mountainmatt

Captain Sam Vane Even though there's no legal rank on a pirate ship, everyone recognizes you're the one in charge. You tend to blend into the background occaisionally, but that's okay, because it's much easier to sneak up on people and disembowel them that way. Arr!

Now there is an idea, but we would need a theme. Something with unicorns would be a good one...

Nice pics! Forgetting the headlamp must have made the evening a little more interesting for sure.

Oh, there were AT LEAST two other parties below us if not more. The two parties that I could see at 6 PM were very close to each other and maybe ~6 pitches up the route. I agree with you, I would not want to be on the route below someone. It was scary enough trying not to hit your partner with the loose rock.

The gates foundation is funding a project in our lab as well. I think that its great that they give so much money to work on some of the most difficult problems in science such as vaccine development.

Nice work! Looks like a good one to try in the future

Climb: Dragontail-Serpentine Arete Date of Climb: 6/24/2006 Trip Report: Headed up with Tim (runningdog) to climb the Serpentine Arete on Saturday. Arrived at the trailhead around 10 PM, and tried to get a few hours of sleep in the back of his van. Thankfully, the mosquitoes weren't out so we could leave the doors open. The alarm went off and we started hiking around 3 AM. We arrived at the north side of Colchuck lake around 5:45, and to the base of the route by around 6:15. We started up the route, freeing up the first several hundred feet of class IV and roped up when a couple of the moves started getting harder (about 1-2 pitches below where pitch 1 starts according to Selected Climbs of the Cascades). The real first pitch still had snow in it, and Tim headed to the right of it and managed to get around the snow, but the rope drag definitely made it hard for him to finish and for me to second. I headed up the second pitch and made the mistake of not heading to the right to the start of pitch 3. Instead I continued up an off-width crack that could definitely have used some cleaning (5.9?). I ended the pitch about 2/3 of the way up the real pitch three. Tim came in and combined the end of pitch three and all of four (5.8). This was the best pitch of the entire route, great cracks, knobs, and smears! I headed up and lead pitch 5 which snaked around various blocks and finally arrived at a large ledge (5.5). At this point, we decided to simul climb the rest of the route. It was definitely nice to be roped up in the first couple hundred of feet, after that the route really eases up (in hind site, we wish we had just soloed the remaining portions of the route from pitch 8 to the summit). The rock in these remaining pitches was quite loose, and we found ourselves climbing delicately to avoid tossing rocks on the parties below. We arrived at the final 5.7 pitch which still had snow in ice in it, so we took the class III route around to the summit. After 20 minutes on the summit, we decided to head to climb Colchuck. We followed the snow path over to the chute and headed down to the top of Colchuck glacier. We both had ice axes, but I had brought my tennis shoes that made kicking steps very difficult (definitely bring boots). The snow was plenty soft so we were glad we had left the crampons behind. When we arrived at the saddle, Tim raced to the summit while I slowly started to descend down to the lake (I had just been up there a few weeks before). There were still several teams on the route at this point (around 6 PM) so it was easy to see where we had just been (hope they all made it out ok). Tim and I met up at the lake and headed over to the north side of the lake to purify some water. After jumping in the lake to cool down, and chasing off a goat, we made it down to the car by about 8 PM. The mosquitoes were out in full force, so we made haste for some burgers and shakes in Leavenworth. Gear Notes: Brought: Rack to 3", ice axe tennis shoes Should of had: boots, double 3" Approach Notes: Trail all the way to the north side of the lake, mix of rock and snow to the base of the climb. Access from the snow to the rock is a little difficult due to melting, but can be done with a large step. Can glissade from the top of Colchuck glacier to about 200 feet above the lake.

Thats crazy! If you see the guy again, make sure that you pull up the slack and catch him at the knees...

You might be able to pee, but you would be standing way back form the toilet...

But where is her painting of a unicorn and a rainbow?

Move your mouse around and make your own Jackson Pollack painting... http://jacksonpollock.org/

FUCK YEAH!

I could use this instead of blue bags on my next climb!

McDonalds, FUCK YEAH! Wal-Mart, FUCK YEAH! The Gap, FUCK YEAH! Baseball, FUCK YEAH! NFL, FUCK, YEAH! Rock and roll, FUCK YEAH! The Internet, FUCK YEAH! Slavery, FUCK YEAH! FUCK YEAH! Starbucks, FUCK YEAH! Disney world, FUCK YEAH! Porno, FUCK YEAH! Valium, FUCK YEAH! Reeboks, FUCK YEAH! Fake Tits, FUCK YEAH! Sushi, FUCK YEAH! Taco Bell, FUCK YEAH! Rodeos, FUCK YEAH! Bed bath and beyond (Fuck yeah, Fuck yeah) Liberty, FUCK YEAH! White Slips, FUCK YEAH! The Alamo, FUCK YEAH! Band-aids, FUCK YEAH! Las Vegas, FUCK YEAH! Christmas, FUCK YEAH! Immigrants, FUCK YEAH! Popeye, FUCK YEAH! Demarcates, FUCK YEAH! Republicans (republicans) (fuck yeah, fuck yeah) Sportsmanship Books

I think you will better uncage your soul if she breaks your heart.

This sums it all up I think... http://youtube.com/watch?v=hgDLyLmjor8

http://www.ratcityrollergirls.com/

In looking at the cake, I would say you are 3. Happy B-day G-spotter

Too bad the same cannot be said for the bottoms...

Sweet stuff! Any pics of you guys higher on the route?

Thinking positive thoughts, I hope you have a speedy recovery.

Doesn't that guy know that he shouldn't fart so close to a fire?

I would wish you a happy birthday Chad, but I only celebrate unbirthdays...

Nice job, sounds like a nice day out