Raindawg

Jimmy Carter has no representative force for the United States in 2008. He had his term in 1977 - 1981 and was not re-elected, primarily because he was viewed by the majority as a failure. Jimmy...love ya babe, but you got no real clout no mo' and you haven't for over 25 years. Secondly, these Hamas guys need to recognize that Jerusalem, and much of "Palestine", was the Jewish capital and homeland for over 1500 years before Mohammed and remains so. Building a couple of mosques on the ruins of the Holy Temple destroyed by the Romans doesn't mean you have some sort of primary right to take over the place. Mecca has always been your special place #1. Make peace with Israel (the "Zionist entity" which is not going away), get your peaceful Palestinian state going with loads of international aid, and get on with your lives. Hamas...the present agenda is a waste of time! Get real and we'll all live together "side by side in peace" and both the Palestinians and the Israelis will prosper.

I used to think (like most special interest groups) that climbers were somehow special....someone's gear gets ripped off..oh, not a climber! "Brotherhood of the Rope!" It was once a small community and we more or less knew each other. With so many random people now calling themselves "climbers", I think quite the opposite. Gear gets ripped off? especially in a gym or a climbing area? Prime suspect = "climber". Who else wants that crap? (ropes, quickdraws, etc.) Welcome to the sad New Age of Climbing For The Masses.

How about som-a-dis, and for the rest of the week too? Good times!

it does seem strange - for a man so opposed to bolts, you'd think he'd dig on folks sticking to scrambling? You got me all wrong, Sparky...I dig them particular folks! My commentary might have been a little cheeky, but dang, I'd like to have a beer and a sammy with anyone of 'em or the whole darn group! Scramble on!

Well said!

Clipping a water bottle on to your harness is a geek-trend only surpassed by shorts over polypro. Maybe you should wear one of these Metolius bad boys: combination gear sling and hydration thang....you can safely suck down all the Red Bull you want while you're hangdoggin' before your desperate lunge for next the clip at Li'l Si or wherever...zzzzzz Does it have extra loops for the bolt drill, and bolting hardware? I don't believe so, but I'm sure people of poor environmental character could find a way to rig it just so.

1. how many times has this exact same image been posted? Answer: not enough. It's a classic! The mystery woman in black, for example....she deserves her own fan club. Who is she? Why does she consistently dress in black and what do the green gloves signify? And the sunglasses...what secrets is she hiding??? And why isn't she wearing gaitors like some of her apprentices? And there are other photos....yes there are....in which our curly-haired friend holds a clipboard! And then there's that lovable bouldering crew, givin' it a try with a li'l help from their friends! I like the whole set-up...there's the gaitor-guy climbing, one guy watching, another staring at the ground and another staring straight ahead and the guy in the back is flinching. (I would too!) Everyone of them's got a story to tell and I'd especially like to take out that white-T-shirt guy for a beer. It must have been quite a day! Work it! Just keepin' it real!

Pope was only trying to save a brother from succumbing to the cheap allure of sport-climbing.

Clipping a water bottle on to your harness is a geek-trend only surpassed by shorts over polypro. Maybe you should wear one of these Metolius bad boys: combination gear sling and hydration thang....you can safely suck down all the Red Bull you want while you're hangdoggin' before your desperate lunge for next the clip at Li'l Si or wherever...zzzzzz

Who is the "climbing community at large"? Does that include the masses of minions who frolic in the gym but rarely venture outdoors? Does it include any of the untold thousands of "climbers" who bought some shoes, ropes and quickdraws to grab some quick "adventure" at grid-bolted venues like Exit 38 and its ilk? I say: add another bolt = wreck it some more.

Not long. The so-called FA "rule" is nonsense. If it's on public land, no individual has jurisdiction over any of it. If some jerk bolts a crack or does some other disgraceful act some folks might show up with a crowbar. You want to add a bolt? Consider the comments below. You "wild and wacky don't tell me what t'do climbers" want a rule? How about this: you can remove a bolt from a route (or replace an old crappy one in the same hole) but you can't add any. If someone's not up to leading the runout...find another route or come back when you're up for it. Less crap added to the rock the better. Get used to climbing with fewer bolts, because that is the future. Someday you're going to look back at the current sport/grid bolt/rap bolt phenomenon as crude, selfish, unenvironmental and unenlightened.

