AlpineK

I think any time there is a protest you get a mix of subgroups involved in the action. The WTO thing in Seattle is a good example. The protest was organized by folks who wanted to express an opinion publicly. That's fine, and in America folks should be able to do stuff like that. What eventually happened is some folks joined the protest who were only marginally interested in the protest. This subgroup's main interest was loot and pillage. This isn't completely related, but it reminds me of some classic stuff. svK_8DkhvH8&feature=related Oh yeah

I'm voting with minx.

Hippies don't believe in

Just you watch. Someday there will be gangs of angry pedestrians walking down the street with baseball bats ready to smash cars and bikes. Sure the cars are bigger, but if the group works together the cars don't stand a chance.

Mr T says, "I pity the foo that don't go for the "

September is the hidden bugaboo in the Northwest.

There are a lot of grizzly bears in Alaska. Mt T respects grizzly bears. He doesn't want to go to Alaska to fight em.

I'd heard rumors of the new Mr T Snickers commercials. Thanks for posting them.

Exactly

Maybe Mt. Stewart is a contrived spot to bivi on top of. Mt Stuart would be a cool spot to spend the night.

I haven't done this for a while. I've never moved over to another route while rope solo climbing, but I can't see this part being too different. When I did it I never had bolts for my initial anchor. I would try and set 3 pieces of pro to start. Two pieces counting on an upward pull (if I fell) and one piece with a downward fall in mind. If you tie the three together you have one piece to keep the two main anchor points directed up (so they don't fall out from just sitting there). After that I climb using the self belay device. I do tie off some knots every 30' or so of rope if all hell breaks loose and the auto belay device fucks up (tie and reset while climbing). Then it's up to the top of the pitch. From that point you go back to the bottom. Rap and then reclimb the pitch cleaning gear either on rap or on second ascent. In my case I'd then start up pitch 2. Transferring to an adjacent climb shouldn't be too hard. It's a fun way to climb full of its own excitement.

I can't say much about real guns. Just give me a bb gun, a fence railing, and some old beer cans. I'll kick some ass.

Back a couple years ago some local folks were climbing big Doug firs and setting up small platforms. They did this so they could have an out of the way place to grow pot plants. It would have been a little work, and you'd need to set up a water catch to store rain water for the summer then drip feed your plants. Sadly they eventually got busted.

I had to watch this out of curiosity. Can't Phil STFU and go back to playing the drums. I'm going to have to counteract that horible new Genisis W35wtfcByIY&feature=related Peter singing and Steve Hackett playing guitar.

sitting

Oh I agree they were making a stand for a belief. There's nothing wrong with that, and I think that's a big part of why they didn't get forcibly ejected until other folks discussed the issue. That being said it still is a funny protest. Also it was a lot less destructive than the WTO protest here in Seattle.

My experience with Slesse was on the complete route. We stayed off the hanging glacier; this year the avi debris may have made that impossible though. I did have an interesting experience on the West Ridge of Forbidden back in the 80s. I know the West Ridge BFD, but we were young and due to the weather we got a late start for the climb. We planned on descending the East Ridge, but none of us had really looked at the route description. Anyway it was late when we summited, and we started rapping down the exact East Ridge (mistake). On our second rap we cut one rope halfway through. No big deal though you just tie a knot and one of us had a set of jugs, so you could transition around the knot midrope. Time went by, and we couldn't figure out the correct way to descend, so we ended up on the South Face. It got dark and the ropes got stuck. We couldn't unstick it, so three of us spent the night on some crappy ledge like spot. In the morning Chris jugged the rope and unstuck it. We then rapped until we were about 220 feet from the glacier. The slope there goes over an overhang and then free hangs to the glacier. At that point we tied off a single rope with a knot free hanging about 50 feet below us. The first guy down set the jugs around the knot. I was the last down. I clipped around the knot and grabbed the jugs. We got to the glacier and walked away leaving a single strand of rope hanging on the face. Looking back it's pretty funny to remember some of the dumb stuff 19 year olds do. I'm glad you guys made it out ok.

I believe that the real battle between the folks who wanted to save the forest and the other side who wanted to build an athletic center was going on in court. I don't know any details, but there is a difference between your property and a place like an open campus. On your property all somebody has to do is stand on your property and you can get them for trespass. I don't know law, but I imagine in a public space as long as you aren't hurting anybody or trashing anything then you can stage a protest. At least for a while till the man eventually comes down on you. The tree protesters were just a side show to the event. The courts told the university they had to let the protesters get some food, so they compromised and sent them some generic energy bars every day. It makes the whole thing even funnier seeing the rope system the protesters rigged to get, "healthy," food. I think in one of the first videos they interview some bystander who says something like, "the trees are nice and have some history but the university has the right to build a structure. They need to debate the issue and then have an outside observer pick which side has the best argument." That was a sensible view, but sensible is boring. The one protester did figure out some excellent tree climbing tactics. A weighted ball attached to a fishing line is a good way to set a high line. Normally if you do stuff like that a sling shot is helpful.

that's pretty fucked up that they were going to shoot a missile FULL OF SHOES at the Commies! Actually that was prior to the days of Nike shoes.

Just over the hill from where I grew up was the Nike Missile base They gave up the base after signing a treaty with the USSR. There's another Nike site just north of Kenmore. That was going to be our defence from the nukes. now it's gone. The launch site is still there. There's also a bunch of old coal mines over there, scary things cut into soil at a 45 degree angle. You can still find them if you hunt around Cougar Mountain. Because of that the town of Newcastle got it's name. Not quite as big or full of coal as the one in England, but they had dreams.

That was fucking rad. At the time I was living on the east side and working in Seattle. I drove to West Mercer Island the day it happened and watched chunks of the bridge getting towed over towards the Stan Sayres Pits. After that I had to leave for work 2 hours early and drive to Seattle via Renton and Rainier Ave. When they opened the new bridge they had the largest tug boat on the west coast tied to the new bridge and driving south to keep the new bridge from breaking up.

I remember when Rainier was brewed right here in Seattle, and Olympia in Olympia. Now they're both made somewhere in the Midwest when they aren't busy cranking out PBR. Hell I even went to a couple AAC things at the Columbia Crest Room downstairs at the Rainier Brewery. They'd have 6 or 7 different varieties of Rainier, some of which were never sold in stores.

True. I guess the courts were working off of some minimum caloric intake guidelines they found. As to the protest crew. They sure picked a funny way to protest. It's performance art live on the local TV station.

Tree sitting

I am the egg man you are the walrus....