catbirdseat

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?

Try Fossil Rocks. Take I-5 to the Puyallup/ Mount Rainier exit, Hwy 512. Drive East for 2 mi., take the Parkland exit, Hwy 7. Drive S. for 5 miles to the Roy Y, go right onto Hwy 507. Drive south 12 miles to the town of McKenna. At the first intersection past Stewart's Meat Market, turn left onto Vail Road. at 0.9 mi turn left at a four way stop with a BP gas station on Bald Hill Rd. Follow this road stying left at Lawrence Lake Road Y . At this point there are two locations allowed for Parking...Logging Road 4000 off of Piesner Road or Logging Road 1000 off of Bald Hill Rd 3.3 mi. past Piessner. Approach hike time in both cases, 45 min. Better just buy Marlene Ford and Jim Yoder's Guide. I got my copy at Mountaineers Bookstore.

TV news is BUSINESS. They will report what the public is interested in. They are in business to make money and are in a better position to decide what is newsworthy than we biased climbers are.

No chest beating here. Saturday, I was content to drive out to the "sunny" eastside by Lake Cle Elum and hike up Hex Mountain. Indeed, I avoided most of the precip and stretched my legs too boot. Sunday, I helped teach a beginning navigation field trip on Heybrook Ridge, near Index. This time I did not avoid the rain. I poured all morning and let up a bit in the afternoon. It's a good thing I brought my "climbing" umbrella. I guess any time you come back out of the woods with all your students is a good day, wet or not.