catbirdseat

Is there not a Beckey Chimney on SEWS? How about Stoner Ledge? Jello Tower Damnation Crack (both a route and a feature) ... and stop mentioning peaks. He asked for Feature Names. A peak is not a feature.

Like I said, justification based on speculation. Nothing to do with reality or statistics or fact. Just opinions. "Let's put a bolt here! What if...!" Entirely based on fantasy. I'll chime in here to agree with EricB that you are a bona fide tool, lizard_brain. You have no ability to view situations from the perspective of others. You only think of yourself. I'll add that when guiding, if the pitch is vertical, the guide can adequately protect the client whether or not he has placed any protection or not. If the client falls, the rope is above. On a traverse the situation is quite different. If there is natural protection, he can place enough gear to keep the client safe from pendulum fall. Here is a situation where there is a traverse with no natural protection at all. The guide can't protect his clients without that bolt. I was interested to hear Scott's method of belaying, which is different from mine. Typically, there is only one person that wants protection on that section, an assuming a party of three or more, what I'll do is lead across, clipping the bolt and then have the less experienced person tie into the middle of the rope and clip through. After that he/she is belayed from the other end. I like your way better, because it works even if you have a party of two.

I haven't noticed any shooting at Exit 38 in several years. I do remember it. That's where Freeway Gun Show got its name.

What rock have you been hiding under? It's standard practice up there.

The well-respected climber obviously didn't think it was a silly place, now, did he? I don't either. The idea that one could put a fixed line there to protect that traverse is pretty silly if you ask me. All fixed lines need appropriate anchors. If you fixed a line, the ends would be anchored lower than the middle.

. I think you're sugar coating that pill! . What would RumR say?!? RuMR would want to know what knot to tie. I showed him how to tie his shoe laces several times already. I keep reminding him to tie together the two laces on the SAME shoe.

That would solve all my problems. At least once a month, I've been getting stuck in ten foot deep holes. It costs like crazy to have a crane haul my Acura out of the hole.

Hey we talked about bailing to Index, but that "Static Stoke was on". Gotta scratch that itch, baby.

Stupidest route? That's got to be the traverse route in the Cave at Interstate Park at Exit 38.

That is sound advice.

Infinite Bliss is a route, not a climbing area, like all the others. I can think of good routes at all the areas listed as well as bad ones. As you mentioned, there are only stupid TIMES to climb, like Exit 38 when it's raining in Seattle and Vantage or Static Point on a hot day in August. But you know what? We all have to have some stupid in us to even want to be climbers.

You calling us stupid! When we scheduled our climb on Monday the weather forecast had a high of 73 degrees and mostly cloudy. What can you do?

Chuck, if you read carefully, there is no place where I stated that I thought Online was the "best". I said we had a good time, and I was speculating about reasons why it is a popular route. I don't need to be a local expert to recognize shoddy hardware when I see it. Old, obsolete hardware is, old obsolete hardware, whereever it is found.

You can climb in the shade there if you like.

Chuck I found gear early on in Pitch 1, but didn't notice much on the second half of the pitch. Perhaps I wasn't looking very hard, as it is pretty easy, moving from one feature to another.

Poor planning is the cause of many a failure. I have only bailed on a handful of climbs, but then perhaps my reach is not as great as yours. The greater the ambition, the greater one can expect to fail.

Dude, that's awesome!

When one stops to consider that more people die from slamming into stationary objects than from falling objects, perhaps most helmets are not properly designed. We wear helmets to protect ourselves. We don't care what the source of trauma is. We want to protect our noggins. In my opinion, climbing helmets are the single most poorly designed piece of equipment we use today.

While I don't think those anchors are quite the death anchors, Mark would suggest, they really don't inspire a lot of confidence with the rusty appearance of the bolts. I'd like to see them replaced. I think beyond convenience there is a further reason for the popularity of Online. That section of rock is the cleanest and longest continuous section of rock on the formation. It follows a crest of sorts starting about half way up which gives it a commanding vantage point. It deserves to be upgraded with modern hardware. I also think the first pitch should have a second bolt added, but I'm sure everyone would make a stink if one were added. A little bird just told me that we were on Granite Jihad 5.10a/b PG.

No, Vantage, as in Frenchman's Coulee. I could go Sunday-Monday.

So, naturalists observe, a flea Hath smaller fleas that on him prey; And these have smaller still to bit 'em; And so proceed ad infinitum. Thus every poet, in his kind, Is bit by him that comes behind.

The red ones just aren't the same. An ok substitute but it's all about the purple ones! The darker the color the better The purple ones are harder to find. They are closely related to blueberries. I know where there are lots of them but I'm not saying where. It's not easy to get to anyway.

The red huckleberries on the trail to Static Point are just awesome. They are more numerous, larger and sweeter than I have ever seen them. They are gorgeous.

Perhaps more than just "psychopro", but real climbers just run it out. Cool it wasn't. It was pretty dang hot. But it was fun.

Did he just devour one of those rawhide bones? Those give my dog the stinkiest toots ever.