tanstaafl

I saw excerpts from that at a party once; the wife of the guest of honor introduced the film by saying, "You don't need to be a climber to appreciate how ridiculous this is, you just need a basic understanding of the laws of physics." Imagine someone flinging themselves down on a completely flat snowfield and then making progress across the snow by plunging the head of their ice ax into the snow and dragging themselves six inches at a time. It was spectacular.

Trip: Banks Lake - various Trip Date: 06/20/2020 Trip Report: There is still solitude to be had if you stay away from the Icicle Creek/Frenchman's shitshow(s) -- this weekend at Banks, we literally had the entire crag to ourselves on Saturday (well, except for the two guys who drove up the coulee in an ORV, saw us climbing, said, “We can’t shoot here,” and drove away, bless them) and saw only two other parties on Sunday. Should have taken both pairs of rock shoes; it was my first time rock climbing since early February and by 5 pm yesterday I could barely stand on my feet anymore and we had to quit. Didn’t climb anything noteworthy but sooo nice to get out and breathe the desert air. Drive home was even fine except for the usual 5 – 20 mph disaster between Roslyn and Easton. I don’t understand why that particular stretch always sucks so much, but it does. Gear Notes: rope, rack, slings/draws Approach Notes: I-90 to SR 283 to SR 17

A friend sent me the link to this climbing and skiing video; for your enjoyment while we're all waiting to get back out there: https://www.facebook.com/100002422883876/posts/2825174387573296/?d=n

well, he's married to me, so he gets a lot of practice being understanding.

I'm just happy that it happened there instead of on either of my upcoming hut trips, and with a partner who just said, "oh thank God, now we can go drink beer" instead of being pissed I ruined the day. hah.

hey, I spent yesterday breaking a binding on Smithbrook Road, so you could have done worse.

That's exactly why I ended up getting out of mountain rescue.

PM sent

Please reply back with how it goes! I don't have any need for them this minute but I'm sure I will in the future.

yeah, when I checked in with der Rat as to how he felt about me spending a boatload of cash on an Ikon Pass, he said would only approve if I visited my college roomie in SLC and skied there too. (That guy really abuses his powers as head of the household.) Now it looks like it might the only way to get my money's worth out of it! Might even have to do a second trip in the spring..... btw stellar photos as always, especially the Dome and Whitechuck shots.

my current plan b is to spend next week skiing around SLC. here's hoping for ten days of storms while I'm away.

I haven't used these guys (this guy?) so can't testify as to quality, but saw their flyer on the bulletin board at Vertical World: https://highmountaingearandrepair.com/

To this day every time I see hello kitty I think "alpine kitty."

biners are spoken for, thanks.

16 old school ovals in perfectly fine condition. pick up greenwood or downtown seattle. dragon not included.

Scarpa Magics, 26.5. Lots of use/wear but still intact. Come with replacement buckle in case you break one. If no one wants 'em they're going to Goodwill.

You said it ivan. Good to see everybody though!

Climbed Romantica on 6/29 with Der Rat; it was a little scruffy but cleaner than anything left of the spring—most everything over there looked pretty damn mossy, at least compared to the last time I was there, which was apparently TEN years ago. Though the boulders in the forest clearly DO get a lot of traffic though, they were scrubbed spotless and the trail that far was totally beat in. It kind of disappeared under vegetation after that.

whoa. that's eerie. tahoe city seems like a nice place to be right about now.

Nice, E$ -- I heard a little bit about this last night when I got home from Canadia, but as usual had to wait to read your TR for the details. Nice extra photos too—that's quite a load of garbage you guys packed out! Was that all from one site?

The West Ridge of Forbidden was my second alpine rock climb and one of my most treasured epics ever! If by epic you mean an open bivy with a hot guy on a beautiful warm August night. ah youth.

West Ridge of Forbidden and West Ridge of Stuart are both 5.6 and under and reasonably solid (in my memory anyway, but I climbed both many years ago), though the East Ledges descent off Forbidden would have loose rock. NE Ridge of Triumph is 5.6. Beckey Route on Liberty Bell is 5.6, plenty of loose rock but it's in the approach gully rather than on the route. Unicorn Peak in the Tatoosh is low 5th to mid-5th depending on which way you go.

I feel that there's a story or five in there that should be told.

Yeah, but now that we know the Zorro Face is a mere 5.9, can any self-respecting climber just do the standard route?

Nice pics -- Whitelaw kind of looks like an action figure in that second shot.