JosephH

Bill, Sounds like I'll have to make it out some night now that you've dealt with the Russians and wasps. Yeah, the female was found dead on the side of 14 just west of Beacon. It's possible she was picking up something off the road and got hit. The two juveniles also disappeared about that same time, but David thinks that was just the normal sequence of young Peregrines leaving or being driven off as it is the adults who keep the territory. Last time I saw them, as Bill mentioned, they were being dogged all the way across the river by the Ravens in a 3 on 1 and 2 on 1 matchup - hard to imagine the adults putting up with such harassment. All in all after so much amazing activity around training the young to fly and hunt it was a bummer to have them all disappear. I did finally spot the male last week and it was good to see and hear him again. I've also been regularly seeing Peregrines at the 192nd exit on 14 (second light post on the on ramp), one out by Murray/Cornell on 26, and I believe your hawk along 205 variously between the airport and Stark.

I gave Flying Swallow a cursory cleaning last year but it definitely still needs someone to devout a block of time to it. DDO is in need of a serious bout of work - if Flying Dutchman was any indication DDO will take the better part of a day to do right I suspect as will several others. I'd also guess about 20 years ago is the last time some of these lines saw any real action...

Beacon Rock Update - 8/4/06

================================================= Beacon Rock Update - 8/4/06 ================================================= Anchor Replacement Project The following anchors have been replaced: "Prirates" (lower, bare) "Bridge of the Gods" (lower, bare) And that about wraps up the bulk of the Anchor Replacement Broject beyond a few odd / outlying stragglers, swapping remaining bright hangers for camo'd ones, and swapping earlier powerbolts for SS/316 bolts which will be on the agenda for late fall. Adopt a South face column route!!! Next up will be an effort to clean the South face column routes. In between "Bluebird" at one end to "Blood, Sweat, and Smears" on the other there are a lot of just great routes (free, aid, and yet to be freed) folks might want to consider getting on. If you have any interest in climbing any of these routes please size them up and adopt one for cleaning purposes. We have a tool suite available for cleaning I'll be going after the shrubs in "Takes Fists" and the trees in "Flying Circus". Joseph Healy, Jim Opdycke, Bill Coe Beacon Rock Climbers' Association Beacon.Rock@AvaSys.com

The taco truck on 82nd a half block north of the Krispy Kreme donut joint is fabulous. My Wife and I have been going there for years...

Hezbollah wasn't expecting the Israeli response because I would be willing to bet their leadership wasn't expecting the kidnappings either; that they knew nothing whatsoever about the kidnappings until it was too late. The "brains behind the operation" of those clueless kidnappings was probably a couple of local border rubes that decided entirely on their own that a copycat kidnapping would be a great idea for Hezbollah too; who knows, maybe one or two of them had a brother or cousin being held by the Israelis. I would further suspect once all this settles down the Hezbollah leadership will make an example of these clowns to insure this sort of stupidity doesn't happen again if they haven't already.

Beacon Rock Notice - 8/1/06

================================================= Beacon Rock Update - 8/1/06 ================================================= Anchor Replacement Project Anchors replaced to-date this year are: "Pipeline" "Double Dirty Overhang" (top) "Excaliber" (lower) "Grunge Book" (both) "Borderline" (both) "Blownout (both)" "Pirates" (top, bare) "Bluebird" (top, rap) "Right Gull" (bare) "Wrong Gull" (bare) The "Right Gull" anchor was the worst anchor replaced to-date and some folks had wisely been using some backup slings/rings to rap from. This was a very old chain anchor and the lefthand hanger was on a severely rusted 1/4" bolt that broke simply under the weight of the breaker bar - there wasn't even a chance to apply pressure to it. The righthand bolt broke with next to no pressure as well, requiring only 20 degrees or so of rotation before breaking. Also, this isn't the best place to rap, but if you do it on a single rope then go to the anchor on top of "Wrong Gull" and rap again there versus using the single orange sling/ring lower down at the top of "Sorcerer's Apprentice" and "Old Warriors Never Die"; in general you're better off to just keep heading up to Grassy Ledges. [Edit: Just returned from checking and reseting the pins above the belay on "Right Gull". The first pin, a small, shallow angle, came flying out with the first slight funk, the second pin, a lost arrow, was good. It's doubly lucky no one dove hard on that first pin given it is an awkward start off the belay there. Had someone fallen hard, pulled the pin, and tumbled off the column top the odds of the old anchor holding it was close to zero. ] Hangers were replaced with camo'd ones or painted on the bolted routes around tunnel #1 and on "Old Warriors Never Die". Dogs and Parvo If you must bring your dogs out please make sure they stay leashed and also that they are vaccinated for Parvo which is rampant throughout the BRSP. NW Parvo FAQ Peregrine Monitoring Peregrine monitoring has continued despite the early opening. It appears the Beacon pair were successful elsewhere, probably Hamilton Mountain, and had two chicks which have been very active out at Beacon for the past month until a week ago. What is believed to be the Beacon female was found dead on the road West of Beacon and the two ever-present juveniles haven't been seen or heard since Monday last. At that time one was seen in formation with a flock of seagulls out in front of the island and it was attempting to "nip at their heels" though the gulls were basically just scooting out of the way and shifting positions and ignoring it thus raising some concerns as to whether the juveniles can feed themselves yet. David Anderson, the WDFW raptor biologist, said the male would feed them if necessary and that they mature very fast and then are forced to leave to find their own turf so the fact that we suddenly aren't seeing them isn't necessarily a bad sign, but possibly one of a normal course of events regardless of the fate of the female. Still, if you see or hear one of them please email Beacon.Rock@AvaSys.com, as the info would be good to have. Joseph Healy, Jim Opdycke, Bill Coe Beacon Rock Climbers' Association Beacon.Rock@AvaSys.com

