smiley

Those damn bats!!! You should see my back from that silly chimney pitch too!! Did I mention I hate bats?! But hey at least I finished it. I think I did the whole rest of the pitch with my eyes closed after the bat flew at my head.

I'm beginning to look into massage therapy schools. I imagine that there's a few liscensed massage therapists on this site. Any recommendations on schools in WA/OR/CA? What to look for/what to avoid?

We will most likely be there. I may have to work till 5:30 or so, which puts us there 6:30ish. Hopefully earlier! See ya'll tomorrow!

I love llamas!!!

Isn't that the name of some foreign movie? It was extremely bizarre, as I reacall...

Sounds like fun! We'll probably be there!

Forgive my ignorance, but is 1 to 3% an abnormally high amount of people allergic to peanuts compared to most other foods? If so, then fine. (I still think its a stupid rule though.) If not, what about the kids allergic to chocolate or wheat or eggs or milk or whatever?!

Awww... Poor Mike. There's lotsa cute girls about an hour East of ya! Really though, I'd say just don't be over-agressive about it. If she's cute and climbing, like Marylou said, focus on the common denominator-climbing. If you guys hit it off and start hanging out, there will be plenty of time later on to get a piece of ass.

1. Having to check in for work every 2.5 hrs, only to not work. 2. When people use dry erasers on paper. Ughh!!!

Try living in Utah...

Did anyone else read that amazing story in this month's National Geographic Adventure magazine about a group of Jews who hid from the Nazis for 2 or 3 years in a huge labyrinth of a cave?! You should check it out. http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/0406/excerpt4.html (I think this is only the first page or so... You have to buy the magazine to read the rest... )

Sketchfest - How was it? I am curious as to what that hike is like.

Got it! From the west, take Exit 41 off of I84, turn right and park in front of the stone restroom building. Walk east up the road for 75 yards to a sign on your left identifying the Gorge Trail #400. Climb and then walk along the edge of the campground to a fork. For ruckel ridge, turn right at the fork continue past more camp areas and begin climbing from site #5. After going under the power lines and reentering woods, stay right, descend slightly and come to a large talus slope. traverse across for a few hundred feet and then be watching for a path that goes up to the left over the rocks. Aim for the little crest below the end of the cliff and follow it up to the bottom of the sheer face. Turn left, follow along the base of the wall and then begin climbing very steeply on a well-defined use path. At 2.5mi you can circumvent a very exposed catwalk by traversing below the crest on the west side. About .3mi farther drop to a saddle and then begin the final mile of steep uphill to the junction with the Ruckle Creek trail a short distance beyond the easy ford of Ruckle Creek. Turn left at the junction with the ruckle creek trail and begin winding downhill back to the trailhead. And remember... "Ruckel Ridge seems to be a magnet for people who grossly overestimate their hiking skills." (Nothing against you, Sketchfest, I just thought it was funny!) -I got this from the Columbia Gorge Hikes book by Don and Roberta Lowe.

Damn, I would tell you how to get there because I have the hiking book with the directions in my truck outside but I'm at the library and if I leave I'll lose my computer!?

Cytomax

Who's Randy Johnson?

That would be downright scary...

Little Cottonwood has some great climbing on nice granite. Lots of routes, multipitch and cragging, only 10 min from SLC. Also lots of bouldering. I don't remember any route names, etc, only climbed there a few times, but it's a great place for being so close to that damn city. (get ready for shitty )

Anyone up for beers and/or climbing one evening this week??

Hi, I'm looking for climbing partners in the Portland area for the summer. Gotta work weekends, but weekdays are great. Climbing or ski touring. Also, when is the next PDX Pub Club??

Wicked sit start! Bump up with left hand to a sick little sloper! Rock up on your right foot and move to a small sharp crimp! Full extension to 2 finger pocket and move your feet into postion for the topout! A powerful sloping mantle onto a sandy ledge! I graded this a B3, my partner tried for about 2 hours until he lost several pads on his middle and index fingers on his right hand. So currently is awaits a confirmation on the grade.

Nope... just one dude and he was clueless. I'm suprised there weren't more people up there on a Saturday, but like you said, it was a bit chilly...

