tanstaafl

Climbed Guye yesterday; all snow and no ice; fun and cruiser. Snow was a little sugary but steps were fine. The smaller lighter people were able to just walk on top of the crust on the way in but not the bigger people. Saw a bald eagle while having lunch on top. Was on the north side of Kent in the late afternoon; didn't have much time to look around but it looked like there was some fun stuff back there.

They didn't even ask to see our passports last time. Must have been due to rat's aura of respectability.

Dude it took all of three minutes to look at a topo. But you’re right, I should have been planning what to go slay this weekend instead. When I climbed it (Calculus Crack/Memorial Crack start) I thought it was a pleasant enough moderate day out, but meeting Dirty Harry and Cappellini was easily the most entertaining part of that day.

But it was nice and warm at Dante's last night. Where the hell were you?

Actually, if you swing leads, each person leads one 7, one 9, and one 9+ pitch, and the person with the odds get a 6 and an 8 while the person with the evens gets a 7 and a 9A0 or 10b. Pretty lame to consider your partner on a climb that evenly divided as not pulling their weight, regardless of which pitches they get.

damn. Nice job, and those pics are gorgeous.

And a big thanks to pigsticker for the ride home. It was much appreciated.

Thanks everyone for PMs and suggestions. Found a decent-looking hostel for a price that even I think is good.

Dude, have you *been* to JRat's place? It's the size of a shoebox. Although I am emailing him to ask for recommendations as well. How you been buddy?

I'm heading to SLC for some ice climbing the week between Christmas and New Years, and am looking for cheap hotel recommendations, especially with kitchenette, although just ones where you can get away with using a Coleman stove work too. Anybody? thanks.

This Too Shall Pass was a bit rainy in the middle of the first pitch and pretty thin at the top, but climbable as of Saturday, at least if you have a ropegun along like I did. We climbed the left side of that first little WI3 step on Time Quake and then traversed over.

But would she be the right girl if she wanted to do the DC???

When Oly is drunk, everyone is Eric.

In the words of Charlie Brown, good grief! Maybe this does make logical sense, but you're first statement is not even true. The only "person" who is an ultimate source of morality and truth is God, but if by "judge" you mean reiterate God's morality, then the Bible makes no such prohibition against "judgment;" au contraire, we are commanded to do so. eh? I remember "Judge not lest ye be judged," and "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?" but I seem to have forgotten the part where I was commanded to judge.

thanks ...but maybe not as unique as you think. I know many, from yuppie Seattle liberals to a 72-year old rural Baptist minister's wife. they're out there.

minx honey, untrue. You know me. I have deeply held religious beliefs and I'm in favor of...well, technically I'm really in favour of marriage but I'd settle for unions. carry on everyone.

Lover's Leap? Maybe The Line??

I hear about criminals killing people a hell of a lot less often than I hear about a teenager walking into school with an assault rifle and shooting 25 of his classmates, or a father shooting his family and then himself, or a guy showing up to a rave afterparty and slaughtering the partygoers, or a father blowing away his 14-year-old daughter as she crawls in her bedroom window thinking she's an intruder. I wonder if the parents of the Amish schoolgirls murdered last month think we'd be safer if only more law-abiding milkmen had easy access to guns? All these people, right up to the point they started spraying bullets, were your "law-abiding citizens." And no one ever said they were insane either until they killed a bunch of people.

I was waiting for the truck stop joke. Thanks for not disappointing me.

If you actually notice the weight difference between eight tied slings over your shoulder and eight skinny slings over your shoulder, you're way more sensitive than I am, that's for sure. Not that I'm noted for my sensitivity.

Nothing like a little skykilo pornography...see you guys there.

I heard a rumor that ya'll were coming back so I was saving them to share over beers, bru. But here's a shot of the first pitch of the route I did on Blouberg. That place is fucking rad; if you ever get the chance to climb out there, grab it. Next time you're going to Joburg and want to climb lemme know. I now know a couple of nice local climber boys there; maybe I can hook you up.

You mean Rolf wasn't already rolling in babes? Unbelievable.

That'll be me this weekend. Check yer email for some pics, bud.

Climbed beautiful sandstone cracks and intimidating roofs in the kloofs at Magaliesberg, an hour and a half outside Johannesburg, South Africa, where there were a total of four climbers all weekend.