tanstaafl

I go to Goodwill and find something for $5. They generally don't last more than six months, but for $5 they don't have to. At times I've found actual gusseted climbing pants there for ~$8.

Hah, when Feck says "not much experience" he means "none." Thanks all for a killer three days. When can we do it again??

Rad. Way to rip it up. Sorry I didn't make it back from AZ in time to head out with you!

You can road trip for a couple of years without being wealthy! In that sort of time you can hit Tuolumne and the eastern Sierra, Tetons, Boulder Canyon, Wind Rivers, City of Rocks, South Platte/Turkey Rocks, Devil's Tower, Vedauwoo, Eldorado Canyon, Lumpy Ridge, the Valley, Red Rocks, JTree, Indian Creek and desert towers in southern Utah, Zion, the North Cascades, Squamish, Oak Creek Canyon and Cochise Stronghold in Arizona, Hueco Tanks, the Organ Mtns in New Mexico, etc etc.

The Chandelier also is in, but the climbs up Mountaineer Creek are not.

I am an average weekend climber and I absolutely disagree that routes I can't climb off the couch are a waste of rock. I like the fact that there are easy routes, ones that I have to be on my game to climb, ones that give me something to train for, and ones that are (at least currently, and some probably forever) out of my reach. If climbing were so easy I didn't have to put any effort into it, what would be the point of bothering with it at all?

Flavor of the week for sure -- Rat and I climbed it this past weekend as well. It took us 2.5 hours from the top of the couloir to the summit and about the same amount of time back down. We soloed most of it but roped up for the last three pitches to the summit, which turned out not to be really necessary. We downclimbed all of it except one very short rap and two ~30 m raps.

kick ass.

Any glove recommendations for someone who runs cold and has a bit of Reynaud's to boot?

Wow, Carl looks about 12 years old in that last picture. Nice report Gaucho and thanks for the historical perspective, Lowell.

I'm neither a small nor a ripping skier, but I'm quite happy with my DAS, take it everywhere in winter, and have even worn it when skinning at times. Warmest jacket I've ever had, which admittedly isn't saying much, as the runner up is one of those old NF two-tone down jackets from the late 90s with no hood.

There were at least three other helmet-wearers at the LTW on Saturday. We were stealthy though.

Bonnie Springs Ranch Motel is very close to the climbing and a pretty entertaining place. I only stayed there once but it was pretty cheap as I recall. Phone 702-875-4400 for current rates and reservations.

Stupendous. Thanks for posting your Cascades adventures Mikey.

Cool; Paisano got some action this weekend. Susan and I climbed the standard route on Sunday. Thanks Blake for the beta overload. I got a camera for Christmas so here are a few pics: Paisano Pinnacle and Burgundy Spire Susan following the second pitch mmm crack Pretty lichen Summit views

Burgundy Col is essentially snow free (although there is snow for melting if you bivy there), but you may not really think that's a good thing.

That was a little to close for comfort I thought. Awesome; thanks for posting this. And congrats to Kate on Freerider too. Please tell her I really enjoyed her blog post (and your pics) on that -- very inspiring.

Kick ass. Casey you're tearing it up now that you're not spending your summers in AK!

Relief has a number of different meanings, two of which are: 1) sharpness of outline due to contrast or the state of being distinguished by contrast ("a roof in relief against the sky"); 2) the elevations or inequalities of a land surface (from Merriam Webster) Tom and Wayne, nice job and thanks for the pictures. Looks like there's plenty of water on the route now.

We climbed our way from the road up to Giveler's weekend before last and there are definitely a number of pitches between Alphabet Rock and Givler's that are 5.8ish, but I have no idea what they are named.

That is one excellent hat. Nice photos as always; I particularly like the one of the waterfall.

If you took away 65% of my income I'd *still* make more than I made in NYC in the early 90s when I first got out of college ($19K a year). And you better believe I paid taxes on that -- federal, state, city, and something they called "other" and just took. I also managed to make student loan payments and save enough in a year to take a six-week trip to Europe on that salary, so -- I dunno. I simultaneously think that 65% is an awful lot to pay, AND that if you can't manage to live on $350K a year you're an idiot and I have no sympathy for you. I also have a hard time believing that 46% of Americans really make less than $20K a year, but if they do, sure, let them keep every penny of it.

Actually, a very good reason to wear a transceiver if you're out alone is that they do come in handy for the people who end up looking for you.

5'9" and oh, I dunno, 140 - 145ish? I went from Dynastar Renegades that were 103-67-88 and 180 - 185ish in length to 160 Miss Bakers at 120-88-108 and found that they were the dream. I never realized how much I fought that old setup until I got the new one and I turned out to be not quite as shitty of a skier as I had always thought. Almost, but not quite.

hah, someday I will come north and sample the high-end Canadian hut lifestyle, but this weekend the solitude of Hidden Lake Peak was just what I needed. Plus there were entertaining ledger entries from various cc.com posters, not to mention an array of heartbroken women writing multiple pages about the relationships they had supposedly come to the lookout to forget (the best of which ended with a wish that her ex would have ugly babies), a gentleman announcing that women who had climbed the peak might be worthy to climb into his bed and should contact him at a PO box in Marblemount, political commentary, entries ostensibly written by marmots, mushy entries by newly-engaged couples, etc. etc. good fun.