Plaidman

Don't FREAK OUT!

Never did get the FRIGGIN Rabbit. Would like to get out and explore more with ya. I have a couple of ideas.

Not wet now. When I tried to lead it the first time it was pouring out the hole. But that was Jan. and then in Feb. I tried to solo aid it. Still wet. There is a waterfall on the outside on the cliff to the right. If it is flowing the hole is wet. If it is dry the hole is dry. It is real dry right now. His name is Sean O'Connor and owns Freesolo Photography The link to the photos is here: http://freesolophotography.photoshelter.com/gallery/100-climbs-100-miles-100-days-Project/G0000rziAYQEYxvI/C0000jJAmfFIWsTY

We had a good day. Adam led the Hole as he calls it. It was a little dirty but we go up and down. Awesome time. Bill you have to come out and climb it at least once.

Is that the weather today? I'd better bring a jacket.

Here is one pic of the climb.

This is where I'm going tomorrow. [video:youtube]O0DJ8hWgNes

I had the GREATEST TIME!!! Learned a lot and had fun. Took forever though.

I had my wife read it. She was laughing so hard she was screaming. Very funny stuff dood!

Ivan your TR's are priceless even if I can't understand half of what you are talking about.

The details on the route are here: http://www.mountainproject.com/v/brother-mike/107795096 Thanks Bill

The details on the route are here: http://www.mountainproject.com/v/brother-mike/107795096 Thanks Bill

####THREAD DRIFT ALERT###### ######THREAD DRIFT ALERT###### Knock it off!!!!

No lead falls yet. The bolts are 1/2" x 5 1/2" 304 stainless. Torqued to 50 pounds with a Torque wrench. They really are bomb proof. But as yet no lead falls.

Way to wade in Off-White!

Nicely done Greg. IMHO. I was unaware that the man was considering stepping in and regulating bolting to the degree that you presented. It does not surprise me though. There is a whole lot of bolting going on.

By request: The file size is too big for this photo. So I will just have to link to it. It's my favorite: Ben leading "Brother Mike"

Trip: The Steeple, Oregon - Brother Mike Date: 9/9/2012 Trip Report: Ben, Rick and I headed up to have Ben lead "Brother Mike". It was a cool day and perfect for the climbing we were going to do. My plan was to jug the fixed lines and get pictures of Rick and Ben from above. I hauled the drill and other supplies to add the rap anchor at the top of pitch 1. This would facilitate two functions. This would allow them to use it as anchor for pitch two and also allow parties to rap the route with a 60m rope. I jugged up and installed the anchor. Then Rick led pitch one with one slung knob and 4 cams. If a leader had 1 set of cams from .3 to #3 they would have plenty to choose from on this 60 foot lead. I personally placed 8 cams, but I was doubling up on the pro. Rick got to the anchor on the 5.7 60 foot pitch no problem. I was taking video and pics from well above pitch one. Ben cruised up and got ready for pitch two. Rick had brought a belay seat that he grith hitched 2 48" slings on. He said it was perfect. So now that the belayer was comfy Ben could proceed without have to hear complaints about the semi-hanging belay. Ben said the first few moves were pumpy and made short work of the opening moves. He looked for a rest higher and found it. He didn't have to resort to the crouching tiger lunging dyno that Rick used last weekend to get past the 4th bolt. It's nice to know that there are options on that section. Ben proceeded up and found that the climbing while not as sustained at 5.10b, were still challenging. He made it to the top of pitch two passing the rap anchor just 30 feet below it. Others could stop here to belay but it is not as good a ledge as the one above it. Ben was stoked to free climb the pitch with no falls. He led the next pitch off the "Monster Knob"®. He said that was hard too, at 5.10b. We all moved on up to the next anchor and finally on top added another bolt for the rap off the anchor there. So with all the work finished that I wanted to accomplish we got ourselves off The Steeple, grabbed all the fixed lines and other gear and made it back to the car without incident. Ben told me that I had picked the best line on The Steeple and that the route was awesome. The features he said were like nothing he had ever seen in any climbing mag. I am interested in what other might think about that. The views he said were the best in the area. With full on views of Mt. Hood and Mt. Jefferson. On a clear day you can even see the top of Mt. Rainier(I just noticed that the name Rainier looks like rainy-ier. Things that make you go hmmmmmm). Ben pulling moves on pitch 2. Gear Notes: Single Rack of Cams .3 - #3 Camalots 22 Draws 60m rope Approach Notes: 30 mins up hill in old growth timber. Very little bushwacking.

That's it!!!! I am bringing my cat to the crag!

I will write up a full report later. And post some pics from today. I jugged the route and took pictures and did some fixing up of the route. Added a bolt to the top rap anchor and added the last rap anchor to the route. Now the route can be rapped with a single 60m rope and all the fixed lines are down and the route is itchin' to be climbed. Ben thought it was a blast and the best line up the rock. Sure is a sweet one.

Think of it more as a TR of stupid shit I have done to myself.

That dog is not bad. It's just stupid. My preference is to leave it at home. Sometimes I get overruled by the Adventure Queen.

