dan_forester

What are the odds of that... If you haven't read it, Ivan, latter-day scop and vessel of the spear-danes' legacy, will be more than happy to recite it for you (well, a lot of it anyway). Then ask him to recite that modern classic "gin & juice" in an irish accent.

I'm guessing a John Waters movie...?

I do too. Courtesy costs nothing.

2001 a space odyssey "Victims? Don't be melodramatic. Look down there. Would you really feel any pity if one of those dots stopped moving forever? If I offered you 20,000 pounds for every dot that stopped, would you really, old man, tell me to keep my money? Or would you calculate how many dots you could afford to spare? Free of income tax, old man, free of income tax. The only way you can save money nowadays." or "In Italy for thirty years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed - but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love, 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock. So long, Holly." one of my favorite movies - The Third Man. you can't beat movies of the 40s for great dialogue.

yeah, when I was working in carpentry I cut a board too short one time and my boss tried to convince me I needed to go to the lumber yard to get a board-stretcher. actually, I cut boards too short a lot, but he only tried that trick on me once.

hey, what's best in life? please choose one: a) the open steppe, fleet horse, falcon on your wrist, wind in your hair b) to crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women the wrong answer will get you 10 years on the wheel of pain

Wow, good job getting down safely! Nice pictures, too.

the only routes I can think of offhand that would really benefit from some bolted top-rope anchors are blackberry jam (you need quite a lot of rope/webbing to sling the nearest tree), and maybe white rabbit. Bill probably has a longer list. most of the other classic routes have a tree or decent gear placements handy.

Uh….I think the quote is “I came here for two things……drink beer and kick some ass……looks like I’m almost out of beer” One of the all time great movies! no, it is (inexplicably) "bubble gum"

"I came here to chew bubble gum and kick ass...and I'm all out of bubble gum." (Wow, I really need to see this movie again, it's even better than "Roadhouse")

Ivan, your license plate reads NCC 1701, doesn't it?

E) ask to see their belay cards, then when they look at you all bewildered, patiently explain that in order to climb at smith, they need to pass the belay test administered in the parking lot.

I don't even understand this paragraph...

Old Man Rock is offering excellent advice; listen to him.

Peter, "maintaining" rocky butte would be a full-time job - picking up litter, outreach to the junkie and prostitution communities ("could you all just go somewhere else, like a motel room?"), and achieving some kind of rapprochement with the mystery bolt choppers. There was a clean-up down here a couple months ago, which felt good to be a part of, but you'd have to do a clean-up every weekend to really keep the litter under control. And at a certain point picking up bottles and condoms when you'd rather be climbing loses its fascination. (by the way, side note: Bill, are those your boxer shorts hanging on the wall 15 feet to the right of the crux on Birds of Paradise? They've been there for months, pick them up sometime, would you? geez!) Personally I think that the more people there are out climbing there the better place it'll be to climb. And on a nice summer weekend the butte is anything but neglected. Though I had it to myself yesterday afternoon, which was kind of nice too. And C.M., if you ever decide to go back to the butte, hook up with some of the folks that climb there a lot & get them to show you the sweet routes (you won't find them from the top). In the summer there's often a semi-regular evening climb session there w/ folks on this board, look for that in the events forum I think.

Rest in Peace, Jim - I'm sorry we never had the chance to climb together.

No offense taken, shapp, thanks for the advice on the jugging practice. You're right, the first pitch was mostly stoppers plus a couple aliens; a red & then a yellow camalot about midway. I did a few cam hook moves, that and offset nuts in a couple pin scars made it pretty easy.

I see a lot of dumb ass shit every day. Have to assume NOTHING from the drivers, and be totally paranoid. It sucks. but I rather not get nailed by 3000+ lbs of metal. I try to assume that they don't see me, plus that they are drunk, and also in a hurry to get away after robbing a bank.

Well, I've certainly girth hitched runners, webbing & cord together to extend an anchor to the right spot, but if you've got the extra biners, connecting the cordelette & the webbing w/ 2 lockers (or a locker & an oval, opposed & reversed) would probably be the best set-up.

grew up in West Virginia....that explains a LOT. I could probably climb 13b/c as well if I had an extra couple fingers on each hand. the inter-digital webbing is also key for slopers, and the tail does wonders for one's balance.

18) if you climb at any place that has a guidebook and then complain on teh interweb about the crowds or the various gumby antics you witness there

what, you're getting bored with Shovel Point & road trips to Taylor's Falls?

Good to know, Rob. Our one (grappling) hook was conveniently clipped to my harness back at the belay. That might have helped, though I don't think Josh has used one before & that would be an exciting spot to do your first hook moves. Tim, that would be a wild first aid climb! 25 years ago, what, were you like 12 or something?

Yeah, Porter, it was a good day out. We'll see you down here when you heal up, OK? Thanks Josh for putting the TR + pics up. For those of you who haven't climbed with him yet, he's a super solid partner. When I got to the cave we didn't have a ton of daylight left and it was really cool to have someone who had it together mentally & organization-wise to rap off a way we were both unfamiliar with. Will, I had trouble on the jug mostly because of basic mechanical ineptitude. I haven't done a ton of jugging, and it's all been on vertical or less than vertical stuff. When you're free-hanging you really have to have it dialed, or it's extra strenuous. I got burnt out fast physically. Mentally it was taxing as well - the exposure was tremendous, and there's something about unclipping a bolt and swinging out into space, a couple of hundred feet off the deck, that started to wear on me. I was gibbering and incoherent by the time I reached the lip. But the sad thing is, now I want to go back & try it again. I was super psyched that Josh hadn't finished off the water when I got to the cave. Thanks again for that. So I don't usually like rapping off in the dark, etc, but watching the sun set over the mountains from the cave and then walking back along the crooked river under the stars, and then under the nearly full moon, was a cool experience. Just reminded me of what an awesome place smith is, & why it's one of my favorite spots in Oregon.

I'm guessing this means "don't take your brake hand off" but it looks like the belayer is striking himself forcefully in a tender spot...