North_by_Northwest

I would guess from the Climbing Partners section that only half of us own cars. A true mountian vehicle is whatever someone else is willing to drive for you. I have had two Broncos, super size and small size, and both are good mtn. rigs and not so hard on gas either. I also have an 86 Civic that's going to get some modifications and become my new rally ride.

A lot of the posts on this thread are like the old NO FEAR slogans. A climbing one would be funny: You have a small rigid stem friend halfway inserted into a horizontal crack and two opposing nuts that required constant tension to stay placed. Below you is a twenty foot runout. Your partner is about to follow the crux and he hasn't climbed in years... NO FEAR

There will be a climber's costume party in Ballard/Crown Hill. All invited. Bring extra beer. starts 10pm 8735 19th Ave NW PM if you have Q's.

Have you read that excerpt, I think in one of Beckey's guides, about the mule that slipped off the trail and rolled down a talus slope, then got up and kept walking? Crazy. "Scandanavian milk tickets" everywhere I think it said

Well yeah, its hard to walk in the snow when you're drunk, 50 pounds overweight and wearing a sopping wet full body Carhartt suit. ORVs are a real pain sometimes, but I suppose they have their place too. I for one would like to see horses and horsepackers banned from a lot of areas. I don't like walking in shit all day and then having to hear some Wilford Brimley type tell me to move off the trail so I don't spook his ill-tempered horse or mule

He's a damn good musician though. GNR even covered one of his songs.

Correction: I said ten days, but after checking my calendar its more like six.

Thanks for the routes. Brewery is a must. Perhaps a small keg for the week too.......

[ 10-28-2002, 03:30 PM: Message edited by: North by Northwest ]

Clean corners, and long straight cracks. Liebacks, offwidth, whatever as long as it is parallel and seems to go as far as the eye can see. I also like huge roofs next to my cracks and sometimes over them. Long hand traverses on exposed ledges are good too. Someone took an excellent photo of the upper pitches of Outer Space (in photo album from rope-up weekend I think) that is exactly what i like, though the photo makes it look harder and cooler than it actually was.

This one but with the hood, which is probably an accessory. Sounds like Carhartt is following the path that Levis took then.

"carhartts are less construction and more fashion market last I checked...maybe I should check again" Wasn't aware of that. You wouldn't see anyone wearing the suit I'm talking about for looks, makes you look like an overgrown teddy bear. Either way they are still the toughest pants and great to climb in.

OK. Looked a lot like the uncomfortable chimney on the fourth pitch.

"maybe I should go tour some yuppy high schools to check it out?" huh?

The movement problems can be reduced by unbuttoning the sides as far as necessary, and a harness fits underneath and can be tied into using the fly. [ 10-28-2002, 02:50 PM: Message edited by: North by Northwest ]

Carharrt already has that, it's insulated and has a hood too.

A sheet of sandpaper between the shoulder blades works well too. Is that the chimney on the Stanley Burgner S. Face?

So I have ten days off starting around the 3 or 4 of Nov. and I'm thinking of going to Smith. I've been there once and the climbing was good but the scene was I am not much of a sport climber and I'd like to get on these routes down there: White Satin Pack Animal Direct 10b Crack of Infinity 10b Zebra Zion 10a Solar 5.9 W. Face Variation/Pioneer Route on Monkey Face 5.8/A0 Trezlar 10a Titanium Jag 10b Amphetamine Grip 5.7 Moscow 5.6 Peking 5.8 They are mostly multipitch trad routes, and they all look fun from the guidebook descriptions. I need a partner who would like to spend the whole week there and is interested in this type of climbing (and some beer drinking). I will get on some sport routes for fun or belay you on a project but my primary interests are listed above. I will drive if gas $ is split and I will pick you up if you live near Seattle or on the way to Smith. PM if interested.

Excellent work. Our flower reached the backyard because we tried to throw it into the street with a shovel. It got a little off target. Holidays are certainly tough on pets though.

Nice one. My firework priveleges were taken away when a groundflower flew into my backyard and caught my dog on fire. He was scared but not hurt. That was no more than ten years ago.

If you are really poor you could get a wool army blanket and wrap it around your bag. I did this for my 20 degree bag for a long time and it worked to zero quite comfortably. The Keltys are Ok, Backside (NF ripoff Co.) also makes a cheapy synthetic zero degree. The problem with these is not weight but compressibility. Mattp's advice is very good too, or you could check out the current bag thread in the gear critic section if you have the $$. I made a suggestion on a good 5 degree I bought recently on that thread. Good luck.

This is a great thread. My stoopid things included these games: The Rock War Game: two teams dredged gravel from the road we lived on, then lined up on opposite sides of two woodpiles about 100ft apart. When the signal was given we just threw rocks at each other. If you ran out of rocks you chucked a couple hunks of alder across and ran like hell to get more ammo. There were no winners or losers, just a lot of bruises and post game fights. Touch the Top of that Tree: we'd walk around in the forest and pick a tall tree, then claim we could touch the very top. You would have to justify your claim by getting as high as possible on it. Few people actually touched the tips, especially in the brittle maples and hardwoods we had, but we never took bad falls either. K9 Manhunt: this game was only played once, but it was very memorable. A neighbor had a german shepherd that was very well trained, possibly ex-K9. We would all hide in a Christmas tree farm and one person would come with the dog on a leash. When he saw you he released the dog and the dog would jump on you, bite your arm and drag you down without any commands (that's why it was probably K9). We played in winter so our coats protected us from the bite (which was not full strength anyway), but it was too scary to try a second time. There was also a lot of wrestling and vicious broomstick sword fighting.

Beer on the Max line is too good to be true. That's what I thought about beer on the ferries though, and we have that. Drinking and boats has always gone together, but drinking and trains? Rainier Ale is the best malt liquor.

What is this "PDX" you Portlanders speak of so often? You're not drinking casks on that commuter train you guys have are you?

Brandon: I think I have that week off too. I was also thinking of heading to Smith. Am only interested in the longer stuff and trad lines though, maybe a little sport. I want to fool around on Monkey Face too. If this stuff sounds good to you let me know.