JosephH

Andy, is that basalt or granite?

I'd say for rock and earthwork a prybar, stout short square shovel, and even a big heavy tree dibble might all be in order, but for moss, a prybar seems a bit heavy-handed to me in terms of it leaving a lot of scratch marks (on basalt vs granite) - but again, it really depends on the overall conditions of the crag, rock, and moss. And the scale and scope of the effort also certainly plays a role as well on how much heavy-handedness is appropriate or unavoidable. I try to be conservative about not to leaving a lot of deep scratch marks if at all possible hence the brass and plastic tools.

It depends on the kind of moss and how much of it. If there is lots of it than your, going to have to step it up with some garden or farm implements. If it's largely a 'hand job', and the moss is thick, coming off in big sheets or clumps, then a plastic putty knive work great for helping the stubborn ones come up. And regardless of how you move the bigger stuff, the two brushes below are are great for cleaning up the remnants. And as Ivan noted, skip the steel bristle brushes on basalt. Deluxe Grid Brush / Bar-B-Que and Grill Department - $9.99 Quckie Heavy Duty Scrub Brush (Stiff, Coarse Bristles) / Cleaning Supplies Department - $3.98 =========================== No Picture Available =========================== Economy 2" Putty Knife (Black Plastic) / Paint Department - $0.88

Seen the movie '300'? Hopefully it will just be a beer-soaked floor by the end of the night. Now I'm clearly no Oracle, but me? I'd tell'em to brace for the worst best case scenario, staff big, fire up the burners, lay in a few extra kegs, and then at about 4:45, lash themselves to the foremasts. It's gonna be a rough ride...

There was a mama black bear and three cubs out quite a bit three years ago. She'd bring the kids down from Hamilton across the tracks just east of the Corner, walk them down the tracks towards the boat lauch to fish and then walk them back. Cougars would have a long tail compared to a Bobcat. So does the Lucky Lab have even the slightest idea how many people are going to descend upon them? Someone might really want to give them a heads up that they're going to be entertaining some serious traffic...

There is a very large Bobcat out and about there. Haven't seen it for a bit. Glad to hear the flyer is up in the right case. If you've got a bigger one they'd be happy to swap them. Not sure putting one up on a tree or the lower sign would go over with them however.

Oh, and Kevin, yes I am coming to the event. At first I thought I wouldn't be able to because will be my daughters birthday, but then, I remembered she's starting college up in UW so I will be free to come - ah, empty nesting...

Thanks Bill, but now that I think about Kevin's comment I better call Ben and check that he put it up in the one by the trail and not the one over on the front of the office...

I made the mistake of giving it to him to put in his car before we did the Corner. Afterwards he forgot and it was on his backseat for a couple of days. He called and profusely apologized and got it up late Tuesday.

Just a note that Ben did get Jim's copy of the flyer up in the board at Beacon...

"Free Market" voodoo as practiced by corporations and republicans is and has always been based on the principle of preventing and dismantling government oversight of corporations. This administration systematically gutted pretty much every cabinet agency and our entire civil service system to boot. Beyond that they have successfully executed a program to dismantle States' consumer protection and oversight rights (States' Rights - surely you on the right remember those out-dated concepts...) of the banking, financial, and insurance industries. The only State oversight right that remains due to their inability to get to it in time is oversight of the insurance industry. The net result? Consumers are being relentlessly screwed, industry by industry, at every turn and it will take a decade to restore even a fraction of the protections consumers once had. Likely not in this lifetime if McCain appoints two more radical right, federalist activists to SCOTUS. A friend of mine who worked at FASB got his PhD in accounting doing his dissertation on the role of government oversight in business. The principle theme of the dissertation which emerged from his research? 'Corporations, absent appropriate government oversight, are indistinguishable from organized crime.' Freddie and Fannie's management, boards, auditors, and regulators all essentially committed fraud at the behest of the administration to keep the real estate bubble propped up, which in turn kept the economy going during the 'War on Terror'. That's the danger of running large-scale private/government hybrids - they are subject to 'regulation' which instead ends up being implemented as 'policy'. And that 'policy' is always politicized to support those in power regardless of the party in control. In this case the fraud wasn't even hidden but was entirely out in the open. Freddie, Fannie Scam Hidden in Broad Daylight

Way to get after it guys. I think most folks don't realize all the value and adventure Beacon offers if you step off the beaten track. Plenty of amazing times to be had out there if you look, or if you just jump on something unfamilar.

