RJRiha

You do NOT need to add water to the Nadurra though it is cask strength. Just sip smaller quantities, and enjoy the oily feeling of the Scotch mix in with the saliva in your mouth. Some Scotches benefit from a VERY tiny (few drops max) bit of water, but this one is good without. I haven't had cask-strength Laphroaig, but I saw it at the liquor store and have it on my list. I'll probably get it when I finish this bottle of Laphroaig 10. I can't feel right without having SOME type of Laphroaig in the house.

Hmmm...Glenlivet 18 and Lagavulin 16 are what, $70 or $80 in WA? That's what I would consider an "average" priced single malt. Before you get into the the different oaks, take some time and really go region by region and explore the base flavors. I wish I had done this earlier. Here's a recommended "hit list". Some of these I haven't tried, but come as highly recommended (and are on my list to try). Oban 14 (highland) Dalwhinnie 15 (highland) Balvenie 12 Doublewood (Speyside) Glenfarclas 15 (Speyside) Macallan 18 (Speyside) Highland Park 15 (Island) Talisker 18 (Island) Bunnahabhain 12 (Islay)...I wouldn't normally recommend another Islay as you've tried my normal 1st and 2nd choice with Lagavulin 16 and Laphroig 10, but Bunnahabhain is much more subtle. Auchentoshan 12 (Lowland) Springbank 15 (Cambeltown)...I NEED to try this one (have heard great things) Work through that list and you'll see what awaits you down this road. Average price for a single malt is around 50-60 bucks. That would be for a decent 12 year (e.g. MacAllan 12 or Balvenie 12). I think the Oban is good, but like the similar (but better, IMO) Glengoyne 17. Oban also puts out a special release for a few dollars more that is quite tasty (Kimmo - they have it at the E Pine liquor story in Seattle, the last I checked). Highland park 15 is excellent (and also still reasonably priced). I'd say that most of the 50-60 dollar purchases are in the "entry level", or 10 and 12 year category. There are exceptions, but the middle ground (at least the way I consider it) would be the 15 and 18 year, along with some of the special oak releases and cask strength bottles. The 21 year and up stuff I would consider "high end" (probably anything starting out at $120 or so), with the ultra old and rare stuff making up the "luxury end". I don't normally even consider anything under $40 (except Laphroaig) because, for the most part, it's young and more commercial (or not even single malt).

You're screwed. I figure that $80 is cheap for a bottle. Sorry. I disagree with it being "cheap". $80 gets you Highland Park 15, or Lagavulin 16, or Macallan 15. These certainly aren't the Budweisers of the Scotch world. $80 gets you average priced, GOOD Scotch that doesn't have something "special" to it (ie. vintage release, extra old, single barrel select bottling). Expensive, it is not, but cheap....nope.

That's funny. I give everyone a warning when I pour them a glass of Laphroaig. I love that stuff though, and can't get enough of it. I can't believe it's under $40 a bottle. It is neck and neck with Highland Park 15 for my favorite Scotch ever. Another one I forgot to add to the list last night is another of the "cheaps". Cragganmore 12 is a MUST TRY. You won't believe you just paid under $60 for it.

A heavily peated Speyside huh? I MUST try it. I'll put it on the list next to the other Laphroaigs that I need to try (cask strength, and quarter cask).

Hmmm...Glenlivet 18 and Lagavulin 16 are what, $70 or $80 in WA? That's what I would consider an "average" priced single malt. Before you get into the the different oaks, take some time and really go region by region and explore the base flavors. I wish I had done this earlier. Here's a recommended "hit list". Some of these I haven't tried, but come as highly recommended (and are on my list to try). Oban 14 (highland) Dalwhinnie 15 (highland) Balvenie 12 Doublewood (Speyside) Glenfarclas 15 (Speyside) Macallan 18 (Speyside) Highland Park 15 (Island) Talisker 18 (Island) Bunnahabhain 12 (Islay)...I wouldn't normally recommend another Islay as you've tried my normal 1st and 2nd choice with Lagavulin 16 and Laphroig 10, but Bunnahabhain is much more subtle. Auchentoshan 12 (Lowland) Springbank 15 (Cambeltown)...I NEED to try this one (have heard great things) Work through that list and you'll see what awaits you down this road.

