astrov

cool quote from one of abe's letters to a friend: "I see in the near future a crisis approaching that unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. As a result of the (Civil) war, corporations have been enthroned and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until all wealth is aggregated in a few hands and the Republic is destroyed." Prescient.

Did they have corporate campaign contributions in Lincoln's day?

I'm interested in the Patty top. What are your dimensions? I'm curious how it would fit me. Have you tried Woolite and the dryer to shrink it down a bit? thanks,

bootied a piece off of the third pitch of SE Corner today. please describe and it will be returned. (Note: I believe we overheard the party ahead of us discussing the loss of the piece. man and woman.)

A friend of mine got married to Tyler's sister a few years ago. I hung out with the wedding party at a rented house afterwards and met Tyler. I was already familiar with his avatar here and was happily surprised to meet the unassuming person behind it. We hung out late into the night. Tyler seemed just really good at life, and I was sorry I didn't get to climb with him or see him again. I suspect most people who met him felt similarly drawn to him. He was a brilliant and exceptional person.

Size 46.5 Pickup in Portland Use with strap on or hybrid crampons only. Rand too worn for step-in. Otherwise, you are ready to rip with these boots. Leather has been treated since photo below taken. http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/showfull.php?photo=84844

Oh man, lodged where?

you might check mountain project; couple options: http://www.mountainproject.com/v/westcomb-mirage-event-jacket-black-medium-100-shipped/109230534 http://www.mountainproject.com/v/fs-rei-havenpass-event-jacket-mens-m-c3s-and-c4/109394391 not sure on sizing; might work for your girthiness

(apparently)

glad it didn't break during a free solo of yours :-P

Who wants to go do some off-season top roping in the crevasses on Eliot Glacier this fall? Usually free on weekends. I have gear and two sets of tools. PM me!

can you snap a pic of the MH softshell pant? I'm probably fat enough for a size 34 waist.

These puppies are still in good shape. I have the dual and monopoints for 'em. They are rigid, automatic, forged steel military grade spikes. I've never had them pop off my boots. random pic from internet happens to be based here, on cc.com: http://cascadeclimbers.com/plab/data/516/medium/IMG_9306.jpg I'm selling them because snow balls up on them like crazy. I've almost died several times (exaggeration - a couple times, not "several") due to the heinous snow accumulation. They'd be great for vertical waterfall ice / ice cragging in a non-alpine environment without a snowy approach. $20 obo, local pickup in Portland preferred. If interested in a picture, I can snap one. I feel lazy though. Would also accept beer.

Do they ever answer the phone up at the Climbing Information Center? I'd like to speak with a climbing ranger about conditions.

I'd like to borrow a rope pen to mark the middle of my rope. In Portland. Halp?

I get a better lung workout on the bike than while running.

I would post this on T-A-Y but it seems to be down at the moment. I have a bunch of P-Tex sticks I will give away. I have both clear and black sticks. Bonus; they are in a Spademan plate box! It appears these still sell for about $1.25 per stick. I have about 15. Hopefully I'll never gash my skis so as to require so much p-tex. PM if interested. Pick up in downtown Portland. Must take all. Come get 'em before they join the Great Pacific Garbage Patch! Not relevant, but I'm also giving away a stapler and three-hole punch. [Edit: REI charges an offensive amount of money for these. Hopefully someone feels like they scored by taking them off my hands.]

I believe it's the third thursday of each month, same time, same place. But the AAC peeps will be happy to confirm.

For Trade: 183 cm Black Diamond "The Machines" with pre-cut BD Skins (includes Skin Saver). I re-glued the skins at the end of last season. The glue is very strong. I also purchased a screw-in tip holder kit for the tip loop. Looking for about $20 worth of beer for this kit. No core shots on the ski bases. they have been mounted three times so you'll want to pick your mounting option carefully. This is a very fun, torsionally rigid ski ideal for spring volcano trips. Pick up in downtown Portland.

Had a dyneema sling and a BD Wiregate 'biner attached. Fell around 7000' elevation.

it's true. I'm the worst.

Thanks Seamstress; that's funny and the perfect response. :-)

