offwidthclimber

jesus dwayner... that was, well, nothing short of strange and stupid. disconnect from the internet, shut off your monitor, crack open a cold mickey's and do something else for a while, my friend. that radiation from the glowing screen must be scrambling your brain cells!

oh. i've always been curious... what are the general ratings for some of the classics at the UW rock? coach's crack? off fists crack right of coach's crack? finger crack on the east end slab? any of the other cracks at the rock?

these aren't hard ones, but pretty fun all the same... on the east side slab with the finger crack, there are two large rocks embedded in the slab. try scaling the slab using only one large rock - no other hand holds allowed. basically, it's a tricky start to reach the rock (depending on height), then mantle up onto the rock and go for the top. this problem works using either rock. i don't remember which one was tougher. slothrop - i love that finger crack. dammit i spent a lot of time trying to master that sucker. it's kinda weird for my finger size. i was stoked the day i hopped on it while heading out and fired that sucker in my sneakers (no footholds, crack only)!

south side (canal side): on the right end of the rock is a lovely off-fists crack that goes up the slightly overhanging face. that thing rules. run the laps and hope yer technique is good enough to spare your skin. other than that, i really like the finger crack that runs up the 80 degree slab on the east end of the rock. only you've gotta just use the crack for feet. no cheating on those big fucking handholds. there are also a couple good friction problems on the same face. hell, that whole damn rock is good to go. peace.

there will be no dissin' the UW wall! that shit was a 5 minute drive from my apartment when i lived downtown and i gained a load of crack climbing skills scaling the finger to fist sized cracks there. and not to mention it was a convenient place to swill beers while climbing and meeting some cool folks. you can't ask for better artificial outdoor climbing in a major metropolitan area, can you? when i spent thanksgiving with the inlaws in seattle this last year, i took off t-day morning for a bit o' bouldering at the UW rock. of course, it was damp, overcast and pissing rain, but i laced up and had a hell of a time all by myself. i left completely drenched and missing some skin on my knuckles, but dammit, that was a fun time in the peaceful morning rain. all the slippery chalk made some moderate traverses and problems seem monumentally difficult. it was a great challenge. woohoo!

good luck with the wall. may the horsecock gods be with you...

nov. 10th 2002 is a sunday. instead of going to church, i say we haul a keg and some green to the muir hut for fellow climbers to enjoy. hell, we could even make up some horsecock hor d'ouerves.

Thinker - it may have been a rock, but my suspision lies with that damn ice axe. super fast squatting glissade down some double diamond terrain at the local ski hill after ski season. Allision - thanks for the new product suggestion. sounds like good stuff.

dfa's got it... if you're not interested in aesthetics, just a bombproof patch job, seam grip is the shit. i put an 'L' shaped tear in the seat of my Moonstone bants with an ice axe while glissading. this was about 9 years ago. for those of you who may be concerned, my ass escaped without damage. anyway... i fixed the tear with seam grip. multiple years of washing, wear and abuse later the patch job is as good as the day i made it. here's to the seam grip

interesting... i am a web developer/graphic designer/copy writer. i've been in the industry for 2+ years. arcteryx.com is a beautiful site from a purely aesthetic point of view. there are a lot of things i love about the movement, style, flow and layout. however, these things are more suited for a personal/experimental site, not a major corporate site, especially one with e-commerce potential. there are some serious issues with that site... 1. the use of flash is bad. i mean, seriously, i waited something like 4 minutes on dial up for the site to load. make more of the elements load in the background or only load upon clicking. so much of that site could have been html or dhtml and javascript. it would have been lighter, faster loading and more accessible. some of the text is pretty poor in quality as well. the choice of fonts could have been better. some render far more superior in flash than others. also, the product detail windows are draggable. that's pointless in a site like this. it adds nothing and just adds to file size and loading time. 2. large audio files? so fucking unecessary... a truly great media firm would realize that the benefit of rapid entry into the site is paramount over audio effects. 10% of that load script was devoted to audio. unless it some how drastically enhances your site, don't bother with audio tracks. complete waste of time. in this case, i wasted a half minute or so, so i could hear some stupid roll-over sounds and have my mp3's interrupted. 3. accessibility. the site has none. flash kills many possibilities of interacting with disabled or challenged consumers. bah. 4. navigation. the site navigation and IA structure is somewhat poor. i hate 'mystery meat' navigation - where you have to mouse-over an area to see what the link it. this is a quick way to frustrate and infuriate visitors. 5. where's the e-commerce? this company/site has a lot of potential to sell products on line. anyway, there are more things i can think of, but i'm tired and going to grab some zzzzz's. the bottom line is this - the site is beautiful and has some great features/movement/etc. however it ignores a lot of basics and proves to be a poor use of technology wrapped in an inaccessible, confusing shell. peace out.

quote: Originally posted by Paul detrick: Maybe gumbys will start doing this and make more room on the rocks. let's not be jerks, people. we're talking about someone dying. have a bit of respect. mountain boarding is no more silly than rock climbing or mountaineering or any other endeavor you may enjoy... get some perspective and simply pay your respects, raise a mug to a fallen homie or keep your mouth shut. peace.

unfortunately, no climbing this last weekend, but my wife and i cruised over to seatown for some free kick-ass mariners tickets friday night. watched the boys whoop up on boston and drank a lot of beer and cruised around my old stompin' grounds downtown before heading home saturday to enjoy a 76 degree sunday in north idaho. glad to hear so many folks had a killer weekend. peace out.

werd to that... dan?