Interesting. I have actually never tried the Laphroaig 10, only the 15 year. I found even it pretty harsh. I was planning on staying away from the Lagavulin, but you have given me pause to reconsider. Thanks for the suggestion on Glenlivet 18. My scotch usually lasts at least a year, so I may buck up the cash for it at some point. Laphroaig 10 is IMO THE BEST Scotch out there for that price. The aroma is so intoxicating, and that smoky, medicinal flavor is so assertive and complex at the same time. If you like Glenlivet, have you tried the cask strength Glenlivet Nadurra? Now THAT is an incredible Scotch, and I'm not usually into Glenlivet. I'm more of a Highland Park type when I'm not drinking Islay peat monsters. All this Scotch talk and I had to get a glass. I'm now drinking Port-cask finished 21 year Balvenie. It was a hard call between the Glenlivet Nadurra, Laphroig 10, Lagavulin 16, Balvenie 21, Glenburgie 15 year hand selected single cask, and Glenmorangie Nectar D'Or (Sauternes finish). It looks like it's almost time to add a new bottle into the mix. I'm thinking either: Ben Riach 15 year Pedro Ximinez finished, Bunnahabhain 18, Auchentoshan 3 wood, or Bruichladdich 14 year Link Series (finished in Grenache barrels).

Liked my RT86s when I had them. I weighed 180 when I was skiing them, and they felt like they would have been too soft if I had been significantly heavier. They're acrylic, not wood, so they definitely have a different spring to them.

Thats called French Trad and they asterix the guidebook isn't it? You know, where use of a ladder or a headstand to start still called free. Halifax, don't know that one, those guys bolted all kinds of routes in Maple Canyon, quite the contrast to Pinnacles, where the ethic is ground up/brown underwear......but "Climbing Trash"...heh heh What about a shoulder stand to finish? Do we asterisk the Beckey Route on Liberty Bell because he used a shoulder stand to get up the 5.7 boulder problem near the top?

Possibly Southern Belle in Yosemite. Theres a great story about the FA on Supertopo if you dig it up. huber brothers did some hard routes that were bolted on lead, "vom winde verweht" and "scaramouche" -- 5.13b and 5.13c, ca 8 pitches each with 40+ ft runouts on the "easy" 5.12 pitches. Didn't know about those. I went back and re-read the SB story, and it was first done as an aid route. Still bolted on lead, but not during the free ascent. Still damn proud though. Hall of Mirrors had some pretty hard pitches drilled on lead. Does anyone know if Dream On in Squamish was drilled on lead?

If that isn't the definition of Pineapple Express, I don't know what is.

Possibly Southern Belle in Yosemite. Theres a great story about the FA on Supertopo if you dig it up.

I love watching the opening scene to that movie. I find amusement that everything is out of sequence, and wonder what the director and producer were thinking. Did they have some strange understanding of how you climb, or did they just not care?

Joseph, that popular science article was great. Thanks for digging that bit up.

I'll agree with Leavenworth being over bolted, but not terribly so. I like bolts on otherwise unprotected slab routes. Anchor bolts when there is no other way off is also OK in my book. There isn't a lot of "sport" climbing though in Leavenworth apart from a few crags or a route here or there. It isn't quite up to Peshastin standards, but I don't see it ever getting out of control like Exit 32/38. But that is fine for Exit 32/38. I think it's also fine for Vantage and Smith. I think that, out of all places I've visited, Joshua Tree had the closest to ideal bolting. Not too much to take away from the adventure, but enough to open up some really cool routes that would otherwise be unprotected.

I'm going to call BS on this one. Unless it was one of those routes rated 5.13 for it's endurance demands, you're looking at the equivalent of a V7 boulder problem, most likely after you have a healthy pump from some hard 11 or 12 climbing below. Unless you are a mutant, there is absolutely no way that simply rehearsing the moves are going to make them magically happen. If you aren't that mutant, it's going to take some major sport specific training, a dedication to hard bouldering, or both to make moves that hard. How many 5.13 climbers even post to this board? Isn't Marc Leclerc chasing that grade (and judging from his videos, he is sick strong)? I will agree with you that it is not much of a jump to make for an onsite 5.12 climber to pull a 5.13 with sport climbing tactics. To take this argument to reduce the accomplishments of Sharma (or anyone who has pulled 5.15) is silly at best. So Pope, what do you think of today's cutting edge "trad" climbers such as Caldwell and Trotter? Both have shown a high level of onsite ability, but have used the sport tactic to do near superhuman feats. Where I added bold type to your quote, that's exactly what I've been saying. When sport climbing arrived in America, rap bolting was defended because supposedly climbing 5.13 was not possible without it. In fact, those first sport climbs were in the easy 5.13 range and they didn't represent an enormous leap above what was already being done in much better style without all of the cheating, aid and bolts. And yet, folks who struggled with 5.12 gear routes could suddenly spend half their summer hanging off bolts and rehearse the snot out of a 13a climb. And they went after it like nose candy, because the dumbed-down version of rock climbing was allowing access to grades only previously seen on the cover of Climbing Magazine. Then came 5.14, and 5.15. But I'd argue that 5.15 is more the spawn and progression of bouldering than sport climbing. Now the choice is there to climb in whatever way motivates you. I get it that you don't like bolts. In the grand scheme of things, I don't understand how the bolts truly affect you. Sure there will be a few climbs that shouldn't be bolted, but do you go to Exit 38 wishing that all of that choss wasn't bolted? Are the endless bolt lines of Vantage really a big deal (especially compared to trash and spray paint from concert goers)? I'm sure you still go out and climb what you want, how you want to, and still get from it what you want. If I feel like going out to Exit 38 for a low key day of bolt clipping, you would never know, nor should you care. That's the way it should be.

