pdawg

"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together." 17 January 1961 Dwight D Eisenhower Thirty-fourth US President, Five-star former Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces invasion of France and Germany and- apparently to some, wild-eyed lavender-scented conspiracy theorist. Booga booga, indeed.

I was under the impression that bourbon was so called because the first batch of it was stored in white oak casks that had originally held French wine. The resulting "whiskey" was much smoother and sweeter than the usual pisswater- so much so that the oak casking process was standardized. Now I think some makers lightly char the insides of the barrels to "caramelize" the wood. Of couse, this info is all dredged up out of a long ago trip to the Jim Beam Distillery and should be viewed with some suspicion. At the time of my visit, I was requesting sponsorship. At any rate, it seems strange that we're discussing bourbon and whiskey when the snow has started falling in the high country. That brown water's for summertime sipping! In the mountains, a single malt front is developing. You can delude yourself with Lowland and Highland shite, or you can proceed directly to the Islays for the smoke, the fire, the power and the glory. The list is simple. Bowmore for regular medicinal purposes. Ardbeg for the cold, cold days. But on the cold wet days- on those days you've swung tools and kicked steps and placed screws one-handed- on those days the lucky few choose Lagavulin.

There can be only one. House of Pain's "Jump Around". Celebrating five hundred years of internecine whiteboy warfare. And beer.

The Army ad seems like a win/win situation. It provides us a place to avoid work; it stimulates healthy debate- the lifeblood of any true democracy- and it even inspires us to go climbing and so avoid the horror of the real world. It just seems like a bonus that it offers the Jonah Goldberg Battalion a place to sign up if they ever choose to replace word with deed.

Though the topic seems to have swerved permanently off course, decapitating a bird doesn't require anything approaching a psychotic outlook. Back in my halcyon youth when I baled hay and killed the occasional pig, I also shot some pheasant. It was standard procedure to finish wounded birds by twirling them by the neck. There was no sadism involved: just an effective way to put the bird out of misery without adding more shot to the meat. At any rate, often as not, the heads popped off. This isn't to suggest the guy shouldn't go on the wagon for a few months...

Leased cows and cedar clearing make him just another cowpoke with a wide stance.

I don't question BW's proficiency as they recruit from highly trained units. My problem is with whole corporate welfare system that has blossomed under this administration. We shouldn't be paying private sector people any more then our soldiers on the ground- at least not when they're both being paid with tax dollars. For that matter, since the control of Iraq is so important as to justify both the rolling back of habeas corpus and the institutionalization of torture, why aren't we putting a few other American traditions on the shelf? Nationalizing our oil companies would a crucial step towards national integrity. It would save us hundreds of billions of dollars in privatization schemes but mostly it would ensure that every American life lost in Iraq would be a sacrifice towards a better-fueled America- and that's not a guarantee the shareholders of Exxon are ever going to make.

Until their editorial board chooses to hurl Judith Miller screaming off the top floor of the building, the NYT really can't be labelled a font of liberal thought. While the paper has allowed Paul Krugman's column to run these past seven years, they've otherwise downsized, downplayed and undercut every strong liberal voice in the paper. Blame it on the military-industrial complex, the Zionists or Dick Cheney's urine flavored Koolaid, the NYT were instrumental in leading the country to war and as such are not part of the great liberal media conspiracy.

thanks to all. Now all I have to do is get a two day bivvy up there...

Thanks for the advice, even the obvious stuff. i suppose I wasn't specific enough with my question. Is there a definitive guide to the Enchantments? More to the point, if I'm looking for a guide to Cascade rock( not snow and ice routes) which guide do you suggest? The venerable Beckey? Or something more specialized? BTW, Kevbone, it's good to see that you haven't lost any of your mad agent provocateur skills.

I assumed as much. There couldn't be anything left unclimbed, given its location, but I had to ask. Any ideas of where variations/off route experiences might be logged? Some of those cracks looked incredible!

Stumbling back along the South Face of Prusik, my partner and I noticed a number of stellar lines on the lower left face. Though I can't believe an FA would still be possible there, I have to ask. Have all those lines been done? If they have been, is there a definitive listing somewhere? thanks.

