offwidthclimber

bah! bouldered all last winter on snow-free beaches, even though it was a foot and a half deep in my yard for 4 months! just work the southern exposures and it's all good. yep, can't forget the mild conditions and endless choss at vantage! or hit some solid granite craggin' and bouldering at banks. hooray for the eastside! mmm... lucky lager...

dude, i'm all over it at 5pm! woohoo! there in spirit. coeur d'alene to the westside is a long drive on a work night [ 10-30-2001: Message edited by: offwidthclimber ]

quote: Originally posted by Bronco: Great story about dogs and Ice climbing. http://www.rockandice.com/index.phtml?section=stories_show&content_id=40 dude, i read that a while back. that's one burly story! damn.

Kudos to Matt and all those involved! This is excellent news to hear, especially since access has been a questionable issue in the region. Darrington is a fantastic place to climb. Hopefully I'll be able to make it over that way again this next spring/summer. Cheers.

http://www.stevenspass.com/webcam/webcam.htm

as *silly* as it may be to some people here , a couple friends and i met up and hauled our crash pads all of 10 minutes to tubbs hill on the shore of beautiful coeur d'alene lake. chalk pots and all, we managed to scrub and work a few new lines ranging from crimpin' to dynamic sloper slappin'. did some great dyno problems and had a load of fun. on another note, it is now raining about as hard as i've ever seen it - with lightning, so, beer in hand, i'm outside to check it out... later.

quote: Originally posted by Cpt.Caveman: After suffering in the mountains knowing there is a Guinness waiting for me...... or better yet, knowing there are 10 guinness waiting for me! or even a seemingly endless tap...

...and complete with some *interesting* Darrington D class approaches. what a great place! fine adventure climbing from my one experience there.

quote: Originally posted by philfort: Also, near the Coleman high camp, people were having problems with scorpions in their boots, left outside overnight. Times ain't what they used to be... fucking global warming... damn alligator just popped up and bit my hand off. CUT ME DOWN IN MY PRIME! He got my hand but i got one of that bastard's eyes out. haha!

snowin' heavily in the mountains here in north idaho right now. wax em' up!

snow... or frost? you make the call

http://www.stevenspass.com/webcam/webcam.htm

well, besides the obvious southern road trip suggestions, the banks lake area has a variety of trad and sport routes, plus bouldering, and can be a pretty dry winter locale... albeit cold at times. of course, smith rock isn't too terribly far either. other than that, it's kind of a crap shoot in the winter months. i think vantage is the most consistent best bet, weather-wise, without having to travel too far.

quote: Originally posted by LUCKY: Well I see the Blackbelt Internet Spraymasters stayed at home this weekend to work on there 1000 word essay on how there climbing style is the only acceptable one.You don't get extra credit for SPRAY.Contact your doctor those sticks might have to be surgically removed. I don't think it could have been said any better. hahaha.

Thanks for the post and links mikereddig. I watched a program the other day about Glacier National Park. Some of the scientists there studying the glaciers have predicted that at this rate, they may all be gone in about 30 years. Cheers, Micah

hey man, apperantly it's all about the "lady j" ever seen campmor ? http://www.campmor.com/webapp/commerce/command/ProductDisplay?prrfnbr=13827&prmenbr=226 cheers.

quote: Originally posted by MysticNacho: Sure, everyone gets a kick out of those sport climbers with ten earings and blue hair, who say things like "check out that sick move on those wicked bomber jugs dude!" hmmm... i've been climbing for at least ten years and have never heard a phrase like that. besides, if it was such a "sick move," it wouldn't be on "wicked bomber jugs," but more like a "a sick dyno from that heinous sloper to the half-pad razor crimp. tight dude!" and no, i've never mentioned any of those words before... anyway, i believe that bolts do have their place in some areas. and i don't buy the bullshit environmental damage argument of some anti bolters. a few cubic centimeters of missing rock and a tiny bit of metal has nothing to do with environmental damage, rather everything to do with perceived aesthetics, personal ethics and ideals. bolts are no more detrimtental in a purely scientific argument than pitons or sligns. rock is inorganic matter and the impact of bolts is merely aesthetic. ironically, there's a hell of a lot more environmental impact on cliffside ecology in gardening out a dirty crack full of moss and vegetation for a new crack/trad climb than there is slamming in a few bolts for a sport climb... anyway, i don't mean this as a pro-sport climbing argument, nor as a rebuttal to MysticNacho or Pope's arguments, rather as a general statement to keep things a bit in perspective. on an absolute level, sport climbing is no more silly than trad climbing, or aid routes, or alpine slogs, or mixed climbs, or bouldering, or water ice. it's just a different discipline of climbing. the value of whether it's silly or detrimental comes from the individual, or perhaps the community, not generally from a scientific sense (although, yes, there are exceptions to every rule). bottom line is to have fun and try not to worry too much about what others consider fun and important, unless it infringes on acceptable ethics and standards in a particular area. ie. if people want to bolt up exit 38, great. but if people want to start bolting up Snow Creek Wall or Castle Rock, where trad climbing is the ethic and precedence, that's a whole different story. anyway, enough from the peanut gallery climb on and have fun, whether you're clipping bolts or pluggin' pro. peace.

