Raindawg

OOhh! Callin' us all out to climb a lamely conceived sport-climb at Index! OOhhh! Well if it's top-ropable, then it's 10 times lamer to bolt a crack, and you're only endorsing that crap if you climb those clips! Just sayin'!

What he said. In the wide world of bolt-lameness, bolting next to cracks is perhaps the lamest of the lame. It looks like you had a lot of fun making that movie, though. MOMENTUM!

You can bad-mouth and otherwise critique the followers of Jesus for many centuries, but Jesus the Jew was quoting the Torah: "And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:28-31 [Quoting Deuteronomy 6:4-5, Leviticus 19:18] So maybe you don't believe in G_d and don't want to subscribe to the first part, but you got a problem with the second part? i.e. Treat your neighbor with as much respect as your vain selves? Really? Don't blame the bad-actors during the last two millennia on Jesus...blame it on the bad-actors. You don't know from Jesus!

From Longmire, drive up the road toward Paradise about 9 miles. A few switchbacks past Narada Falls is the turnoff to Stevens Canyon Road. Turn right onto the road and in maybe 1/4 of a mile there will be a big turn-out with a great view. A couple hundred yards past there, just where the road starts veering west into a wooded area, there is a shallow road cut. I have often parked there. Head straight down through the woods (you'll cross over the Wonderland Trail in 100 feet or so) perhaps bearing slightly right until you reach the flat area at the bottom. Follow the valley right (it can be marshy during the summer) until you're below the mighty North Face of Lane Peak. From there you can cross the creek on logs or whatever you find. What? Ski down the Zipper? It's been done a few times but I'd consider it extreme. Most people do walk off the back and down the Lane/Denman basin and then down through the trees, hopefully after visiting Lane's beautiful summit.

First of all "mediocracy" usually refers to an institution, not an individual ("government or rule by a mediocre person or group" - Random House) so I assume you meant "mediocrity". By the way....the notion that you can be, do, or have anything you want is nonsense....otherwise there would be 10 million astronauts, 20 million "rock stars" and 50 million cowboys. Society can't sustain that....it requires a massive infrastructure of your so-called mediocre people to support the relatively few cowboys, astronauts, etc. Secondly, you have know idea whom you might be addressing on this site....I'm sure there are many folks here with far more money than you and plenty more who are very successful and content with a lot less. That being said, I've got a new career for you to consider (if you don't mind joining 3,000 or so other "special" people): Hire a professional Everest motivational speaker! Get your BIG STOKE for only $1,000 - $20,000! MAKES ME WANNAGETONOUTTHAR!

Dude...if you're going to quote the great Teddy Roosevelt, give the man his credit lest others attribute his wisdom to you. In fact, here's a link with the whole essay: The Art of Manliness:Teddy Roosevelt: "Citizenship in a Republic"

You're clearly out of touch. What kind of car do you think, the average guy is buying? A late model BMW convertible with a groovin' sound system? Are you kidding me? Really??? You couldn't support your family on that much (or even double that?) and neither could I? Easily done, blue-blood, for even less, and with style and comfort. Smart folks adapt to their means. But as for the kid.....if my parents wanted to facilitate a nice little adventure up Everest when I was 13, I'd go for it....but I'd need some heavy professional supervision, as this guy no doubt did. Stunt? Sure! Would you have done it if offered to you when you were 13? Sho nuff!

I was at the Peshastin Pinnacles, climbing "Slender Thread", when a large black cloud emerged. We thought it was going to rain mightily and it did: it rained ash....we figured out what was going down and headed west.

Just a couple of days ago I was informed that Northwest mountaineering legend and endurance athlete, Jarl Secher-Jensen, passed away on April 10th at age 79 (after having suffered a severe stroke a few months before). Those who were lucky enough to know Jarl admired his gentle manner and his amazing strength. I first met him up at Camp Muir when someone pointed out a "wildman" skiing down the Cowlitz Glacier from the base of Gibralter Rock on Rainier. He often climbed solo but I was lucky to spend some time with him on Rainier and on Denali and he and his wife, Dee, became good family friends. Jarl was one of the physically most tough guys I've ever known. He was frequently seen on his bike during the winter, wearing nothing more than a pair of red gym shorts,returning from a 100 mile ride, or a several mile lake swim....or a very long run. And he was one heck of a skier. He would often park his camper at a ski area for a few days and hike to the top of the runs rather than purchasing a lift ticket which would deny him the exercize. He was a fine fellow, and it was an honor to be his friend.

