dryad

Something happened to seriously, massively piss me off. doesn't even begin to describe how pissed off I am right now. So since I'm going climbing this evening, I was hoping I could channel this anger to crank harder. Has anyone had success with that, or does being in a bad mood just knock you out of the zone? Generally, how does emotional state affect your climbing? I would guess that as one gains experience, it becomes less of a factor.

Hey anyone want to carpool over there from Redmond / east side?

I'm pretty short with a short torso, so had a real bitch of a time finding a pack that fits. I ended up getting an REI Rising Star. It's sold as a kids pack. The target market as far as I can tell are 12-year old boy scouts so one would have to be pretty thin in the hips for the hip belt to fit right (it just barely fits me). Hardly top of the line, but it's a pretty decent pack. Fairly light, and fairly cheap too. As far as boob size goes, it shouldn't be a problem as long as she can slide the sternum strap up enough that it runs over her, well, sternum, rather than squashing her boobs. Gregory packs come in small sizes (probably why many women have them), but they are more expensive and kind of overbuilt for my liking. My $0.02.

anything by Afro Celt Sound System

Good job, Distel! Don't let the detractors get you down. My big accomplishment of the weekend was climbing my second ever 10a. Big f'in deal right? Well, yeah, but it sure was nice to think that the first one earlier in the week wasn't just a fluke. Feels good to be making progress.

No problem. My only point was that you have to get basic skills somewhere, and if you arrive in town not knowing anybody whatsoever and want to get into climbing, the mounties, for all their faults, might not be a bad place ot start. That's all.

More like lack of leader idiocy. C'mon! The leader is shepherding 8 newbies, 2 of which are guaranteed to be clueless, up this thing. Don't you think it might be a good idea for the leader to know the proposed climb inside and out? Well, yeah, obviously, but I would think there are leaders out there have done more climbs than the few that are posted all the time. Maybe not. Whatever. My only point was that if someone wanted to avoid mounties, you don't really have to go all that far out of the way to do it.

There certainly are leaders in the mounties who are total pricks. Maybe they just stick out more than the nice ones.

"You're right. I'll just avoid all of these areas. Like Rainier, Baker, Shuksan, Leavenworth, Stuart, etc." That list is a list of all the climbs recognized by the mounties as basic-level climbs, not the ones that will be climbed at any given time. In reality, most basic trips go to the same dozen or so places again and again. Lack of leader imagination, I suppose.

Yeah, well, everybody knew that. Dorks unite!

I actually have had decent success with finding climbing partners on cc.com. But then again, I'm not a total beginner, meaning I have enough of a basic skillset to not make a complete nuisance of myself (at least I don't think I do ).

I'm always willing to buy beer for my ropegun.

I know it's a lot of fun to make fun of Mounties (hell, I do it myself), but tell me something, all of you who say REAL climbers should just teach themselves and find mentors to take them out... How many of you hardmen (and hardwomen) are HONESTLY interested in taking on rank beginner and showing them the ropes? How many of you would REALLY rather take some newbie up da Toof, when you could instead be out climbing Super-Snazzy-Spire with someone who's just as hardcore as you are? Seems to me that unless there's some exchange of sexual favors involved, it wouldn't happen very often. I hope I'm wrong here. Please prove me wrong and adopt a newbie. We all have to start somewhere.

I guess I wasn't clear - I'm looking for climbing partners, not just suggestions as to where to go.

Looking to climb something on Sun. Don't much care what. Not above going to Exit 38, whatever. Just be nice to the newbie .

This past weekend I was out for a little walk on the Middle Fork Snoqualmie River trail with a buddy of mine. About half a mile from the Taylor River trailhead, there's a rock face to the right of the trail. I didn't get to check it out too closely, but it looked pretty nice from the trail. Location is here: http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?z=10&n=5266289&e=610799&s=25&size=m Anybody ever climb this thing? What's it like?

Here's 1 more for the cattle carcass count.

Amen to that. Reciprocity is a wonderful thing.

Matt, you're absolutely right. Go ahead and make an executive decision.

If you 20-something ropeguns play your cards right, you'd have better luck with the mountie chicas than the mountie guys. Mountie guys tend to be old and funny-looking like catbirdseat.

The chicas in the class are actually all pretty cute, on average, but there aren't very many of them.

Large tits are cumbersome and get in the way when climbing. Seriously.

Seems like it would be especially hard to make any kind of living as a climbing guide or instructor around here because there are so many people willing to do it for free.

This wasn't a real campsite, just a pull-off on some random dirt road. So no need to feel guilty about pilfering some caretaker's rake.

So there I was in Leavenworth with E-rock and he scored himself a rake (yes, the kind for leaves) that was lying around near our campsite. So it made me wonder, what was the most unique booty item that any of you have found on or near a climb?