my $0.02 here is the "chimney rock" in question: http://www.leang.com/kam/scrapbk/chimney_rock_09_01_01/ yup, it sits up on the selkirk crest, and no, not to my knowledge is it leaning towards becoming a "bolted" crag. it's a couple mile hike and a few thousand feet up from the trailhead. the standard route is something like a couple pitches of 5.3 or 5.4 and free routes (at least in the old school guide i have) go up to 11d or so. steep, clean granite. hmmm... if the only protection option is to either replace knifeblades or place bolts instead in place of the extracted knifeblades, i'd lean towards bolts, but whatever. i second slaphappy regarding attempting to consult the FA. cheers.

yo, i'm one of those silly pad toting folks even got a chalk pot and a nylon brushes or two. in fact, i've only been on rope twice in the last 10 months since leaving seattle, whereas i never used to boulder (besides the UW rock). mainly started because i moved to a new place and didn't have any partners and it was winter and most people don't get too excited about climbing in 28 degree weather unless it involves swingin' ice tools. anyway, the rock where i normally boulder (tubbs hill in coeur d'alene) is more or less undeveloped, so it's been fun finding new boulders and problems. anyway, i still enjoy trad and sport climbing, but will probably remain more of a boulderer because it's fun and easy to work into my schedule several times a week. yeah, it seems a bit goofy - trying to conquer 15' of rock, but it's good fun and gets ya strong. you also get to work a lot of varied techniques - cracks, roofs, friction slabs, slopers, crimps, etc. and it's the closest rock around here. i like being able to drive all of 2 minutes and head out with 3 or 4 friends to a place very few people climb at, toss down a couple pads and pull down. besides, at the end of a perfect, sunny winter day while sitting on the beach, surrounded by virgin boulders, silence, and a beautiful still lake, that crash pad makes a hell of a futon for drinkin' some brew ...which brings up another point - it's the only type of climbing you can do "safely" while swillin'! hopefully, i'll be able to haul my rack and pad over for the fall ropeup so you guys will have a pad totin' goofball to chuckle at peace, and north idaho bouldering: http://www.exploreidaho.com/bouldering

not that i expect much from outside magazine, but the whole "outdoor fashion" thing was way out of place. since when did expensive sweaters and fucking leather pants become outdoor appearal? jesus. worse yet was the "dream towns 2001" feature. talk about the kiss of death for folks living in the top 10 places they mentioned. bring on the masses! cheers.

hey sean, drop me an email sometime and we'll go climbing. that would be cool. i've mainly been drinking beer and doing a little beach bouldering this summer, but it's about time to get back on rope... cheers, micah offwidthclimber@hotmail.com

quote: Originally posted by Beck: By the way, aside from a few buddies I have that post on this site, the only ones of you I actually know are from the Pub Clubs, all the rest of you are internet doppelgangers as far as I'm concerned- come on out from behind the keyboard and drink with your climbin' bros at an upcoming pubclub!! if it weren't for the 5 hour commute each way, i'd be there for the weekly pub meet... i'll be trying my hardest to cruise over from north idaho to join the ruckus this september in the icicle. cheers, micah

i'm with jon on the fee demo vs. the fed govt'a budgeting responsibilty vs. access vs. whatever (sorry with the babble. that's six or seven tall boys speaking...). anyway, an analysis of the federal govt. trying to excise extra dollars out of tax payer for use of public lands we already pay taxes for the use of, and for which budgets are already alloted for, is a great topic. however, the bigger issue is what are you receving a (master's, undergrad, or maybe just high school?) degree for? i wrote an undergraduate thesis about public land ownership and who should be in control - the federal govt or the states. it was an fun paper and ended up being a great argument in favor of federal control over state management of public lands for the sake of environemtnal health and protection. anyway, good luck.

quote: Originally posted by Dwayner: Mr. Offwidth? There must have been some sort of serious mistake with the $1 book. Maybe it was really $100 but they hired a freshman for work-study in the bookstore and we all know the sort of mayhem that can ensue from that arrangement You got a bargain, my friend. aloha, Dwayner Hell yeah. I definately know the bargain in that transaction. However, if you're not a climbing afficianado, and especially if you're not from the PNW, I can see how the book might have caught the $1 bin. My guess is some college student went to the lecture/presentation with a friend, thought it was really cool, got a sudden inspiration to buy the book, got it signed, maybe read it - maybe didn't, and tossed it at the end of the semester, especially after the newest interest set in. Or, an autographed copy may have accidentally got tossed in with generic copies. Chances are, whoever tossed it into that bin had no idea it was a book that was autographed by the author, regardless of who the author was. Either way, pretty cool, especially for a buck! Cheers,