catbirdseat

McClellan Butte and Mt. Kent are alpine ice climbs and wouldn't be top ropeable generally. Also long approaches.

Exit 38 is close enough to climb after work, but most of it is only climbable in the dry summer months. It's all sport climbing on a rather weird metamophosed basalt called rhinostone. You'll hear a lot of people badmouth the place, but it's hard to beat climbing that close to the city. Here where I live we have no such convenient place and I miss it. You'll hear people tell you you can climb in Index after work, but it's not possible unless you take off half the day. Traffic is too heavy after 3 pm to make it practical.

I can vouch for Jeff. He's a friend of mine and you can trust him.

I remember when sick used to mean a runny nose or a rash...

I'll take 'em

Good point, Sherri. Who was it? Stefan? He mentioned some time ago how important it is to get all twists out of your new ropes before you use them. He said the putting weight or a fall on a rope with a twist can set "twistiness" into the rope permanently. I think that a lot of the troubles that climbers have with their rappel ropes actually result from using twisted ropes, or rappelling in such a way that twist are put into a rope that started out twist free. There are ways of using your rappel device incorrectly both belaying and rappelling that puts twists in. This has been mentioned by both ChucK and Off White I believe.

Being a scientist myself, I find it intellectually convenient to only believe in concepts that have an abundance of evidence and are scientifically testable. Atheism in my view is as much a belief system as belief in a god. I don't care to waste my time with non-belief that takes up so much energy and yet is no more testable than belief. I just find it fascinating that there are a great many excellent scientists in the world that have strong religious beliefs. It seems to me that these people have to create mental partitions where one region allow myths and the other does not. The human mind is a strange thing indeed.

Gin and tonic for me with Mexican lime.

Carbon fiber tools wouldn't be my first choice for alpine climbs where I had to pound a lot of pins. Composites are great though. They don't fatigue like metals do, that's one of the reasons they are so good for building aircraft, aside from their high strength to weight ratio.

I think that The Towering Inferno heralded in the age of the special effects blockbuster. I would have to agree that 2001 A Space Odyssey was way ahead of it's time. Another one that comes to mind is Silent Running.

I might be able to meet up with you on weekends and holidays for some climbing at Joshua Tree or Red Rocks. I live down here in Laguna.

Years ago, you could buy "fishnet underwear". I have a tee shirt made of this material. It is very effective. The idea is to create dead air space against the skin without a lot of weight. If you wear under a zip neck shirt it's really easy to vent.

It is highly unlikely as long as different users pay different prices for the same water. Right now farmers pay 1/100 as much for water as you and I.

There is Tieton River Canyon near Naches on Hwy 12, but it's kind of cold this time of year. Vantage is warmer, but it's about 90 min from Yakima.

The navy can't escort each and every tanker unless they want to form convoys. They need to run an old fashioned sting operation. You outfit a tanker to look authentic, but it's really hiding missile launchers. When the pirates show up you wait until you see the whites of their eyes. The Germans did this during WWI with a square-rigged sailing ship. They fitted it with a diesel engine and cannon. They took dozens of merchant ships. Their disguise was so complete that they were boarded by the British and were not discovered.

According to Wikipedia: "The United States Army Corps of Engineers planned to destroy the rock for a jetty at the mouth of the Columbia, and dug three caves on the rock's south side. During this time, Biddle's family tried to make it a state park. At first Washington refused the gift, but changed when Oregon offered to accept." That would have been a travesty of monumental proportions.

I'll be visiting Seattle for the first time since February. I'll be in twon from Wednesday through Sunday morning. I was hoping maybe some of you might be up for a drink some place, like the Sloop on Wednesday or Thursday night. Could hit SG for an hour and then head across the street? I was planning on hitting the Glen Denny slide show at the Mountaineers on Friday night and maybe try out their new climbing wall. I'll have my rock shoes with me. Saturday evening I hope to attend Erden's fundraiser event. So are my buddies Mark, Tony, Dave, Scott, Martin, Gary, Matt, Wayne, Alex and Jason still around?

Tvash. Is this your original prose? You nailed it.

Just don't make the mistake of tunnelling into the snowbank created by the snowplow. A couple of guys were killed when the snowplow came by and collapsed the cave.

I've used the Heliums on a couple of trips without problems but I wouldn't say I had enough mileage on them in ice to say categorically they are resistant to icing up.

I've followed Telemarker myself on that route. I don't remember it being run out anywhere. Oh, and by the way, happy 13,000th post to me!

If you haven't already done so, check out www.mountainproject.com. It will have info on all these areas.

Malibu Creek has Planet of the Apes Wall. It is all top rope. Ranges from 5.9 to 5.12. Park at Mulholland and Las Virgines and walk in so you don't have to pay. Ape Wall is he first climbing you come to.

Nice pictures! Thanks.

Go, Jeff, Go!