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My last place of employment always had the breakroom stocked with free M&Ms. Where I'm at now, we get free pop but since I don't do pop, I'm gonna lobby for beer - seems reasonable. Nothing like spitting out quality code after a few brews.

In Spokane, Resas (spelling) on Division (across from White Elephant) does a good job. I've have mine done there 3 times and they've held together really well.

Yeah, I'll see what he says on Tuesday. You know how they are though - non commital, "it all depends." Which of course, you can't blame them. I just wanted to see what other climbers experiences have been with this type of injury. Realizing of course that it's all relative.

So I took a slip bouldering a few months ago and fell maybe a foot onto my outstretched arm, which for some reason refused to let go of the hold. Anyhoo, since then, my shoulder has been hurting real bad. I slacked off on the climbing, sticking mainly to 5.6ish and easier stuff - stuff where I have movement options to compensate. My MRI results came back today and the doc says it's a "partial tear in the rotator cuff." My question is, what should I expect as far climbing over the next several months? Is it safe to continue with the easy stuff while going through therapy? How long does healing noramlly take? If it's surgery, I'd imagine all climbing would be out but for how long? Not looking for legally binding advice just other peoples experiences so I can form an idea of exactly how suck this is. Anyone been through this here?

Lost mine on April 1st. Probably it. Sounds like it has no desire to come home Lost it's sibling on Blackfoot Dome at Blodgett too. I used to think yelling "rock" was appropriette. Now I'm conditioned to yelling "Radio." I think the next one I hand over to a climbing partner will have a lanyard instead of just those cheap plastic clip things.

My partner dropped my brand new one off of Prime Rib of Goat earlier this year. Coulda bounced I suppose.

Great photography. Nice job on Overhanging Tower too. You made it look trivial

That last photo is fantastic.

Nah. Just repeating what he said in the TR. Perhaps he meant south, which would make sense given the comment about having to climb back up to the packs. I've wanted to do a route on Chair but couldn't make much sense out of the approach info I've found so this is good stuff. That scree field above Source Lake "looks" like a straight shot up to the base. Now to prod one of my climbing partners into having some fun

If you rap the north side chimney, doesn't the base of the NE Buttress route fall in line with the route back to Source Lake?

Looks like fun. What's the rating on this route? How many pitches? I'm familiar with the summer approach to The Tooth but have never been up the trail to Snow Lake. Looking at this pic from SummitPost, it looks like the easiest way to reach the NE Buttress and East Face routes would be to go straight up the talus from Source Lake? What is the "standard" approach to these routes? Thanks

I hiked up the steep trail to Labyrinth Mountain then scrambled the ridge back down to the lake. Pretty area and not a soul around till near the trailhead. Got a little puckered above the cliffbands coming down. Steep heather is suck. Neat boulders and lots of larch up there. Sunday I hoofed it up Beacon Hill in Spokane just to get in some huffing and puffing before bed. That place sucks and is nice all at the same time

