Bill_Simpkins

Where do you put your crampons and sleeping pad? Check out the Granite Gear Alpine Lite . No internal frame, but you just wrap a 3/4 length pad around the inside which gives it more of a frame then the other 1/4 is in a Z-rest you can pull out of the pack. There is even a V-Thread holder built into the crampon area. Weighs the same as the Phantom, but you can strip it down to just over 2 pounds. The pack is indestructable. Works with or without the top lid. Gear loops, packs small etc... except for doesn't work well with leashless ice tools. If I went went Mountainsmith, I would probably go with the Ghost though. I don't know much more about the Phantom, but my buddy has had really really good luck with the ghost and it holds weight really well.

"including a 1997 case involving a live turkey in a food plant and a 1992 encounter between a man and a ram at the York Fair." -Ram Lamb

Fuggedaboudit.................Fuggedaboudit!

I know someone who absolutly wouldn't get the gump to go outside and do something. However, gym climbing is the first physical activity he's ever been interested in. He's been losing weight and getting healthy. Good for him, I say.

I wear a silk T-shirt and a schoeller jacket. When it gets cold I either put on a belay jack over the top or just a stretchy long sleeve base layer under my Schoeller, depends on whether I'm cold while I'm moving or not. Schoeller usually isn't that windproof, but the belay jacket is. I've been thinking about ditching the Schoeller Jacket and going with a long-sleeve windshirt instead. But Ill wait until my current jacket is totally trashed first!

WoW has guns and full on wars. The world in huge. Everquest totally blows. WoW is POV and endless. Two nights ago 60 of us in a raid hide on the ourskirts of an undead village and prepared for battle. Then we wiped out the town and moved towards the capital. In the meantime, the Horde retaliated and attacked the human capital city. Then I went to an old monastary and recovered an ancient book. All POV. (I'm a totally geek, it's out of the bag now!) Send me a link so I can check out your game...

It's pretty easy to get to Shady from the bottom.

Maybe it was the 5.9. It was right of Zombie Roof. Went up a corner past the sawed off tree (good carving potential) up to the ledge and beyond. Is that 5.9? Felt like 5.7. Didn't have guide book with us.

Disclaimer: We are total wankers! This is purely for more stuff to read because half of us are stuck in a cubical with nothing to do. Saturday me and my friend Pat drove to Sqaumish in hope that the sky would look as nice as it did in Bellingham. It was raining when we got there but we thought we would give it a go. We climbed something at Burgers and Fries in full on rain and then climbed the 5.7 corner jsut right of Zombie Roof. After our expensive Generation-X Starbucks liquification, we drove to Mt. Erie, where the weather was really nice. That Saturday we did some routes up on the Summit Wall in 40 Mph winds. The weather at Erie on Sunday was perfect. Mostly blue skies, a cloud here and there. we went to powerlines to explore the routes that are right of Inimidator. If you lead a short/alpine protectionish pitch it plops you to a spot where 4-5 routes start. I opted for my all black Euro- style climbing suit. We stopped and set up a gear belay to decide what route to do, and just to hang out on the cliff a little more. We opted for a short/slightly overhang hand crack. This was way easy with one 5.8 ish move. Pat led it. Probably a 20 foot pitch. We were bored. Please tilt your head to the right 90 degrees! Traversing out right provided ample oportunity for a "Distel Style" photo..... It's all about looking focused! After topping out we did the two routes to the right. One was up a this pair of cracks, 5.8-5.9 and one was up a steep bolted line. 5.9-5.10. Plenty to do at powerlines. Tilt your head 90 degrees left! We then headed down tot he Cirque or the Orange wall or whatever. Jumped on the fitst steep bolted climb on the right side of the path. Think its 10b or something. Oh well, I suck so I got spit off! Patrick sent it! BTW. The tree route on the left looks totaly SICk! whoever here has sent it, you got serious balls! Mt. Erie is fun. There are tons of pretty big cliffs there and lots of hard routes. It's underestimated.

I was there on Saturday. Climbed IN the rain. Did some wet easy thing on Burgers and Wet Fries, then the 5.7 just right of Zombie roof. That was pretty dry. We wanted to aid Zombie roof but the water dripping off the lip looked miserable. We drove to Mt. Erie after.

Yes, thanks for adding that. Very important.

