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Rad

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Posts posted by Rad

  1. There is no more discontented group of folks then the "professional photographer" in the digital age.

     

    Well, I only know one guy trying to break into the professional climbing photography scene, and he's one of the most positive people I've met. Talented too.

     

    As for the rest of the comments, take a chill pill. If Jason is only willing to pay $200 for an image, then he'll probably get an image worth only $200. That shouldn't diminish the value of all your $1000 images.

  2. Climbers group buys famed Index Lower Town Wall, saves it from quarry

     

    The Washington Climbers Coalition has purchased one of the state's most-famous rock climbing venues, the Lower Town Wall in Index.

     

    By Susan Gilmore

     

    Seattle Times staff reporter

     

    Related

     

    Lower Town Wall

     

    For information and photos go to www.washingtonclimbers.org/tools/ Map data ©2010 Google - Terms of UseSee more mapped stories

    The Washington Climbers Coalition has purchased one of the state's most-famous rock climbing venues, the Lower Town Wall in Index.

     

    Matt Perkins, secretary of the coalition, said the climbing group purchased the wall for $115,000 from a private landowner, Patricia Murphy.

     

    The group is trying to raise $300,000 for other additions to the wall, including parking, bathrooms and a walkway over railroad tracks.

     

    "Climbers have been working for more than 15 years to buy the Lower Town Wall," said Darryl Cramer, a WCC board member and guidebook author who has climbed the wall for nearly 30 years. "We've pulled it off and ensured that the Lower Town Wall will remain open to climbing forever."

     

    The climbing coalition hopes to donate the 20-acre parcel to Washington State Parks, said Perkins, and have it continue as a climbing wall. The state owns most of the property adjacent to the Lower Town Wall, including property containing the Upper Town Wall, another popular climbing destination. Snohomish County Parks is also interested in that property, said WCC.

     

    Climbers have been scaling the wall for more than 50 years, but earlier this year it was threatened with closure and conversion to a quarry.

     

    According to the climbing coalition, the cliffs and crags surrounding the town of Index have long offered some of the best granite climbing in Washington, and the Lower Town Wall is the gem of the area. It has been touted as one of the best climbing crags in the U.S., the coalition said.

     

    Last year, the owner of the property put up "no trespassing" signs because she was planning to sell the land to quarry operators, but the climbers coalition won an option to purchase the property and the owner agreed to allow climbing to continue while the group raised the money to purchase it.

     

    The group purchased the option with a loan from the Access Fund, a national climbing advocacy group.

     

    The group said it wants to name the climbing peak after civic leader and former president of KING Broadcasting Stimson Bullitt. Bullitt, who died last year, took up climbing at age 70 and climbed Index's Town Wall into his 80s.

     

    WCC plans to celebrate the purchase of the wall with a Sept. 19 party in Index.

     

  3. Any rock climber who hikes to Lake Serene looks up at those cliffs with wonderment akin to looking up at El Cap from the El Cap Meadows. If the rock on Mt Index were as good as the lower town wall then that face would be a world-class climbing destination....sadly, it's not. I'm hiking up there next week with my son, niece, and sister, so I may take a look.

     

    And Mr. Hands, if someone is working there it may be very laborious to take everything down and set it up all the time, particularly if there is no way in from the top. That said, this is a very public and visible area that will attract attention from non-climbing boobs and officials. If a non-climber were to go over there, mess around on the ropes, and get injured that would be bad.

  4. somehow this is cool and infinate blizz is not??!?!

     

    Somehow IB gets bashed a lot whereas Darrington bolted routes are well-loved. Setting aside the anti-bolt nazi movement, the objections to IB fall into several classes.

     

    1 - It is in wilderness. Darrington is not. Mt Index is not (correct me if I'm wrong).

     

    2 - It is reported to have been created top-down. Most Dtown routes were put up on lead. Sounds like the Index one is ground up too.

     

    3 - The bolt placement is not to the liking of some parties (too close in places and missing an anchor up high). Dtown bolts are not quite as close as IB. No idea what's going up on Index.

     

    That's about it. People will spray all kinds of venom, but it mostly just covers these same points over and over again. ZZZZZZZ.

     

    I've climbed IB and enjoyed it. My concerns fall under 1 and 3.

  5. Nevermind at x38 stays shaded all day and usually has a breeze

    No way it's hot, buggy and the climbs are mank at nevermind, the last time I was there every hold had a rattle snake sleep'n on it and ticks under every bush!!!!

     

    You're right, it IS mank. A giant block came off Steep Street some years ago so the start is now harder and you step up into an undercling on a protruding rock chip that looks like it'll blow off in your face at any minute. Two key holds past the upper crux of Culture Shock are wiggly blocks that will come out some day. All you have to do is look at the rubble under your feet to see what happens to most holds eventually.

     

    But it's still fun!

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