Trip: Beacon Hill - SE Slope aka Hell Hound Route Date: 9/9/2007 Trip Report: I did a boulder problem along the way and called it a climb instead of a hike. Where is Beacon Hill?! Well, if you get off I-90 and head north on Argonne, you'll cross over the Spokane River after a few miles. After crossing the river, go about half a mile then take a left at the first light. This is Upriver Drive. Follow Upriver Drive for several miles till you come to a paved parking area on the right amongst a group of large granite rocks. This is what is commonly referred to as Minnehaha or Minne for short. Its official name is John Shields County Park. It used to be no more than a dirt pullout used by climbers and partiers. In recent years, various groups have contributed to some pretty big cleanup efforts. Graffiti was scrubbed from rocks, campfire rings removed, trash picked up and a paved parking area put in. Lately, paint on the rocks has grown again and the general cleanliness of the area has spiraled downward. Even so, the place continues to crawl with climbers, bikers, exercise hikers, paint ballers and an occasional drug dealer. If you park here and follow a trail towards the northwest from the main parking, you'll start heading uphill within a 1/8th of a mile. The trail is braided but if you stay going upward, you'll arrive at the top after just over a mile having climbed 629 feet. The trail is steep in most places and is hard-packed with a covering of small loose gravel in the steepest sections, where it's most inconvenient. I drive by here on my way home so most afternoons I'm either hiking the hill or climbing the rock...or both. A few of my friends also drive by on Upriver Drive after work so needless to say, I get a fair amount of ribbing from some of them who see my Tundra parked there all too often. My actual time spent here is rather short though. Just long enough to get up the hill and down (25 to 40 minutes depending on motivation) or to do a few laps on an easy route or boulder problem. Tonight I decided to hike to the top and enjoy the sunset. I brought the camera but like an idiot, I kept my fingers too close to the front and the flash bounced off them and back into the lens - most turned out like ick. Anyhoo, I got started too late and had to make fast time to the top. There was one other car in the lot as I headed out. This parking area is like a Cascades TH - watch your valuables because cars have been broken into here. As I cruised the first several hundred yards of level trail past the main face of the rock, my mind wandered and I wondered if the occupants of the car were one of the many "bad" pet owners I've seen out here who let their "friendly" dog run free. I reached back to make sure my weirding module was present and secure...it was and I felt better. "Lunatic Fringe, I know you're out there." The trail steepened and my La Sportiva Exum Ridge shoes made me happy. I can't slip in these things! About halfway up, I rounded a corner and spotted 3 or 4 deer. They had been grazing on apples and didn't appear in too much of a hurry to scurry off. I picked up the pace on the short flat stretch. "The damn thing gone blind." Off to the left, about 2/3 up the trail I passed a little spur trail. If you follow that down several hundred yards there's a 30 foot rock face where I put up a nice 5.9 route earlier this year. I'd just gotten into a bit of a bitching contest with my climbing partner and had spent some time up here soloing and cleaning out cracks. It took a few days to get the route in because it was pretty mossy. I named it "Solitary Confinement" because I was feeling sorry for myself. There's a nice 60-foot traverse problem as well. A few spicy moves. I named it YAAA because I was still pissed at my climbing partner. "Sing it girl. 'Sexy Kung Foo fighter'" My wife put that one on the MP3 player. She's got a weird sense of humor that way. When I was deciding on a major in college, I had an appointment with the dean of the Computer Science department. In preparation for the meeting, Teri had helped me compile a list of questions to ask. I tucked the questions into my pocket and during the meeting, I nervously read them off to the dean. Teri had added "Do the chicks out here have big hooters?" Yeah, funny now. She put Snausages on a meat platter that she prepared for her sister once. The sister's coworkers thought it was funny though...even if her sister didn't. The last 100 feet of elevation to the top are the steepest. The trail pops out of the trees into a power line right of way, crosses under the lines then with a short and very steep push, gains the magnificent summit. There's a car here that someone trundled down the embankment just this year. Over the last 6 or 7 months, it seems to be migrating further down the hill and becoming "one" with the landscape. I've never checked the area around it out too closely but I'm sure whomever sent it over the edge checked for hikers first. The actual summit is another hundred yards across the plateau but well worth the extra effort. There's a cairn there. Apparently it's got a rich history. Fred Spicker tells me that he started the original pile years ago. Back when the local legends were putting in FAs on the main wall I'd imagine. Anyway, he'd grab large rocks from the parking area and haul them to the top for exercise. After awhile, the pile grew fairly large then the cell tower people scooped them all up and used them as foundation material for the towers. Fred persisted though and before too long, the cairn was back. He built it surrounding an old tree stump. One day he came to the top and saw a fire built in the center with a cooking rack and hot dogs. No one around though. Because of the stump in the middle, the fire smoldered for weeks - like a mini volcano. The history has some tragic events too...a guy laid upon the pile once and shot himself. I always wonder about what drove him to that. Sad. In addition to an obligatory rock, I'll often throw on a wild flower or at least a pretty weed and say a word or two like "Howdy" or maybe comment on the heat or cold. Today it took 19 minutes to get to the top. My best time is 14 and that was with a fair amount of running. I used to run down it too but it didn't take long to realize how bad that was for the 49 year old knees! It's usually a quick turn around because I'm needing to get home or get somewhere. Today I decided to stay a few minutes to enjoy the sunset and listen to more music. "No colors any more, I want them to turn black." On the way down, I kept the headphones wrapped around my neck so I could enjoy the sounds of nature as well. Off in the distance I could hear the screech as airplane tires hit the pavement over at Felts Field just across the river. Occasional gunshots rang out at the police firing range near Upriver Dam. The power lines hummed. But the crickets were the loudest sound. It got really dark and the rocky trail laid in plenty of invisible obstacles. At one point where it got especially dark, I heard a cracking sound in the trees. It was probably just the deer again but I felt to make sure the weirding module hadn't fallen from its straps. I think people walk their nice dogs in other places - this is the mean dog walking park. They found a stabbed dead guy on the hill last week. I think they used the term "suspicious." Perhaps the stab wounds were an indication. I took a slightly different route down, following an open ridge towards the river on a path past the "Minnehaha Logger" activity - some dumbass chopped down a bunch of pines with an ax just for the fun of it. This ridge is a popular spot for the paint ball crowd because of the many rocky hiding spots. It's also popular with the beer drinking crowd because it's somewhat hidden from the main road and the chances of the cops spotting them are less. The trail drops off the ridge into a large dirt turnout/parking area just west of the paved parking. Be careful here, the far west end (right where the trail ends) is a popular stop for the I-need-my-BJ-now crowd. A fun trip to a great little hill.( Pictures )

Cool pics. The perspective for the picture on the main page makes me dizzy.

Davey Dukes?

I agree. But I'd still check the brake lines on my truck.

My daughter drew a perma marker mustache on her 6 month old sister once.

