JosephH

Lisa - nice pic. There were three eggs as of Sunday. These chicks should be flying in the July 1-7st time frame and typically like to give them a week or two of flying before opening so a July 31st date wouldn't be at all unreasonable. An official closure probably hasn't been instituted - yet - but folks should now cease climbing Outer Space. Cooperating voluntarily will be way, way more productive relative to access issues across WA than continuing to climb the route.

Wayne, is that how it goes? There are no lone wolves?

Need to replace the electrical service in the house and I'd rather steer it some climber's way then just calling around... Send me a pm if you're interested...

Good post Off, it's worth thinking about just who is raping who...

Again - and aside from the fact your statement above is completely and utterly untrue - all your posts in this regard are unhelpful; just keep it to yourself. I'm doing everything humanly possible to lift the closure and your posts simply aren't helping those efforts. But, what the fuck - if your need to bitch is just that much more important to you then, hell, have at it dude...

Sure, would love to tag-team the Peregrines - I'll give you a shout... Regarding Kevin, because in the end, he just needs to stop all such posts if he really wants the closure to go away.

trigger, I'm doing the monitoring and yes there is a very health looking pair either nesting or in the process of nesting there somewhere. Backing up 40 days from the typical end of June openings we've been enjoying would, ball-park, put egg-hatching around May 16th. Back up 35 days from that and egg-laying would be about five days ago from today. My guess is they're probably either on a scrape with eggs or will be within days - but probably already are. The new ranger Ben saw the upper-picnic area Osprey mating last weekend and I need to ask Dave Anderson, the WDFW Raptor biologist, where Osprey mating falls relative to the Peregrines. Because the Osprey are migratory and I've been seening them work on nests as recently as last Sunday I suspect they mate and lay eggs later than our Beacon-resident Peregrine pair. So far nothing has given me any expectations of the closure being lifted earlier than the point chicks have been flying for a week or so. I've been watching a spot high on the right edge of the East Face tower above the parking lot which was where the Peregrines spent most of there time last summer and fall. But last year the Ravens unexplicably abandoned the East Face for nesting. This year one of them has been consistently coming and going from the exact spot I was really hoping the Peregrines would be nesting. My guess is that in a showdown for nesting sights the Raven's probably always win as they are just too damn smart and work in pairs or groups for what they want. I will definitely post up if I do see anything that would indicate the possibility of a significantly earlier opening than either the recent late June ones or the official on on July 15th. Kevin, stop being a complete dick on topic - in the end your posts are pretty damn counterproductive relative to actually trying to do anything about ending the closure when non-locals find such posts here. Or is it the case you actually just love the closure so you can endlessly bitch and spew? Hey, I've been working steady on lifting the closure for the past five years now, have a bunch of time and money invested explicitly towards that end, and you could at least pitch in by not being a bitch about it.

As opposed to a bunch of rock-ravaged, culturally estute, all-too-hip, mutually-flagellating, stromboli-packed clip artistes?

Keep your Nellie in check - it's not a permanent closure by anything other than the poison oak I keep not getting to at the end of each season - it's part of the Peregrine closure and will be open when it's lifted in June - unless of course, people keep breaking the closure and then nothing I can say will make it anything but July 15th...

Baby jesus is crucified on a miniature cross again every time someone breaks the closure. If anyone knows the circumstances pm me or Bill, or chat with Opdycke about it - some one is missing a rope...

Uh...you exist, therefore they mate.

Yeah, it's closed and the rope is unfortunately all-to-visible from the boat launch so at this point it's just a matter of finding out what the deal was and working to insure it doesn't happen again.

No, I talked with him this morning and he said it wasn't his. I don't believe it was there a month ago. [Yes, it does.]

So... If anyone knows anything about an orange / red rope abandoned on the last rap down the west face I'd sure appreciate a pm or call or talk to Opdycke about it if you'd rather. Not really interested in who, but the details. Suffice to say this falls under the common sense category of 'just don't'.

Some discussion from a thread I did over on rc.com: Careful consideration when putting your balls on the line...

They are made by the same Korean company and are simply branded differently. These are reasonable, but anyone interested in ballnuts should set up a search on ebay for the superior Lowe/Byrne versions of which a couple are up now... http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=280332692333

It does, but if you been at sea for awhile your body does get remarkably adept at compensating for the situation. I've done some shooting off the first ship I was on and it's surprising how fast the compensation kicks in. You just don't get the luxury of resting your weapon on a railing or any other part of the ship. But 80-100 feet off the fantail shouldn't have been a problem for any competent shot.

Navy Q + A here: http://uk.reuters.com/article/usTopNews/idUKTRE53B2IB20090412?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0 Says it was SEALs already attached to these ships (due to there stated mission) and that the USS Bainbridge was towing the lifeboat at the time on an 80-100ft towline - pretty much fish-in-a-barrel as TGT said...

As TGT commented over on ST it was probably more like a firing squad than anything resembling impressive shooting or coordination. Just radio-coordinated 3,2,1 fire - over in a heartbeat.

The Bush administration would have killed the captain and invaded Somolia with an insufficient number of troops after attempting to buyoff the warloads under the table to get the pirates to cease and desist. But off course, rather than a beach invasion against the pirate towns, W's forces would have invaded via Kenya with a lightning ground campaign which would have allowed the pirates ample time to escape across the Ethiopian border. We would then become bogged down in endless tracts of Somali slums fighting 13 year olds and taking heavy casualties relative to the mission objectives and scope. We would then withdraw, claim victory, send aid to Somali warlords, the pirates would return from Ethiopia and set sail again eventually kidnapping another American captian.

I doubt any SEAL resources were immediately availble in that area unless they were already attached to those ships which is possible given their mission. More likely though, they just used some of the Marines attached to the Navy vessels in the proximity of the lifeboat. It was an open lifeboat and that part of the ocean is usually quite calm; it wouldn't be a big deal to get the six best shots onboard to take up concealed position, go two-on-a-pirate inside of 75 yards or so, and then just pick your moment - pretty straightforward and clean I should think.

Ugh, sorry to hear that, is it just a cut or did you do any structural damage (hope not)...?

Well, hopefully your 'legacy' won't be as confused as their father...

Good, that's all settled - can we now move on to the oh so important matter of keeping this 'new' crag chalk-free as well...?

Bolts don't make climbing bad, indiscriminant people with indiscriminant bolts do... Coming from you I'd say that makes it a ringing endorsement for the place - sign me up the next time I'm down that way. It also sounds like you boys should consider watching ebay for some Crack 'N Ups and Loweballs.