catbirdseat

Swimming in the Hudson River. Stealing a loaf of bread from an old woman. Peeing in the parking garage and getting arrested. The Bubble Boy. The date who is sometimes pretty and sometimes ugly.

Tomcat

1. You have to believe the AIDS virus is divine retribution. 2. You have to believe that the same teacher who teaches bible school on Sunday is most qualified to teach 4th graders about sex. 3. You have to believe that if we only had enough guns everyone would be safe. 4. You have to believe that art should be only for the rich. 5. You have to believe that if we come up with enough excuses to do nothing we can ignore global warming and sell more SUVs to get rich while millions go under the waves in Bangladesh. 6. You have to believe that women should be kept barefoot and pregnant and that homosexuals should get electroshock treatment. 7. You rather kill people after they have become criminals instead of prevent them from being born as unwanted children in the first place. 8. You have to believe that business will take care of you even as they export your job overseases. 9. You have to believe that if you can't shoot it, log it, or dam it ain't worth shit. 10. You have to believe that money will make you happy. 11. You have to believe that with a big enough military, you don't need diplomacy. 12. You have to believe the NRA is good because it supports certain parts of the Constitution, while the ACLU is bad, because it supports certain parts of the Constitution. 13. You have to believe that if you cut taxes for the wealthy enough the deficit will go away. 14. You have to believe that Milton J. Freedman, Henry Ford and John D. Rockafeller are more important to American history than Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, or Albert Einstein. 15. You have to believe that "colored" races are poor because they are inferior and test scores prove it. 16. You have to believe the best way to keep the health insurance industry rich is to attack Hillary Clinton. 17. You have to believe that socialism hasn't worked anywhere it's been tried. 18. You have to believe liberals telling the truth belong in jail, but a liar and a coke head belongs in the White House. 19. You have to believe Christianity should be promoted by the government because "we were first", despite the fact that the Constitution forbids the favoring of one religion over another. 20. You have to believe that illegal Republican party funding by large corporations disguised as individual contributions is somehow in the best interest of the United States. 21. You have to believe that anyone who beats you in an intellectual arguments is a bigot. And finally... 22. You have to believe Richard Nixon covering up a burglary was just a faux pas. Bonus belief of a conservative: 23. If a woman is raped put the black man in jail for life. It doesn't matter what the DNA test says 15 years later. Believe all of the above, and THEN you will be a really good conservative

Sphinx, Destiny remains a clueless dumbfuck. If he believes that tripe, then he really is.

Quality Spray is an oxymoron.

Manboobs?

That's got to be cool to go climbing with your pop. You are a lucky man.

The way I went was I-5, I-205, SR-84/30, SR-26, SR-35. Don't know if it is faster or slower than erik's way.

I've heard several people say they "save time" in gear exchanges by organizing gear as they clean it. Does it really save time versus doing it at the belay? I like to follow just as fast as I possibly can so my leader doesn't have to belay me all day. I throw it over my shoulder and scamper up quick. When I'm clipped in at the belay, I've got two free hands and my partner has two free hands, so in my opinion that is the best place to futz with gear. Agree? Disagree?

I have been using a now dated version of Popup Killer and it kills MOST of the popups, but sometimes it kills cc.com. I'm not sure why.

What happened? Did Necro get the buxom blonde and leave you without a date?

I think it is too late to climb Cooper Spur. Ask JHamaker what it is like at this time of year.

In this unsuccessful attempt, our party of four approached via Gunsight Notch and camped below CJ Col where water is available by melting snow. Approach took 8 hours. Belayed a 3 foot step across at GS Notch (Right side). You can also go the left side over some snow bridges, but it is steep with crevasses waiting if you should slip. Don't take the gully below GS Notch, but rather the heather slopes to the left, then cut right to the goat path. After 6 hours running belays we reached the East Summit and realized we were going way to slow to go for the true summit and still get off early enough to get back to GS Notch before dark, so turned around there at noon. Might have gone for it if we had budgeted a third day. Made it back to the cars by 11 pm. Still it was a valuable learning experience. I learned the following: There is too much rock fall potential for parties of more than two. The route is so long that even running belays are too slow. You have to be willing to simulsolo fourth class rock if you are going to climb J'Berg. Only a few short sections needed protection [but one of our climbers wasn't comfortable with it so we were roped the whole way]. One should allow three days if going by GS Notch. The rock protects better than I thought it would. Bring a small rack of medium to large nuts and small to medium cams. The yellow and red Aliens got a lot of use. Bring two 37 m x 8 or 9 mm ropes for rappelling.

