Dannible

So he's running in the primaries in South Carolina, I wonder what that means. If he were to run as a third party in the real election I think that he would actually get a lot of votes; if it was between him, Clinton, and whoever the republican is, I could see "wasting my vote" on him. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/14/opinion/14dowd.html?_r=1&em&ex=1192593600&en=72a525f07accb87e&ei=5087%0A&oref=slogin

"What advice would you give climbers attempting the Megalodon Ridge?" "Climb the Northeast Buttress!" Word. Climbing wouldn't even give me a free copy when we were in it last month. Anyway congrats, and I'll get the money to next time I'm in Bham.

I held and swung the new Grivel tool the other day, and liked the feel of it, but personally if I were going to get a Grivel tool I'd still go for the Alp or Light Wing because the one piece head just seems wierd to me. Gotta wonder how light is too light also. The Alp Wing is too light for some, and this is 100g lighter.

Turns out the new laws I spoke of aren't real. I just searched for them and came up with this: http://www.snopes.com/politics/traffic/california.asp My grandpa sent it to me and it was right when they made driving while talking on the phone illegal so I figured it was true. Anyway, at this point I'd be afraid to drive 9 over the limit.

Good advice, thanks.

I look at my speedometer pretty often because I know that I can't afford tickets and learned early on that I have bad luck on the freeway from getting a ticket and a couple of warnings, so I almost never go more than 5 over. I'm more likely driving 5 under these days. But on the other hand when I am in a group of cars going over the limit I don't really worry about it, so I don't know. At first I thought that the cop had mistaken me for one of the cars that had just wizzed by me (one was the same color), but that doesn't seem likely. I heard somewhere that with the new driving laws they will pull people over for going 3 over the limit, when before it would be pretty rare to get pulled over as long as you were not going more than 5 over.

Was he nominated? Wasn't Bush nominated a few years ago? Now THAT was funny.

I wear dress pants from the thrift store. You can find a lot with polyester/spandex blend that dry fast and stretch just like the fancy climbing pants that cost alot more. They seem to last me a while and when they do get shredded it doesn't matter because they cost about $5. I climb in the same pants that I go to work in.

Ok, so I've had enough of this rock stuff for a while and am getting way stoked for winter. I've only done a little bit of ice and mixed climbing, and am hoping to get a few alpine routes in this winter. What are some good moderate (to about WI4, M4) routes around here that come in somewhat regularly? Any good obscure routes that should be climbed more? I know I'm a few months early here but I want something to daydream about.

Just found out they're making me work next weekend. I've been honing my keg emptying skillz for weeks to get ready.

No, but there's no reason not to get one at this point. They're pretty well onto me now. No escape, might as well go down a Martyr.

I think your right. Im gunna go ahead and just stay in my room for a few weeks, where I can't cause trouble.

I'm just making things worse for myself. I just got a $93 ticket for going 5 mph over on the freeway in a 60 zone. I was in a group of cars, not changing lanes at all, therefore not passing anyone, just going with the flow of traffic. Two cars passed me weaving through lanes going about 80 no more than a minute before I was pulled over. I asked if the cop saw them, and he said something like "well I was watching you, not them." He was pretty friendly about the whole thing, but I am still kind of bewildered as to why I got pulled over.

To sum up my side of this whole thing, I just wanted to do a little whining and complaining. People rant about some pretty random stuff up in here, at least this is climbing related. Please...if you're going to hate me, don't hate me for my ablity to move quickly and fluidly over class 4 terrain, or my prowess when it comes to surmounting widespread blowdowns and devels club; hate me for my rugged good looks and girlish charm.

