catbirdseat

Thanks for pointing out the dinnerplated screw. That's a beginner's mistake, to be sure. As a rock climber, I had my sights on a nut placement in that nice crack a little higher up, so I decided to just put a screamer on it and move up, rather than to mess around trying a new placement.

Trip: Icicle Canyon, Leavenworth - Goat Dome Date: 2/3/2007 Trip Report: Roboboy received an email from Freeman with photos of an ice route he had done the previous week. Freeman said that he had never seen this route come in before. It was six pitches and WI3, on the left side of Goat Dome. When Rob forwarded the pictures I had to give it a go, as it seemed within my modest abilities. The route is accessed by parking at the Snow Lake Parking Lot and hiking the trail a very short distance to the aquaduct and following that to the east, maybe a quarter of a mile until you can look up and see the route. MCash led the odd pitches, I led the even ones, and Roboboy followed, as it was his first ever experience with water ice. The crux comes on the fourth pitch with a short but narrow WI3+ section. The sixth pitch is probably the most fun with a series of WI2+ bulges. The ice was quite good for the most part and takes full length screws in most places. First Pitch, Martin's Lead Second Pitch Fourth Pitch Martin at top of Fifth Pitch Sixth Pitch Our descent was by walking up and to the west, and making one double rope rappel and two single rope rappels down to snow slopes and a direct line back to the starting point. We are pretty sure we could have walked off, had we just gone a bit further west and up. I felt this is a fun route and a good choice for those who are beginning to lead on ice, as I am. Gear Notes: 16 mm ice screws (10), 60 m twin ropes, a set of nuts, should have had a picket for the belay on the 2nd pitch. Approach Notes: Dead easy approach from Snow Creek TH. At present, snowshoes are not necessary.

Sabotage?

Oly, I bet you can't come up with one more butthole image.

Yeah Dems always get a free pass. That hullabaloo about Bush leaving out the "s" in Democrats was the same thing, a waste of newsprint.

This is much ado about nothing. What a load of hooey! I wouldn't take offense to being called clean. At one time, clean meant clean cut, you know, shaved and shorn. I assume people are taking it as reference to drugs. Well shit, you have to consider who's talking. Biden isn't from the drug culture. Give me a f'ing break!

Pay attention, shit-for-brains. I didn't write that stuff. My apologies. It was Ken4ord who said that. He's a (relatively) young guy who ought to know better. And Pope, time to delete some PM's.

As I understand it the park is officially closed. Can one be ticketed for entering the park? I assume you are planning a winter ascent? Sounds like a long ski in on the road.

Will you shut up already? You are getting tiresome. Enough.

I've always liked Seattle's Best. I just like lightly roasted coffee. You get a lot of the more volatile, delicate flavors in a light roast. I never liked Starbucks because theirs is a typically dark roast, heavy on heavy, strong flavors. Some people dig that, but not me.

If you saw how out-of-date my old glasses are and how scratched are the lenses, you'd think differently.

I think labradors also happen to be the most common breed. Coincidence?

I'll bet it just about pulled your arm out of its socket. Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.

A wise man once said, "a man's got to believe in something- I believe I'll have another beer".

It's a breed that can be safe but too often irresponsible people gravite towards it. It's a shame.

Ice tools aren't the best for self-arrest, depending on type. It's one of the reasons why I continue to use my funky old Scottish tool. It's not really the best for climbing water ice, but it is a good compromise between a traditional ice axe and a speciallized ice tool. I use that on the approach, as its shaft is long enough (and straight) for good plunging on moderate slopes. I pair it with a bent shaft shrike for technical terrain. Granted, it's not very good for anything harder than WI3.

Gotta remember, Pope was from a different generation, when homophobia was not only considered acceptable, but exemplary.

Strictly-speaking, "turf-toe" is an injury of the big toe is it not? I found a source for taping the big toe, but am not sure whether it can be applied to the small toe. There is no question that my gait was messed up. I expect that it will improve as the small toe injury heals. I asked Newell about the extracorporeal-shockwave therapy and he said that he has used it, and it works, but he puts it in the category of method of last resort, along with traditional surgery. These devices are so expensive that they don't actually own them, but arrange for them to be brought in. It requires local anaesthesia, etc. A question for you Michael, is that when I get the modified orthotic back, is there anything to be gained from continuing to tape for a while? Or does the orthotic completely fill the same role as the tape?

How can anyone answer your question when you haven't really described what sort of climbing you'll be doing. There are different dexterity/warmth requirements, depending on what you are doing. How likely is it that the gloves will get wet? Is quick-drying a requirement?

It's time for me to buy a new pair of glasses then.

Brown noser.

Yes, we probably stuck out like a couple of sore thumbs. So who was there?

Roboboy and I went over to Dante's at 9 pm after climbing at the gym. We couldn't find anyone we knew. The place was full of 20-something college guys and a handful of women.

There are a lot more old guys here. RC.com is mostly 20-something boulderers and sport climbers.

I saw the doc again yesterday. He tells me he looked at the x-ray again and decided that the little toe had been dislocated. Neither he nor the doctor in California had noticed this before. So I asked him what could be done, and he said it was too late to manipulate the joint. He just taped the toe to its neighbor. Now that joint is going to be prone to arthritis. I told him the left heel started hurting after going on a run three days ago. It was my first run in a month and was only two miles. He said it was a recurrence of plantar faciitis. I asked him if it might have been brought on because of artificially pronating the foot to avoid putting pressure on the little toe. He said definitely, but he still wanted to modify my orthotic device to raise the arch, so I surrendered it to him and was sent home with instructions to keep the foot taped using the Low Dye technique. I get the orthotic back on Monday. http://www.cise.ufl.edu/~jnw/PlantarFasciitis/low-dye.pdf