mvs

glasgowkiss rules!

chockstone straight up guy. get to meat of issue. why not poach redpoint? I will poach, then pay he who put bolts a bounty. here you are, I say. Have five amerikan dollars. I laugh! and laugh!

read mounty book best in Amerika. only rule i know. i come to city state follow you rule? no! please run from point to no point in telling me about dinner of rock on plate. Strong.

Klenke, well I had to be at work by 10:30, Kaleetan might have felt a little bit far! I hiked up Kaleetan last November though, and I remember the West Face of Chair looked pretty alpine. I didn't realize mailbox peak had become such a magnet for totems. Last time I was up there was just the mailbox and the green eggs and ham book.

drat, I forgot about that rumored letter. There was a large collection of Dr. Seuss books, but sadly, no green eggs and ham.

I have to say McTech Arete on Crescent Spire in the Bugs. The 6 pitches are rated: 5.9, 5.10a, 5.5, 5.8, 5.7, 5.6. Long clean cracks. For example, the 5.8 pitch goes through two small roofs, with sustained hand jamming for 50 feet in between.

It looked to me like the digital projector last night could only display 8 bit color, so millions of colors were getting dithered to 256 colors. You really saw it in a picture of sky, with such a gradual fade from dark blue to white -> that appeared as three bands! Still, I was impressed by the brightness and am going to look into these more...

That was really fun. I was having nightmares about Forrest_m's long cornice walk on Mt. Hunter. Thanks for putting it together Jon, thanks to all who came!

Re: old friends... Haha, I fell for that one! A piece of gear at 15 feet, then nuthin' the rest of the way!

Instead of slides, I'll bring a little DVD about some fun climbs. We've gotta have great sound though, Jon, how long of a cable do I need to reach from your computer to that stereo?

Took a non-climbing friend up Ruth Mountain. He nearly died from the scenery. Some fun crevasse crossings - we used our ice screw!

I tried to vote for Eric's site but I work in the Collective so I got "a vote is already recorded for this IP address."

I love when he "burninates" the peasants. How can your head be on fire and your face looks merely sorrowful? That Trogdor, what a ham!

haha. Well, sure you can, but I don't think you've been replaced. I'll miss you, NWOG. BTW, I never click on videos on any sites (ok, MtnPhil lures me in sometimes!). You see, I'm often at work, and can't have some little window screaming about horsecock on rappel.

I don't understand how you can put so much effort into creating a site and then shut it down? I don't buy the line that a TR website with "newbie" reports is something to be scorned. Everybody is a "newbie" sometime, and would love to read about "granite mtn in winter" or stuff like that.

Highclimb is my alpine buddy of the year. He's just a punk kid (hee hee!) but he knows as much about life and people as someone twice his age. Actually, I'm exactly twice his age, holy s**t. Definitely missed Dan and Alex this year. But Alex as a "fellow traveller" in building 42, I always know what he's been up to. Dan's got some excellent stuff in his life right now, he didn't need me bugging him this summer to go back and finish Liberty Crack! Winter is another story... You guys are awesome. My runner ups are RMeshew and Der Wanderer. Anybody who knows Robert will agree how solid yet downright wacky he can be! And Der Wanderer is kind of my long lost twin brother. We can both yodel Yngwie Malmsteen solos from 1986 in harmonized unison. Jon and Timmy, on the master list. Beer for Caveman, who didn't pound my head in, but handed me a beer and invited me for stuff next summer. RAWK!!

I climbed a lot this year, nothing "hardman" but lots of incredible scenes. 1) Triple Couloirs - with HighClimb and others. 2) A week in Sierras with HighClimb - Matthes Crest, Fairview, Bear Creek Spire were highlights. 3) A week in the Bugs with RobertM and Mark Pratt - NE Arete Bugaboo, McTech Arete, etc. 4) The Ptarmigan Traverse with Der Wanderer - peakbagging, fantastic scenery, jeezey! 5) W Face Sloan, NE Ridge Triumph, N Ridge Baker - three great "medium classics" with friends. 6) Late season skulk into the Pickets for a walk up. 7) Lots of mornings at Index working the cracks, getting schooled, taking a nice fall. I feel so satisfied, kind of long-term tired, enjoying the break from climbing, hanging out at home, nothing to prove to myself. Now I play piano, watch movies, read and go camping. But there are great climbs that will keep me excited about next summer: N Ridge Stuart, Liberty Ridge, Sleese. I have two main thoughts now: Raise a glass to all the great partners who help you live your dreams. And it's the life at home that nurtures the life in the mountains. Come home, embrace it and find peace. In the tradition of "jumping the shark": namaste!

I guess Colin and Marko have the educated answer to that question! Uneducated guesses below: I think it would be a sufferfest in winter. The road and part of the steep trail up would be snow-free/easy. But then you'd probably lose the trail as it begins traversing north in steep forest. What if you go too far or not far enough when you hit 5000 feet? I think there would be some troublesome cliffs in that case. Then, you have a loong traverse across snow slopes to get to the normal camp. I think the climbing route itself would be fun and easy. Of course, having made one visit to the Pickets to tick the introductory route, I'm very qualified to speculate! Maybe somebody else will get on this thread with more info. What about Stetattle Ridge in the winter?

Saturday Der Wanderer and I hiked up the Goodell Creek/Terror Basin route. We camped in the flat moraine basin at 5700 feet. We climbed the West Ridge route Sunday, and returned to the car just before dark. The entire route was easy to follow - even the steepest, brushiest parts of the ascent from Goodell Creek were not difficult. I failed to bring enough water from the car, so travelled in a haze of thirst until finding a seep just before camp. The glacier is mostly a snowfield, so our decision not to bring a rope worked out fine. Crampons were an asset. On the hike out I was so amazed by the beauty of the alp slopes we traversed - red and green heather, incredibly picturesque outcrops with stone gardens and bansai-like trees. (thx for the spelling correction "catbirdseat"!) All in a mysterious slanted fall afternoon light. Anyway, highly recommended!

Very interesting. I just returned from "A Stitch Saves Nine," an alternate way to the bathroom that avoids the 2nd floor lobby. Seriously though, sounds awesome!

Okay, the "wrinkle in time" - I gotta know what that is! A hidden gully or a key ledge? Do you travel "a cheval" or make a double pendulum to reach it? sounds awesome, got pictures?

It took a long time, but I finally have pics and stories from the trip Aidan and I took to the Sierras in June. If you are looking for some good climbs now or next summer, it might have useful info: http://www.mountainwerks.org/cma/2003/cali.htm

Nice, Dox!

Nice, thanks for the report CatBirdSeat. I've been wanting to climb that since seeing it from Sloan Pk. --Michael