montypiton

I'm not sure what you would consider "moderate" but I would be careful about jumping on the Shield, Toketie, Lorelei bandwagon. Although those lakes are drop-dead gorgeous, and Shield and Toketie are "bare-hook" fishing, you'd have to be named Skoog or Beckey to consider them a "moderate" hike...

the folks who saved the Peshastin Pinnacles twenty years ago are working on a plan. pm the Haireball for details if you'd like to help

well damn - seems Haireball can't log in (again) so monty is back for awhile -- don't know nuthin' about Doorish's climbs, and never have been able to get comprehensible beta out of Gordon, so we were climbin' blind. Just started at the lowest point and wandered up, tryin to keep generally to the middle of the face w'out climbing anything particularly desperate. My thanks to Slaphappy for cleanin' up the place - prefer my climbs raw when possible. About the Recurve - had beta from Paul Myhre about the route he did up there in 70's, paralleling the corner. Have watched it ice up for several winters, and made an attempt with Sam Ernst in February a couple winters back. Ice was soft (pickets)& easy (WI3) but we were cautious and slow (used lotsa time excavating belay anchors), so only got up about halfway before running out of time. Tried to get Kyle up there last February, but he was too fixated on Drury to see reason. Ran into a Rolf Larson last December who said he'd soloed the first couple of pitches in winter, but I failed to get his phone number, and couldn't find him when it came into condition in February -- Rolf, you out there? I'm still gunning for it...

Back in 1975, I put up a route on a satellite spur of Lady Mountain (directly across the canyon from Zion Lodge) that went for about a dozen pitches at 5.7 - called it Chimney Sweep, for reasons that will be obvious if you try it. The description should be buried in those binders SnailEye refers to. Jimmy Dunn and Dean Tschappat, out of Colorado Springs, did a long 5.6 route on Checkerboard Mesa back in '73 or so--I saw Dean's slides of that route, and it looked fun. The Pulpit, a tiny tower right in the parking lot turnaround at the end of the road up the Virgin River, is a great "demo" or introduction climb, but it still required aiders last time I was there ('77) SnailEye is right about the canyoneering - it is not to be missed. I've hiked the Virgin River Narrows twice, and would do it again. The Paranawheap (not sure I spelled that right) Narrows is also great, and less traveled than the Virgin River. Just watch the weather -- if it rains while you're partway through one of those narrows trips, there's little chance of survival... Whatever you end up doing, you're bound to have a good time - its an amazing place. If you PM me a physical address, I could probably excavate a photo of Lady Mountain and draw the Chimney Sweep line for you...

followup note: upon completion of our investigation of this accident, CCMRA investigators were struck by the staggering similarities between this incident and the fatality on Outer Space in 2003. Both were misrigged rappels that occurred one pitch below the top of a classic climb - and the circumstances were so similar that we could nearly have used the same accident report for both, simply changing dates, locations, and names. Food for thought...

make it 0 for 3 -- Croft's first name is Peter, not Steve. good thing this bozo has retired from guiding...

holy shit! this is real? I've always thought "erectile dysfunction" was a joke! my harem all seemed to think so, too... thanks for educating us

I feel compelled to agree with erock...

excuse me ladies, I believe that object in the photo is a "woodie". A penis is something entirely different... also, I've found that a steep, crumbly, poorly protected lead often produces a most salubrious resolution of depressive symptoms...

Wine...? chicks...? date...? I don't date. I do climb with chicks. I don't climb with chicks that whine. I do drink wine. what could be simpler?

you are describing a phenomenon which, in legal circles, is labeled "negligence". if this moron is not paying your medical bills, he damn well should be... as for trusting future belayers, take the advice of the posters who say they fall-test belayers they don't know; furthermore, when testing an unknown belayer, make your test with an eye to protecting yourself. Conduct your test fall in a location where you are certain you can land safely should your belayer fail the test. Belay testing shows your new partner you are serious about protecting both of you, and it will earn you dependable partners.

On July 2,two women experienced mainly on single-pitch sport routes chose Condorphamine Addiction for their first multi-pitch route. they completed the ascent, and one rappel of the descent, when one of the women mis-rigged on the second rappel and fell to her death, leaving her partner stranded one pitch below the top of Condor Buttress. A team climbing the same route behind the women witnessed the fall, and evacuated the surviving stranded partner. A team of Chelan County Sheriff's Deputies, and volunteers from the Chelan County Mountain Rescue Association accompanied one member of the rope team that rescued the survivor back to Condor Buttress, located the fallen woman's body, and was able to reconstruct, from the configuration of rope and rappel device, the most likely rappel failure scenario (one of two ossible rigging errors). Our findings and analysis will be publlished on this board when our report to the Chelan County Sheriff's office has been completed and submitted. The Woman's body was removed by helicopter early morning of July 3.