Ya, dude.....as long as there's a bigger mess somewhere else, we can absolve ourselves of anything less. And even more pathetic....the Everest-bolting perps are begging for sympathy because "it protects Sherpas!" rather than emphasizing the fact that it's just another way of simplifying high-status wilderness for the paying first-world masses. I bet the Sherpas can handle the terrain just fine but the foreign guides enjoy the convenience. Ten years from now, the climbing rags are going to announce...the new sport route up the the southwest face was just accomplished with....AN AMAZING SIT-START! YEEEEEE!

Yeah, that is the plan...no downclimbing for us...maybe bust around and scramble Bryant before it gets too late. There's some serious misinformation floating around here. First, there's no "Bryant Peak" in the Tatoosh Range. You might be referring to "Denman" which is situated east of Lane between Lane and Plummer Peak. Second, I've done "Lover's Lane" a good number of times, including solo, and maybe only one time easily (if my recollecction is correct) rappeled into the Zipper with a 50 meter rope from a tree'd ledge that one can find to the right where Lover's Lane ends. (the descent to the ledge can be a few feet to maybe 8 or so feet depending on snow conditions.) If you can handle steep snow -maybe 70 degrees?...usually you can traverse right into the Zipper with a belay from that tree'd ledge and set up a belay in the Zipper to bring your buddy over. This is how I've handled it more times than not. Also, you might notice a couple of chutes off to the right of the top portion of the wall of the Zipper heading up toward the summit. I've done them both and they will certainly take you near the summit (with some rock climbing at the top) a lot nicer than scrambing around the south side, depending on snow conditions. Bryant Peak.....ain't that somehwere up near THE TOOTH?? P.S. The Tatoosh Range ROCKS!

First photo = "The Feathers" at Vantage/Frenchman's Coulee The li'l spire is at an area called "The Fun Forest" off of I-90 heading east toward Snoqualmie Pass. (Don't that look fun???) and what you're looking at is about 20 feet of rock. Uh....I don't see any people in that photo so maybe the fact that this thing is only 20 feet tall is what faked you out.

Checat: responding to the above comment by "the bone", check out the following examples of the photographic exhibition of bolt excess. Use Photoshop, go to the paint tool, and circle everyone of those pathetic suckers in red!

Thanks, "someone more thoughtful than corvallisclimb"!

Dude...not trying to be a jerk nor rude and definitely not trying to be cool. The scrubbing off of a massive amount of this and that is what I'm calling attention to. At some point you just got to deal with nature. Castle Rock has a curious history and apparently many years ago, Logger's Ledge was gleefully logged by climbers and apparently similar stunts have been pulled at Index (not so long ago) in order that "the rock will dry faster", a better view will be had, etc.. Scrubbing off a bunch of stuff on Lower Castle rock doesn't necessarily mean anyone will then come to visit. Even so, unless it's climbed regularly, nature will add its touch again. So there's another perspective for you: such farming isn't seen the same way by everybody. P.S. and I also think cutting trees to enhance climbing areas is pretty dang weak!

Let me put it in terms you can understand: it's the difference between throwing your beer cans out in the woods or taking them home so the next guy doesn't have to encounter or experience them and hopefully you leave the area relatively pristine for your grandchildren. Climbing clean and trad isn't ownership....it's picking up one's own mess.

Ain't-cha proud of yerself? by the way, it's "Klewin".

Elitist ownership is thinking you can gratuitously drill sport-routes anywhere you feel like ON PUBLIC LAND, leaving your selfish metallic mess in your wake ON PUBLIC LAND, rather than practicing restraint by top-roping or "developing" clean lines and walking away if you can't. A sport-climb is just like a whole wall of tossed empty beer cans you can't throw away without making a lot of effort.

