lancegranite

Thanks, but I can hardly call myself a climber, so send the thank you card to the secret cragsmen, they are still relevant, unlike me. I never put up very many new routes, instead put a ton of time on the old routes our forefathers. The lines they put up were great and deserve more than to fade away. I support the next generation carrying on the service, new routes or old.

I used to spend quite a bit of time, effort and money bringing back old Leavenworth routes from the dirt so that the climbing public may enjoy them once again. This is called crag stewardship and it's a lot of fun. You walk around and clean up climber trash, shore up climber paths from erosion, dust off several hundred feet of climber crack and face climbing, that sort of thing. Strangely, this work never seemed to appeal to the serious climbers who obviously feel so strongly about climbing's moral decline. You mostly just walked right past us on the way to more important matters. After all, you are on your day off from work, and there's serious climbing afoot. Who would actually want to work instead of climb? You passed me by and issued your serious judgement when just out of earshot. Suddenly after the fact all of a sudden the serious climbers are all up in arms about something or another. An offense to the memory of the past has occurred. Somebody has done something and now we need to issue a verdict! Guess what? Nobody cares about people who don't step up and roll up their sleeves. You walked right on by and never lifted a finger. Much love to the guys out there doing the good work. Russ Ricketts

Thanks for the update Jim. 11worth has a very large per capita population of climbers, skiers, bikers and boaters who live, work, own homes, pay taxes and who also frequent our local outdoor areas regularly. We are here for the long run. The people who work for the USFS are our friends and neighbors and guess what? They love all the same stuff. Nobody is going anywhere any time soon. Working together with the USFS and other .gov or .org agencies is perhaps not cool to some, but it has long term rewards. Recently a many year co-operative effort to build a large network of legal mountain bike/ hiking trails at Ski Hill has become a reality. While other districts slowly let trails and roads fall to ruin, Castle Rock's trail system received a much due facelift with USFS/.org/local climber work party. The actual construction of both of these projects was 99% private citizens or groups. The local community will still keep taking care of the canyons, whether it's putting up routes, picking up trash, building trail, drinking beers around a fire or hiking into the mountains in the middle of the night to bring home a fallen friend. The people who live here are going to keep on working, recreating and living together, just like they always have. JP: Thanks for all you have done over the years, it's appreciated. Russ Ricketts

I've been there. Good fun routes for the grade. The majority of the climbing is above, on the higher tier. Approach from the left.

I got the issue, check pms

+1 for the Warrior Wall. Old school vibes and a proud hunk of stone. The old guy crew spent the better part of 2 years dusting those old routes off. Some parties have suggested one more bolt on the top of first pitch of the East Face.

I was wondering where my suppressed MP5 was at.

Proof positive that shotguns make everything better!

Dan, Time flies I guess. I have some footage of you leading the other line that day but it was not from the best angle. Will put it together and shoot you a link. Thats funny, he told me about meeting you guys on the glacier.

Icicle TV is a local media resource for the Wenatchee valley. Check out this short video of Leavenworth local tall guy Aaron Scott climbing Rainbow falls last winter. Rainbow falls video

Just visited the Cascade Powder cats yurt in the Stevens pass area. Most definately not free, buy very nice two story yurt surrounded by excelent pow skiing. www.cascadepowdercats.com

I would like to see this data as well. I'm an irata 3 and usually privy to relavant industry tests. There have been a number of comprehensive tests done in the past couple years, notably the BLR/ropeworks backup device drop tests and the petzl live human drop tests. In both of these tests ALL of the aforementioned devices, except the petzl shunt, stripped the sheaths off the ropes or simply blew the rops apart. These were carefully controlled drop tests, not static load tests, so dont get all in a huff defending your method. The shunt is designed to slip on a low strech rope and as far as I know will only fail if it impacts a knot or other obstruction. The amount of potential slippage depends on your fall factor. Properly employed as a second line backup device the shunt will work as designed. Petzl does not endorse the shunt as a backup device, but it has a long standing history as the rope access backup device of choice. They are now reccomending the ASAP as the new perferred second line backup device.

I live in the area and work on the slope. It's a pretty quick commute. You can be in ANC in 6 hours flying out of pangborne field in east Wenatchee. 2&2s- jealous! I do 4&4... painful.

This is just like living in a duplex, a front row seat for domestic drama! Am I mistaken in believeing there like 6 rock climbers in alaska who have internet? Can't you guys just meet up and split a pizza and argue this over in person? I tell you what, I work on the slope and will be in town in two weeks. I'll buy the pizza and you guys show up and try to convince each other who's wrong/ right. Maybe if we are lucky it will in in a good old fist fight in the moose's tooth parking lot. Sadly I imagine you guys would just try to passive/ aggressive each other into submission. I'll be the one in the referee shirt with a whistle, you guys are are all invited! Somebody tell the whiner guy to bring the other guy's hangers. I need as many as possible for my new project wall and will pay a fair price for them. Don't forget to bring along the cute girl who climbs, I would like to meet her for unrelated reasons. I need to make reservations, so please RSVP here, not in a PM. I want everyone to read your every (important) thought.

I wonder if they are for one of the lines to the left of the last pitch?