Trip: Prusik Peak - Burgner-Stanley South Face Date: 7/21/2007 Trip Report: With the weather forecast predicting rain for Sunday, Fearful Leader and I boldly decided to make a long day of it on Saturday. Boldly leaving the Snow Creek Wall trailhead at five am, we were were boldly huddled behind boulders at Lake Vivian by ten, watching a mass of dark clouds brood boldly over Aasgard Pass. Fortunately, we were too tired to boldly retreat immediately. As we had been foolish enough to carry double ropes, we opted to hike to the base of Prusik, figuring a retreat from the route would prove more honorable than simply chucking and running from the lake. This must have pleased the gods of goats and stone because as soon as we roped up, the clouds shrank back and didn't return until we got back to our packs. Fearful Leader (whose name, by the way, is completely inaccurate) compressed the first four pitches into two. He swarmed up the first offwidth section so quickly I assumed it was 5.6 handcrack. After that, he handed me the rack - and our progress quickly slowed. Whereas Fearful Leader climbs with a daunting amount of grace and precision, I climb like a longhaul trucker taking a dump. There's a lot of grunting and the results aren't pretty. At any rate, the chockstone pitch went quickly, but I went into the squeeze above it facing the wrong way and thrutched horribly to a senseless hang. Once the right direction was faced, however, the 5.9 grade seemed reasonable. Fearful Leader climbed both the chockstone and the squeeze trailing the pack. He commented on their difficulty but, really, the guy's so gracious you can't trust him on stuff like that at all. Anyway, the final pitch of Burgner Stanley is probably sensational. I wouldn't know as I ran out of steam on it. What I remember is regretting placing the bulk of my thin hands gear down low. Though there are offwidth moves on it, they protect well with small gear- just save a .75 camalot or two for the top. In the end, I whimpered my way onto the summit, so blown out that I actually clipped into a panicked placement with my nut tool. The ever proficient Fearful Leader joined me scant minutes later and we enjoyed an unremarkable rappel down the North Face. This is when things got strange. Stuffing our faces back at our packs, I was positive my watch read five thirty. We started hiking down, confident that we would make Gustav's by closing. There was talk of what ales would be quaffed and what fried delectables would be shovelled. I personally devoted a half mile of thought to waitresses in general and Bavarian lingerie specifically- but I digress. A light rain fell until sundown whereupon night fell on us darkly and I realized I had misread my watch by two hours. And so the Death March of July Ought Seven began. Actually, it wasn't that bad. It was just that some idiot had decided a head lamp wasn't as important as sunglasses and sunblock, so Fearful Leader had to walk slowly so Hellen Keller's lovechild could keep up. Just past midnight, we winced our way past the Snow Creek Wall. Two headlamps were dancing around the middle of the wall- or maybe the descent. Watching those lights wink in the black night, we toasted them with the last of the water and left our self-pity in a pile for them by the trail. Twenty miles and nineteen and a half hours after starting, we crossed back over Icicle Creek to find that Fearful Leader's car had been burgled. The thieves took his prescription glasses and his toiletry case. What they hadn't taken was the water, the ibprofen and the cheezits. That's what we had for dinner in the time it took us to drive a few miles to overflow parking. We slept in gravel, awoke to sun and got six pitches in Sunday, including Heart of Gold. It was a good weekend. Fearful Leader rehydrating with a mile to go... FL snakes past the chockstone. Pdawg experiencing brief summit-induced euphoria before consigning his knees to the oblivion of the walkout. Gear Notes: Double up to #2 Camalots, one #3 and one #4. Double ropes aren't necessary: headlamps are.

excellent. manana. jn1010 and Plaidman- Hope to see you guys as well...

I'll be there by 8:30. Now, the question is where? Exit 38 I can find, but is the railroad trestle obvious? I'll be in a green Toyota RAV, colorado plates. Patrick

Four it is. Anyone interested in driving? I'm coming from Bainbridge and so would love to leave my car on island. I'm assuming Plaidman will drive himself- at least I think Issaquah is on the way... How early do you want to motivate?

Have rack and rope but have never experienced exit 38. Is anyone up for a (fairly) early bunch of sport climbing on the Fourth? I'd like to be back in town by mid-afternoon. Mid five ten and down...

What time are you heading up there- and would anybody be interested in swinging by the ferry? Otherwise I'm consigning myself to my first visit to exit 38...

