selkirk

Evil tease! I have to work overtime

I'll second the comments on the Tao Te Ching... Find a quiet pretty place and read few verses. It's good for the soul, but has nothing to do with religion. The religious end of Taoism is more than a little whacky:P If you'd like I could recommend a couple of versions. Hell if your in Seattle and promise to bring them back I'll loan them to you. Also, definitely go read the Tao of Pooh, and the Te of Piglet. Fantastic books. Life really is all about Balance And remember, first and foremost, happiness is an internal thing. It's not necessarily connected to anything but your perception of the world. I remember hearing about a worldwide telephone survey a couple of years ago. So where do you think the people most often described themselves as happy? As memory serves it was Nigeria.....

My parents did that! Well not on a yacht. They took a summer and sailed to alaska. Love the sailing! But the small space drove my mom nuts and my step dad had nightmares about the house (sailboat) sinking. Now they live on dry land again and sail for fun :tup:

So this coming weekend I'm going down to a wedding being held in Yosemite, and we'll be staying at a hotel just outside the park entrance (30 minutes maybe?). We'll have at least 1 full day on Saturday to do as we please, and maybe a 1/2 day on Sunday before we fly back out of Sacramento (Flight out is around 8:00 so I'm thinking we should be leaving the park around 1:00 or so.) So what are peoples recommendations for stuff to do? Single pitch cragging suggestions, good hiking, moderate to easy multipitch? Could certainly bring a small to medium rack, or just quick draws and rope, or even leave it all at home and just bring day hiking stuff. Thanks in advance! Cheers

One thing to remember is that around here there aren't many true splitters, so with a little practice it's easier to place and faster to evaluate a good nut than it is a good cam.

Trip: Vantage - Various Date: 5/29/2007 Trip Report: A couple for Friends and I made a pilgrimage over the mountains for a day of warm rock and sunshine a couple of weeks ago and I thought I would post some pictures. Ended up on the Sunshine wall as always. The good news is, every year I seem to be able to climb new stuff there Started out the day on Crossing the Threshold. It's a pleasant climb and the only other good gear warm up besides Party in Your Pants, which I think requires a portaledge and bivy to actually get in line for. After that Sprocket styled up Air Guitar as his second climb, repeating his hardest climb from last year, and as his 2nd trad lead for the season :tup: After that the girls jaunted up Clip or Skip in good style, and I went over and thrashed a bit on Sinsemilla. Only spooky bit was when my 3rd nut decided to join my second nut, about 20 ft below my feet Managed it clean but not overly smooth. Then of course it was warm, so we all siesta-ed for a while and I napped in the shade Visited for a bit with CBS as he was in the same area After that I ran up Hakuna Matata so that our intrepid photographer (Thanks by the way!) could get to the top of Stems and Seeds to watch me suffer. I haven't heard her cuss that much at a pitch in a long time As I had backed myself into a corner at this point I took a go at Stems and Seeds. With oodles of little gear, I managed to rest and stem my up cleanly It was a great day in the sun, and I even managed my first 5.11 gear lead Gear Notes: Why I do I always take an aid rack up single pitch trad? Crossing likes Hexes, the other two like small nuts. Approach Notes: over the river and threw the woods!

The nut thing happened to me too a couple weeks ago. I usually thing that's a good time to put in 2 pieces in short order. 1 might be good, but I like protecting in such a way that if my top piece pulls I should still be fine.

