Rad

OK, I read the article. It is certainly cast in a negative light, which is what people like to read in the rags. Climbers work with park staff to collect and remove tons of trash. A climbing ranger works to educate noobs about how to protect the environment while they climb. Climbing areas developing plans to protect their resources from overuse and abuse. Those sound like good things. The quotes and story are just plain stupid. Not a quality piece.

Actually, I was at the base of El Cap last weekend and came across a paper bag. Thinking it was just trash I looked inside. Poop. Yuck. BTW, why are those guys putting on their harnesses at the trailhead?

Yep. Belaying is often like fishing. You should be able to feel what the leader is doing on the other end even if you are looking at the view or taking a swig of water.

Remeber the KISS acronym? I agree with MattP. The standard I learned was: Slack (let out rope). Up-rope (take up rope). Off/on belay. One reason to stick with those is that in many circumstances you can't hear each other very well. Then the number of syllables tells you what to do: Blah! = slack, Blah blah! = up-rope. Blah Blah Blah = on/off belay (confirm before taking climber off belay). If you can easily hear each other then do whatever you want, but talk about it beforehand to avoid confusion.

Hormones: Make wasps angry. Make CC posters engage in mock battles over perceptions of their waning sexual prowess. Move along...

My best bee story, in short form: my dad and I were in Argentina moving a colony of killer bees (african race of the common honey bee Apis melifera). These bees are called 'killer bees' because they are very mean-tempered. They are no more poisonous than regular honey bees, but where 10-20 regular honey bees might sting you if you disturb their nest, 100-200 or more 'killer bees' will chase and sting you. It is the sheer volume of poison that gets you. But, I digress - We were told by scientists in the University in Tucuman that they had carefully sealed up the hive the night before. We didn't really trust them so we donned head-to-toe suits just in case. After loading the hive into the back seat of our Ford Falcon, we drove down the main drag toward the mountains. Sure enough, bees started to come out of the hive, a few at first then more and more. Soon there was a cloud of angry bees in the car with us so we rolled down the windows. Usually, young boys would come up to try to sell you bags of oranges at every stoplight on the strip, but they didn't come near us - crazy gringos in space suits surrounded by a swarm of angry bees - who could blame them?! Twas quite a trip.

My dad was an entomologist who studied bees. We learned a lot by osmosis and on collecting trips. Here's a few tidbits that may prove interesting or useful (Tvash can correct me if need be). There are many different species of wasps, some live in colonies (e.g. yellow jackets, white-faced hornets, and paper wasps) while others are solitary. Ditto bees. Bees and wasps do not bite, they sting you with a modified ovipositor (egg laying tube) coming out of their abdomens (butts). Most bees have barbs in their stingers that rip out a poison sack from their abdomen when the sting you. If you get stung by a bee you may be able to scrape the poison sack off without having its contents injected into you. After they sting you they will die. Not so with wasps. They can sting you multiple times and be fine. Insects are unable to generate their own body heat and they can only fly when their wing muscles rise above certain temps. This is why you see bumblebees looking sluggish on the ground in the evening or on overcast days: they're too cold to fly. They may get stranded on flowers or elsewhere if the temps drop. You can use this to your advantage. For example, I found a large white-faced hornet's nest in a bush near our front door a few years back. It was too big and too deep to get with raid and was clearly going to cause problems later in the fall. So I waited until night and went out with a garbage bag. I gathered up the nest and its sleeping occupants inside the garbage bag, double-bagged for extra protection, and then put the whole thing in the freezer overnight. That killed them. Turned out there were over 80 wasps in the nest. Yikes! I've been nailed by the cascade ground wasps multiple times on approaches, but always I've run down/up the trail so fast I never got a good look at my attackers. It sure hurts, though.

June 1990, Swiss Cheese face (5.5-5.7?) on Goat Rock in Castle Rock State park (Skyline drive Bay Area, not by Shasta). I surprised the instructors by pulling off a 5.9ish stemming boulder problem. I was hooked from that very first day. That summer I went on multiple camping and climbing trips with Outdoors Unlimited (out of UCSF) to the Tahoe area and Tuolumne. Great times. Xmas 1990, I got a pink chalk bag from my cousin that I still use today.

