JosephH

I would then, be curious how you envision citizens with guns would in any way counter a shift in the balance of power? Again, two more SCOTUS seats filled with people who believe in more power for the Executive is exactly the scenario you should fear if it really is all about 'balance of power' for you. McCain's vowed appointments would vastly upset the balance of power set forth by the founding fathers.

Bill, don't in any way think I believe there isn't a legitimate right to gun ownership for self-defense - I do. I simply have a hard time swallowing any form of modern day militia defending the Constitution against a would-be dictator. As far as Obama's word goes - he was in no way my first choice for a candidate. I am from Chicago and know exactly what that means for someone to come up through those local politics, even if managing to bypass much of it. In fact, if it weren't for the two SCOTUS seats up for grab I almost wouldn't care who's President so long as the Congress is Democratic. But with two SCOTUS seats on the table, and McCain's vow to appoint yet more radically activist judges who would likely further support an even more imperial Executive, I find the prospect of him being elected not only problematic, but untenable for the future of our nation and our freedoms. Him filling two more SCOTUS seats with the likes of Roberts, Alito, Scalia, and Thomas would be the surest way to the possibility of you needing arms to defend yourself against the government.

Bill, I think that worked for us in the earlier days of our nation, but has long since faded into our own cultural identity, legend, and mythology. Our nation is now built on system of highly distributed resources such that there are so many better and eaiser ways to abbrogate our freedoms than the use of overt force. We've just seen over the past eight years that it only takes a few words and penstrokes to abridge, corrode, and corrupt the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The image of my neighbors held up in the local McDonalds with a generator attempting to hold off the Army, or storming the Federal building downtown, are certainly strong images, but I fear the majority of Americans, gun owners included, would quickly submit to much simpler and effective internal assaults on the nation. Nothing about Americans owning guns stopped the Neocons from all but destroying the country and I didn't see any guns in the street in an attempt to prevent them from taking a solid run at many of our freedoms. I guess I simply have a very hard time seeing how private weapons would be organized or effectively employed in any form of 'militia' such that it would be a significant threat to an administration even more corrupt than this one. Personally, I think McCain, and particularly his wife, have thrown so much of his integrity over the transom of the straight talk express in their bid for power that I have no doubt they'd do the same to all of you gun owners to keep it.

Also, I didn't 'create' the rock or the line, we're just trying to climb it. This isn't the sort of route that could ever be made 'safe' by any means. Even if you bolted the shit out of it there are still too many big loose blocks and just tracking out right along the edge over space has lots of serious logistical implications with a second not making the roof and, in general, it's not a route that will be easy to retreat from above the roof. We've been saying it's a route where you really have to want to be up in that part of Beacon to do p2 - which is a great line in and of itself, even if you don't go any further - and you really have to want that roof and the wall above to leave the p3 anchor. Nothing about the route is 'normal' or ever will be by any means.

And Shane... And anyone else excited at the prospect of heading through that big roof.

The middle of the band of rock from the anchor up to the base of the roof is more like bad Smith tuft than Beacon basalt. The pro is a bit marginal and the moves are hard and awkward. A fall might or might not rip one, some, or I suppose even all the placements before you are up under the roof to a Super Cam placement. Let's put it this way, the first piece off the anchor is a beak, the second piece is an HB #7 alloy buried behind the top of a 12' x 4>1' x 2>1' slightly expanding block, the third is a somewhat dubious nest of a #00, #0, and #1 cams, the fourth is a mostly sunk soft euro spade in a crumbling dihedral, the fifth a #1 cam in a runny slot, the sixth an HB #11 alloy slotted backwards in a three-way intersection but a third out of the slot. At that point you go up another 15' to get solid pro and a lousy 'rest', before establishing good pro at the start of the roof and heading up and out. We've fallen on pieces above the Super Cam in the roof (I took a 40-50 footer from out at the lip which was almost clean), but never on any of the pro in the fifty to sixty feet to the solid pro just below the roof. And because you've been travelling out right as you go up and progressively more out over space, on that approach section you'd fall clean at first, but at some point are going to go whipping back left towards the anchor or the long dihedral below it if much of that stuff pulled. The anchor is bomb, however, as are the pitches below and the rock from the roof to the top - it's just this one band that is a bit sketch.

Thanks. I get the nervous sweats just thinking about going back up. We have p3 up to the roof basically under control, just so long as we get back on it soon.

So is most of Beacon. You're not going to get an argument from me...

It is a bit of a sandbag at 10b - clearly a 10c...

I started on the one that goes slightly left and straight up instead of going onto the party ledge as you're heading up the last few moves up to it. Has a shrubbery in the middle of it that would need to be cleaned out. Nice moves up to and through the same sort of 'pod' as the lower one on Riverside.

Ha, good for you Ivan. Hanmi and Jim Meyer climbed it Sunday as well. Jim and I ended up giving it a whirl on a lark Saturday (after deciding against LW), but I backed off of it as we didn't have the requisite small gear. I meant to get back up on it Sunday as well, but Rhoda and I ended up hiking Hamilton instead. Jim and Hanmi did end up going back up and getting the job done, so it was clearly a big day for Riverside. Next time I'm out I'll be getting back on it and replacing the anchor. Riverside should see way more traffic than it does...

