TeleRoss

quality not quantity and the wonderful thing about life is that for each of us the measure of quality is different. For some of us living a life of quality involves risks that come with the potential to have a limited quantity of life. However, for me anyway, to deny myself the things that give my life its quality would be unacceptable.

TOGA! TOGA! TOGA! TOGA!

climbing is nothing but a warm up for ski season....

and did he hire you as his PR rep

, , then hopefully get up and climb on sunday

People seem to put too much stock in the idea that a long life is somehow inherently good while a short life somehow is a life wasted...

I don't want to die, but I don't not want to die...How can I possibly say that I prefer life to death? for there is a certain measure of the unknown is there not? Does anyone know someone whose died that has come back to say they wish they hadn't? But seriously, death tends to be painful for those of us who remain, because again, of the unknown...we don't know where they are or what has become of them...but for them, well, who knows? so to say that I prefer one state over the other presumes that I know what each state entails, but I do not, therefore all I can say with certainty is that life is great and death...well death is one of the certainties of life and if life is great and if being alive means at some point being dead...wel then how bad can it be?

Dude, everyones life expectancy is finite

That line of thinking has never resonated with me. I just can't picture some god or "force" sitting up in heaven, or wherever, with a list, and a date and time of death next to every individual's name. I think of the human being as having an average lifespan, just like a dog, a whale, or any other creature. Sometimes a creature dies "early" (meaning before their body dies from the effects of aging), by being in the wrong place at the wrong time (getting struck by a car), etc., or by disease, causing the body to malfunction and die early, or by killing themselves. Despite the oft-quoted belief that you are more likely to die driving to a climb than on the climb itself, I've always thought of climbing as putting your body in places and situations where there is inherently more danger than most places humans hang out. Same with paragliding, BASE jumping, etc. We have developed tools to keep our bodies safe, for the most part, but still, the human body is like an eggshell against rock and ice. I guess that driving or riding in a car is about the same. Most of us have just determined that the risks outweigh the benefits. I guess that's what it boils down to with climbing, too. For most of us the benefits outweigh the risks. The risk of dying from the activity is fairly remote, and the risk is worth what is gained. Man, you totally missed it..there's no god anywhere doing anything. We show up on this earth and there are no guarantees...you are not "supposed" to do anything...however to say that a life has been cut short presumes that there was something that that person was supposed to have done with their life. so who is talking predestination? Too many people take it for granted that they are going to be around for some kind of "average life span" so they don't do the things that they should with their lives...they pour themselves into collecting a bunch of shit and piling it up in big storage bins that people like to call a house. Then when this "average life span" begins to expire they realize they haven't lived a life at all...

Dude, when your time is up your time is up...there's no such thing as a "life cut short"...it was just that persons time to go.

Django, Clapton, Hendrix

We did the East Face of Lighthouse earlier this year. But we got stymied at the same spot you guys did. That wide crack was funk with no pro and looking at an ugly whipper onto that large slab. We walked down and around to the S side of the summit block and it looks like there's a short aid crack over there but we didn't do it. We didn't bother trying to throw rope and prusik that just seemed lame. We wanted to climb not prusik. Yeah, that summit block is a puzzle.

Fukin' a guys.... nothin to say but

The real question is who the fuck cares?

Fuck yeah I love it when that kinda stuff happens...I think we're coming up to the summit here...oh shit there it is way over there....

We were on route, there's no trouble with routefinding. The reason I don't praise this route or put it in the same class as the B/C is because the rock (especially below where the Beckey route ramp comes in) is of fairly dubious quality, albiet it is pretty good for the North Cascades in general. And also I just felt that the B/C contained on the whole more sustained climbing from start to finish, again IMHO. If I went to do the DNB on Bear again I think I would do the variation (can't remember who's) that goes straight up where Kearney's route does the rightward traverse...maybe around pitch 8 or so? Mike-how did you guys find more pitches than Kearney? We did the entire buttress in 11 rope stretchers... And don't get me wrong...I thought this route was a fine route in a spectacular setting, and did offer some outstanding climbing. I think simply I expected more of a challenge that's all.

Yeah, Lowell, I think I'd definitely like to go back to Bear. Kearney's other line, N Buttress West looks cool, so do the Ursa Minor and Ursa Major buttresses. The first one east, Ursa Minor looks big and long and super aesthetic. Then there are the direct lines on the north face...woa nilly!! But maybe Diamond Life is a possibility...damn that's like four more routes out there....sheesh. Somewhere in there I might hit the summit...

From camp to the top of the NB is cruiser hiking across talus and meadows. From the top of the NB it's a fair ways to the summit via easy ridge walking/scrambling. Like Sky said, all we wanted was to get down and

If that's what I wanted to do I would have done the walk up.

the politicians

Hamburger...yummy. Somehow I thought it would look more like chicken....maybe that's just from that movie "Alive". Seriously though, what a story! Wow.

I hear that. I've got a shiny new degree and a whole bunch of no job to show for it. The free time is sure nice though

Internships are for suckers

Damn, those huckleberries were soooo good. Sky stopped and munched them by the fistfull for about half an hour while I napped on a large boulder. The weather came and went while we were up there...mixed clouds/fog and sun. Mox Peaks were looking awesome poking out above the fog like a couple of huge fangs. Yeah!

For me it usually comes down to the time available factor It is also fun to see how far you can actually go in a day.