance vehicles can safely pass. Taking the left fork of the road, we encountered a patch of 8" deep snow in a shady spot but busted through in four wheel drive. Now that there are ruts, one could probably get past with two wheel drive. About a mile from the Blueberry Hill parking area we encountered a downed log, but it was rotten and we just rolled it off in sections. There was also a 25 yard section of sagging alder trees which we made quick work of using saws and loppers. The first wash is rough and narrow, but passable with four wheel drive. The second one just before the parking area is no worse than last year after we tossed aside few branches and other debris. The Granite Sidewalk has a lot of water coming down it, but it can be avoided. There are still a lot of loose rocks here and there and you have to pay attention to where you are stepping or you might find yourself on "ball bearings". The West Buttress is dry from top to bottom, however the upper pitches of Dark Rhythm is wet and you will get your rope wet rapping down that way. We chose this way, shown in the topo, because there was still snow on the sloping terrace below the Rap Route and we didn't want to deal with that. It took us as long to rap off as it does to climb the route. We thought that as a party of four it would be nice not to have to carry a rope, but the extra time for the rappels negates any advantage. On the fifth rap we decided to experiment with simulrappel and it worked well, but after that, the raps traverse quite a bit and we decided that it wouldn't be safe, because if one person slipped and pendulumed he could take out the other person. The simulrap might work well on the Rap Route because it goes straight down. Pay attention to rope drag on the third and fourth pitches. If can be avoided by thoughtful location of gear placements and use of shoulder length slings (or double ropes). Gear Notes: Standard Alpine Rack with a few tricams, twelve slings. It's nice to have a couple of larger cams in the 3"-4" range, but you can get by without them, if necessary. Approach Notes: See Mattp's website: www.seanet.com/~mattp/Darr

Jake, it sounds as though beer and basketball were calling to you anyway.

So what happened to Lemnitzer and the rest of the Joint Chiefs. I assume they are all dead now, which is why the story has come out. There was probably one who was so ashamed he told his family to release the papers after he died.

Which crags/routes did you all do?