Dude, come on. Are you reading what I'm saying? I have met some very nice park rangers, and have no problem with them, or any other authority figures as a whole. I guess what it comes down to is that I am upset that you can be fined for using public land that is maintained (or protected) with our tax dollars even if you don't harm anything. We broke the law and are criminals, but that doesn't mean that we can't share our opinions on that law. Permits are not a bad thing. They help NPS manage and protect the park, but I don't think that the only way to get people to go get a permit is by scaring them into it. That is what the tickets are for: to scare us, and to make an example out of those who don't comply, so that more will. There are plenty of crimes out there that are far more serious than what we did that no one is trying to stop, and yet the permit thing is very actively enforced. Like I keep saying, I almost always get a permit, and would even if it wasn't required. This quarter I am studying human impact in Washington's mountains for school; I find the information gained by the permit system interesting, and plan on using it. And the whole thing about "we are so special because we be doin extreme-o-rama light n fast climbin thing." I take offense. I don't care what kind of style people climb in, and don't think I'm special for what I do. When I meet people who don't climb, I don't talk about the climbing. I'd say that most people who know me don't know that I climb. None of it matters to 99.99% of the population. I am a far less experienced climber than most here, and wouldn't claim otherwise. Sometimes I like fast and light climbing, but I also love slow and relaxed trips. This trip was anything but fast and light. Please just try not to judge me based on a few things that I write on the internet.

No, I don't think that Blakes been ticketed before. And not that it matters, but I think he worked for NCNP for a while, so it's not like he has a vendetta against them. And sorry if I sound like an ass. A big ticket is just a hard pill to swallow when your bank account in in the single digits. I'm also sorry for using words like I and We. I will only post for the greater good of mankind from here on out. But like I said, most of the time I get a permit, and I think that the rangers do fine in the office, but I figured registering for so many zones would be a hassle for all parties involved, including the ranger who would have to deal with trying to figure out how to go about it.

Like I said, I think they say that permits are more for usage stats and crowd control than SAR, as in our case the permit would not give them a reasonable search area. I understand that permits help preserve and minimize impact in popular areas, but most the places that we crossed through see very few visitors (like Blake said, we HAD a permit for the Boston Basin, the very place that we got ticketed), and when it comes down to it I think that a fine for not having a permit to sleep on public land is silly. Sorry for my ranting, I just feel like we are being attacked a little.

Does this thing cost money? I might be around those parts.

I agree with you, to an extent. Before this summer, I have never had a negative experience with a ranger. The same ranger that gave us a ticket stopped to talk to some guys who gave us a ride down Cascade River Road, and apparently said "time to go bust some violators" when he left them heading towards Cascade Pass. That is not the attitude that I think rangers should have. A few weeks later we picked up a hitch hiker in the park who turned out to be on the park's trail crew. He said that everyone who works for the park thinks that the rangers are out of control this year, as they write anyone, including people who are on the clock for NPS at the time, a ticket. Look back at this post: http://www.cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/708509/page/0/fpart/1

We normally do get permits. Two weeks earlier we got a permit to go into two different zones, and we were told that the route we were taking was simply impossible (when we knew that many others had gone that way before us), and it took them about 30 minutes to figure out how to give us a permit for both zones. We remembered that when we were going out to do our big trip, which would have been through something like 5-10 different zones, and decided that getting a permit for all those areas would have been a hassle for both the rangers at the office, and us. Also, we would have needed to guess what days we were going to be in what zones, and where we were going to be sleeping, which would have been pretty hard given the length of the trip and the questionable weather. Lastly, there is no way that the permit would have helped them find us in the event of a rescue because all that they would know from the permit is that we were somewhere in or near the park, south of the highway, and could have gotten lost or injured anywhere in that area over the last couple of weeks. Thats a pretty big search area. I don't think that they even say that the permit is for SAR; obviously it might help, but I think most of us give someone more detailed info on where we are going and when we'll be back.

BBBAaaaaaHH!!! I am the guy paying the other half of this. Just got Blakes email and I'm kinda in shock. Terrible news. I just spent my remaining money on skis today, and only have time to work a couple days a week because of school. Horrible horrible stuff. Blake you gotta find out about delaying the payment. Glad my roommate gets food stamps.

Aside from maybe the last few moves, everything on Prusik is a lot easier than a little testis. Save mid sized (around .75) cam for the end of the last pitch.

In case anyone is thinking of going out there, I just called and asked if they need any more help, and they said that they had enough.

PMed.

I think I hit the 10- pitch, it was going through the overhangs just above a really nice 5.8 crack where the wall steepens up. I thought it was the best pitch on the route. It looked like you could go a couple different ways through there though, so you all must have gone the other way, or I'm just weak.