On our way across the country, we decided to stop and check out the rumored great climbing up on the North Shore of Lake Superior... Woke up early on Saturday morning, grabbed some coffee and a bagel and headed north to spend the sunny (albeit chilly) day enjoying the area. First stop was Tettegouche State Park to sign in. (FYI, if you are climbing on the North Shore, a pass is required. It's free though.)Seeing as how Shovel Point was a 5 minute hike away, we grabbed our packs and headed out. Let me just say right now, that there was a trend which was prominent with us throughout the day. We had decided not to buy the guidebook for the North Shore. Bad plan. But the only one available was about 30 bucks. It's the Falcon guide and covers all of MN and WI. We don't plan on climbing in that area again, thus we didn't want to spend the money just for one day. As far as we could tell, Shovel Point is only acessible from the top of the cliff. So without a guidebook, we were able to see where the climbs topped out, but not how hard the route was, or anything else about it. After poking around there for a bit and enjoying the view,(It's spectacular!) we decided to head to Palisade head, just a few miles south of Shovel Point, which is where we were planning on climbing in the first place. At Palisade head, after escaping from the tourists gawking at the lake in the parking lot, the hike down left something to be desired, for me at least. There is lots of loose pebbles on the rock there, which made the scramble down the gully somewhat treacherous. The last little 5.0 downclimb was super loose and chossy, but luckily someone had fixed a rope there, so we were able to rap with no problem at all. I was not looking forward to climbing back up it though. After we walked the entirety of the base of the area, we both came to the same conclusion: Nothing looked appealing. It was weird, we were in this place that supposedly had great climbing, but cracks led nowhere, the rock looked like it could eat a whole hand (one route there is named Laceration Jam)... I dunno. We just weren't psyched. Maybe we're wusses, maybe we just needed a guidebook, and maybe being in Yosemite a few weeks ago jaded us... who knows. In any case, there was one more area we wanted to check out, so we made our escape by way of a 5.7 crack which my partner led. It was called TRG or FLT or GFL or who knows what... I forget. The route followed this flake that was insanely sharp. I swear I could've sliced an apple in half on the edge of that damn thing! There were immense amounts of loose gravel at the top of the climb which were falling on my partner as he was leading, thanks to some tourons up above I'm sure. After that whole ordeal, we were excited to check out one more place, Section 13, off of County road 6. It required a 20 min or so (?) hike along the Superior Hiking Trail, which was quite pleasant. The location of this particular crag was beautiful! From the top we had great views of the lake and the inland as well. The rock here, anorthsite I believe, was also much more aesthetic than on the shore. Turns out we weren't able to climb anything.(no damn guidebook, some of the cracks withered away towards the top so we couldn't lead, the others were full of mud, etc etc...) We were bummed about not climbing, but psyched to be in such a beautiful spot. All in all, a pitiful 1 pitch during a whole day on the North Shore. But we still had a great time, so all wasn't lost. Moral of the story: If you're planning on heading up there, buy or borrow a guidebook! At least that would be my advice.... (should this TR be in the Rockclimbing Forum? I wasn't sure... )

Climb: Yosemite - After Six Date of Climb: 4/17/2004 Trip Report: Finally made it out to Yosemite a few weeks ago during a brief stay in Cali. I had had a stressful previous week, and was just looking forward to relaxing for a few days and getting back on the rock after a snowy winter. After the winding drive through the foothills, I was a little disappointed as we entered the gates of Yosemite, expecting to see huge granite monoliths immediately, but there was nothing but trees..(beautiful trees I might add, but I was looking for rocks at that moment) However about 20 miles or so in, as we rounded a corner, El Cap, Halfdome and all the rest came into full view. "Holy Shit!" I exclaimed. And those senitments still hold true. The next day, wanting a fun moderate route in order for me to get my bearings in the place, my partner and I decided on After Six, a 5.7 route I believe (?) on the Manure Pile buttress. He led the first(crux) pitch, and I felt great following him up. The next pitch was more scrambling than climbing, but I need the leading practice, so I took the rack and headed up pitch 2. I felt confident climbing, however some of my gear placements could have been better. The party behind us was a guide taking a customer up. It was quite amusing to watch, as the guide was frustrated with the client and whenever he was out of earshot the guide was making sarcastic comments about him to us. He also pretended to almost fall off a ledge, just to scare the guy... Guess the dude got his money's worth!? Anyways, my partner led pitch 3, and on pitch 4 I took over again. I felt much more sure about my gear placements here, as I just got more used to placing gear again. As I was belaying him up, a climber passed us, free-soloing. Hearing that I was a newbie leader he gave me some words of encouragement and scrambled on, up the face above me. My partner and I swapped leads again on the last 2 pitches which were short and fairly easy. As we stopped on top to enjoy the view and grab a sip of water, we realized that it was our first route together where we had been able to swap leads back and forth! This was a huge accomplishment for me, no matter how easy the climbing was. I couldn't think of a better location than Yosemite for my first multi-pitch lead. The next couple of days were quite wet, so we only got a little cragging in. But all in all it was a great trip. I was so amazed by the huge scale of everything there... rocks, waterfalls, all of it! I can't wait to return and try some more difficult routes.