catbirdseat

Metolius is not a good choice for beginners, in my opinion. They get stuck too easily. Friends are also a good choice.

Trip: Tumwater Canyon Cragging - Various Routes at Clem's Holler and Retardant Rock Date: 3/25/2007 Trip Report: MCash, Bruce and I went to do Midnight Rock, but at the lot found it had just rained. Since we didn't want to get all wet hiking to routes that might still be wet, so we went to Clem's Holler instead. Some routes on the right were still wet, so I "warmed up" on Gun Rack, blew it yet again trying to clip over the roof from a poor stance, pumped out and had to hang at the crux, then sent it. Great route. There's always next time. By now, Nettlesome had dried out. The third 5.10 pitch turned out to be wet in a few crucial spots which we couldn't see until we got there. I cheated around one spot to get to the chains. A pretty good route. Definitely bring enough draws to combine pitches 1 and 2 because, pitch 2 is short and not that memorable. We moved on to Retardant Rock. There were a few small trees down on the trail. If you go, be a trooper and bring a small hand saw to remove them. Martin led Seven Seas, 5.7, a very fun route, somewhat stiff for the grade. The rock is amazingly grippy and coarse. Bruce led Agent Orange, 5.8, and okay route. Highlight of the afternoon for me was leading Red Tide, 5.10a. I'd top roped this about two years ago and thought it was very hard for the rating. I still do. First clip is way off the ground with a poor clipping stance. I fell before making the clip and careened down the dirt slope, stopping just short of a sharp boulder. I got back on, made the clip, and continued on up. This route has some amazing climbing on it, but it is way harder than any 5.10a I've ever done. Gear Notes: Small rack of cams 1/2" to 2" and a bunch of draws. 50 m rope okay for Clem's. A 60 m is needed for Retardant Rock. Approach Notes: Trail could use some maintenance. Bring a small hand saw. Only a few patches of snow in shady spots. Routes dry out quickly after rain.

Blue Autumn, 5.10b, Vantage.

My eye! That's the Band of the Grenadier Guards.

Rust resistance would be my last consideration. If rust bothers you, put a coat of varnish on your crampons. If you don't have that try Seam Grip. Toast claims that after he put Seam Grip on his pons they balled up less.

She can afford to support his gear habit.

I hear from dryad every now and then by email. She doesn't climb any more. She does ski occasionally.

One of our former moderators

I think the nest is near Skinnyman Wall, actually. There were a great deal of these insects buzzing around. You can't miss them. Judging from the old nests they have lived there for a long time. By the way, I looked at the Kiosk for any posting about raptor closures for Middle East and there was nothing so far. Better go climb there while you can. Skisports and I tried a route at the far west end of Middle East called Sleeping with the Fishes, 5.7, one star (FA Bill Robins/ Paul Certa, 1997). The book says Standard Rack, but you had better bring one 4" piece for a section of slightly overhanging offwidth crack with not much for feet. This route struck us both as pretty damn stiff for 5.7. Anyone done this route?

You are very funny!

I think there are some images of dryad and snowbyrd in the gallery. Some of them are really large and I don't know how to resize them.

Oh, that's Toys in the Attic! Unfinished business for me.

There was a bad guy in the movie Falcon Down (Shatner, 2000) who looked exactly like Ken4ord. Dude was a crack shot. He could fire two guns at the same time, one in each hand.

Dude, you're already too old for the draft, aren't you?

McGillvray-Freeman films are first rate.

It's called "shoot the messenger". Fuckers. Our GI's are doing their job like they are supposed to. If they don't like it, they should attack the government, not the guys who are legally bound to serve.

As far as I know, the Feathers parking area is off limits to camping. People camp there anyway, but it doesn't make it right. I don't know waout the area on the right before the feathers. I've seen it used by concert goers. You could also park in the gravel lot by the porta potties and walk into the Zig Zag Wall area to camp. You'll have to carry as it is not legal to drive in there. It would be quiet. Be sure to carry out all your trash and leave your site better than you found it.

It's important to have a loving owner, that's for sure. That man is most likely kissing that bird because it just won him a pile of dough in a cock fight.

That and the fact that twins are each clipped together to each piece means that the amount of rope out is identical, so that they stretch and move identically with no friction between strands. Contrast this with halfs (halves?) where one strand might go over a rock and the other not, or one that may take a longer path.

You have no doubt heard about the cat food recall. I can't help but wonder if carolyn's cat may have sufferred kidney failure as a result of the contaminated food from Iam's and others.

It's raining outside, otherwise I'd be out climbing. Now get back to work.

What do you mean? On straight-up pitchs with no traversing, I often see people clip both doubles into one piece, just like twins. Is this wrong? Should each strand of the double be in its own biner? If you clip both strands, you double the impact force on the piece. Most of the time, this will not matter, as most placements are plenty strong- bolts for instance. It will decrease the distance you fall.

Let the F'ing jury decide what is relevant and what is not. It's why we have juries.

Hopefully they've given him a suitable "anodyne".

It was irrelevant in the decision making of the shooter, but it is not irrelevant in deciding what the victim's actions were or what his motives were. There was only the shooter's account of what happened. As a juror, I would want to know what the person was like. If you could not find a single person who had ever seen him lose his temper explosively as he was said to do, then I'd be more inclined to believe he did not provoke the shooting.