Blake

The grey rock was bad stuff. I imagine you could find better stuff by staying to the sides at that spot, but i don't know for sure. The rock quickly became quite bad just after the slab and corner that was some of the thoughest climbing of the route. I was glad to be belaying under a roof. I think that the mythic wall would be a better climb if you could just do one of them. However, there arent any free new cams on that line. Because the bridge is gone and the Nooksack will likely be too high to wade for many months, I don't think that anyone will be doing stuff in there for the near future.

8-10 pitches I'd say. Probably no harder than 5.9. The roof/chimney crux at the end of the first pitch is avoidable. There's a free new cam for the second ascentionist, I doubt anyone will bother. By the time the river recedes to wadeable levels and that valley gets accessable again, i bet it'll be july.

rage is fantastic. audioslave is a poor poor imitation. I heard audioslave does rage songs now too.

This thread + bobbyperu = spray time

thanks again for going David, I still owe you some Casa Que Pasa.

se you Sun morning. I'll email you an address

that's pretty rad that you guys are working together/sharing gear/getting out and doing this. Nice that two folks can climb with one set of tools. It'll be really nice in winter when all the rock is wet. Where can the Seattle-ites dry-tool?

private property, some work being done w/the access fund.

I was in your same position and picked one up on sale at the Mtn Shop in PDX. Check around and try a froogle search. they are still available at many places.

The part about the car-jacking drug-dealer is actually the least-embellished part, too.

So people keep telling me they are "interested" does that mean "save for me at the price listed and i'll get you a check"? For what its worth, only the runners/book/helmet have "interested" parties.

how are those different than the Talus pants by patagucci?

I'm selling some stuff that I've either never used, or used lightly a few times. All stuff was bought within the last year, except the helmet. I can send more pics if you want. Mtn. Hardwear Ethereal FTX Parka As-new condition, list price is over $400. It's a size small, but fits me well and I wear mediums. SummitPost Reviews $195 OBO Nylon Runners, 1/2" wide.12"x4 , stiff quickdraw runners X4 $2 for the 24" and 48", $1 for the others.

Here's a sample : That is a fantastic photo john, i'm cracking up. I like the trekking poles, but who'se the gumby with the big pack to your left?

i'll buy aliens red/yellow/grey or a red camalot. pm or email

EriK! I told you on Fri night I was looking for red and yellow aliens! I'll give you $5 more than Layton!

