LostCamKenny

tyler, you bitch about us the way we bitch about closures! are you ok? on edge as much as us? is yer bizzong clogged? btw, that pic of peter, samir and michael bolton kicks ass!

love my 45L BD jackel, though i've had lighter packs...

i can see what everyone is saying here, but OW i do not consider what i do a hobby, as though i am putting together model planes or collecting baseball cards or stamps, and i'm sure tha tyou didn't mean it that way either, but it is that kind of talk that makes what we love to do [as climbers] seem insignificant to the agencies involved in setting a closure period.

dr jones, DR JONES!!!!

then wear it while you climb, or go to ozone. and, yes nate i got yer humor, otherwise i wouldn't have replied the way i did after that post...

we're gettin waaaaaaaaaaaaaay off track, here, and crap... i got caught up in it! joe, the purpose of my original post was not to stir up any troublemaking or any of that sort of monkeybusiness as you kind of alluded to earlier. rather, it was to get awareness out to anyone who cared (other than those of us who are here "bitching" about this matter) that there was an avenue that could be taken to let the BRSP officials know that this bothers (some) of us. i am not taking a back seat here and my intentions are not self-serving. i love to climb, and i love to climb at beacon and as such i am going to put up a bit of a stand for that pleasure. yes, i do work for the agency that closes the south side of the rock every year (i also work for ODFW, which has no interest in the falcons at BR), but my stance as a climber is so strong that it takes precedence over my livelihood, since, in fact, i am in the fish division and not he wildlife division. joe, you should not take any of my remarks as a personal attack on you or what you have done. you have done things and put in time that few others would make room for in their schedules. you hold a passion for climbing, in general, that few have, and watching you climb is both fun and inspiring. this is not to say that i have to agree with you on your ideas concerning the BR climbing closure or the trail closure, because i certainly DO NOT. your efforts, which i'm sure you feel are helping the climbers, are actually not necessarily representing ALL the climbers who feel as passionately about climbing at beacon as you do. this is where the whole shitstorm begins: you feel like you are doing right so you continue, and when it comes out, your good intentions look strangely like actions of "the man." working with the rangers and working with the DFW doesn't mean that you have to ignore what you (as a climber) believe... i love being a part of my professional organization and i'm not going to quit just because i have another side that conflicts with it - i make the two co-exist and when i go to work i am all business. you are a friend, joe, and i wish that you could recognize that and work for WHAT YOUR FRIENDS are actually asking for, rather than for what the rangers and, yes my agency, are telling you is policy. thanks to all who gave attention to this, and mark, those pics look pretty sweet! no rangers down there? no falcons? i need to go see that place...!

And you expected WDFW to keep doing them after consistent closure breaches - guess what? They didn't. And they also didn't because windpower boom in the Gorge took off and monitoring Beacon ended up way down on the priority list of places to dedicate resources. Last year WDFW started to spin up a new guy in the Vancouver office to learn to do some of the monitoring, but in the several years before that I've been filling the void. bravo, joe... bravo. does yer arm hurt now after patting yer back like that?

... and yet you continue to bring it up here. hmmmm...

then why are you posing for the man, joe? you don't fight for us... you enforce for them... you're just as much a part of the man's machine as i am, at least that's the way you march around when you're out there. why don't we switch roles for a while, huh? i'll be the up tight, insomniac, mega-ego, packageboy for the rangers and you go take care of the biological/DFW side...

the only closure breach that i am aware of is when you went down to big ledge last year with a bag of pea gravel to make a nice comfy bed for the falcons - how natural for the birds... i bet they loved that

and apparently, joe you are the man, since you know soooo much about what is going on... i'd ask you to enlighten us all but no one wants to hear that anymore than they want to hear my "rants." and really all you do is work for the rangers - tellin em anything they want to know no matter how it affects climbers. how is that helping anything? you'd turn in yer own mother if she climbed outta season, huh?

of course, b/c they consult me on these matters...

...nor in studies

... just not in many years...

you mean the famous BRSPFPA???

found this on the n side while rapping last may... was about 100 feet from the top... pretty good proof that it had been developed at least to a slight degree at some point in the past. maybe wayne wallace could sound off about this - jim has always told me that he has lines over there...

yeah, it's gonna take me the next 6 months to get the moves from the pin up to snag ledge down... hopefully i'll get it down before this coming july. quite the contrary to what you said about encouraging climbers and non-climbers to "hang out" down there, it would be very beneficial to have the trail open for many reasons. First of all, if someone really wants to go and climb that stupid sign and wood gate isn't going to stop them. but if the trail were open then those of us who are honest climbers and good stewards of the rock can inform would-be offenders when we are hiking down there. yes, it is a trail and it is hiked... by climbers... who just want to go and marvel at what is so beautiful. Second, maintaining the trail should be the responsibility of those who use it the most - the climbers. if it is closed then there can't be any maintenance. clipping back bushes to keep them from becoming overgrown, clearing loose rock, and there is always trash from the actual hiker's trail that is floating down and needs to be picked up - these are things that can be done by climbers FOR the park. and what's wrong with non-climbers going down there to hang out? it is a cool trail that shows a view of the rock that is staggering to the non-climber, especially if they've never seen it before. nate, if you really feel no connection - or such a little connection - to your other brothers or the rope, then that's fine... don't stand up for yourself and just let them walk all over you. clearly you do not have the connection to beacon rock that myself and others have - what a pity.

here it comes...

So today is the day that the will of the BRSP Rangers is imposed on us. As was the case last year, the trail to the base of the rock on the south side has been closed. Let me say that again - the trail to the base of the rock is closed - to hiking or anything else! What the heck for? the signs say for resource protection, but anyone who has been down that trail even once knows that there aren't any rare plant or animal species on the trail that need this kind of protection. The trail is closed for reasons that only the rangers can give - probably because they think that closing the trail will deter climbers from trying to climb when it is closed. Whatever the reason, it must be understood that this is truly unacceptable. Climbers, as a user group of the state park, are being discriminated against with this kind of policy imposition and this business of closing the trail, even for hiking, is not the end. If people (climbers) do not speak up and express how wrong this is then the situation will just continue to get worse, possibly with the climbing closure being extended. If you care about climbing at beacon rock in the least then it is in your interest to call the head ranger, erik plunkett at 509-427-8265, and voice your feelings about this. the only way things will ever be different is if we stand together as a group and make a single voice united against such a terrible policy. seriously, closing the rock to climbing is bad enough... does it make sense that we can't even go hike along the trail to the base and just admire the rock that many of us love so much?

jim told me of a really good rock placement to the right of where everyone usually puts a bogus cam - or nut. jim said andrew found it and dug it out or something. i started looking for it and found it one day and it is the most bomber piece between the belay and the crack out of the butthole...

think purple and green camalots both work pretty well there...

kev, i'm guessing that you just hardmaned up and skipped that bolt in lieu of pro in the butthole?

Run correctly? If anything that "directional" gives you a ton of crappy rope drag. I found that was the case when you do the first two pitches in one, but breaking them up i like that bolt clipped with a looong runner. the traverse itself gives you a bunch of drag anyway - do you skip that first bolt and the pro in between, too?

whatever...