still_climbin

It went here along with the fat ass.

Now Now! I'm sure I recognize the middle one. She climbed 5.6 (now 5.10) in the seventies.

Is that the Squid at the base of the tree?

SSShhhhh!...All of you. I have to fly on those bastards next week!

Planned for this after the 1974 gas crisis!... I built a log cabin near L'worth in 1980. Now I just use it more.

Advising a New Englander to do NIC solo? Hope you have a good lawyer! I'd advise something WITHOUT serious cravasses anywhere on the route such as N.Face Maude, Eldorado, Daniels (easy), or something around Cascade Pass.

That's some funny shit.

I think I had some of that Soylent Green growing between my toes after my last mountaineering adventure. Does this mean I could have eaten it?

Time Out...Was that pop or poop?

Certainly you know that a bango is the Skagit Valley derivative of the Banjo. Its due to inbreeding.

You missed Skagit Barbie. Her paternal and maternal grandfather are the same person and she married Ken in 7th grade. Ken comes with tar healed boots, a corn liquor still and a bango. Together they live in wait for the day the Skagits prevail in their long standing feud with the Darringtons

The usual bet? ... $1

Montana National Guard practices urban warfare Montanna style.

Weapons of mass destruction or owning Iraq

Launch your own business. Its like the difference between top ropping and leading trad. And the loøse your ass exposure can be exhilarating.

Don't have to climb any more. I just sit back and watch the 5.6, 5.8 stuff I climbed a fews years back get rerated at 5.8, 5.10. See, now I'm a 5.10 leader and did'nt even have to get off the couch.

That is one of several photos that hung on the wall of Shelton's Cafe (Hotel Tyrol)in Leavenworth in the late sixties. Don't recall/never knew who took them; interesting it should pop up on a Squamish page Ah, yes! The Shelton. It was the last business on the street to go gingerbread. Thats why the climbers all supported it. That back section with the photos on the wall was the best place in the state to get beta on climbs. Good place for cheap food and beer too.

G-Spot, did you notice that the photo on your link is of one of us old guys climbing the first moves on Angel Crack?

I think your right on the "benchmark" aspect. In ~1970 routes like Midway were held up as "benchmarks" for 5.4 and they were discussed as such. If a new route was a little harder maybe it was rated 5.5, a little easier 5.3. Now I think perhaps benchmarks climbers relate to are in the harder clases, 5.8 and up. Not as much attention is given to the lower grades. Hence you don't hear climbers reigning in ratings by saying "this climb is like Midway, therefore its 5.4." I also agree with the comment on "old school" 5.9 or 5.9+ ratings. That used to be the top of the scale and for most climbers that meant it was above their ability. Just how far above wasn't important.

I view climbing from an unusual vantage. I did most of my climbing (all of the hard stuff) in the late 60's thru early 80's. Then, after having a couble children, we relented to hikes, srcambles and anything I could get away with on skiis...Kid compatible stuff. A few years ago my son became interested in rock climbing (with no encouragement from me mind you). One day while at our cabin near Leavenworth he asked if I'd take a few hours to belay him on the Icicle. I agreed, reaffirming my unwillingness to do any more climbing myself. Well, that lasted about 10 minutes.....TOTAL RELAPS!! I now scramble around on those rocks like a crab. Eighteen years off gets one out of touch with changes in the sport. Lots of changes I discovered were good like rock shoes and cams. But one change baffles me... inflation of difficulty ratings that's occured over the years. I decided to do an experiment. I chose half a dozen rock climbs, some easy and some hard, that were popular in 1970 and are equally popular now. I've climbed them all, some many times. I dug out my old climber's guides, my climbing journal and bought some of the new guides. I compared rating of various pitches on those climbs and the results are shown in the ATTACHED TABLE. Here's what I conclude: - Ratings of 5.1 thru 5.4 have virtually disappeared and moves of that difficulty have pretty much been promoted to 5.5 to 5.7. - Higher ratings 5.8 to 5.9 have shown less (but not zero) inflation. - Ratings of the "famous" crux move on famous routes, like the 5.9 finger travers on the third pitch of Outer Space, have tended to stick, but other moves on the same route have inflated. - Have the routes become more difficult? I've repeated some of these climbs recently and don't think so. In fact the tolal absence of moss and scale and the use of modern shoes makes them easier if anything... And it also seems that just when you think it would be nice to set a belay, presto!... there's a couple big herky bolts right there! Comments? 555470-EWGRouteComparrisonRev1.doc

They did! Likely a first jungle boot acent.

Will Viet Nam jungle boots make it on the Kain route on Bugaboo?

14ers don't count for much when you start measuring at a 6,000 ft base.

For me more like gesundheit than verstiegheit. Nothing like a face shot of moss and bat sh*t in the morning. In the 60's in Eastern Washington and Idaho you had to do FA's if you wanted to climb.

I helped build Spire Rock in 1973-1974. I was military Coprs of Engingeers at the time at Ft. Lewis and arranged for some of the larger slabs of granite from a donating quarry to be shipped and lifted into place. Being an avid young climber myself, I spent many days "creaqting" the perfect crack or slab. My most radical memory was of the rotating chalk stone mounted on a truck axle in a chimney at the south end. Is it still there? I never had a chance to use the rock after it was built since (in typical militaty fashion) I had moved on. But this is the first that I've ever heard that it was eventually a success. Too bad its fallen on hard times.