JosephH

You're right, sorry I mispoke after jumbling dates in my currently jumbled mind - they shouldn't be headed for Hawaii, they should have left Hawaii around the end of April-early May and been headed for Southern Alaska. Cali is way south and off-route for that population, especially a mother with a calf. It would be interesting to know if it was a calf from last year or this year. It's more likely this mother is part of the Socorro Island Humpback population. This population has been long suspected of doing a NW Pacific/Bearing migration. It is possible that some of them are now starting to do an American coastal migration similar to Gray Whales.

The more interesting question is what were they doing heading down the West Coast at all (and to where), as opposed to Hawaii, which is where they should have been headed, and why so very late in the year?

Sure, I can bring ropes and a harness... What time?

Bill, I guess I could stand to get off my fat ass and do a few laps...

Whoh, I never thought I'd see the day that Joseph started grid-bolting Beacon!! For emergency use only should I still actually make it down to Valley...

http://www.supertopo.com/forumsearch.html?o=ASC&s=ratings&v=0&cur=0&ftr=hammerless

Sounds like I left just in time...

Shaping up to be another tough year in the PNW - my condolences and be careful out there...

There are no shortage of road cuts and choss piles around that you allow you to practice nailing. Again, there's little point in leaving short pins, or knifeblades fixed unless you're going to damage the rock removing them. And that's where the practice comes in - if you're going to place them so your second can remove them you need to get picking the right piece down and not overdriving it (which you dont' want to do regardless). By and large in instances where I'm going thin and not going fix a piece I tend to lean more towards Beaks, Peckers, and old Crack 'N Ups rather than pins - they're faster to place and remove. As far as pins rusting out on classic alpine routes, that's a bummer, but had they been bolts they'd be an equally worthless rusted stub given most were placed at a time when SS wasn't the norm. Bottom line is all fixed pro - bolts and pins alike - require maintenance and if they don't get it they end up trash.

You never came back here - why do you think I was emailing...

PM Sent: I'd take the drill, bits, and triplex bolts bolts...

I can do that...whatchya got and want?

Sure...

Congrats Mikey - if I make it your beer is on me...

We had a large angora named "fluffy" when I was a kid. Fluffy would bring home full-grown ducks, pheasants, and rabbits and leave them on our doorstep or young ones alive to play with them. He didn't outright kill dogs, but he did have several put to sleep. He'd get them to chase him, run up a leaning tree just high enough for them to put their front paws up on the trunk, and then he'd jump on their face and blind them. He did this to a St. Bernard and a Shepard that we knew of - both were mean dogs that regularly ran amok and threatened folks on other's property. Fluffy ruled that neighborhood.

That's a surprise - with all the heart-felt sincerity between the two of you I would have guessed it would have been "Alpine Betty". Which mountain were you two on that summer...? No matter, "Buddy" or "Betty", I don't think Falwell would have approved.

Bill and Ujohn, thanks for the rides. Frank, sorry about the pre-modern antics...

The war on drugs is definitely larger - Afgan opium production is up 400% compared to the year before the invasion. Go team...!

A 'different moral code' is one thing, but his actions and words were basically immoral as far as I'm concerned. He relentlessly preached hate and racism, committed financial fraud his entire career, and the deep divisions we are experiencing in this country can in part be traced directly to his radicalization of the christian right. His obvious personal charisma aside, the bottom line as far as many of us are concerned is he was basically a monster relative to his influence on us as a nation.

Quite the trip, thanks for such a detailed report and all the photos...

You can use mine and I can just tie into the rope...

Me know nothing...

Actually he did. He is one of the primary architects of the base that elected Bush and his felonious cabal. You can trace a direct line between Falwell's preaching and the flagrant and criminal extra-constitutional activities of the administration.

That would work for me as well.

I'd be up for it...