Last weekend was my first ropeup. Its story will be told in chronological order. The story you are about to see is true; the names have been kept the same to incriminate the guilty. 3PM Friday: I call MisterE, we decide to leave soon 4PM: "I'll be there in a second Blake" 5PM: I begin a game of Monopoly, and crack open "War and Peace" 6pm: My acqisitions of Boardwalk and Parkplace have secured me the win. 7PM MisterE - "I'll pick you up in a few minutes Blake" 8:30PM - We leave Bellingham, I'm awakened periodically by a crippled kitten mistaking my inner thigh for a scratching post as it wanders the car. (In a bizarre twist of irony, this cat, once nearly roadkill, seems now to LOVE the car.) 11PM - We arrive at the campground to find a small but hearty group of belligerant cc.comers, already in varying states of chemically-altered conciousness, standing in the rain wondering what will happen with no camp site. 12pm - We scatter throughout the area and set up tents, then reconvene at the beer. Keg is Tapped. Number of Minx fans is falling precipitously, number of Terminal Gravity fans is rising astronomically. Saturday 9AM - It's decided that we'll camp at Chatter Creek Sat Night. Calls for Minx's head drop off sharply once this spot has been secured. Rumors circulate that actual rock exists in this valley, it's just hiding behind a thick layer of clouds, rain, mud, and pine needles. 10AM: I meet Doxey Kemp. Based upon my qualifications of A: Having a metabolism, and B: being within 50' of him, he immediately offers me some kind of delicious food. This trend will continue. Doxey and I decide to try and climb through the liquid sunshine, but decline the option of packing a water bottle, considering that full hydration can be achieving by yawning and looking upward. 11AM: Weather improves, I can almost make out Doxey's smiling figure at upwards of 20' through fog and rain. Verbal communication, however, is out of the question due to Katrina-esque winds. 11:05AM: The eye of the hurricane has pasted. We top out to a storm of steady hail, and 5 of the 7 plagues of Egypt. Doxey quickly leads me down the "trail," biggest fall of the weekend ensues. Upon return to the car, I am given food. Noon: we start driving towards the new campground. I dive back into "War and Peace" 1PM: Book finished. Still Driving. Convenient that Doxey's car contains the complete works of Shakespeare, this should occupy me for at least 1/2 of the remaining drive. 2PM: Tires Rotated, oil changed, still driving to the Campground. Doxey gives me some kind of delicious lunch. 3pm: Initially we can't find the camp spot. Turning off the engine and following the primitive calls of bored drunken climbers brings us to the spot. Keg is flowing freely. 4PM: A carload of coeds from CWU shows up, they appear to have found their own keg elsewhere already. I convince them to drive back down the road for a few hours until we reach Classic Crack. Matt Cook belays me from the bumper while eating Doritos and watching Jens solo every bit of rock in site. He is assuming and unacceptable level of objective risk. I hope he doesn't have children. 6PM: We start driving back to Chatter Creek 9PM: Almost there 10PM:-3AM: Kegs are tapped and drained. Doxey makes tacos for half the climbers in the northwest. Slide show is pre-empted by Girls Gone Wild - Leavenworth Style. OlyClimber, AlpineDave, and others disappear temporarily. Area campers report strange howls and unsual smells in the woods. Art Bell and the bigfoot squad is alerted. Drunken climbers eventually return. Sunday Noon: I am the first one out of bed, except for Doxey, who has been up since before MisterE went to bed, in order to prepare pancakes for all the NW climbers who didn't get burritos the night before. 12:30PM: A gear swap occurs. Three people each trade $20 and a few trinkets back-and-forth for 20 minutes. 2PM: MisterE and I rack up for some climbs at Castle Rock in a steady drizzle. Temps have reached their daily high of 39 degrees. We pass NOLSe coming down the trail, forced to retreat due to frostbite and windchill exposure. 3PM: Full on deluge erupts. We contemplate waiting a few more minutes until the trickle of water running down the trail because raftable, but decided to wade back to the car right away. 4PM: I'm dropped off in Leavenworth. Ride should be here soon to go back to Bellingham. 5PM: I meet Paul Sobo, Olyclimber, and AlpineDave at Gustav's. Rain dripping off our soaked clothes creates a swampy area beneath our table. 6PM: I go to Safeway and wait for my ride. If there is anywhere better to spend Sunday night alone, than in the Leavenworth Safeway, I haven't found it. 8PM: I wake up from a short nap in the Safeway Deli to find that someone has left me a $20 gift card, apparently mistaking me for a homeless youth. After glancing at a mirror, I can't blame them. 11PM: Safeway closes. My endless supply of free shitty magazines to read comes to an end. I move outside and sleep amidst the pumpkins on some hay bales. 11:30PM: My ride arrives. I am given some cold Taco Bell. Where is Doxey when I'm hungry? I enter a world of temporary sanity as nothing bizarre happens for nearly1.5 hours. MONDAY 1AM: After driving by a pair of hitchhiking teens, i convince the driver to go back and pick them up. (Note to self, living in Stehekin instills an unhealty trust of humanity). Our two hitchhikers, Chris and Ashley, introduce themselves as 16yr olds from Lake Stevens, and immediately offer us Cocaine and stolen credit cards in payment for a ride back home. 1-1:30AM: Chris explains to me how to break into cars, and hotwire them (Jiggler keys, connect the greena and red wires.) I learn how to disable alarm systems (smash in the front left headlight.) Evidentally there is a lot more hard-drug usage in the Sky valley than one might imagine. 1:30AM we drop Chris off at his dealer's house/Chop-Shop in Lake Stevens. He goes inside to get us drugs and credit cards as payment for the ride. We call the cops, who are uninterested due to it not being an "emergency situation". 2:30AM I collapse in bed, making sure NOT to have the alarm go off before noon. Maybe we can have a ropeup in the Spring too!

Erik, several folks mentioned it in the "biggest local sandbag" thread, but i think it might ease off after where we stopped. The older guide says pro to 4", which we didn't have, especially after using the big cam lower down.

I think you are talking about the PMI verglass that I have, they are certified as double or twin.

cuz we are soooooo dang cool, compared to the ancient 20 and 30yr olds.

yeah, thanks for trying to teach me how to hand jam, it came in handy on "Damnation" the next day. Too bad I sucked and laybacked Classic Crack anyhow.

We were there! WHere were you? John was there, for that I can vouch. Maybe you just missed him?

Nor had Earl Warren. He;d been the Attorney general in California though.

Klenke vs Dru round two!