OlympicMtnBoy

Anyone wanna head over the pass for a day at Vantage before it starts raining? I need to get outside.

I'm up for tomorrow, or are you already out there?

Here{s an idea, instead of trying to go from the top up, go bottom down. Cut a hole in the bottom of your pack and sew the bottom half of a bivy sack to that, then just put a buckle or zipper so you can roll up the bivy half and store it and pack the rest of your stuff back in your pack. A bonus if your pack has padding is that it automatically becomes your sleeping pad for your upper body. For the opponents of using your pack for more than one thing, I use mine all the time as my sleeping pad with a sit pad for a little extra length,then I just bring all my gear in the bivy sack with me. I{m going altralight so it isn{t thatmuch stuff anyways. Hey, it doesn{t hurt to try new things. Good luck, post pics if you make something cool.

Also check out: http://www.davidmikelsons.com/fine_art/gallery.html Click on the "mountains" tab. He's a friend of mine who was living here till a few months ago and did some nice paintings of the Olympics, Cascades, Smith Rock, etc. I was dragging him along on some easy climbs. You can't have "Last Pitch", it's already spoken for though. And he doesn't know I'm posting him here.

Yeah, I think I'd have a hard time convincing a lot of normal climbers that drytooling next the highway in the dark in the rain is anything but stupid too. Hehehe, fun though, thanks for having the ropes up when I got there too! Nice lead, maybe I'll try that next time (or in a year ot two), that and trying not to kill myself pulling back onto the road. :-)

Ahh well, I'm heading out anyways now. :-)

Are you still going early?

Well shoot, it got sunny while I was indoors at the gym or I would have gone out earlier. You still ned a ride Gary? I could leave in a half hour. Is anyone else aready there or planning to meet at 5?

I can probably do weds too, sounds like more fun in the rain and mud!

Ok, if we're meeting at the P+R I'll be there around 5:15, if we're not then I need some additional directions. :-)

Hey I can make it this week! I wouldn't mind starting with light if anyone else wants to show up at 3. Post and let me know. :-) - OMB

I've done it a ways down the obstruction point road. You can't park at the top of Hurricane ridge, but if you let the rangers know, you can park overnight down at the snowplow parking, maybe 1/2 mile down. It's a short walk to the obstruction point road snowshoe start. I dug a nice cave across the road from steeple rock, maybe 1 mi in.

Yeah, Hubba Hubba with WM was a lot of fun, but we drove around and didn't see a while lot else that was ready quite yet. Maybe more for a new years ice party? Maybe I'll just have to drive to Canada. Hey WM, where are the pics?

I'm free Friday, but I don't have my ice book with me. I'd love to get out. I'm coming from Seattle, so Stevens would be awesome, but I could make it farther easily enough. I've got new tools I'm dying to try out. I'll PM you.

I know what you mean, I was working there October 11th-November 12th. It was just a little crazy. A lot of great peope trying hard, and a lot of shit going on. I'd say that city won't be the same, but some things down there aren't going to change either. Thanks for helping out too.

Well, if anyone wants a belay, I'll probably be bouldering at Stone Gardens around 6 or so. Look for tan pants and a reddish shirt with animal tracks on the back. I'll be falling off the V0s. :-) - OMB

I've obviously been inside at this computer WAY too long, I meant the VW in Seattle, Stone Gardens would also work fine. Anyone?

I need to get out of this tiny room and get some form of exercise today. Anyone up for VW late afternoon or evening? Post or drop me a PM with your #.

:-( Sorry I missed it. Went to a World Aids Day thing with my GF. Everyone have fun in the snow? Next week?

Need one more? I have some new tools to try out. Can I tag along? - OMB

Thanks for the deal, I couldn't pass up the Barryvox, $175 instead of $300, no more renting for me! :-)

I'm up for some aid too, we can all have an aid fest at Index. PM me if you wanna go, my schedule is pretty wide open.

Great, looks like I ought to go with Verizon then. I'll just have to do a little research on phones and make sure I get a tri-band phone with decent power and durability. Thanks for all the great input.

Ok, so I finally have to make the leap everyone else made years ago. I need a cell phone. I know (from using other peoples phones) that of course, coverage sucks out of metro areas and rarely works in the hills. But which one works best? Which carrier is most likely to get me a tow truck when I'm stuck on a dirt road on the Olympic Peninsula, or sliding in the snow in the Cascades? What carriers have you had good experiences with outside of the cities?

PM sent re: hybrid alien. :-)