spotly

Poor Max. Very sad video.

I think I'll fork over the dough and launch at the ramp across from Northrup. Not real keen on leaving my truck in the middle on nowhere for 3 or 4 days though. Since I'll probably be going solo...where's the easy routes Steve?

He's calling that "Post-Modern wall" based on the pic in the guide book. The red is "Anonymous Heros" (5.9) and the blue would be "Seam-iotics" (5.9). Thanks, that gives me a reference point to start with.

The newish Rick La Belle guide left me confused with where the walls are in this area. He mentions Ultima Thule, Novitiate, Post Modern and Orange walls. I'm planning on boating out there for 3 or 4 days early this year and would prefer not to spend too much time searching for the routes on my list of wishes. Anyone care to point them out on this image? Thanks!

"Dry and warm" is so relative How warm was it?

Friends went Saturday. They said it was hard-packed. They turned around short of the kitchen due to high wind and poor visibility.

Favorite pitch followed (NYC007 led): Shoshone Spire, pitch 6 (starts at the notch halfway up the picture - pitch 5 was nice too!). A long pitch that starts out with a sketchy traverse outside the notch then follows face holds and hand and finger cracks up through a short roof. The exposure was awesome. Most enjoyable pitch because it took just about every kind of move to get through it. The last move to the belay was hardest for me. Favorite pitch led: Prime Rib (of Goat) - pitch 8. A long 130 foot pitch with lots of slopers and a slightly scarey little traverse near the top. I liked the setting. If we were doing scariest pitch, I'd go with the 5th pitch on south face of NEWS. Only 5.0 but the whole pitch was portable.

They'd have to start a seperate SAR mission just to find your registration in that mess

Seems like that big chunk above the guy with the pole would slide right off too.

What's the earliest one can climb Devils Tower and still be pretty much guaranteed daytime temps above 50....on the Durrance Route? Yeah, I know it depends, just looking for a wang. Thanks.

No, but in Snohomish Co, both outgoing Sheriff Rick Bart, and especially new Sheriff John Lovick are very well qualified. Would you vote for a County Auditor or Treasurer who wasn't a CPA? Voters (often) have common sense Yes, because the choice is which is "most" qualified. Too bad there isn't a choice of "Neither" on the ballot! If all of the candidates sucked (the case in many elections) one will still get elected.

Sounds like some good times.

I wouldn't let someone belay me on it, that's fer sure. Might as well use a Ginsu.

Like this?

high on rock: your tele gear's already too old to be used anywhere but for display on a wall.

I wanna explore the Idaho Selkirks a bit more this year. Plus, it's been awhile since I've got up some alpine snow so maybe something new in the Montana Cabinets. A few low 5th solos would be nice too. And lastly but not leastly, I'd really like to get up Stuart's North Ridge.

Nice. Never skiied but I must say, telemark doesn't look as fun as AT. Though it appears telemarkers can get away with blaming the gear - poles especially

In case anyone else is interested, after several months of PT, my rotator has healed and the "tweeked" labrum is supposedly better too. I did manage to pick up what he called "frozen shoulder" which is a secondary condition brought on by the injuries. I googled it and according to the interweb and the doc, it'll take anywhere from 8 months to two years to heal up. It consists of pain and stiffness that's almost exactly like the rotator tear, which is why my mending of a minor tear seemed to be taking so long I guess. Anyhoo, doc says to use it anyway but to just be careful and if I need it, he'll gimme a shot. I've ressited so far. I've been working the weights in moderation (2 on, 1 off) and have been into the climbing gym every other day for the past few weeks. I'm sticking to the 2+ (5.8ish?) routes and avoiding any dynamic movements (has the added bonus of improving my foot work ). Anyhoo, for anyone doing a "Search" when they run into an injury, there's my status. Looking better every week.

Ouch! I hiked 4 miles downhill with a broken foot and was damn near crying by the time I hit the TH. Can't imagine finishing LB with one.

I place these a lot. I love how they fit the skinny cracks

I hate pink (the color, not the person). And lavender is just as bad I like reading about the experiences of other climbers though. Hope yer rehab on the elbows is doing ok. Thanks for the linky.

Flicklock! Stay away from the little button lock thingies. I have a pair with those and in the winter, it can get nearly impossible to sollapse the bottom section.

If you try to carry it on and can't get by security, do they take it right there and "route it back" for check-in or would they have you do it? Either way would suck but letting security take it there would seem riskier than taking it yourself - just curious. I am surprised about the chalk making it through. I'd think there would be a suspicion of drugs or explosives.

There were a few moves higher up that twisted it in a way it didn't want to go. Brian was good enough to carry both rope and rack - strengthening my status as the master of wuss lately

Trip: Umatilla Rock - Date: 12/8/2007 Trip Report: We climbed up Umatilla Rock yesterday. I kinda figured the rock would be total crap but been wanting to get up it for awhile. We did a neat little single pitch 5.9ish line on the east side of the rock. There were 3 bands of rock. The lower band was like crumb cake and the top one was kind of a mix of good and bad with "ok" placements if you looked hard. The middle band was maybe 40 feet of clean rock with a couple of nice large flakes. The top was broken up as expected but we lucked onto a couple of large boulders to rap from. A fun way to spend a cold day. Mainly we just wanted to get outta town, pitch the tents and build a huge fire for marshmallow roasting. The wind was bad and flattened the tent every now and then. Saw a huge tick crawling around in the campground restroom. The temp got up to about 30. Not sure what it got down to overnight but it did stress the zero degree bag to its limit. Looks like a fire scorched a huge tract on the east side of the rock - anyone know when that happened? I've got some more pics at Umatilla Rock if you're interested. Gear Notes: Few large hexes. Cams .4 to 3. Looong webbing for the rap anchor. Approach Notes: If ranger Dick is on duty, plan an extra few miles (RT) of walking the access road.