Rad

Bummer about the fine bump up. One idea: write a wicked nasty letter, wait 24 hours, then burn it and pay the fine. It's not worth the negative energy in your life. I've learned that mea culpa plus hat-in-hand puppy eyes works better than a stream of semi-logical excuses. .......... But since you're venting, here's a story someone shared with me: I was going to bed the other night when my wife told me that I had left the light on in the shed. She could see from the bedroom window. As I looked for myself, I saw that there were people in the shed taking things. I phoned the police, and they told me that no one was in the area to help at this time, but they would send someone over as soon as they were available. I said "OK," hung up, and waited one minute, then phoned the police back. "Hello. I just called you a minute ago because there were people in my shed. Well, you don't have to worry about them now 'cause I've shot them." Within five minutes there were half a dozen police cars in the area, an Armed Response unit, the works. Of course, they caught the burglars red-handed. One of the officers said: "I thought you said that you shot them!" I replied, "I thought you said there was nobody available!"

You are supposed to let your rope recover after a severe fall so the core will recoil to be better able to absorb subsequent falls. Someone with more time can find a link for that. As you may know, UIAA falls are more severe than 99.9% of falls your rope will ever endure. This guy did his own 'experiment' which illustrates how tough ropes can be: Old rope tested for ability to withstand severe falls

Rob, If you're comfortable on Aries you'll be fine on Toxic Shock. Go for it!

As a dad myself, double :cry: for everyone affected.

I use one but tie it to a biner on the side or back of my harness (same one w/cleaning tool). That way I can clip it out of the way when not in use and don't have to worry about dropping it.

Believe it or not, we established a 25m all-trad-protected corner at Exit 38 that has a chimney crux (maybe 10b) and several other chimney sections (5.8-5.10). It also has a cool lieback in the middle. If you are interested in checking it out send me a pm and I'll take you out there. When this and other new lines are ready for public consumption we'll post something on them. cheers, Rad

Truth really is stranger than fiction! . LOS ANGELES - O.J. Simpson was charged Tuesday with seven felonies, including kidnapping, and one misdemeanor in the alleged armed robbery of sports memorabilia collectors in a casino-hotel room. The fallen football star was arrested Sunday after a collector reported a group of armed men charged into his hotel room at a casino and took several items Simpson claimed belonged to him. Simpson was booked on suspicion of assault and robbery with a deadly weapon. Clark County District Attorney David Roger filed those charges and added kidnapping and conspiracy to commit kidnapping, according to court documents. The judge may set the bail in excess of $1 million because of the kidnapping charges, a local expert told NBC News. Simpson, who was accused along with three other men, was also charged with one misdemeanor. He faces the possibility of life in prison if convicted. He was being held without bail and was scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday in the robbery reported at the Palace Station casino. Details of complaint According to the charges, Simpson and the others went to the room under the pretext of brokering a deal with the men. Once in the room, Simpson prevented one of the collectors from calling 911 on his cell phone "by ripping it out of Bruce Fromong's hand" while one or more accomplices pointed or displayed a handgun, the document says. The complaint does not specify which of the men involved was carrying the weapon. Two others named in the complaint, Walter Alexander and Clarence Stewart, have been arrested and released. Authorities were seeking an arrest warrant for a fourth man, Michael McClinton, 49, of Las Vegas, a man police describe as "a key player" in the alleged theft. "We hope to have him in custody today," said Officer Ramon Denby, a police spokesman. "Hopefully, he'll be cooperative and surrender with his attorney." Earlier Tuesday in California, a judge gave Fred Goldman a week to come up with a list of sports memorabilia O.J. Simpson is accused of stealing from the Vegas hotel room, but he refused to order Simpson to hand over his earnings from everything from autograph signings to video games. Simpson's friend: Seems ‘like a setup’ Simpson was acquitted more than a decade ago of the 1994 murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and Goldman's son, Ron. He was later found liable for the slayings in a wrongful death trial. The civil jury returned a $33.5 million judgment against Simpson, but it remains largely unpaid. The Goldman family has waged a campaign to claim Simpson's assets since then. Alexander, one of the men arrested with Simpson, said Tuesday that Simpson may have been tricked because another memorabilia dealer who tipped him off also recorded everything on tape. "It sounds like a setup to me," Alexander told ABC's "Good Morning America." He said Simpson had thought the memorabilia belonged to him after getting a call from the dealer. One of the collectors in the room at the time, Bruce Fromong, spoke publicly about the incident on Monday and described Simpson and a group of men coming into the hotel room "commando style." Later Monday, Fromong had a heart attack and was in critical condition, a spokeswoman at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles said Tuesday.

