catbirdseat

Isn't a ticket $66? That's pretty harsh. I didn't have a sticker when I went so I parked up the road from the sign at the feathers.

Andy Rooney is baaack... France's Upaid Debt (to the US) Note the last two sentences: "The French have not earned their right to oppose President Bush's plans to attack Iraq. On the other hand, I have"

drugs: cynicism and misanthropy dosage: LD50 for each method: mainline LD 50? That's cutting it close, ain't it?

Rat, I'm just curious. What drug are you on right now?

Sparky was an engineer if I remember correctly. Smartest kid I've ever met and a talented sailor. I'd bet he would make a good climber too, if he tried it.

The San Juan 21 Sailing fleet had a big bonfire of driftwood at the Oak Harbor Yacht Club a few years ago during our Wester National Championship regatta. This one 17 year old kid kept piling it higher and higher. The flames sored 20 ft in the air. Finally the fire department came and put an end to our fun. The 17 year old fellow carried the nickname "Sparky" ever after.

What a bummer. We should ban the Luxembourgii, or is it Luxembourgians, Luxembourgans... whatever.

Trask- you wish I'd carry the torch for him. Everyone is pining for another Muir on Saturday. Not biting. If I'm ever there and find a boom box, I'll just go down by the river and look for Winter's 18 year old gals.

Kurt, that must have been SOME bonfire. That's all I got to say.

I think a lot of the negative comments about Vantage stem from an expectation of perfect safety in conflict with reality. There is definite rock fall hazard there, but there are ways to mitigate that hazard by wearing helmets, belaying away from the bottom of certain routes, etc. It is certainly a lot safer than in the alpine where rock fall can be much more unpredictable and more likely to occur on multipitch routes caused by other parties. I think that if one is aware of the issues, they can be dealt with or just accepted. My two friends did encounter a human made problem while camping- a bunch of inconsiderate punks blasting hip hop from a portable radio for a good part of the night. Regarding AlpineK's comment about burning signs- shame on him. I don't have any objections to campfires as long as they are in safe established places and people don't gather firewood locally. If people would all lug it from home that's fine, but too many people go out and grub up all the sage brush to burn and that sucks. I noticed some new signs encouraging climbers to stay on established trails. Everyone I saw was respecting this. I did see some discarded beer cans at the base of Zigzag Wall. These were left by climbers as this was not a place that visitors from the Gorge would frequent. I really find it hard to comprehend that climbers would do such a thing. I've never known any such people personally. My two partners were worn out somewhat from the previous day of climbing like fiends, which worked in my favor. They seemed to enjoy the longer breaks between climbs that results from climbing as a threesome. We warmed up on ZigZag Wall with Unfinished Business, sport 5.8 and then a very enjoyable 5.7 sport route called The Jagged Edge (two stars) which I led. Then led trad on Edge of Mistakes, 5.6, which seemed ridiculously easy, but fun nonetheless. The two bolts near the top are totally unnecessary and never should have been placed. The route protects fine all the way up (small to med nuts, a hex and 1-2" cams). I guess the bolts were put there because the crack gets a little chossy and they thought the face would be aesthetically more pleasing. The anchor is a pair of welded cold shuts on the face behind the grassy ledge. Moved on to Kotick Memorial where we did A Game of Inches (sport), 5.9 then Silouettes, 5.10a just to the left. Silouettes features an anchor of slings with rappel ring and galvanized eye and pin for top roping. The bolt on the right is a little manky and parts of the top of the column sound hollow, though not where the bolts are. From there we sidled on down to Sunshine King Pins to do Chossmaster, 5.7 which is aptly named, which I led. It seemed really familiar for some reason. Turned out I had led it before, but I had rememered the name incorrectly. Bring 14 draws (!) or 16 if you want to top rope it. A good beginner route. Finally we went to the Tilted Pillars where we did Preying Mantel, 5.10a which we did sport. Can be done trad also, but I think the crack on the left is harder than the arete to its right which most people use on sport. This was really fun. I want to come back sometime to do Chapstick, 5.6 trad. It's got two stars and some people we met said it was enjoyable. They said if you do it, climb past the anchors, which are unsound and just keep on going up 3rd and 4th class. Build your own anchor and hike down the gully to the left. I found and identified the trad route that spit me out last time. It was Barbed for Your Pleasure, 5.9. After mistaking it for some other route that I thought was 5.7 or 5.8, I got spanked and took a bad leader fall thrashing at a tough spot about 30 feet off the ground. If you are like me and are not good at jamming, it will seem harder than 5.9.

Excuse me while I go barf.

Like Father, Like Son...

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. I guess it is so popular that nobody goes there. Oops, listen to what Fleblebleb and the others say. Don't go there! It's chossy and you won't like it.

...because your left quad cramped up (while posting to cc.com) so badly that you thought you were going to die. Either that, or you drank too much coffee and too little water.

Uday: spychopath, murderer, serial rapist - May he roast in hell.

It was a troll. I don't think too many people have these cams. They are inexpensive and if anybody thinks they are substandard, I want to know about it. The only cam in my rack that I have actually fallen on is a 1" Empire Rock. I fell on it 3 times trying to get past a difficult move. When I went to lower, it popped. I don't blame the piece, though. I blame myself for not checking and repositioning the piece after falling on it the first three times. Doubtless it walked. Probably the cams became unequal.

Yohimbine is something I consider trying. Spanish Fly is something I'd never try. Risk of kidney failure is not very nice.

No, no, you've got it ass backwards. It keeps you awake for a long time and sometimes you get what is termed "priapism" where it doesn't go down and then it hurts. That's bad. There's a story about a garrison of French Foreign Legionaires in the desert of africa all coming down with priapism. Turns out that their grain had become infested with a beetle which is the source of Spanish Fly. The beetle has a compound (cantharidin) that acts as an irritant. They were a hurting bunch of soldiers for a couple days. Click here to read more on Spanish Fly.

As Tom Lykis says, "I'm a cunning linguist and a master debater. I'm also an amateur gynecologist".

You guys came really close to getting fried. Glad you made it back safely.

Yohimbine comes from the bark of an african tree. It affects the alpha adrenergic system. It was one of the early drugs used to treat erectile disfunction, and can be found in many herbal preparations that claim to increase penis size. Viagra is a much better drug because it has fewer side effects, for example Yohimbine affects sleep.

Yohimbine? Probably not. Heavy drinkers could OD.

They used to call it "Fragging".

Who's knocking tricams? I carry them on my rack. Sometimes they work where nothing else will. I like the smaller sizes. The weight of the larger ones approach that of the equivalent cams and take more time to place.

An old farmer had owned a large farm for several years. He had a large pond in the back, fixed up nice; picnic tables, horseshoe courts, basketball court, etc. The pond was properly shaped and fixed up for swimming when it was built. One evening the old farmer decided to go down to the pond, as he hadn't been there for a while, and look it over. As he neared the pond, he heard voices shouting and laughing with glee. As he came closer he saw it was a bunch of young women skinny dipping in his pond. He made the women aware of his presence and they all went to the deep end of the pond. One of the women shouted to him, "We're not coming out until you leave!" The old man replied, "I didn't come down here to watch you ladies swim or make you get out of the pond naked. "I only came to feed the alligator." Moral: Old age and cunning will triumph over youth and enthusiasm.