rbw1966

And ten minutes from The Dalles. Its a pretty popular spot with the Mazamas.

Appropriate route to be on at that time, no? Glad he made it out ok.

"I want my two dollars"

"A job? What do you need a job for? You're young, you got your health!" "Gubment sure do take a bite, dont she?" Raising Arizona

Sobo will be your best best for info on Yakivegas. I'm sure he will be posting shortly. In the meantime, I can pass on what info I know from visiting Yakivegas many times (one of my best friends lives there). Tieton is the nearest crag and has a lot of good crack and face climbing. Yakivegas is a cultural wasteland of strip malls with a bunch of decent taco carts scattered around town. Night life? You'd be better off in SLC. I can't imagine why anyone would 'choose' to live in Yakima.

You guys get pretty worked up over some seriously benign shit.

I LOVE my 97 VW Passat TDI wagon. Fuel-injected diesel gets me about 40-45 MPG on the highway with all my gear. I am 6'3" and have slept in the back many times. With good tires it handles snow conditions well. Good luck finding one though.

Can we please keep the spray out of this? Man, what a way to go. I hope Lambone is ok too.

Maybe because its about 500 yards from the Oregon border?

Matt-- I'm not sure what you are referring to when you ask if I mean to suggest that its bad for the Forest Service to "approve" this crag. I'm not aware of any approval process for climbing areas in the NW. What I mean to suggest is I think it would be in our (the climbing communities) best interests to take a more proactive role in protecting this area rather than relying on the Forest Service to make any improvements. Frenchs Dome is a pretty small crag, a volcanic plug with maybe 15 routes total. I don't think its bad, per se, for the Forest Service to make improvements there, but I would prefer it be more of a grassroots effort. I fear the same thing Paul alludes to, that is a paved parking area, bathrooms, paved trails and increased enforcement of Forest Pass requirements. All this would really be overkill. The approach to the crag itself is maybe 500 yards and the trail itself is just fine. Its the area surrounding the plug that is heavily eroded and could use some work.

Thanks for all your suggestions.

Funny, I saw a guy in downtown portland yesterday wearing a t-shirt that read "Fuck John Kerry". Thats what I thought this thread was about.

I disagree Paul. Last time I was there, there was some serious erosion issues along the east side of the rock leading downwards. I've been belaying before and had rocks coming rolling down that hill that are dislodged by dogs, adults and kids. I've seen a lot of people take diggers there too. It was as bad as some of the more popular areas at Smith. Improvements there will be welcome, at least by me, I just wish it was the access fund or some other independent group doing the work rather than the deforest service.

Hhmm... is there a good story in this advice Rob? Yup. Thankfully though it was nothing like Midnight Express.

The last thing you want to do is get arrested in a foreign country. Trust me. Congratulations by the way. What a cool experience.

right below Baffin

Actually, you need to do some fact-checking. It was Craig Kilborn who did that, not Stewart. Source

You can climb at Tieton year-round too.

I have a friend who does patent law. He pulls down the big ducats but rarely actually climbs anymore. Good luck--sounds like a great plan.

According to the person answering the phone at Anthony's they do not serve brunch--only lunch and dinner.

Yeah--and it costs $20 bucks just to ride up the damn thing. Thanks for all the suggestions.

Love that avatar image

Don't bring any food. There's the "fast" part.

No, if it was a democratic rally the shirts would have been drenched with water.

"Little Richards", Columbus, GA. First leave during Basic Training in the Army. Served the dual function of also being my first strip bar. First time I was ever in a bar in Portland was circa 10 years old or so at Sams in the Hollywood District. First bar is Seattle was the Monkey.