5 gallon buckets at smith? The veneer on some of the stuff in the smoke bluffs makes and 11worth polish seem down right rough. Maybe 5 gallon due to the longer season. It probably hasn't seen the total number of ascents that CC has though considering CC has been climbed for decades more than 5 gallon. I'll agree that some Smoke Bluffs routes are quite worn (Burgers and Fries). That rock is more fine grained than L-worth though, and if CC was that type of granite, it would be literally marble smooth.

My suggestion that you go free climbing at Index in the rain was somewhat in jest. If you want it enough though, it is possible, just pick a route that has very few friction moves, if any at all. It's amazing how slick that rock gets when wet, especially if there is any lichen at all on it. As to falling on lead, isn't that a risk you take anytime you go climbing? If you're going to climb on wet rock though, be cautious on how you place your gear. The friction is reduced, so any cams you place better be in somewhat of a constriction, because they could pull out. Hexes place passively though are absolutely bomber, wet rock or not. Do you have aid gear, or a partner who does? Index is the place to be for clean aid when the rock is too wet to free climb. You don't have to worry about people getting pissed if you hog routes like Iron Horse.

I thought about Sabre or Midway, but no way do those get the kind of traffic that CC gets. I've seen Sabre open many times, and have never been to 8 mile rock without someone either on, or gearing up for CC. On top of that, CC is short, so people have generally set up a TR and lap it for handcrack practice. That ledge traverse on Sabre though is polished more than any other granite route I have ever seen. I think that is because beginners shuffle their feet across it instead of lifting their shoe to consciously make each foot placement. The rest of the route isn't polished to any degree close to that one ledge. Speaking of that ledge, I'm surprised that nobody has pulled that loose block off yet. That sketchy piece of rock is going to come off on someone and do some major damage at least, and I could see it end up on the highway and cause some major issues with the cars below.

I'm going to call BS on this one. Unless it was one of those routes rated 5.13 for it's endurance demands, you're looking at the equivalent of a V7 boulder problem, most likely after you have a healthy pump from some hard 11 or 12 climbing below. Unless you are a mutant, there is absolutely no way that simply rehearsing the moves are going to make them magically happen. If you aren't that mutant, it's going to take some major sport specific training, a dedication to hard bouldering, or both to make moves that hard. How many 5.13 climbers even post to this board? Isn't Marc Leclerc chasing that grade (and judging from his videos, he is sick strong)? I will agree with you that it is not much of a jump to make for an onsite 5.12 climber to pull a 5.13 with sport climbing tactics. To take this argument to reduce the accomplishments of Sharma (or anyone who has pulled 5.15) is silly at best. So Pope, what do you think of today's cutting edge "trad" climbers such as Caldwell and Trotter? Both have shown a high level of onsite ability, but have used the sport tactic to do near superhuman feats.

IMO, that Classic Crack at Broughton would be a total bitch as a first crack climb. It is over-used and polished to the point the jamming sucks big time. So, I dont blame your gf for hating it. On the contrary, The Sheer Stress (also on the Red Wall, to the right off the Classic Crack) is a completely different ball game. It was the other Classic Crack (Leavenworth). I've never been to Broughton, but I would imagine that the degree of wear on it is absolutely nowhere near that of CC in L-worth. But then again, I have seen polished basaltic rock that is damn near impossible to get any friction on. Can anyone think of a route that gets more ascents (and skittering feet) in the PNW than Classic Crack in L-worth?

Dude, you're standards are too high....Index CAN be climbed in the rain....see my TR. http://cascadeclimbers.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/920471/TR_Index_11_8_2009#Post920471

Here I am, I've been fine. I've been hiking and waiting for climbing season to come back. Good to hear you are out hiking during this time of year. Climbing this time of year can be beautiful and treacherous at the same time (if you don't pay attention to the weather, have your survival skills down, or know how to evaluate for avy danger). When you go out hiking, are you camping along with it? This would be an EXCELLENT opportunity for you to further develop your camping skills in a more controlled environment than the side of a mountain in a winter blizzard.

I wonder if this could be arranged. I for one would love to read a trip report from Pope or Raindawg about a trip to the pub with Alan Watts.

Speaking of which, we haven't heard from Josh in a long time. I wonder if he learned anything from this site, or if he's up to his same old game.