nkane

Glad to see that total badasses such as yourselves also found the East Ridge of Terror to be, so to speak, terrifying. Climbing and rapping that choss-hole may have been one of the scariest adventures of my climbing career.

So my long-planned trip to Squamish is supposed to take place the first week of August, and looking at the forecast for the last few weeks, I'm starting to get a little worried. What's going on up there? Isn't it supposed to be nice in the summer? Any locals want to give me some words of encouragement?

Good choice - what a rad climb (though Pink Laurel is too). My partner managed to take repeated whips at the first pitch crux and weld one of my nuts there last year. I wonder if it's still there.

Arrow and Pink Laurel, right?

I was there in March and it was fine with an economy car. Go a little slow. Watch out for burros.

I vote for this one: how many other TRs have triggered such a mad scramble for the FFA? http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/904438/1

Awesome! The scenery up there looks like New Hampshire, but bigger.

I don't want to say that this is the only climbing in the Caribbean, but the Baths on Virgin Gorda are almost certainly the best. Beachside bouldering on giant granite formations. Hard to beat.

To be fair, CCK isn't a 5.6 - it's the hardest 5.7+ at the Gunks.

Stone Gardens and VW are always super busy on weekend nights, so I think that it's possible the market is not yet saturated. I hope there's room for all the new arrivals.

I'd like to point out that huts and marked trails are not a uniquely foreign institution - look at New Hampshire. In the White Mountains, there is a network of huts connected by an excellently-maintained trail network, all run by the AMC (and to a certain extent, the RMC and the Dartmouth Outing Club). The Whites are an area with a lot of challenging, remote, terrain, but they're close to a lot of big population centers and get absolutely slammed with traffic at all times of year. The AMC has done a great job building trails, educational exhibits, and infrastructure that focus the impact and keep people from trampling and ruining the very limited and fragile alpine environment up there. There's only a few square miles of alpine terrain in New England, and it's in pretty good shape considering the pressure on it (compare to the trashed and eroded summit of, say, Saddle Mountain in the Oregon Coast Range). Now I'm not suggesting that the Mountaineers should do everything that the AMC has done, and obviously the environment and challenges of the Northwest are very different, but it's something to think about. When I first moved to the Northwest, I thought it was weird that the government does almost all the trailbuilding and maintenance in the Cascades. In NH, where I started climbing and backpacking, much of the education and infrastructure was done by dedicated volunteers. Edit: obviously the WTA does a lot of good work too.

No way - it's gotta be "repel" instead of rappel. Also, "beaner" for biner really annoys me.

I don't know what nursing school is like, but I've climbed a shitload in law school. So have hope!

Walmart on Charleston. Depending on the night, the security guard who patrols the Borders parking lot is either a friendly dude who didn't mind us cooking some food there, or a gruff Irishman who kicked us out. Costco could also be an option.

I like it: I stuff it into its pocket and clip it to my harness for belaying on cool, windy days. Combined with a wool hat that I put in a pocket, it provides enough warmth to stave off hypothermia when it's chilly out. Since it packs down and has a clipping point, it reduces my need to bring a pack on long routes - I take the nano puff, a hat, clip a water bottle to a gear loop, and put a few bars in my pocket and I'm good for many hours. I also use it as a layer in the winter. cons: too slippery and fragile to give much confidence when climbing chimneys.