Thanks for the replies folks! I looked at the other guide pages and holy shit! upwards of $1300 for a trip up rainier peace.

okay, so my climbing experience has been limited to trad, sport and bouldering. the only thing close to alpine i've ever been on is some summer snowfield trompin' and glissadin' in the idaho sawtooths. and you all know that ain't alpine. so, onward to my gumby alpine question... my two fit and fun neighbors want to climb rainier this summer for the experience. i told them that i'm game. having no experience with glacier/big peak climbing, i took a look at RMI's web site. FUCK ME... $700+ for a summer climb?!?!? i don't know about my neighbors, but i'm not down with that sort of cash flow, or even half that for a guided summit climb. in that vein... i will ask in my infinate ignorance if there is another guiding outfit on mt. rainier (i didn't think there was, but who knows...)? that's all i've got for now. any tips, comments, etc. would be much appreciated. i'm a total alpine newbie/gumby and this trip with my neighbor friends sounds like it would be a pretty damn fun effort. peace out.

quote: Originally posted by Terminal Gravity: First, the "Escaping the Mother-in-law" TR No climbing today! I packed up and made it home by 6:30 for my first margerita of the day. dude, if you can't climb, there's no better way to spend a shitty day than drinkin'. nice work! peace out.

saw this on another forum and thought it was pretty cool. some dude's flash website/animation about a trip up spaceshot. http://www.safanda.com/flash/spaceshot/index.htm cheers.

quote: Originally posted by dberdinka: If you choose to go to the most crowded route in Red Rocks on a weekend, one that attracts more than it's share of less-than-competent parties due to its classic stature, easy rating and solid pro... have you ever done the cat in the hat? at a grade or two easier than CC, and only 5 pitches, that thing is the fucking retard magnet of the red rocks. first time i did it there was only one party behind us because it was blowing 30 mph and threatening rain. we had a great day. the second time i, we bailed because there were 5 parties on route in front of us at the top of the second pitch. we rapped off and were awe struck by the cluster fuck starting up the first pitch and the long line waiting. by the time we were on our third beers , the competent dudes who were in front of us rolled into the campground (around 7:30 pm) ready to kill

dude, you ALL know the real reason for the endorsement is because Viesturs wants to hook up super phatty computer shit so he can quit climbing and spend all his time here becoming a master cascade SPRAYER! ...and i agree, if i was a world class climber, not some fucking punter like i am, i'd let depends or castle super store or whoever sponsor me if it meant more $$ for more climbing! peace.

dude, this boulder is in country jake's back yard, not a national forest. the impact or selfishness points are moot. it's HIS rock! i say bolt it if you can do it properly. hell if i had a 30' tall chunk of rock in my back yard, i wouldn't think twice about putting a couple fat anchors on top for convenient top roping. peace.

What do you think REI climbing dept. (mainly in Seattle, Redmond, and online) does well? What don't we do well? The best feature of rei climbing is the occasional deal i score on rei-outlet.com What isn't done well is the selection and stock on hand in the retail locations- mainly the flagship store. How can we add authenticity to the dept.? As mentioned by others, hire some people who know what they're selling. Because of this, I never go to REI to purchase something I don't know about, climbing or not. How do we meet/miss meeting your needs? As mentioned previously, the lack of stock and selection has been a let down. Seriously, REI has the resource and coin to create a top-notch climbing selection if they wanted to. Who do you think is our core customer (in the cimbing dept)? Are you a part of that group? Mainly newbies/gumbies or people who are settling for REI because the other gear store is closed, or there isn't one in their area. I'm not a part of this group, except for the "settling for REI" thing when I want to impulse buy and the other shops are closed. Any other comments? The flagship store blows. I lived walking distance from that sucka for 6 months. I don't know how many times I went there for something simple like a fuel canister or piece of clothing or pair of climbing shoes only to find out the item was either out of stock, no correct sizes left or out of the color I wanted. For Christ's sake. This is the flagship store to show off the might of the REI empire, right? Maybe they could keep some friggin' stock in hand. I mean, shit, if there's one store REI should make sure has tons of inventory, it should be that one. I guess Gore-tex rain rooms, cafes and mountain biking trails are more important than actually stocking GEAR - the stuff people come for. It feels like "REI, the ultimate urban experience!" not "REI the store where people buy shit" around there. What's next, charging for admission? Basically, after a couple times of not finding something simple, I made sure to always hit Feathered Friends first and only settle for REI if I couldn't find it elsewhere. Perhaps the funniest thing I ever saw at the flagship store was at the climbing pinnacle. It was a Saturday and there were a fair number of people wanting to climb. I thought, what the hell. I've got a membership. I'll cruise up for free and take in the view before lowering off. Anyway, upon going to the climbing pinnacle desk, I find out it's going to be a 3 hour wait. Needless to say, I wasn't THAT interested. And the kicker is that they were handing out flashing buzzers like you get while waiting at a restraunt. Hell, pretty good way to get people to mill around the place and buy stuff for an hour or three. Anyway, REI is a massive corporation, and I imagine there is no way in hell it will ever get back to the roots. That's what new co-ops are for. It's called evolution. Peace.

with some sweat and effort, this secret little gem can be all yours too! shhhhh... just don't tell the others if you find it.

oh, and by the way, if you're a spokane area climber, mtn goat is the shiznit! those guys fucking rule. support this shop!

god dammit! i was out of town. grrr...