dbb

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...

That should be a great show. fyi, info for Dave's Darrington Guidebook is located here: http://www.alpinedave.com/darrington/rock/index.htm between that and Matt's page there are lots of fun climbs all spelled out.

w00t! way to ski the plum guys!

btw, you might consider using a full strength mini biner instead. stronger and lighter. the camp nano 23 comes to mind: http://www.rei.com/product/764094

Scott- It would be a easy mountain bike up the road to the old dutch miller gap TH. from there it's a pretty reasonable snowshow up into the basin under the route (4-5 hours with good conditions). email me if you'd like detailed beta

follow the top rope: ok, thread officially hijacked!

too cool bug

but then you'd miss the offwidth and the sweet hand/finger cracks above it Off! If backbone were a little more sustained it would be a 50 classic.

unfortunately those emails bounce. got the info now though, thanks

trying to get ahold of jeff smoot. could some one who knows PM me his email? thx

fantastic trip. that's a wicked looking x15 too!

Matt- I put the Rattle & Slime info page (Whitelaw Darrington CD guide) back up on my website: http://www.alpinedave.com/darrington/rock/index.htm wayne- I hope this fall!

Off- Try printing out the Rattle & Slime topos individually. Those pdfs can print to 22" long. The ones embedded in the "whole guide" were shrunken down. ZZ- I think kurt hit the nail on the head for what a local climber would want. If I had to choose a single one, I'd say Selected Climbs Volume I. You could also add David Whitelaw's "Weekend Rock" book for a good survey of rock climbs around the state's major areas.

nice work gents! I was wondering if that was coming in yet..

I'd echo what Trogdor said. For most climbs less that WI5 you can generally place screws in a restful position. Even on steep ice you can often find a stem between the surface features on the ice. For placing screws, try and keep the placement about hip level. trying to place a screw any higher takes more energy and you'll have less leverage on it. The hardest part of placing a screw is getting it started. This is why it's good to have razor sharp screws. To get it started you need to be able to push in towards the ice. On steeper ice, this means pulling out slightly on your other tool to get the required pressure. make sure you're confident in that tool's placement. Express knobs speed up the rest of the process.

about a 20 minute drive up into the hills from Nice is a town called Vence. A little further back you'll see the obvious "Baou de St. Jeannet". A big rock face about 500m(?) tall. There is lots of limestone cragging (trad & bolts) at the base. I've heard that there is also at least a 5.9 route up the Baou (I'm sure there are lots of routes). Hiking up the backside of the Baou is also fun. I think that area is probably the closest cragging to Nice proper... and the beaches in Cagnes sur Mer are a bit nicer IMO.

don't miss the moderate aid walls like prodigal sun, moonlight buttress and touchstone. Ticking off one of those in a day+ would be a nice addition to the trip (prodigal is easiest). Behunin canyon is a fun canyon right in zion that includes a scenic hike up into the high country and some nice slot. No wetsuit needed either. I've got a 60m 10.5mm you can have that we bootied off the last rap in Behunin

There ain't no use for old school wrappers, rip rap rippdy do

95 Tacoma x-cab, 2.7L 4 cyl, Manual, 4x4. with canopy and not: 19-20 city, 23-4 highway

Dru's eyes are sharper than razorblades

Nice work on Champagne Craig. Was it wet in the middle? As of today: Lenore: Beer climbs along the East side of the road looked in. mostly Champange in Children of the Sun - still too soft (talked to some folks who tried) Absent Minded professor - forming, but not in Brush Bash looks to be in WI3 shape. Not as brushy as the name implies. The other short climbs nearby are also in. Salt N Pepper was climbed today Zenith p1 looked like WI5+/6 but it's all there Cable - kinda thin, but in H202 - still lean PeeWees playhouse - the easier climbs look to be in. looks wet Emerald - in WI5 shape Agent Orange looked mostly in. maybe weird at the top Trotsky's Folly - in but very wet. think Wild Waves Trotsky's Revenge - in, less wet Punch Bowl - in with biggest "dagger" ever. more like a pillar

kurt- that's what frenchman's looked like on wednesday. things change quick!

wow, that curtain is so big I didn't recognize it. and I think powderhound makes a good point

1/23 Update- Fuggs in but wet. Get on it early Top part of Frenchman's looks like it fell off. Soap Lake B looks in (or whatever that skinny pillar is) Lots of other ice at Soap lake, but not totally formed. maybe by the weekend Guinness - nope Champange looked good to go, but thinner than last year. scotch on the rocks - nope Children of the Sun is phycho wet. wouldn't be surprised to see it fall down in the next couple days.