My 2 cents...... For crag stuff especially... I bought all this freakin, gear, I always seem to drag enough gear to the base to aid any single pitch climb anyway. Even after I trim out the stuff that obviously won't help, If I haven't been on the climb before, I'm sure to be paranoid and take doubles in anything I might need, and sometime tripples if it looks to be small gear only, to insure I have the right size pieces when I need them. So I might as well place the damn things. I have no pride when it comes to gear placement so I sew stuff up as much as I can. That might make me weenie, but I sure like my ankles the way they are. If I'm near my limit I start looking for another piece of gear when my last one is at my feet. If I have a reasonable stance I drop something in, if it's precarious but I can see a better stance I'll make a couple of moves and then place something. If it's precarious but doesn't look to have a rest soon, I fiddle something in fast. My first piece is usually at about 8 or 9 ft, place when my feet are about 4ft off the ground, with a spot from my belayer. Second piece is at about 14 or 15, 3rd at about 20, and then I shoot for 6 to 8 ft spacing till I hit the anchors. When I'm familiar with a climb, (warm up, redpoint, 3rd repeat), or climbing alpine where it's a few grades below my ability, the gear I take and spacing changes. But especially alpine, I always try and place my first piece before I leave the belay, or very quickly thereafter. And yes, 5.8 at Vantage is not 5.8 at Tieton. Hell, 5.5 at Tieton isn't even 5.5 at Tieton.

This is America. You have the right to try and pass. When you do they have the right to tie your ass of to a piece of gear and watch you squirm. Of course then you have the right to drop coils or hexes on them.

Just remember that private school, while it can certainly have benefits, is not a silver bullet. The kids can be just as screwed up and have more money to burn.

If the attitude isn't there, then the figure helps. But usually hott is all about attitude

That's only because we're dysfunctional. Or because we're all Dru's avatar's. Either way we're dysfunctional.

You would waste Makers Mark! Heathen!

The Redmond VW is really bad about that. Talk about violently overhung lead routes

There are only three sports.......

I'll second Trogdor. I routinely run out of gas when trying to lead 10c in the gym (unless it's near vertical), and consistantly onsight 10c outdoors (sport or trad). After all, how many significantly overhanging (more than 5 or 10 deg's) outdoor 10b's are around here? And how many in the gym? That said, I've onsighted things on lead that I pitched off when trying to toprope later in the day. I think it also has a lot to do with the level of focus. It's easy to be lazy and inefficient on top rope, and leading in the gym is only a smidge better. But when I'm outside on the sharp end I'm much more focused and do a much better job resting and conserving energy.

First Blood = "Fist Crack" my ass. I actually thought Orange was more strenuous then Paul Maul! Though you have to be comfortable on little gear for Paul Maul. It eats up nuts though Sounds like a good 2 days!

badger, badger, badger, badger.......Snakes!

Currently doing Ok but thank's for the offer. It's ugly dirty ineffecient piece of code at the moment but it does what I want it too Might have to slip in a bit of fortran 77 next, won't that be loads of fun

Yeah, Tieton is crawling with little buggers. Mrs. Selkirk reached to pick her pack and nearly grabbed a fat rattler instead. She tells me they're nothing like the Southern Idaho rattlers though

hmmm, I've never seen them anywhere else in L-worth, but I've seen 2 or 3 in clamshell. Including a cute little guy who set up camp on a ledge in the wide crack to the far right

Any Unix guru's here who are wizards with SED? I've hit a bit a of a wall with my limited scripting skill

Just be sure to bring the #11 hex. It's good for throwing at goats, inattentive belayers, and ropegun's who place pro to high

Mythos kick but! You just have to break your feet in for a good year or so They do stretch quite a bit over time. Mine are just about to turn into all day climbing shoes after 7 years

Full set DMM Wallnuts + Wild Country Curved Slung Hexes (top 4 sizes) + Pink and Red Tricams :tup: Is a great way to start and will cost about the same as 3 camalots. Then add in cams as money allows. DMM, Wild Country Friends, Camalots, Metolius TCU's, Wild Country Zero's, all perform about the same in my opinion. Fill in Hand size cams first (I like DMM), then finger size (I like metolius TCU's), then big stuff (DMM and Camalots). then really little stuff (Zero Cams). I like DMM's, Metolius TCU's and Wild Country zero cause they're bomber, and cheap ($45 a piece). Oh, and all cams except Aliens are now good when tipped out and placed like a nut. They all have cam stops to prevent the lobes from inverting now. Camalots - more expensive, slightly larger range Wild Country and DMM - less expensive, slightly smaller range Metolius TCU's and WC Zero cam's - less expensive, sweet action If your only buying a couple of cams you might get Camalots for the slight range improvement. If your on a budget go DMM (cost less than 75% of an equivalent Camalot).