Arrrgggh mateys! We scooped the tourista directissima long ago - and hands off our booty at the base...

Surely someone's limping about minus a right Mad Rock???

Possibly the HR crew doesn't want it on the Internet anymore than you do you-know-where. I'd ask questions by pm'ing Jim Anglin at "Retired" here on cc...

OH! And to Bill for buying the beer - great selection too by the way...

Many thanks to Phillip, Bill, Jamie, and Bruce for helping move the last big load of stuff tonight. More thanks to Kevin for moving loads to free up the garage, and a special big, big thanks is due to John Stewart for days of helping Jim out and having him and his crew kick it on Jim's yardwork that needed to get done before the end of the month - a monster job and the yard now looks great. He's basically out of there and into new digs. Jim will be back out at Beacon all the sooner for everyone pitching in and helping him out - and that's a good thing...

Ditto to you for the last pitch - quivering flakes, steady cahones...

Bill, thanks for reminding me - I forgot entirely I need review/talk with Karsten about fixing his description if he want's it to stay up there. Until then don't use that description - use the directions I posted above and I'll try to review the MP one and talk with Karsten in the next couple of days if he and Raluca are back from the honeymoon. I'd never been to a Romanian wedding reception before - interesting food and drinks - between the Romanians and Texans I think the Romanians were holding their own better by the end of the night...

Oh, sorry - Shane cleaned the actual route portions of Reasonable Richard and Local Access last Sunday and Jim and I had previously thoroughly cleaned the moss from the trail up to where the routes split...

It's got to be better than using crack N' Ups and Ball-Nuts like you did! Might see a 2nd ascent eventually if you toss in a bolt or 2! We did do it with a bunch of successive crack N' Ups and lowe balls in row on several pitches but retro'ed pins in those spots later after folks complained they didn't have access to that gear and didn't want to do free leads on "aid" gear (I've taken long falls free climbing over both lowe balls and a #2 crack N' Up and they both hold and can be removed easily if used appropriately and both have been available in the past week on ebay...). Layton and Marcus did the 2nd ascent last year, and though I forget exactly what Mike said, I think they may have aided some on the last pitch, but I could be entirely wrong about that. In any case it did sound like they both had a good time on it. More folks should go up and give it a whirl. Just aim up and right at the Young Warrior p1 and keep aiming for the biggest square roof on the SE corner arete. After that start angling back towards the large ancient pine at the top of the corner down slab from the top of Young Warriors. It was also retroed with good anchors at the belays. You can also bail at the top of the third pitch with two 60's and will drop you right onto the Broadway rap chains. Bill and I gave it a very thorough pitch-by-pitch cleaning before Karsten and I did the FFA. The first pitch off of YW is a bit chossy and the winter probably left the usual spendthrift on that pitch, but otherwise it is relatively very clean compared to the FA and also free of [some unusually large] loose rock. p3 - p5 are neither chossy or dirty. One word of caution - you should not embark on the third pitch of Lost Warriors if anyone is down below on Boardwalk or Rythmn Method which are directly under p3 and p4. Also, the rap from the [rap] anchor to the right of p3 about 3/4's of the way up that takes you to the Boardwalk chains does have loose rock in the section immediately above Boardwalk so take care on the rap - it was also cleaned but caution is still the word of the day. No one should be below you above p2 - if they are you should abort back to p2 (I have had to several times) or have them leave until you are at the p3 rap anchors (and only do that if you have two 60's as you can't get down with one).

Well, given I replaced it I'd say it was still there. Yep, I do know all the issues and ethics and I (and Jim) made the call that the column access issues warranted the bolt. Check with Jim, but neither of us has changed our minds in that regard at the moment. But I can pull the bolt faster than you could pull the pin, so whether is stays is still up for some debate - go get on it and report back to Jim or Bill...

Lost Warriors? Kevin, add what you like - on lead... But back to the blantant hypocracy at hand, now you answer my questions above...

So that's how you decided would be a good way to not have things posted online? How about answering these first: - Did you also "call" yourself and Arent "out on it" when you guys did exactly the same thing on the same routes when you established a fixed pin? - Did any one else "call you guys out on it"? - Did you consult with Olson and Nathan before doing it? - How did you two go about establishing a consensus before you did it? - How come it never entered your mind in this very conversation to mention you guys slapped a piece of fixed pro on these routes as well, when that was the exact topic of discussion? Or are you also claiming the "pins aren't fixed pro" defense? Well, I thought the whole to do was ramping down, but I obviously could have been wrong...