My son is 3.5 now and just expressing an interest in climbing. I haven't started him at all yet. I don't see a hurry. I want him to have fun, safe experiences. I see no reason why kids can't get a lot of learning and experience TRing and following before they lead. Are you trying to train their lead heads!? How about math and science and history. I see no benefits for the increased risks of having kids lead - particularly at the changeover to lowering/rapping at the top. For that matter, I think newbies head into leading too soon. Many could benefit from a lot more following and TRing first IMHO.

Talk about insult to injury... Btw, they bag your belongings and save them, unless they are covered in blood. Did you ask the nursing staff downstairs? I used to volunteer in the ER there. Crazy place.

Thankts Gary. Butiful pics, as always. Glad you did fine on the E ledges despite the condns.

Try the poster Colin.

bummer. amazing he was able to complete the climb and descent w/a sprained ankle

yep. He was wiring the gondola up for our next outing. Cfire, I hope you guys weren't bushwhacking in the dark. We just hit the cars as the peaks went red at sunset.

Sad news. At least you'll be getting great docs at Harborview. Get well soon. Perhaps that UW rock needs closely-spaced bolts to prevent such an accident. Or at least closely-spaced lawyers to deal with its aftermath.

Dave Page, Cobbler, 3509 Evanston Ave. N., 206-632-8686, www.davepagecobbler.com I've never had problems there, but some have made noises about poor customer service. Dave told me during the summer he has/had guys working on the rock shoes on the weekends. I dropped my shoes off Friday afternoon and had them back Monday morning. No shipping reqd. You might ask him if/when this summer thing is ending. I had called Ramuta and was told the wait would be at least 2-3 weeks (that was about 6 weeks ago). That may have changed.

Glad to hear you tested those blocks. Yep, it will be interesting to see what lines emerge as the best. Yours is a good one.

Climbed this route Sunday, with a variation finish. Gorgeous rock and fun climbing. Thanks Dan and Blake! Photos first: One of many overlaps The underback variation (part undercling, part lieback). Underback finish. Snaffle eating nuts. If you want your own adventure stop reading here and go climb. . . . . . Approach notes: turn uphill when the trail crosses a small creek. Stay left of the creek and veer slightly left up to the West edge of the cliff above. We went straight across the creek, ascended through the brush to another steep cliff past the entire basin, scrambled to the ridge, and then traversed all the way back to the route. Doh! There are some deathblocks that could use trundling. There was a party below us so we refrained. The first deathblock is on p3 in the topo below. It is about 8ft long, one foot wide, and two to three feet high, and it is only suspended by its ends. You can avoid this by veering up and right. A small loose block is in a spot where you really want to step later in that pitch. This probably would come off with a tug. Deathblock 2 is on the exit from the zebra corner. It is 6ft long, 2 feet thick, and three feet high, and it overhangs the lip of a ledge. It may be heavy enough to be stable, but climb gingerly ON it and don't do a hand traverse on the outside of it. Ouch. Variation finish: We wanted to go straight up the zebra corner but it was still wet in a key spot. I really wanted to get on something new I'd seen in the photos, so at the end of our p5 I veered left and belayed at cracks 10 feet left of the large tree that is the base of the dihedral in Blake's photo. Just above that is a short, steep fingercrack (5.10a/b?). This leads to an amazing clean corner (the underback - see photos above). I belayed at a nice tree atop that corner. From there it is 60m of mostly easy ground to the summit. If you go over the roof at the end of the zebra corner you'd find a tree to belay and a great handcrack leading up to the start of the variation mentioned above. We lead and TRd the dihedral in Blake's 2nd to last photo before lowering back to go up the variation above. This pitch has a loose block that needs to come out. Go late in the day to be in the sunshine. The rock here is superb. Enjoy! Where we went:

Pickets to the East.

oh, the scandal!

Way to push out of your comfort zone.

I have a topo of the upper half that may keep you out of trouble. Send pm with email address and I'll send you a PDF.

Looks like your son has chalk up to his elbows!

Chair is a lovely peak but the rock is total choss. Wear helmet, beware loose rock, and move fast in the firing zone.

Very nice. I hope to do that with my kids one day. Note to self: climb popular moderates to score gear!