Just got back from an attempt on Johannesburg. The smoke from the fire to the west of Jberg was obscuring the valley about half of the time. All of my gear and clothes including my body came home reeking of smoke. I had to wash every thing, including my harness, pack, sleeping bag and slings. Met one party turning back from the Ptarmigan Traverse because of the smoke.

Just called Marblemount Ranger Station. Even though there are several fires in the area there are no road closures at present or expected for the next few days.

or just replace the fucking links you fucking dink. it aint like its brain surgery. Why don't you go do it yourself, asshole. There are only several hundred routes there. If you start now you'll have them all done by the time you die of old age.

nice ole boy! what route you gonna do? Ah, we're just going up by the easiest and least dangerous route, Gunsight notch traverse to CJ Col and the East Ridge. A gaper route to be sure, but then I'm just a gaper.

There was an off route crack that I did see and that must be the one you were referring to. I was afraid that if I used it the rope drag would get out of hand. With a double length sling, it might not have been all that bad.

Somehow I never saw the crack and neither did Ade. Since we thought it was all bolts, I didn't have the rack with me. It might have made a big difference. The moves weren't that hard, but by then I was getting tired. Chalk one up for experience.

You have to consider where I'm coming from as one who is just getting to the 5.9 lead level. The 5.10+ climbers probably don't sweat it at all. The only bolt I have a real complaint about is that first one on the alternate bolted 5.8 route to the left on pitch 8. It is 25-30 feet from the belay. A 60 ft leader fall onto the belay would be very bad. I didn't have the cahones, so I backed off and went the "dirty" 5.7 trad way straight up. It wasn't so dirty after all and protected adequately (tricams, nuts, aliens). The way I figured it, a leader fall 8 pitches up Dreamer could have ruined our whole day.

Pencil Pusher and I were out climbing the Beckey Route at the Feathers and noticed that the bottom links of the chains are worn at least half way though from people top roping and lowering off of them. Use quick draws to top rope and then rap. It's safer and puts less wear on the chains.

Johannesburg Mountain

The entire island is owned by the Lummi nation. I believe you would need special permission from the tribe just to set foot on the island.

Ade and I went up to Darrington today to climb Dreamer. As we were setting out from the car a second car pulled up- on a Thursday! We hastened up the trail to get on the route. Oops, there was a red Jeep that had forged a little further up the road than most folks. That's three parties now! Got on the route behind the owners of the Jeep, a French couple. I've never heard so much shouting in my life. I couldn't tell what she was saying because I don't speak French, but I am sure it was very important. As we started the third pitch, the third pair arrived. They went up one pitch and then retreated. We couldn't figure it out. We watched them arrive back at the base of the route. Hey, there's four there now! So now a fourth party shows up. The third party goes home. After killing what must have been an hour the fourth party heads up the route. It's now 11 am. Not exactly an alpine start. We're on the 5th pitch. We top out at 4 pm with the fourth party 4 pitches below. As we rappel past them, they decide to bail ("this is great", says Ade, "we'll have some to free our ropes if they get stuck"). At the packs we meet up with them and it turns out that one is none other than Ken Ford of cc.com. I thought I recognized him from Pub Club! Ken said the party that left after one pitch did so because we (Ade and I) were on the route. It was their second failed attempt on Dreamer. I couldn't figure out how we would affect them five pitches up the route, but go figure (I didn't see so much as a pebble fall all day). To summarize my thoughts about Dreamer. 1) It oftentimes seems like a long way to the first bolt 2) The bolts seem to always be after a hard move rather than before. 3) I need to get a little better before I dare lead the crux pitches (#s 5-7). 4) If so many people show up on a Thursday, how many are going to show up on a Saturday? Gonna need more parking.