MCash

I'm looking for a partner for a daytrip to Chimney Saturday. Something fun (ie. not the West Face or Rap Chimney), maybe 2 routes. PM me if interested. Thanks, Martin

That is an area, not a route. I don't think these terms go together.

A good guidebook, but the best ever? Come on. Nice troll.

R.H. Factor at Tum Tum has a really nice section of clean 5" crack in a dihedral. Seven Virgins and a Mule, Steel Grill, and Disaster Factor at the Coulee are all good climbs. I second the Fault and Damnation on Castle Rock.

Marty, who bolted Grape Ape and The Force? Grady Roberts? Why were they bolted? I just can't understand how two easy crack routes with excellent protection that have been lead safely for 15 years, now need bolts. It was an interesting discussion last week between our group and the "regulars" at Dishman. I was quite astonished to learn that they liked the new Dishman, with all its ethical atrocities, better than the old. They did think the bolting of Grape Ape in the last few weeks was stupid though. One statement that they made, for example: "Dishman used to be mostly topropes, but now routes are regularly lead." Is this because of better bolts, more bolts, turning combination protection climbs into sport climbs, and bolting trad lines? They seemed to think all of the above. I don't have a problem with retrobolting bad bolts and adding new ones as long as the first ascentionists agree with it, and it's not near a crack. It's just a shame things went so overboard at Dishman.

I will be waiting with great anticipation every day until I can finally see the results of this poll in 12 days, 7 hours, and 18 minutes.

Just as a point of clarification: There is more than 1 traditional route at Dishman that was turned into a sport climb. In addition to Klingon, The Force (10A) has bolts right next to the crack. There is atleast one more, the name escapes me. In addition to this, there are several routes that utilized natural protection and bolts in different spots. The points of natural protection are now bolted. It is my opinion that all bolts that fit into the above categories should be removed.

http://www.southernillinoisclimbing.homestead.com/

Devil's Lake in a great crag, and is 3 hours from Chicago (just north of Madison). That area is super popular with campers though. If you go on weekends during the summer, you will need to reserve a spot well in advance. If you have weekdays off, then no problem. Lakeshore Athletic Club (the downtown location) in the building next to old Amoco Building (now called Aon Center, I believe), is the best indoor spot for keeping in shape.

Go ahead and try to bolt the trad lines at Minne. They will be chopped within 24 hours. If not by the "old guard", I will do it personally. Somebody already tried to bolt the Dihedral several years ago, a route with protection every 4 feet. Look how long those bolts lasted.

Give me a break Marty. The trad routes that were bolted need to be chopped. We're not talking about chopping the sport routes that had additional bolts added to them. Those should definately stay, and make leading the routes safe. That gym hold needs to be pryed off. If we loose a route because of it, so be it. We're talking about ethics not astetics here. Whether or not there is a concrete water tower up there is irrelevant. If you are going to be pissed because you can't lead Dishman's trad routes with a set of quickdraws after work, than so be it. A set of nuts and a couple cams on Ebay are cheap. Oh, and slamming people's climbing level who climb ice, snow, big mountains, boulders, sport, trad, and lots of backcountry skiing like pindude is lame. Not everyone's #1 life goal is to clip 5.15b bolts.

Nice job. Bummer on getting your ropes stuck on Saturday. Here is the photo I took when I reached the notch...

Yeah, I wouldn't call the chipped holds on a certain route or that fucking gym hold bolted to the wall at the blank section to be an improvement either. What the fuck? Several lines where bolts were placed where there is good natural protection need a chopping. I'll help.

Steve, take a look at all the bouldering in the Speaker Guide, then go look at them. Many of them have not been climbed in a long time. I've been bouldering at Minne in the evenings quite a bit recently and have never seen anyone else out. Maybe they are out during the day or on weekends.

Slung Trees and the larger nuts BD (10 - 13) inspire the most confidence from me.

Based upon the current forecast, it looks like really soon!

Banks Lake has atleast 2 11s put up by Jonny G.

I agree. If Minne is the best bouldering, then why are many of the problems overcome by moss and lichen. Also, I have never seen anyone else ever on the supposed popular routes like Dirk Diggler, Eddie's Overhang, To Have and Two Holds, Smokey on Fire, etc. The best bouldering would actually have people there bouldering.

Yeah, what the fuck dude? Some routes are very condition dependent like the couloir leading to the west ridge of Forbidden, and a bunch of stuff like that. If you don't care about that stuff, then don't read it.

That's the bear hug? It looks about 8' high. I was invisioning this 40 to 50 foot long vertical twin offwidth cracks. Looks like a light rack is the way to go, pretty short pitches on the route. Thanks for the beta on the route and approach.

Heading up to Washington Pass soon, and I had a couple questions. Thanks for any help you can offer. 1. How is the 5.9 variation after the 5.8 crack? It says it's a lieback in Beckey. Is it a flake or a crack? Good jamming? Clean? 2. Will the bearhug pitch take a #2 Bigbro? Is it parallel sided? Trying to avoid lugging a #5 friend up there. 3. Any good variations after the bearhug pitch that can spice up the 4th to low 5th class climbing up there?

Cragging in Leavenworth in the nice sunny weather on Saturday and Sunday. Weatherman wrong again. Wow, Cocaine Crack is a great pitch!!! I can't believe that thing is rated only 2 stars, a really stellar fingercrack.

Geez Klenke, you leadfoot! Didn't you get a ticket on the way to meeting me in Leavenworth a few weeks ago too.

Yeah, why hike all the way over to SEWS. Link the Beckey Route on LB and the North Face on Concord. If you have extra time and are feeling good, try the Cave route on Concord or Overexposure on LB (both 5.8). That would give you the most bang for your buck, since they all start very close to each other.