nolanr

Come on Courtenay, underwater weighing is the best. "Keep blowing, keep blowing!" Just 'cause the poor victims think they're going to drown and don't do the test properly, don't let that throw you off. I did the tests for a lab class one quarter, we had one person who floated even after they blew all of their air out. What are you supposed to tell them? "Sorry, we can't accurately measure you because you're too fat." Brutal.

I was a lame ass this weekend, didn't climb. Visited the folks, had a nice view of Hood's north side from their living room window. I have to pass on the nude climbing, I'm a pale skin and I might do significant damage to something tender if I spent too much time running around in the buff.

Oops, you said it was cyanide. I heard it was arsenic. Pick your poison (pun fully intended, snicker, snicker).

I've been eating apple seeds for years now, albeit not five of 'em per day, and I'm apparently still alive and kicking. I've heard the arsenic thing before. I figure it's in minute trace amounts. Or else I've built up a tolerance to it. Sorry to report, no hallucinogenic effects from apple seeds, either.

Methinks that's pretty fishy. Why the hell would anyone be toting that much crap around, in such non-efficient fashion. Geez.

Interesting concept Uncle Tricky. But as for apple cores, I eat it all, including the seeds, I've even gnawed the stem once or twice. Mmm, yummy.

Some damn varmint left little shit pellets all over the top of Del Campo. And me very own climbing partner likes to huck banana peels into the brush or up into trees. "They're biodegradable" he sezs. Geez, it's embarrassing to be around him at moments like that.

Preach it brutha! Can I get an amen?

I'm sure there's some good stories out there. I'll start it off, although this isn't even a climbing incident. I spent several summers in the high school years putting in hay for a ranching family. These guys are real live cowboys, and people don't come much tougher than that. One day one of the cowboys gets a bale of hay (a light one was 40-50 lbs., they could be over 100 lbs.) dropped on him from several feet above. He put his arm up to block it, gets knocked to the ground, pops right back up amid a thick cloud of cursing. Cradles the one arm up against his body and keeps on working, with one arm, for the rest of the day. Goes to the hospital after work, the lower arm is broken. Gets it in a sling, I can't even remember if he had a cast, and is back at work the next day, with one functioning arm. Never complained the slighest bit. Now that's pretty damn tough in my book!

Okay, time to bust out my Fred Beckey stories. These are second hand, but from reliable sources. Like any good Beckey story, they start out with "There was this grouchy old guy... My buddy and climbing partner was in Vancouver w/ his fiance at the time (now wife) at MEC checking out gear (40% off all merchandise for Americans--thanks Dru, that's a pretty cool country you got up there), and this scraggly old dude is hassling the employees. My friend looks at the dude, picks up a book by Beckey and looks at the picture on the back, seems like a match. So they ask him, and it is. Next thing you know the lecherous old coot has his arm around my buddy's woman and sez "How do you like my new girlfriend, she's pretty cute, huh?" I mean if you've been molested by Fred Beckey in a gear shop, you're really someone in the climbing community. Story #2. My bro got a permit to go up Whitney from the east side last year. On his way up, another party is going down. Bringing up the rear is...a grouchy old dude. Turns out it was Beckey, the reason he was grouchy is 'cause he couldn't hang on a 5.6 or 5.7 alpine route at 14K. And he's almost 80 years old. If any of us are even climbing still at that age it'll be a miracle.

Lisa, What about skinny dipping, then @#!!. Haven't had the opportunity myself.

Here's the next question: ever been caught? I did the big ROAD TRIP w/ several buddies in '98. We were up in Waterton Lakes NP, Alberta, in this little canyon, I was by myself and thought I was pretty secluded. So off come the shorts, I jump into this little carved out bowl type thing, almost like a hot tub except it wasn't warm. After cooling down and getting refreshed, I get out, drip dry a little, put the shorts back on, turn around, and down canyon a little ways about 30 ft. above are 2 people on a little lookout staring at me. Whoops. But it was 2 of my buddies. I started laughing so hard I fell down. Later that day those 2 plus the 4th member of our crew got caught skinny dipping, too. Bunch of weird ass Canadians, just standing around gawking at us. I guess the moral of the story is that little canyon isn't all that secluded after all. But it's one of those things, nobody knew us, never gonna see us again, so it's not that big of a deal. We were going to publish a "Skinny Dipper's Guide to Canada's National Parks," but our funding fell thru.