That's a fun route. Wild one for sure. Now is a good time to climb it. It's DRY!!!!

I wrote about this once: I would like to say first that it is not a good idea to take the dog when I go rock climbing. That being said I can say that I have done it, and the results have been mixed to say the least. Mostly it is a real pain. For one it is not my dog. I don’t even like pets. They are too much work for the supposed gain. The dog is my wife’s. She loves that dog. I try to pretend that I don’t love it too. It seems to have wormed its way into my heart. Damn it! The incidents I have had with that dog are the stuff of legend. Legendary patience, which the dog has tested numerous times over the years. Why this dog has not been left in the wilderness or shot by a farmer, I am still amazed and perplexed. My wife and I were once climbing in a situation where we needed to have two ropes to rappel off a route. So the logical way for my wife to get the rope up to us was to trail it behind her as she climbed the route. I had done all the hard work and led the climb. As she started up the route she noticed some resistance and looked down to see the dog lying on the rope. It was a nice soft place to lay down and it made perfect sense to the dog. My wife yelled at the dog and then had to roughly yank on the rope to get the dog to move. It wasn’t an easy route to begin with and it wasn’t any easier with the added resistance from the dog. Then the dog started barking like a fiend at us, which was bad as we needed to keep a low profile in the area we were climbing in. The dog missed us. That was a mild incident. The next one was a bit more infuriating. We were camping in Indian Creek, Utah near the Canyonlands National Park. The dog somehow got off the leash and off she went. When she saw the cows she really took off and started chasing them. I told my wife. " If a farmer shoots the dog they are in the right. The cows are their livelihood and having a dog chase them all over the place is taking precious fat off the bones of those cows. So your dog may be dead by the end of the day." I took off after the dog as I saw it as my responsibility to catch the dog if I could. We climbers are supposed to keep a low profile, share the land with the locals and leave no trace. I didn’t want to be the climber that gendered bad blood with the local farmers and thereby cause the climbing community to get a black eye or worse lose the privilege of use of such a beautiful place. So I took off running after the dog. It must have been 80 or 90 degrees. Let’s just say that it was hot and so was I. I was planning on climbing with my partners that day not chasing some stupid dog. After I had spent two hours and 5 miles of running around the desert chasing the dog chase the cows. We had managed to go over and through several canyons, fences and rivers. The cows finally run into a box canyon and the dog pinned them in there and started barking. I grabbed the dog and started walking the five miles back to camp. I was so mad I couldn’t talk. It took me days to get over that fiasco. The trip wasn’t ruined and I had won some “OH honey I love you so much points” for later use in time of need. The dog lived another day to tax my patience yet again. My wife had gone on vacation and I saw this as an opportunity to take off into the deep woods with my son and his friend. There is a place I wanted to climb that was remote and I thought well it would be good to take the dog out. Well normally when we get out in the woods we will let her off leash and as long as we put her back on before we get to the car it is not a problem. Well there was a problem this time. The dog got scent of the elk and freaked out and didn’t want to come home. So the chase was on. She would not be caught. So we got in the car and started driving. The dog followed the car. Great. But the dog can’t run over 10 or 15 miles an hour. So on down the road we go. I have no cell phone coverage so I can’t call anyone to let them know what is going on. So after about 3 hours and 8 miles of trying to get the dog to get into the car we had to leave her and drive to a phone to make sure that someone didn’t call out a search for us. We drove back to a campground where the dog was trying to be caught by some campers in the area. They helped us for hours try to get the dog. Then one of them had the idea that she had some tranquilizers that we could drug the dog with. This sounded great to me so we put them into a hotdog and feed it to the dog. The dog passed out and off we went home. If this didn’t teach me a lesson it should have. Several months later I needed to go out to a remote climbing area in the deep woods by myself. Again I thought “Poor dog. She really needs to get out. I will take her with me.” Bad idea. I took her off leash and spent the rest of the day trying to get her back. I finished my task and started home and still couldn’t get the dog. I did the drive down the road thing again and the dog followed slowly. I didn’t have cell phone reception again and didn’t have it for over 35 miles. I drove 5 miles an hour for 7 hours. Every once in a while I would open the door and yell to the dog “Are you ready to get into the car?”. She wasn't. It was awful. Finally I got to a place where I could call my wife and have her drive out to meet us. When she got there the dog ran right up to her and jumped into the car. I don't even think about taking the dog to Smith Rock. Too many people and the area is not really dog friendly. This is an area where a dog could be a nuisance to other climbers. The regulations require that dogs must be on a leash at all times, Dogs can not be tied up to a tree or rock. So the moral of the story is: Don’t take dogs out to climbing areas. And if you do make sure you watch them so they don’t bother other climbers and or area livestock. Always keep them on a leash. And if they can’t be trusted around other people, leave them at home. I have all kinds of points saved up now with my wife. So if I want to go on a climbing trip or go do something with the guys. All I have to say is DOG. D-O-O-O-O-O-G.

An interesting idea......maybe I hope I never have to do that though.