Trip: Mount Rainier - The Never-Disappointing Cleaver Date: 5/23/2014 Trip Report: Major Major arrived outside my apartment in downtown Portland after work on Thursday night, his near-homicidal rage from the frustrating drive dissipating futilely into the humid, still- warm evening: "You need to move to the East side!" he declaimed, double-parking his Toyota truck amidst the usual clamor of vagrants, sirens, and dogs to which I've not become accustomed in the last three years of urban living. His eyes widened when I emerged onto the street with three fully-packed backpacks, containing respectively my climbing gear, group gear, and overnight gear for our planned Paradise parking lot bivy. I stripped off my shirt in the heat and loaded the packs into his truck along with skis and boots and we sped off to I-5, where we were immediately stopped in nightly commuting traffic to the 'Couv. "How can people commute like this?" posed the Major, "is it because the houses in Vancouver cost 20 cents?" I mumbled in agreement and stared grimly ahead, gritting my teeth and thinking of lost loves. I had attempted to taper my exercise routines during the week preceding the climb, and hadn't been sleeping well. To top it off, the McDonald's next to my apartment had decided to repave its lot during the middle of the night the previous evening. Of all nights. The Major's misery only complemented my own, and on that freeway we felt trapped, like we might live out our lives stuck on the hot asphalt in his compact truck. The anticipation leading up to this climb had exhausted us. We had combined tapering with constantly checking the weather forecast and re-assessing our readiness for the route ahead, weighing our strengths against the unknowns of exposure, avalanches, and crevasses, and wondering if we didn't come up short. Although we had initially planned to climb Kautz Glacier, I bowed out given the low pressure system threatening high winds, liquid precipitation, and lowish temperatures on Friday. The thought of a bivy at Camp Hazard in a storm while wet, cold, and exhausted was not an appealing one, so I suggested the Disappointment Cleaver route as an alternative. We could take less gear, take shelter in the Hut, and be less exposed to the onslaught on the SE side of the mountain. The Major and I make a good partnership; I prevent him from doing anything too extreme and he inspires me to go out in more challenging conditions than I'd ordinarily bother with. The traffic lifted after Vancouver, of course, and we watched the sunset on the drive down the Columbia river valley. We arrived at Paradise in near-dark, finding the gate to the access road open. We positioned our truck in the lower (overnight) lot, facing the back of the bed towards the mountain. There was another car in the lot, apparently unoccupied, but as the top of the peak faded into silhouette through fairweather clouds, all we could hear was the occasional chirping bird as we drifted off to sleep in our sleeping bags. A cool mountain breeze flowed gently through the back of the truck. I had never experienced any peace in MNRP before that calm night, and it was quite welcome after our hellish flight from civilization. Some inebriated-sounding Jamaicans were responsible for the night's only disturbance. After a friendly wake-up from a climbing ranger, we drove to the upper lot and obtained our climbing passes from the self-same ranger, now behind the desk. In preparing to climb, I put my gear outside of the truck under cloudy skies and ducked into the bathroom to put on long underwear and my new hardshell pants. Although I'm glad I put on the raingear, it actually started raining when I was inside, and my AT boots were soaked when I returned. One skier who left the lot to skin uphill while we were getting ready came back to his truck and sat inside during the rain, running the engine. We warmed up for a bit too and then headed out into the gloom. We lifted our heavy packs and trudged up out of Paradise. Water beaded up on the left side of my jacket, driven by a strong but not fierce wind. We switch-backed on skis up the steepish face leading up Pan Dome past a guided group post-holing up through the soft snow. Once on top of the Dome, we continued up resolutely through the mist. A guided client whose luggage tags were still visible on her pack was having a tough time just above the Dome. Her guide had to get her jacket out of her pack for her and put it on her. We passed them and encountered a short section of rock, the rain now fairly lashing at our sides. I went to put my skis back on and noticed that I had lost my single snow picket. "I'll go look for it", I told Major Major, bounding down through the snow. "I. am. cold." he replied, stoically. "there's water running down my legs." He had worn a very light windpant that wasn't waterproof, and was suffering. Nonetheless, our plans were scuttled without snow protection, so down I went. I encountered the same guided client with luggage tags, only now a guide was re-tying her boots and another was also running down through the maelstrom to help her. I asked if I could be of any help, and if they had seen my picket. No on both counts. I returned to the Major and we proceeded up hill. The rain never turned to snow, but it did turn to freezing rain and a thick fog. After about 4 hours of skinning we reached Muir and the public shelter. I got the last space, next to the stairs and the front door, so I had to do a hobbit-crawl to get to my bag. View inside shelter: We brewed decaffeinated tea for 5 hours and drank water mixed with bullion cubes. We emerged from the shelter to a beautiful sunset as the storm blew itself out. The climbing ranger arrived with a promising weather forecast for the next day's summit attempt and a general disapproval about the lack of females in the cabin. Not needing to set alarms, we woke to the general commotion of the hut breaking camp. the night was still and cool, and the sky clear. The promised meteor shower had not arrived. Major Major and I roped up and started across the first glacier at 3 am. We sweated as we passed a group of four at Cathedral Gap. Little Tahoma loomed quietly on the skyline, its severe profile jutting up into the night. As we turned onto the Ingraham Glacier, a cold (katabatic?) wind blew down on us and I put on my balaclava. Headlights twinkled in lines high up on the Disappointment Cleaver. Stepping off the glacier, we clipped into the fixed lines low on the Cleaver. As it is covered in snow, it is surprisingly steep along its lower flanks for what is supposedly the dog route up the mountain. The sun began to rise as we mounted the Cleaver. Unfortunately given the Major's grueling pace, I only have a picture from the top of the Cleaver: It was a sublime sunrise, which is not fully captured in the photo. We strolled out on to the upper Emmons Glacier in stronger winds. The snowbridges are mostly trust-worthy looking and we did not set up any boot-axe belays or the like for the crevasse crossings. Around 14'K feet I stopped to relieve myself and the Major reported he was bitterly cold. His whole body was shivering. We stepped out onto the crater rim into the wind and I gave Major my down jacket and dashed for the summit while Major sheltered in place, having been to the summit several other times. I arrived at 9:30, having the place to myself. I staggered across the crater back to the climbing route and my gear, grateful that Major Major was alive and hadn't descended with my jacket. We staggered down the Cleaver, Major hell-bent on getting warm. We were passed by a group of skiers on the way down, one of whom had lost a ski to a crevasse. We were pretty concerned by the slush on the lower Cleaver and wished that we'd started earlier or gone faster so as to be down earlier. By now the sun was beating down on us, and the soft, watery snow balled up on our crampons. We warmed up and I stripped down to my light wool t-shirt. Camp Muir was thronged when we returned. We napped briefly and then skied down to the car. We drove back to Portland that same night and I spent the next day drinking, resting, and nursing my significant blisters and sunburn. Overall, given our various difficulties we were glad we were able to notch a fun summit on the DC route and look forward to climbing Kautz later in the season! Conditions: The snowbridges look good and the route has an appealing early-season snowiness to it. I just wish we'd started earlier in the morning and hadn't lost my picket. Gear Notes: bring warm-enough clothes. firmly attach picket. Sunscreen / Sunhat. Eat critical girlfriend-made bacon shrimp fettuccine alfredo. My wind-stopper fleece gloves became soaked on day 1 and never dried out. Approach Notes: Columbia River Crossing

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