Not climbing this weekend, hanging w/ my folks down in White Salmon. Awesome view of Hood today. No snow from the base to a little above Cooper Spur on east side, and plenty of bare rock showing on north.

Yeah, it's not like everybody has an ego fest when they sign the register. It's interesting to see what route they did, what the conditions were like, weather, etc. Plus just to hear about the enjoyment fellow climbers get out of climbing.

Yeah, you gotta watch out for them rascally varmints. I didn't hang my pack and boots on the SE Buttress of Cuthroat, and came back to find back straps chewed up and the top 1/4" or so of both boots completely GONE! Didn't see the culprit, assuming it was marmot because we'd seen one a little lower down earlier in the day. On another occasion on Sahale Arm a marmot actually approached me and took a quick test bite on my boot WHILE I WAS WEARING IT. Bold little bugger. As for the dog issue, I don't own any, I love dogs, grew up w/ them, definitely a dog person. I've seen some occasions where a dog was in the backcountry that probably shouldn't have been. That's more an owner problem than a dog problem. I don't mind when a dog comes up to me, tail waggin', slobber flowing, puppy kisses, jumps up on me, but you have to consider some people don't like dogs or are intimidated by them. I think there's a happy medium. There's lots of places that are appropriate for well behaved dogs. But there are a few places that Fido just doesn't need to go.

Damn, my computer froze up w/ that guy's ugly mug looking back at me. Scary.

Dude, what's with the speed record stuff? I keep seeing that pop up in different threads. I think it's safe to assume probably somebody did everything way faster than you or I could way back in the 70's and didn't brag about it afterwards, so it may not be an "official" record. Somebody's always looking for an FA, new variation, first ski descent, first or fastest something or other. Just climb and have fun and forget about the record book. It's needless ego stroking. Sorry to come down hard on you, that's just how I feel.

Okay, fess up, who does it? I like to whenever I get a chance (i.e. I'm just about guaranteed to not have an audience), but around these parts it's not real often. I just did the first one of the year, coming down from Del Campo in the very humble little beginnings of the SF of the Stilly. That's 4 years running where I've done it at least once. Last year's one and only was in the lower Ice Lake below Maude, and they don't call it that for nothin'. Brr! I mean never mind how hard you can climb, the real way to separate the men from the boys is to see how long you can stay in freezing ass cold water.

What gives? Don't they replace the summit registers when they get all filled up anymore? You know, with their nice official little dealies that list the peak and the elevation and all that jive. I've been on Wilman's, Prusik, and Del Campo recently and all there were was just random scraps of paper someone left in there. Or maybe the Mounties haven't summited anything this year. Just kidding, I have a buddy who is stuck leading Basic climbs so he can finish their Intermediate class, so I know they've been out and about. Anyone else notice a shortage of summit registers on peaks lately?

Oops, Seven Fingered Jack by Maude and Fernow. I was thinking of Three Fingered Jack. Not to be confused w/ Three Fingers. Or just plain Jack. There, I corrected myself before anybody else got the chance to.

Too bad Lisa, I think your thread has completely gone off topic, despite your effort to steer it back on course. That tends to happen around here. How was Seven Fingered Jack anyway? You're talking Central OR, right? I approached it from the east side in a near blizzard last October. I'd like to get a good look at that thing in friendlier weather.

I feel a little bit vindicated, once upon a time on another thread I said I would be hesitant to tie in with someone I didn't know at all previously. Most didn't agree with me. This story seems to be a worst case scenario that illustrates my point perfectly. One thing I don't understand, Kevlar, is how you and your partner allowed the newcomer to pressure you into continuing on when you both felt strongly about descending several different times. Not to criticize, it just seems like if it came to a vote he'd lose and he'd either have to unrope and go it alone or descend grudgingly w/ you. Anyway, glad this story didn't turn into another climbing tragedy.

How many of the critters did you bag?

Ditto on the pack animals. Someone posted about fearing for rockfall hitting their dog at cragging areas. Sometimes it works the other way around. I met a boxer named T.J. at Mt. Erie who was quite the boulder trundler. He would bark at it and go nuts until he had rolled it downhill from him. The owners also said he could climb up to about 5.4. Any 5.12 climbing pooches out there? And you know where this thread is going next--"Can my dog hook up w/ your dog, they would have such cute puppies."

Darn right Dru. In fact I thought my roommate was pulling my leg when he explained what those guys crawling on their hands and knees in the grass were doing. "Hallucinogenic mushrooms, yeah right." But I do know this much, you don't eat 'em, you boil 'em and make 'em into tea.