Welcome to Spokane. Lots of good climbing close by and plenty of climbers to hook up with. I sent ya a pm but I'm slacking for a few weeks or so till my shoulder/arm/wrist/fingers heal a bit. I'm still up for a relatively easy TR. Lemme know.

LOL. At 5.10 and 165, he could afford a maple bar or two. I have the Subkilo 0 degree bag and I think it's comfy enough. It is a well designed bag and not too heavy. I'm 5.8 and 160 and while I prefer more wiggle room, it works...unlike those super-thin (at least mine is anyway) Sierra Design bags. If you can afford it though, the Montbell stretch bags are really comfy, light and compact. You can bend one leg without having to bend both. No need to sleep with an "emergency escape knife."

I predict it'll gnaw at ya for awhile then you'll grudgingly break down and get a new rope. Sorry for your loss

Why is it that the right made it divisive? If the left doesn't agree with the right, couldn't it also be said that the left is being divisive?

If I'm with people who blather enough that I can identify their political slant then that's too much politics and not enough climbing. When I'm climbing, I'm interested in what my climbing partner thinks about the quality of the rock, which line looks best, their favorite climb....not their politics nor their religion.

Too funny!!! Where's that at? By the way, thanks for the turtle shots - interesting.

Trip: The Tooth - Date: 8/24/2007 Trip Report: The approach to The Tooth is much easier when there's snow - doh! I was in Kent all week and planned on climbing to the summit Friday night on the way back to Spokane then Kirsten and Brian would hike up Saturday morning to climb it too. Brian had been denied two other tries due to weather and this was Kirsten's first alpine rock climb. I left the TH Friday just after 4 and made good time to Source Lake overlook, passing a dozen or so hikers heading out. Crossing the talus above the lake sucked but went pretty fast and no falls - the nifty approach shoes that I hate so much on the trail sure are nice on the rock. Once into Great Scott Basin, I found a good path to the far left of the talus, which got me about halfway up to Pineapple Pass. The climb from trails-end to the pass was more suck on loose boulders and scree. I made the back side of the pass by 6:30 and decided to take the time to check out Baby Tooth (real name?). I stashed the poles and scrambled up a narrow gully to the top in about 10 minutes. The climbing was steep and I was glad for the rap station near the top. It looked like there was another set of slings that would have gotten me down to the base of the Tooth's south ridge but since I'd left my poles at the bottom, I rapped back down the way I came up. By the time I reached the start of the south ridge route and got all my gear organized, the sun was dropping pretty fast and I knew I'd be climbing in the dark. The climbing went fast and was very enjoyable. The moon and the quiet (other than the distant hum of I-90) made the whole thing feel very surreal and quite enjoyable. There was virtually no wind on the face but fog was rolling into Great Scott Basin from the west and being swept upward like thin tornados - very cool to watch. The rock remained warm and dry the entire climb. It would have been difficult to find a stance without a bomber hold available. The glow from the moon cast shadows on the rock and I found myself reaching for holds that weren't really there but a little bit of feeling around always resulted in something positive to pull on. At the top, I found a nice bench to call home and spread out the bivy gear for a comfortable night. I watched the stars till about midnight then the fog crept higher and socked me in. I fell asleep hoping it would'nt rain and woke up with just a small window through the fog to enjoy the sunrise. The radio blared to life around 8 - Brian and Kirsten were near the TH and on their way up. I lazed around for a few hours more then packed things up for the rap down. I had brought just a 30 meter rope and an additional 30 meter 5mm cord for rapping. All went well till the last pitch where my pull-biner got snagged up. I was getting ready to climb back up to free it when Brian and Kirsten arrived. They geared up and Brian headed out for the first pitch. We climbed on a single 60 M with Kirsten tied into the middle so had to break the first pitch up. This method worked perfect for the rest of the climb though. [ADDED] Straight up on the second pitch (rather than the ramp left and up to the dead tree) requires less than half the rope. I believe around the dead tree would require slightly more. Kirsten did really well and it was obvious that she was enjoying her first alpine rock climb. We ate lunch on the summit then began the rap down when the rain started coming in. We did an additional two raps down the rappel chimney, which left us about 40 feet shy of the bottom with nothing to anchor to. It would have been an easy 4th class downclimb from there but the rock was wet and very slippery. Once we were all down, we drug out my 30M and tied it in, getting us to the bottom. After a long day, the hike back out on wet talus was more suck and we all took turns falling to break up the tedium. Another fun trip to The Tooth but I won't be doing that again without some snow in the basins. Nice sunset Nice ambiance Nice bivy spot Nice friends

The issue of this particular bolt aside, I don't think weather or not it's a guide/client team should have any bearing on when a new bolt (not so new in this case) is justified on an established route. If a guide can't safely get their client through a route in the same style as everyone else then they should choose a different route. I'm not saying this bolt is or isn't justified just that a guide's financial liabilities shouldn't be a factor. [ADDED] Hmmm. I didn't mean to imply that the guide's sole concern was liability. I'm sure the biggest concern is the safetly of their clients.