You're probably thinking of "Bomb Shelter" which was first climbed free by "Hot" Henry Barber in the mid-1970's. At 11.a, I think at one time it was the hardest free rock climb in Washington...for awhile. It's quite a wild thang and overhangs sufficiently so that it can climbed in the rain. It follows a crack of varying size and the crux is near the bottom. If you fall while cleaning it, or on top-rope, you'll go for a wild free-hanging swing. Beware of the bird-droppings on the sloping ledges and the spooky looking rap-anchors in the little cave near the top. Most people don't seem to climb the extra ten or 15 vertical feet to the summit ridge...it's not hard but it's loose and if I recall, you have to do some goofy straddling or such to reach the good rappel anchors on top of Vertigo. Nirvana Ridge? That's a route on the skyline of Grand Central Tower to the left of Bomb Shelter....5.9 face and friction although you might find the climb easier or harder depending on which holds have sluffed off or appeared. It's an adventure!

The keynote speaker at a bar mitvah is the bar mitvah boy. You're not needed. A mohel is required at every bris. I assume that you're unqualified. Your smart-ass comments really do step over the line. Your idea of the modern Jew is probably something akin to Woody Allen's usual movie persona: a mincing nebish who won't/can't stand up for himself. "Don't hurt me...I'll just go away..." He's not representative. You are free in this country to ridicule the religion of your choice, but don't expect everyone to sit on their hands and not counter you on it. You are both profoundly ignorant. You can thank G_d that you live in such a place where you can behave the way you do and not get your butts run out of town!

The Gospel according to Tom Robbins??? Would you like to enlighten us on the Kabbalah, rabbi?

You may have heard the expression: "is nothing sacred"? The answer is, yes, some things are to many people, and very deeply so(including at least six million people who were murdered for their religious beliefs or associated ethnicity.) In a free society, you can piss all over Christianity, Judaism, or whatever, but again, don't expect that you won't be called out on it. You should be. Some of us don't believe in sitting around and watching it treated like some big joke. By responding, at least the awareness is being spread that some people really care about this stuff and maybe you'll reconsider the nature of your ugly comments next time. I doubt it, but maybe.

Once again (and again, and again) your speculative attempts to discern other's motivations (at least mine) are utterly WEAK and WRONG. I find NOTHING FUN about responding to these kinds of comments, mattp, and if you think I'm insincere, then you don't know me very well (and you don't).

Actually, it's tomorrow. April 11, 1945 at 3:15 PM (where the clock tower is still set to that time.)

You have no case. And an appropriate way to defend their memory.

Whatever. I never called anyone anti-semitic or a Nazi....THE POST WAS A REALITY CHECK for some of you who have no idea how utterly offensive your little "11th commandment" comment is. The pictures from the camp were to get your attention and make a point. I won't lecture you on the roles of Moses and the Torah in Judaism; if you're not aware already, you can educate yourself. You can spout out most anything you want in this country, but don't expect NOT to be called on it. Minus twenty points for "Some of my best friends are_________[fill in the blank]." It doesn't excuse you from anything.

Hey you mindless, ignorant, moron. Ask these guys what they think of your comment above! Better yet, ask me:

Behold! The wit and wisdom of mattp!:

Is that a bad thing??? Do you really want to be around a bunch of climbers? Peshastin is a very pretty place, the less people, the better. There was a time when it was as crowded on the weekends as Vantage and Exit 38. Before the parking lot, you'd have to park along the orchard road and sometimes it was so busy that cars were lined up alongside Hwy. 2! Those days are fortunately over. If you want to climb at Peshastin, you have to be willing to make long run-outs on climbs that were put up from the bottom up with a minimum of bolts (with a few exceptions...e.g. the W. Face of Grand Central Tower is way over-bolted) or place your own pro., sometimes in clever ways. Some of the run-outs are so long that on some routes we used to have the belayer prepared to run down hill to take up the slack to avoid a ground fall. Why doesn't the "new generation" of climbers go there and prefer places like Vantage/38 instead? I think the answer is obvious. It ain't like this: So, stay away. Peshastin is ugly, the routes suck and the rock is nasty. Keep driving...nothing there for you, mister.... P.S. re. "Butter Brickle". I've done it many times. It starts as an exposed overhanging handjam and ends up as a full-body off-width and then you crawl out of that and do some face-climbing up the pockets. Awesome!

Uh yah.....how about getting off the internet, yah, and put the new cover-sheets on the TPS reports. "And I said, I don't care if they lay me off either, because I told, I told Bill that if they move my desk one more time, then, then I'm, I'm quitting, I'm going to quit. And, and I told Don too, because they've moved my desk four times already this year, and I used to be over by the window, and I could see the squirrels, and they were married, but then, they switched from the Swingline to the Boston stapler, but I kept my Swingline stapler because it didn't bind up as much, and I kept the staples for the Swingline stapler and it's not okay because if they take my stapler then I'll set the building on fire..."

The video notes that their "Corax" harness is "adustable". Any of you own one of them thangs and can verify its adustability? And ya, the dude looks like he's totally makin' fun of our man Ogden:

I think they'd be afraid that you might try to play it, or worse yet, play it and sing.