Well, if you're going all Windham Hill and all I'd put Alex DeGrassi / Slow Circle [ Windham Hill 1009 / 1979 ] at the very top of that list...

Kevin - read this again from my earlier posting: Second, and as I've explicitly stated before, I don't post the BRCA notices as a journal, because I want to hear myself talk, or to impress anyone - I post them as publically auditable account of the BRCA work so that WDFW, WSP, Gorge Commission, and any other agency personnel can refer to them in their agency reporting. That gives the BRCA standing to take part and have a say in the management of climbing at Beacon Rock. It's a vehicle that, along with backing and reports from the BRSP Staff and David Anderson of the WDFW, means when WSP, WDFW, Skamania County, FS, or the Gorge Commision has questions or issues with climbing at Beacon they come to us first and not a Seattle or National-based climbing organization with more visibility and "credibility". In the end that means Jim Opdycke, Bill Coe, myself, and you get a say in what goes on out there rather than have state-wide edicts laid on the place or decisions made solely in Olympia with the input of climbers who aren't Beacon locals. That is why the BRCA notices are here and why they will continue and are also why you were able to climb out at Beacon for the past month. Also, Jim Opdycke understands exactly why I'm posting these BRCA notices and agrees with it - but as of last night he was at a loss as to why you would even bring up this Reasonable Richard topic online as am I as well. And with regard to everything being "fine" before we reconstituted the BRCA - nothing was fine. There was a decade of acrimonious relationships (even among climbers), Beacon didn't open early, everything had to be done pirate, it was covered with a heavy load of loose rock, covered with a grand assortment shit and / or decaying anchors, and all but a couple of the South face columns had completely grown over from neglect - "fine", you say? Not to my eyes and not when the Climbing Management plan is up for review without any input from local Beacon climbers (a situation that is now turned around 180 degrees - hell, they are asking for input from Jim Opdycke now). It is my position on the issue of BRCA Notice postings and it will not be changing. And I would also encourage all of you to stop by the BRSP and introducing yourself to Erik and John and discuss climbing management issues at Beacon with them as well - they are the first line of responsibility in the matter and you just might be surprised at what you discover.

Mark, I think it's agreed we are all wanting to start tapering this all off and I think it is, it's this years version of the tree discussion... Relative to Arent's pin (and I'm not accusing, just contrasting) and not to further the argument, but pins are by any definition I know fixed pro and always have been along with bolts. I certainly make no distinction between bolts and pins relative to fixed pro other than to say after replacing all those anchors it's a hell of a lot easier to tell the quality of a pin placement versus a bolt placement 10, 15, or 20 years later - I'll take a welded pin out there over a bolt any day. From the Devil's Tower climbing management plan and several climbing glossaries: Fixed protection or fixed anchor - is permanently placed protection left in the rock, typically a bolt or a piton intended to be permanently placed. Fixed protection is usually applied when no "clean" opportunities are available. As far as Stone Rodeo, as best as I can recall it didn't have those bolts, that many bolts, or in all those locations - it may, I believe, have had one or two buttonheads/split shanks and some bad pins as I remember it - which isn't necessarily all that well. I'll have to go look sometime. I have no knowledge of chipping of any kind, though both Jim and I were very cognizant of such activities and given the way the rock changes to that light gray out there I suspect we woulld have commented on any such thing had we noticed it. It was classic Jim - he was a gymnast and did rings in college and still free solos .11s to this day - he never liked pro much so has always run things out comfortably. And given we were all about big roofs I do remember he made the thing look pretty damn casual at the time - he's very irritating that way. The day after that we tried to free a route through the biggest roof on the East face right across from where the trail makes the first sharp bend by the big tree - it was a monumentally stupid and over-reaching epic and probably the most harrowing and educational retreat we ever did anywhere.

Kevin, as I've stated, and for the reasons I've stated, the BRCA Notices will be continuing. But if you notice, outside of those notice postings I only respond to other's Beacon-related posts in this thread - so again, don't post, I won't respond; but if people do post and direct it at or about me or the BRCA notices it should be expected I will respond. And if you look above for the quote in dark red you'll also see the rationale for the systematic anchor replacements.

Peter, Give a shout the next time you're going to be down, would love to meet you. As to the substance of your comments, there are WA residents in the BRCA and my use of "Seattle" was fairly arbitrary and I believe I also used Colorado and New York. There have been several runs at opening Beacon to sport climbing and some sport routes got put in during those attempts. "Local" in my eyes has nothing to do with "those who agree with JH" so much as those who climb there on a very regular basis and are committed/bonded to the place. Of those folks, many do happen to agree with myself, Jim Opdycke, Bill Coe, and other longstanding Beacon climbers (along with the BRSP), that trad climbing was, is, and should remain what climbing is about at Beacon Rock. Again, there is no shortage of sport venues in both OR and WA and "we" feel there is no need to alter the traditions of climbing at Beacon to accomodate it there. In the end this will be another case where some or even many folks won't be happy with that, but that is a primary imperative for the BRCA.