dbb

went back to the "here today, gone tomorrow" area at exit 38 today. We climbed the other ice route on the upper tier, calling it "The Yellow Pillar" WI4-. Also climbed HTGT, which was much thicker than 2 days ago. Marcus leading p1 of HTGT The Yellow Pillar fun and plastic! p2 of Here Today Gone Tomorrow Spent the day on the new BD vipers too. Nice toolz

CascadeClimber & I climbed the ice route above the black ice crag this morning. Great climbing! About 20 feet of mixed ground to reach the ice (M4/5 WI4). If you had a new #4 or #5 camalot you could protect the crux really well (under the roof). I was able to get some small cams, and a decent blade out left. If Alex's info is correct, I think this is the first time the climb has been led. It has obviously been TR'd before. We also climbed a second pitch, up and right at WI2. P1 topping out p2 Then we went over to the ironhorse trailhead, and climbed Pax and Ken's route. Approach up the right side of the drainage in the forest. This route is easily visible from the off ramp. p1 WET! Nice pillar. Felt 4- don't forget to start the day off right!

Route Setting! The dongler prepares for battle Puuuuuulllll!! Chicks That Rip Finals! Max crushing! M4 getting up my stairs

That was a RAD time! Big time thank you to Jeremy, Bruce, Keith and the staff of Stone Gardens, for putting on such a fantastic and smoothly run event. And to the community for coming out en mass on a snowy night and having a ball! Also can't forget the big ballers, Chad and Dylan, for putting on a great show from their trip to China. Thanks again all! And to all the shops and companies that stepped up and supported the event: Feathered Friends, Pro Mountain Sports, Outdoor Research, Second Ascent, CascadeClimbers.com, Black Diamond, Petzl, La Sportiva, DMM, The American Alpine Club, The Access Fund, REI, Maritime Brewing, Nuun, and La Isla, THANKS!!!!!

Just a reminder that the Seattle Ice Festival is going on tomorrow night at Stone Gardens, 5-10pm. Come on down to hone your skills and check out new gear!

The comp routes are going to be fun fun fun! You should definitely enter if you're thinking about it! No prior drytooling experience is necessary. Also note that all of the demo and comp routes are going to be INSIDE!

RIGHT ON! Great climbing Rolf & Dan. Way to crush! In fall, this has to be one of the more accessible big ice/rock faces in the Cascades. Nice work fellas

Show up before 5 to sign up as it is first come first served. There will be a limit on the number of people who can enter the comp (overall) just because it takes time to run folks though. If you don't want to compete, but want to demo we're going to have 2 demo routes setup so you can try out tools. We're also going to have an ice block for demoing ice screws! and tell your friends to come! The shops and sponsors have REALLY thrown down for this event! :tup: Several ice tools, crampons, product, gift certs, etc etc etc have been donated. This will be a great community event!

Nice A.M. & Dane! Did ya like that traverse move that starts the first technical pitch? It got my attention! When we got to the top of that one we realized we could have just walked around it to the right but well worth the diversion

Hey Chris- If I were you I'd actually get the Zealot. Still within your specs (110 underfoot), can ski on-piste great, but you get that extra phatness for the slack country. My guess is that the extra width would be nice.

This is going to be a great time! Finally Seattle has its OWN event!

definitely enjoying your contributions Dane.

The NE face options:

almost snow-free everywhere. a few small remnants on north facing slopes, but routes were dry, warm and empty last w/e

wow! so cool! :tup: nice send & thanks for the anchor J!

Looks pretty sweet. Hopefully it wont be too long to market. http://outside-blog.away.com/blog/2008/07/the-gear-junkie.html

Nice John! Way to send on the S-G!

fwiw, I had a bout of tendinitis from mousing/typing last year. was reduced to one finger typing. mine doesn't sound as severe as yours, but I switched to a trackball mouse (thumb operated) and more importantly a microsoft ergo (split) keyboard. My symptoms dissapeared in less than a week. There was something about the soft keys on the MS keyboard that was just what I needed. The culprit for me was the stock iMac keyboard (older style, not the new flat ones) this is what I got: http://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-Natural-Ergo-Keyboard-4000/dp/B000A6PPOK Also important is to take the 5 minutes to stretch before using the computer for a long time: http://www.eatonhand.com/hw/ctexercise.htm

consider just loading Parallels and windows XP onto your mac (if you have an intel based mac). Then you can use Dragon right in Windows. The windows install is about 4.5G. Toss in open office for writing and you're set...

holy cow Joe, that's a marathon of mud! That bolt looks like a Banditos hanger... ?

one thing I'd add is that the R1 hoody has a honeycombed fleece, whereas those others don't. The thin areas that make up the honeycomb allow the thing to breath really well. For it's level of warmth, you can be surprisingly comfortable in it while working.

great job Elisif and Daniel!

The ice wall was super fun this year. I know I'll definitely be buying a membership there next fall if they plan to put it back up

nice Don, that looks great. What elevation are those at?

couple of folks have attempted to get up the squire creek road in the past two weeks. lots of snow on the road, all the way to where they stop plowing at the edge of town. Way more snow than previous two years and down low. might take a little longer to melt out this year...