That was Jim Meyer and I up on Upper Grassy Ledges - didn't feel any LW mojo today when I got there and the sun wasn't out, we had a pretty good time all in all though.

I think Chris is shopping for the same over on SuperTopo - you guys need to kidnap Ammon for a weekend...

Kev, yeah a few times over the years - but the sharp angular rock out there is a little short on monkey movement for my taste. It's more a case where it just shines a light on the fact I'm really not a good all-round climber in the mold of say someone like Bill or a Jim Anglin. I pretty much suck at both jamming and face climbing so tend not to shy away from Broughton. I prefer Rocky Butte close in and Beacon when I have more time. I can see how it would probably fitting your climbing needs and baby schedule pretty well however. With all you young toughs eyeball deep in diapers maybe it will even see a bit of a renasaince out there.

I guess I'm covered for a casual 11am start, but could probably accomodate a third if you're out alone...

Or maybe something more familiar - FFA > Dods > Dastardly...? Just mainly want to get some yardage in. Otherwise I'll be out there cleaning under Ground Zero if anyone's plans change...

Haven't tried to make it up 'Lost Warriors' this year and was thinking this might be a good weekend for it. It's a pretty challenging and, though I dread the word, 'adventurous' route which departs from the top of YW's p1 and heads up and to the right passing through the biggest square roof high on the SE cornice. It clocks in a 5.10c with two single points of A0 and somewhere in 5.11 range free. I can swap or lead any or all the pitches depending on how you feel about things. Give a shout if it sounds like something you might be interested in...

Regardless of federal strings, public education is still very much under state and local control. Very different from the centralized health care proposals you seem so fond of that aren't "actually" socialism. Public education in the U.S. was summed up well back in the late 80's as: '5,000 local school boards, all cranking out a lousy product. Bottom line - in a global economy if you have the education of a Guatemalan day laborer you're going to get paid like one, it won't matter that you live in Brooklyn or LA. Skills are the only way to differentiate our labor force in the U.S. from that of other economies and we are slipping ever further behind the rest of the world with every passing year.' By and large, local school boards have been an abysmal failure as a model for managing education when we're up against other industrial countries with national standards. Pretty much every one of them is kicking our ass at the primary and secondary level.

Shane and I took another run at the big p3 roof on Menopause (the extension route above 'Rythmn Method') yesterday. It was our second go at it. We got bloodied and spanked, but we're still alive and now much more 'comfortable' with the dicey p3 approach to the roof. And while we didn't get established [with pro] above the roof at least we have decent pro out at the lip and now the falls are way more manageable as we're making those final moves up and out around it. It's a pretty wild and very unBeacon-like set of moves up through the roof - think of a tall, narrow, flared chimney that's too big to stem at the start but rapidly closes to nothing at the top, then tilt it so it's way overhanging, splitting the roof. You basically have to jam into the base of it until you are high enough to start doing the [scum] chimneying, then do the overhanging flared chimney schrunching out to the top of it where it pierces the lip of the roof and forces you out, then there at the top you have to turn around 180 degrees from facing left to facing right to exit around the lip of the roof and onto the upper face. All in all it's a pretty wild place to be and out at the lip you have 275' feet of clean air exposure to the deck. We're just damn happy to be into clean falls out there now. If you're out and look up a bit after stepping around the "East face closed sign" you can see where the line is as we lowered off the last piece at the lip and it's still up there like an irritating little 'beacon'. We're still hoping to get in one or two more goes at it this year, though it was a little brisk up there in the shade yesterday. [ In this pic looking up from just under p2's second roof, Menopause's p3 takes the pink variation in this photo - the yellow one was the original concept that didn't pan out as the top of the big A-frame roof turns out to be cleanly sealed. ]

Yeah, Bill was saying the same thing last night - probably need to get together with him and get ahead of the curve before he gets in over his head on something. I think that was both their first rappels as well...

Called Ben up this morning to try to sort out when we could hit YW and again he says, "oh, I was out climbing this morning..." OK, says I... Turns out he took Vivian, his fellow [relatively] new BRSP ranger up the Corner. He made it up p2 - she couldn't pull the crux. Hmmmm. But check it out. He ends up smart enough not to try to rap back to her from the tree and instead down leads the pitch. He's then smart enough to go back over to the top of p1 rather then do the shitty rap off the p2 anchor. Downlead the corner on your third day on rock. This kid gets my vote - he's a climber in my book. Vivian didn't make it up the Corner this go, but she did have a great time nonetheless and still, the view from the p2 anchor is well-worth the price of admission and you know you've been somewhere different in the park that day.

I'll probably head out again tomorrow if anyone wants to do Dods or something comparable...

Sound good, I'll be out there...

Ah, then it sounds like your well setup. Good luck with p2, though I'd say if you haven't been getting out much, and don't necessarily feel psyched to do it, then maybe do something else that you might be. Kind of in the same boat myself. Gotta just get out and see where I'm at with things at this point. Probably do some more cleaning as well.

I'll belay ya...