The pizza at Cascade pizza rocks.

I use it on trees around a branch or trunk. Just wrap a large bite around it and tie the bowline. As far as saving webbing and biners on bolts, you can put each end of a sewn runner through each bolt then bring them back together. Pull the top part down and give just one strand of the top part a half twist. Clip through the hole created by the twist(and make sure to clip the non twisted strand) and the two holes on the ends. This uses one biner and one sling. Should look like a "V" and is self equalizing. Biner stays clipped to sling if one anchor fails. Better yet, when I have the rope and swinging leads, I just use a self equalizing figure eight. This works good for equalizing 2-3 anchor points with NO webbing. Learn this knot, it's easy and awesome. Although it uses 2-3 biners. I use the method above when saving biners or just feel like it.

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Nope, arriviing there tommorrow at 8 am. 11? half the day is gone by then.

me too

Dump that and play World of Warcraft.

Stretchy side pockets(big enough to hold a nalgene but tight against the pack when not used) and compression straps. Schoeller works good for these. These pockets are good for securing pickets and waterbottles. If you pack your sleeping bag tight enough, the bottles don't stick out much and more weight is closer to your hips. Make it large enough to put a 1/2 -3/4 length pad around the inside, which will stablize the frameless pack and keep the pad on the inside. I like the axe loops too. Tubes are too heavy and don't work with leashless. A sturdy piece of something on the back and small tie points for crampons. Basically, like the granite Gear Alpine light pack, but without the tool tubes and with Schoeller side pockets. That pack weighs about 3 pounds. If you use your Dyneema, it should be a lot lighter. A gear loop on each side is nice too.

I don't use altimeters. Take that back. I used to use altimeters and thought they all sucked. Plus, I hated calibrating them and starring at the map. More things to fiddle with means the slower you go. In the Cascades except for maybe the Emmons glacier in a white out, you don't really need one, of which you use wands anyways. Most routes around here have many land marks. If altitude is that important to you, then memorize the map and know when your at point B, your about half way to point C, etc... I was on Ruth mountain with a friend and he wanted to turn around because the barameter was dropping. Screw that! You can run up and down that glacier in half an hour. So it doesn't matter. You could have a gadget that tells you when you need to drink water, when to breathe or waterever. The fact is, you can get up most mountains around here with slacks, jacket, a bottle of water and a stick. When i climb with people that have altimeters I usually hear , "oh, we have (while stopping) 500 feet to go before hitting the col." Well no shit! I see it right up there! Sure I've been in situations where one would be ideal, but guess what? I made it through the white out just fine. PLus weather changes can throw them off. Looking at those things is like looking at the clock every five minutes two hours before getting off work. You could spend the money on gas for a road trip or lighter gear. Now that I said that, If your going to get one, get a sturdy one. Don't worry about the increments too much. Even increments of 100 feet is ok becuase you can't be too sure of the accuracy to begin with. Also, get one that has a strap long enough to go over your jacket. And I reccommend keeping it in your pack and not on your wrist unless you feel you need it. You may enjoy yourself more. (opinions may vary)

That's badass!

No info other that when the road is free of snow you need a high cleance vehicle past the YAB trail head. When I was a kid we took a car up there, but the last 10 years or so you need high cleance on the first half mile or so of that section, then it gets good again. I don't know why they just don't maintain that part of the road, it's so short. However, it is not that far of a drive to go check it out.

Bad: Winger's cover of "Purple Haze" reminds me of purple puke. Ozzies cover of "Immagrant Song" Tesla's cover of "Signs"-because they are posers Good Covers: Iron Maiden "Cross-eyed Mary" Led Zepellin "Whole Lotta Love"

An updated edition would be nice considering that ourdoor clothing and equipment has changed dramatically in the last few years. Soft shells, new pack material, lighter tents/Bivy sacks, climbing gear etc... Maybe a paragraph or two on layering with softshells.

In a hotel on the water watching TV from a jet tub.

Packed boxes, moved furniture, cleaned, drove back and forth and back and forth, packed more boxes, drove back and forth. did all that about 10 times. Next time I'm hiring a mover. Got rid of a lot of useless stuff though. Oh, BTW, I got married on the 19th. I met her climbing in Leavenworth a few years ago. She is a fellow, but dormant cc.com'er.