OlympicMtnBoy

Yep, it's a shame we can't fund State Parks through taxes (what, less than 12% of their funding now?). Personally I don't care if you don't want to pay for what you don't use, your grandkids might want to visit these parks some day. Raise my damn taxes! Please! My sincere apologies to the workers losing their jobs (I worked several summers as a park aide). I just hope these decreases don't result in further closures, and even lower use fees collected, and further closures . . .

I think ski boot fitter have little stick on pads than can go on the inside of the boot above the heel to provide a tighter fit in that area. Might ask at a shop if they have any of those pads for sale.

Smithbrook was nice last Sunday, we toured up a couple miles and then over towards Lichtenberg. Only heard one snowmobiler all day, I don't think it's that popular for them. Any road you get on right now is gonna be icy though. Not sure about other options.

I've used those Solomon amphibian type shoes with some success (in Red Rocks a couple times actually for stuff like Epinephrine). They are kind of like a mesh tennis shoe which doesn't protect the foot from catcti but keeps the rocks out and keeps me from banging my toes like with sandals/flip flops. They are pretty light and pack almost flat which was an issue for me as I hate to clip shoes to my harness and don't want my pack too bulging full. The plastic soles on those would be much improved with sticky rubber but I'm not sure you can resole that type of super light shoe easily.

Cool, except now that makes 4 (of 9) movies I didn't really have to pay to see at the Banff Film Fest in Leavenworth. Good find.

The canyons I've done will trash your rope pretty darn quick with all the sand, rapping into water, running your wet rope through sand again, etc. I wouldn't want to climb on anything I've done more than one or two dry canyons with. Do yourself a favor and get a cheap skinny static line. The canyoneering ropes (Imlay?) that you can get have tougher sheaths and float which are nice but those are pricey. Also depending what canyons you are doing you may not need 60 meters all the time. If you have any old retired ropes laying around that'd be a good cheap start.

Tempting, if it was for an extra day I'd consider it, maybe next time?

I used to drive an hour to get to the VW in Bremerton when I was living near Port Townsend. Of course I'd end up going like 3 times a year, mostly just in the winter. I'd find a buddy and make a rainy day of it when things started to get to me. Go have lunch at the mexican place near by and then go back in for some more. Now that I live here I sure wish there was something in L-worth or Wenatchee. I just put my hangboard up today. Moses Lake would be a bit too far.

It was several years ago but for my holds I used a drill press and a drill press vice. It took a while with a masonry bit and my dad dribbling water over it to cool the bit, but it worked and made for cleaner holes than a hand drill (which I didn't own at the time anyways). Softer rocks like sandstone worked best. Normal t-nuts/hex bolts after that made moving them easy.

I used real rocks on a climbing structure a long time ago, just find ones with a flatish side, sand/grind a bit flatter depending on hardness, drill and countersink a hole, bolt to the wall. Worked great for about half of my holds, buy your jug/pocket holds from one of the many other online folks.

Cool, that one is safe from the aliens and government mind control waves even!

SOLD

Gone, pending pickup. :-)

http://seattle.craigslist.org/est/spo/2687730960.html not my ad, no connection to it but FYI

Moving time and I'm realizing that although I'd love to have these around for that rare time I remember that "old article back in xxx", I probably don't need to cart them around. ~93 old Rock and Ice and Climbing mags, mostly 2003-present with a few other random ones. I'd love these to go to a good home. I left a bunch in Russia when I was there several years ago but I don't have any trips planned anywhere to take them right now. I'm in Fremont.

Hey Murse! I'm going to be living there as of next weekend and I'll be up for something. Frankly I'm not a boulderer and think wrestling tiny pebbles is weird. I do however reluctantly own a pad and sometimes find joy getting up a pebble or two and I'm sure I'll need to do some work this winter to stay in shape without a climbing gym nearby. I can probably be talked into working some easier problems and brushing snow off stuff. ;-) I don't know what the best winter spots are yet though. Look me up! - Stewart

Dynafit TLT 700 Alpine Touring / Backcountry / Randonee ski boots Size 29.5 (mondo) - ~11.5 US These are compatible with dynafit (tech) bindings and standard backcountry bindings. I've upgraded to newer boots that fit me better (smaller) but these still have some life in them for someone just looking to get into the sport! Usual wear and tear but fully functional. I made a repair to the walk mode switch on one boot but it works great. Inner boots are older "semi thermo-fit" but very comfy and well padded and work much better as hut booties than newer inners without laces and a sole. In Fremont if you want to try them on. Pics on my CL ad: http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/spo/2685808885.html $5 off the CL price for cc.com members (PM me here) cause you rock! - Stewart

I've got some Dynafit TLT 700s that are size 29.5-30. Too big for me but they got me started. Well used but still plenty of life - $70 (cc.com discount). Let me know if those might work for you. http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/spo/2685808885.html

My girlfriend and I are moving to Leavenworth in 2 weeks, hit us up when you get into town and we might be up for something.

Best of luck Dane!

Holy photo blast batman! Nice pics though, that is a great way to do it. Makes a nicer loop I think. Kinda pretty crags I'd love to check out some time above Young Lakes too.

It's pretty easy to see why it's harder to have the waist prusik below the foot loops if you try it, especially if the rope is not heavily weighted below you. If you have the waist prusik on top you can "rest" on it while you fiddle to get the foot prusik up. If you have the foot prusik on top and the rope below you is slack you have to spend a lot more energy to balance yourself on your feet while you try to slide the lower waist prusik up. If you are using a gri-gri or similar it's not an issue because you can just pull up on the slack line (or down if you use an extra pulley like ivan). If you are using a normal jumar or a prusik it will be a bitch.

BUMP! We're still looking, called a few of the craigslist postings but no luck yet. We'll be over next Sunday-Monday to do some more exploring, bulletin board checking, and driving around looking for signs. Anyone who still lives there seen/heard anything? Or just want to give a friendly hello? :-) - Stewart

Having climbed in Russia and run into Russian expeditions in Central Asia, I think there is also a difference in organizational knowledge. The old soviet style of training climbers and more formally organized outings continues in some degree (varies regionally I think) and more of these "Russian Big Wall Project" climbs are able to take advantage of years of expedition experience and older climbers and put them together with younger folks willing to tough stuff out. Most American expeditions today are organized more or less in a vacuum (comparatively) and you tend to see smaller parties which often don't have multiple generations participating, organizing things largely on their own. Or maybe this just points to my own experiences?

So after many happy years in our little enclave of Fremont it is time to turn up the moving music and jump out of the rut! My girlfriend has completed her Master's degree and just gotten a job in Leavenworth starting mid-November. Having spent a fair bit of time in the mountains there I'm really excited for the move although I really don't know the town all that well. We're looking for a cool place to live, as we have to give up the greatest apartment ever in Fremont, so I thought you folks might have some suggestions or inside info on something. It's just her and I, no kids or pets, but I'd really like to have a garage or workspace since my work schedule leaves me home a lot and I always have little tinkering projects going on. We have two cars and a Chinook (camper) at the moment so parking is important too. Maybe a small house or something? <$1300/mo without too much of a crazy winter commute to Icicle Rd. Ideas? Also since we don't know anyone in town we'd love to meet up with some of the local climbers or other interesting folks. I'll have lots of free time (weekdays too) for climbing, ice climbing, skiing (although I'm a mediocre BC skier), etc, but we're also into good food and beer. We're nice people! She starts around November 14th so we'll probably have a couple of weekend trips soon to look at houses/apartments and stuff and then moving. Let me know if you've got a line on either good living spots or good people. :-) Cheers, Stewart