catbirdseat

I built a shelf unit out of recycled 2x4s and particle board, painted white. It is 6 ft wide, 3 ft deep and 6 ft high, and has 3 shelves. It is on casters, so it can be moved for cleaning (like that ever happens). It and the gear it contains reside in a corner of the family room. My wife didn't like the way it looked, so I hung a long rod from the ceiling and I use one of her home made quilts to hide the unsightly (to her) gear.

Richard Fournier replied today. He says that he has summited a glaciated peak of 6310 m in Ecuador, even though he doesn't consider himself to be an experienced climber. He wishes to take one of the easier routes up Mt. Rainier. The high altitude he expects will be hard but he is in good physical condition. His schedule has not been established yet. He is still looking for a flight on Air France where he can use his frequent flyer miles. Next, he requires an inexpensive place to stay in the Seattle area. Does anyone have an extra room they would like to let cheap for a couple weeks?

The Seattlesucks website sucks. It's boring.

Your cartoon is getting really old, trask. It's too big to use as a signature. Time to find something else. BTW, I know someone who has a '57 Chevy. You can suck on the tailpipe.

I never said a bar has to be non-smoking. I can tolerate some smoke, but Alki happened to be over my limit. The only reason I go to Pub Club is to have fun and talk to people. I'm not a big drinker. I like to sit and listen to conversations, which sometimes might be at the other end of the table. It was hard to hear someone screaming in front of your face at Alki. If I can't have fun, why go? It is probably a good bar to go to and get plastered, if that's what you're after. Those days are well behind me.

Col._Von_Spanker and I may attempt Gib Ledges this weekend if we judge the weather to be sufficiently stable this weekend. We could use a third on our rope. Sun through Wed are forecast to be partly sunny. PM me if you are interested. Let me know if you can get two weekdays off. We might have to wait until Mon or Tues for the snow conditions to stablize.

UBB4-ML-141064-ML-

The French make such easy targets. They love the finer things in life. War doesn't rate very high on their scale of priorities.

So when did people start showing up at Alki anyway?

Indeed. Where is marek?

Very well said, AlpineK.

I didn't notice a blue tarp, but it was dark. It was really hot inside in addition to being smelly and loud. There was a huge Seattle PD van in the parking lot across the street. A paddy wagon? Since I didn't see any climbers, I figured they had all been arrested already.

Michael Jackson is one messed up guy. He must have poor self-esteem, because he keeps messing with his face, especially his nose. No matter how he many times he changes his appearance, he'll never be satisfied. He has almost no nose left, for crissake.

I walked into Alki Tavern at 7 pm and saw no one there that I knew. The place reeked like a cesspool and looked like one. Every patron was smoking. The music was so loud you'd have to shout to carry on a conversation. I spun on my heel and left without waiting for anyone to show up. I'll never go back to that dive. I don't care if they gave away free microbrew.

I would join you at Smith, if you didn't mind that I am a pathetically weak sport climber. I really want to improve, though.

If one is born with a good brain, one is compelled to put it to use. Apparently, their day jobs are not sufficiently challenging, thus they find one another on cc.com to bump heads.

All it takes is money.

They were "found" at 7,200 ft, below McClure Rock. Probably were just making their way down after crawling out of their bivy hole.

You've got that right! ughhh!

The fellow was asking for something close to Auburn. Index is not close to Auburn. Fossil Rocks is supposed to have walls that are dry even in a downpour. This being winter, it sounds like a good bet. I've never actually been there myself. I bought the guide with the intention of going, but never went. I'm out of work, so maybe now's the time.

Trask, chucK couldn't have said it better, you

The other climber's name is Quang Thau of Los Angeles, Calif.

I stand corrected. You said they are presenting an unbalanced and exaggerated a story. You implied they are not being factual. All I heard from King 5 was a quick report saying that two experienced climbers were reported overdue on Rainier and that no search will be initiated until Tuesday. I saw no exaggeration. How do you "balance" the story? By saying they are probably okay? They did say that. “We are really in a wait mode, we are hoping the climbing party of two will make it out today,” said Lee Taylor, Mount Rainier National Park. “They are experienced climbers who are probably waiting for things to break, until visibility improves and they can make it down the mountain.” Should they balance their report by saying that thousands of climbers go out every weekend without injury? That's like saying, "the victim was stabbed at Pioneer Square, but don't worry, thousands of people drink in Pioneer Square Taverns without getting stabbed." I think that part of what makes this a newsworthy story is it's proximity to another accident only a few days before on Eagle Peak. People's awareness level is raised. It's a classic missing persons report. They happen all the time. About all they could do differently is not report the story at all. Are you afraid that the media is giving climbing a bad name? I think the climbers themselves are doing a good job of that.

Cascadian orginally posted the following under Spray: I was there today for the first time since the fee went into effect and saw lots of cars and lots of people with dogs. I paid my $1 in quarters. The fee is collected on the honor system so, I suppose, you can just take the envelope, put it in your window and not pay the fee if you don't want to.

Okay, Pope. Tell me what factual errors have the King 5 people made on this latest story? They are just relaying what information they have. They aren't making anything up. You are so full of shit, buddy. Call the kettle black why don't you?