Blake

Nobody wants to meet Colin, Jim Nelson, Lowell Skoog, Fred Beckey, Forrest Murphy, Dan Aylward, Mark Westman, Joe Puryear but in high demand are folks with more posts than pitches... I guess someone did mention Mark Twight, which throws off my theory a little.

Maybe this rock formation should get the informal name "BillyGoat Bluff" in honor of Bill Lewis who told me (and half the climbers in WA including Dan, regardless of what Bill may say) about this little cirque.

Tim, there are basically 4 peaks, and a couple of gendarmes around the South peak. Gunrunner traverses the whole range from N->S including every summit. Dan and I thought it was very fun, one of our most enjoyable days out in the mountains. While it is technically still "awaiting a FFA" we used aid at one spot to swing out of a dead-end crack, and onto an arete with good holds a few feet to the right. If it weren't so late with daylight fading (and no headlamps), I would have just lowered off the cam, climbed more rightward to start, and had Dan swing over and snag the cam as he followed. Anyways, it's essentially a free route with one end-of-the day aid move that I expect future parties will easily avoid by just looking around a little better than we did. This spot was on the N Ridge of the N Peak. Here's Dan at the pendulum piece. The NE peak: Unpublished route somewhere on the W Face (Kearney) The N Ridge III 5.10- Fun! (First ~7 pitches of traverse) The N Peak: W Face - Nelson/Dietrich III 5.11+ or 5.10 A1 N Ridge - 5.10 A1 E Face - Doesn't sound too great. See beckey. The Middle Peak: SW arete/face - Beckey Route - 5.8? Looks great N Ridge (up from the main notch) 2/3 pitches 5.6-5.9 w/options E Face - 2006 - replaced 1979 Skoog route. III 5.10d radness The South Peak: S Ridge: II 5.8 cannonhole climb W Face: unpublished up the corner/chimney (Cliff Leight) E Face: "Accidental Discharge" 5.10 - Please don't climb this That covers the bulk of it.

If you are in the photo, don't guess.

Under agenda item #2, there is a currently proposed piece of legislation by US Red Doc Hastings to re-open the historic stehekin road, giving climber and hikers access to the North cascades from Lake Chelan and the east side. http://hastings.house.gov/Read.aspx?ID=889 The funds for such a project would come out of the NPS budget and therefor not be in competition with west-side road repairs that are on national forest land. Access to peaks such as: Gunsight, Dome, Spider, Formidable, Storm King, Goode, Booker, Buckner, Sahale, Boston, and Logan would all be affected by the potential repair. I wish I could make it down for the meeting, but I hope that this will be discussed and the WCC will be in favor of the repair (which would merely move the road's right-of-way to a safer location away from the rover bank, and result in no net change of wilderness area) Jim Nelson recently posted a petition in favor of the repair at his shop and is in favor of the efforts as well.

Does anyone have any advice regarding the difficulties or headaches involved in removing tele bindings from a pair of skis and replacing them with dynafit AT bindings? Is this even possible? Assuming the holes don't line up and interfere, what is done to the old binding holes?

check PM

why does it now say poo-bah next to my name and have a smiley face? what happened to the angry "kiwi-wanker" nickname?

The top of that tower was scary and made a creaking noise when flexed. Climb it before it falls over, I am glad I was able to do it... ONE TIME. The wingate sandstone towers have the best climbing down there, watch out for the last moves on the first pitch of Coyote Calling!

Anyone available sunday for Index?

The new route "Golden Road" at the upper town wall is great! thanks a lot to the FA for establishing it. If someone goes up there soon, the 2nd bolt on the roof has a loose nut, and it seems to loosen itself. Maybe bring a small adjustable wrench or a small bottle of crazy glue? Anyone want to climb at Index Sunday?

This route is classic. Anyone do the offwidth, or does everyone do the finger crack like we did?

They work fine for me! Inbounds and touring have both been good. I wish I knew where all these $100-$150 AT bindings were for sale.

Anyone want to take a substantial part of the next 2 weeks and go climbing? I was thinking somewhere warmer with good rock (Indian creek, Red Rocks, Southern California???) but I am open to suggestions. I would like to leave ASAP and I have until the 8th. -Blake

Seems like kids always do best when raised by one dad and one mom in a stable exclusive relationship. I don't know the facts on kids raised by gay parents though... maybe if both parents are loving and committed the kid comes out ok. Either way, monogamy seems the best, and most successful (ie natural).

Panos, this climb is going to be icy/wet and not really in either summer or winter conditions. I'd guess there has been a lot of melt-freeze up there that likely loosened up things even more without truly freezing them in winter conditions. I have not done this climb. Why not climb across the road at the town walls?

Anyone available to climb at Mt. Erie tomorrow morning and afternoon? email / pm / or: (206)sevenseven9 seven526

I need my gucci alpine purse! (I think I was actually slipping or falling over in the snow in that picture. L.A. Gear does not make the Cascades approach shoe of choice.)

Tomorrow night my brother's band is playing at the "High Dive" in Seattle. My biased opinion is that they are really good. Anyone bored or looking for rainy day fun ought to check it out. "Kate Tucker and the Sons of Sweden" (straight out of Ballard!) http://www.highdiveseattle.com/ http://www.myspace.com/katetuckermusic Saturday Night is an especially good song.

Bump for the entertainment value after "Ketch" reminded me of this thread last weekend.

just to help out with your beta search, make sure you have the spelling correct. You've got it right in your post, but not in the title.

Seems like Patagonia does well on the long torso. Not REI brand, not duofold, and not Mtn hardwear.

That's awesome Graham. I guess the climbing on the North Island is not nearly as good as on the SI then, eh? You should look into visiting Tasmania, it's meant to be outstanding.

The writer for climbing Mag who contacted and interviewed me edited out what I thought was the best answer to any of the questions. It went something like this: Q: you keep going back to the Cascades, why is this? A: I think it's because they are big, exciting, and close by. I don't have the time and money to travel the world, so I climb the biggest and most appealing climbs nearby. If I lived next to the Bugaboos, I'd keep going there, if I lived in Patagonia I'd climb a lot there, if I were in the Colorado Rockies I'd... well, I guess I'd just do a lot of driving. Anyways, I learned how to use YouTube and put my summer slideshow for ropeup online. Many of the pictures were taken by partners, and it has lots of familiar faces. here:

sahale arm? Hey Josh!