Those bolts might be residual anchors from the retrobolting of Dan's Dreadful Direct...rightfully chopped a few years ago. I think the choppers might have left them as a top-rope anchor for those not bold enough to lead it as was done in decades past (including clean ascents in the 1980's by the likes of Dan Lapeska). If they do protect Midway....they gotta go...that scary step-across has been a rite-of-passge for generations. If it's all about safety, better to stay home or in the gym. Or top-rope those suckers, which is easily doable. Those routes have evolved courtesy of nature - those "safety-points" were trees at the base of the routes - and me and numerous others have adapted to the longer run-outs and continue to cimb them. Add a bolt and I'll be in line, with alot of others, to make it disappear. By the time that happens, the ethical pendulum will have swung in our direction, toward a future where permanent additions to the rock environment will be shunned and rare. Get yur dang top-rope out and quit yur whinin'. (and us "bolt-police" are going to be around at least as long as you will!)

I can only assume that you're joking, right? because that's some of the stupidest stuff I've read in a long time.

It might have been the late, great Dave Stutzman who worked with North Cascades Alpine School (now AAI) at least in the early 1980's if not before. I worked with him for a year with Donini's Leavenworth Alpine Guides before he died in an avalanche in Montana in 1983. He was a superb climber and a genuine wildman. As a minimalist, he used to solo some pretty outrageous stuff wearing nothing but the clothes on his back (if even that) and often barefoot.

y,know, Mr.Coe...I really don't care what you name your latest machine. Name the new one after me again in your typical shallow high-school bully style. Have at it, and I can assure you that my buddy "pope" likewise remains unaffected. But here's something for you to think about: while you're whining about new roads and government spending and how it should be my or anybody else's concern, consider this: although it might be difficult to fight or halt "The Man's" actions, you certainly have control over your own. So if you choose to drill and permanently alter the environment in your own small-scale way, it ain't "The Man's" fault...it's your choice...something you have control over and you choose to do...the impact isn't physically as big as a road correction, but it is an impact. YOU make the initial choice how YOU choose to alter the environment and and see how it washes,or not,in the future. I already see attitudes changing,and they ain't in your favor. Wanted a reaction? you got at least a response...don't expect too many more as I can't imagine that I have much more to say to you[cue the typical high-school bully taunt}. whatever dude, Raindawg/Dwayner/Don

This whole "discussion" is very entertaining. The "bolters" don't own public space...Who does? I do and everybody else does...and nobody has a right to gratuitously and permanently alter OUR personal space. Get used to the future..which is CLEAN and GREEN! Bolt chopping? = a good clean form of monkey-wrenching (read a little Edward Abbey - "climbers" really should). I predict that it will become a trend and in the future it will be seen as positive and revolutionary. - Raindawg/Dwayner/Don

How about keepin' your ears open to the lovely sounds of nature? Climbing....the outdoors....remember that part? How 'bout being alert to the sound of falling rocks aiming at yo' head, the scary sound of an approaching avalanche, or the leashed/unleashed pit bull attacking and distracting your belayer below? And as for climbing gyms, more than once (and I know I'm not the only one), I've had to pack up and leave from the utter auditory crap blasting through the facility. Save the tunes for the drive home with your consensual buddies!

Rock climbing near Paradise? Apart from the many wonders of the Tatoosh Range, there is a small relatively solid cragging area near Reflection Lakes on the Stevens Canyon road. If you're driving to Paradise from Longmire, take the Stevens Canyon road and you'll find the little wall about a mile down on the left and just before the Lakes. You can lead or probably top-rope on it. It's a bolt-free zone but you might find an old-rusty piton here and there. It's also a fun hike or runfrom Paradise. Head down the trail toward Narada Falls and take a turn left to Mazama Ridge. Cross the ridge up and over and the trail should spit you out on the Stevens Canyon Road, maybe aa hundred yards east of the "wall". (Maybe 1 1/2 or 2 miles from Paradise.)