I'm heading out to Leavenworth this afternoon, but lack a partner. I've got a rope and a rack and am looking for nine trad and fatboy sport. Cell is 303-746-3829. I'll also post my whereabouts on the bulletin board at the Mile Eight campground. Or pm me in the next two hours. cheers, patrick

"To those of you that say there should be no limit, no boundaries, and that any bolt that creeps into a rock is then sacrosanct - I personally just can't imagine a more radical, activist, and in many ways clearly self-serving and self-fulfilling viewpoint. At just exactly what point is a bolt war and / or closure preferrable in every way to unrestrained bolting? Never, you say? Then we whole-heartedly disagree - I very much do have limits beyond which I feel any responsible 'Access Fund' should actually support closure before unrestrained bolting every single time" -JosephH Actually, Joseph, I don't disagree with you. Bolts should not be placed where natural gear will suffice nor should they exist in wilderness areas. My point- however poorly made- is that a sneering dismissal of sport climbing is counter-productive. While you can take pride in your ethics, you should also recognize how you came upon them: you started climbing on gear. Most climbers now- especially in the rainy northwest- start climbing in a gym and their first forays onto rock are invariably bolt-protected. Your total rejection and refutation of their experience is not a good starting point for good- and I hate this term- dialogue.

"To those of you that say there should be no limit, no boundaries, and that any bolt that creeps into a rock is then sacrosanct - I personally just can't imagine a more radical, activist, and in many ways clearly self-serving and self-fulfilling viewpoint. At just exactly what point is a bolt war and / or closure preferrable in every way to unrestrained bolting? Never, you say? Then we whole-heartedly disagree - I very much do have limits beyond which I feel any responsible 'Access Fund' should actually support closure before unrestrained bolting every single time" -JosephH Actually, Joseph, I don't disagree with you. Bolts should not be placed where natural gear will suffice nor should they exist in wilderness areas. My point- however poorly made- is that a sneering dismissal of sport climbing is counter-productive. While you can take pride in your ethics, you should also recognize how you came upon them: you started climbing on gear. Most climbers now- especially in the rainy northwest- start climbing in a gym and their first forays onto rock are invariably bolt-protected. Your total rejection and refutation of their experience is not a good starting point for good- and I hate this term- dialogue.

It seems like we're avoiding the economic realities of sport climbing. For better or worse, there are a lot more climbers out there now, so many that the ancient practice of trad apprenticeship no longer works. Faced with spending a hundred bucks on quickdraws or, say, five hundred for a starter rack, any sensible newbie is going to start clipping bolts. I'm not saying a bolted crack isn't apocryphal: it is. But the guys putting up such routes aren't doing so out of malice. They think they're doing a community service. They think they're making the cliff accessible to the common climber and-regrettably- they are. Now, I'm all for anger. I'm also a big fan of righteous smiting, but this whole angry tradman-prybar-as-phallus thing is counter-productive. Yanked routes are invariably re-bolted while guerilla action taken on individual hangers is downright irresponsible. Barring an Orwellian re-education program (first they came for the Hiltis, then they came for the gym owners, then they came for my verve capris), it seems the only solution is for trad climbers to act- gulp- as ambassadors of the sport. Heck, this doesn't mean we have to take a gymrat climbing! All we have to do is loan him our rack. So what if those multiple 5" pieces are worth more than our car, what's at stake here is the integrity of our sport andthe pristine walls of unseen high valleys everywhere. Do it for the rock...

I'm thinking that my initial "Got Granite?" post isn't direct enough. Simply put, I just want to climb. I'll ropegun moderates or hump the extra rope on alpine approaches- anything (even snow climbs!?). Though I don't have glacier experience, I lead WI4 and easy-ten trad and I am a fast learner. Dealbreakers for me are simple: no 420-friendly belayers, no Republicans. cell# is 1-303-746-3829

Partner wanted. I've been marooned on Bainbridge for the last nine months so my leading isn't what it once was in those halcyon days of yore, when my focus was not unlike a laser and my fingers- if not steely- at least resembled a respectable lawnchair-grade alloy. Granite is my rock of choice, but I'll try out anything. What I really want is a lot of moderate mileage. 5.10 sport and slightly easier trad. I've got rope and rack and car, though I'd prefer to carpool as the roundtrip ferry for an auto sucks up cash which would be better spent on gas and beer. cheers, p