Ben came to Beacon to climb. He had shoes, harness, helmet, and a couple of sessions in the gym before coming here and climbing was one of the main reasons he applied for John's job. He's also is from Camas and had been trying to get back home. Add to that, he said if he had his way, he'd spend his entire WSP career at Beacon. Bottomline? Ben is going to be with us for a very long time and is going to be climbing whether we like it or not, and whether we take him or not. The only question is who introduces and orients him to climbing? If it's not us that takes him, then it's going to be someone who isn't us. Possibly some other law enforcement types or some psycho-SAR crew. Is that really what you folks want? And given he's likely going to be here on the order of decades, I'd personally say everyone will be a lot better off with as decent a relationship as possible with him than an adversarial one. And actually, he's a good kid, he means well, he's trying to do the right things, but he's still young - better we help and hope he learns and that he'll mellow and end up more like John over time, rather than end up someone who is less accomodating, alienated, and/or even hostile. To some extent the choice is ours. As far as his potential as a climber goes; I, like many of you, have taken a lot of folks up the Corner over the years - he was a bit surprising in that he solidly floated it - fast, casually, and relaxed, first time outdoors - seemed almost like YW might actually have been a better choice for a first climb. Again, he's climbing with or without us. Given that, and all in all, for me this falls under a life category not that much different than "we're here, we're queer (or straight in this case), get used to it..." and the onus is on us to decide, one way or the other, how this relationship is going to play out both now and in the future - we either make the relationship work, or, my guess anyway, is in the long run it isn't going to go so great in general as years roll by. Me? I'll be gone in a couple of years, you folks will still be here and I'm simply suggesting you consider what you want your future to look like. Sure, you aren't going to be partying hard with him - that's clearly a poor choice for all concerned - but I think everyone should all be able to find a way to get along and not play out another adversarial decade. Or not, I suppose. P.S. I gave Ben Jim's copy of the O-event poster this morning and he said he'd post it up in the case - still, it probably wouldn't hurt to put one up down the trail somewhere as well.

The 'right of passage' rules are written into the CMP at Beacon. As a multi-pitch crag, people leading have right of way over those TRing. Pretty simple and common sense. At single pitch crags it's bit of a different story, but even a modicum of common sense and politeness would dictate not tying up a pitch this way for a long period of time. This past Saturday Beacon was pretty quiet with no regulars around, but there was a party with a TR up on 'Little Wing' which probably wouldn't have flown long on a busier day - ditto for TRing the first pitch of the Corner.

One or two ascents a year would do to keep either of those lines clear. You managed to get on Pipedream this year inspite of the closure - I don't see any reason why others couldn't as well if folks have a sense of adventure on par with your own.

Well, yeah, there is the shoulder thing. That, and after cleaning 'Takes Fists' I only had to wait one day for the 'second day after' hammering to kick in. Black and blue thighs / crotch and all my digits were like plump, bloody little sausages until I iced my hands. Definitely need to get some young guns into the column cleaning game...

Same here - being old rules...!

Yep, sporting a secrecy transmission velocity that is only slightly behind Ozone's.

Beaconesque. Such provocative postings - why they should almost be moved to spray...

Not sure when this is going to happen, but Jim and I will sort out a day and we'll have a little aid and restoration fest and get the exiting approach routes cleaned back up. I also believe Jim said a pin or two need to be restored on them. Will let you guys know, but it probably won't be for a couple of weeks. 'Flighttime' is on the list and maybe you and I should tackle that one together and finish 'Flying Swallow' while we're at it. P.S. Talked with Mark Cartier about it today and he's about off to Makalu with Steve House and company, sounds like quite the adventure. Good to see he's still hard at all as well...

Yeah, way to go, that's a stout stretch of rock.

Just the moss-covered high angle slabs under the columns proper - what do you call them?

Yeah, it started to rain just after I got five feet down the rappel and hit me a couple more times. Fortunately I was under the roof when it really cut loose. Made the ropes a bit hard to pull. It's also a bit dicey pulling into the anchor under the roofs with a bag and all on rappel; might not have been able to if I hadn't had some cleaning tools with me that, after thrashing around a bit in space and really stretching out horizontally, I could finally just tip the arete with the tool and get a swing started - whew. Now I just have to sort out the soggy mess that's currently rotting in my trunk. Jim and I were talking last night again about the need to clean up and restore the various approach slab routes or otherwise have a couple of decent ways up to the columns. Sometime we just pick a day and go do it. Ivan, it would be mandatory attendance for you that day.

Spent about eight hours today cleaning out most of 'Takes Fists'. Managed to get the upper pitch above the roof thoroughly cleaned out, but on the pitch below the roof I only got about half of it done. What remains to be cleaned is the lower half of the first pitch - the slabs to the route proper. But, free or aid, this is a real beauty of a line. 'Flying Swallow' is up next. If anyone else wants to join in the fun and adopt a column line to clean out, I'd be happy to supply a whole arsenal of cleaning tools rigged for the job.

"Butch: In the fifth, my ass goes down" Hell, I didn't even make it through the second round...! Dave - glad to hear that cam held. Always a bummer to fight through a crux section to the primo jugs and then not have the energy left to use them...