Nice outing and pics Trog.

Amen. It floors me that people don't understand that you taxes to fund things like transit and schools. I would gladly pay income tax to improve a lot of things in this state, but the short-sightedness of voters and Tim Eyman's initiatives are a lethal combo.

Seattle, because X38 and REI put it over the top! Where else can you spray inane crapola on CC with wireless devices during business hours, leave your Microsoft cubicle early, pop in your SUV to sit in 405 traffic, and crawl on I90 to X38, all while sipping your double-skinny non-fat extra poontang $5 cup of joe. At X38 you can climb ego-inflating sport routes and clip your shiny quickdraws onto bolts 3 ft apart on chossy rock. Is there more to life than that? Oh yeah, climbing the tower in the flagship REI!

One down, eighty seven to go.

No more monotonous than any other slab route. It's runout enough to keep your attention and has awesome views of Half Dome the entire way.

This is it! Don't blink or you'll miss it. Quick - go to Index and climb something awesome! I enjoy my work, but I wish I could heed the call of Index cracks and fall colors today...

I agree with all your points. I expect that the press worked to ferret out any conflict and controversy to put in the article, so the portrait may be a little skewed. Peace and harmony just doesn't sell copy.

I disagree. The article suggests the appraised value of the company was not as high as the inheritor wanted. The value of this business, like other service businesses, may lie primarily in its brand and/or the cache of its service providers. The younger a business, the more the value lies in its providers. If a key provider leaves or dies that will diminish the value of the enterprise. Older businesses, with more established track records and brand recognition, will take less of a hit when one or two key people leave. These factors would be true of any guiding business, so I don't think it speaks to the quality of MM as a guide service.

Yep, like most of the Gunks.

Show is at 730pm. Neptune Theater. Send Marylou a pm as she may have a ticket you can buy. See you there (babysitter is confirmed!). Rad

OK. Meet outside after the film and we'll go somewhere closeby(assuming my babysitter comes through!).

Are people going to the ReelRock film this Wednesday at the Neptune? We could go for beer/food afterward.

Blake, Allison, Lisa, Brendan and I we went to Ozone Saturday. It's fun not knowing grades or beta - you just see a line and start up it. We had sun all day and great views of Stuart dusted in snow. There were wasps everywhere, but they were pretty mellow and never stung anyone. We did skip one route with a large wasp nest in a key flake. A highlight was leading an orange slab/arete route with great views just as the sun's last rays swept up the wall. Blake and Allison may have some pics. Thanks for a great day guys! On Sunday Michael, Luke, Allison, and Lisa and I went up to the Sam's hill area. We did Ski Track cracks, Oprah's navel, a 165ft 5.10 slab/overlap left of ON (Up zone?), a 5.6 flake route, and a 5.9 crack/face to the right. All were fun. A few of those could use chains instead of rap rings + faded slings in a death triangle. A shorter day, due to late start and early departure, but still fun. I did jump in Icicle creek before we left. Come on in guys, it's not c-c-c-cold!

That wasn't my experience. I feel lucky to have climbed, hung out, drank beers, and laughed with both new and old partners. And the weather was truly stunning. I didn't see any naked dancing on the tables, but then it was kinda chilly for that anyway.

On Saturday we walked past some bolted, mossy routes on Secret Dome on the way to Ozone. Are these worth climbing? Who put them up? Just curious.

I was talking to someone at Ropeup who had great things to say about a couchsurfing community - people volunteer to host, ask to stay, trade pms, rate surfers and hosts, chat. Sounds pretty cool. It apparently works for places all over the world. couch surfing website Happy surfing!

Super fun times! I'm not a rope-up virgen any more... Big thanks to all who helped make it happen. I took a few climbing pics on Blake's camera. Maybe he and/or Mythosgrl will post a few.