David_Parker

No doubt my wedding day and marriage was a total sandbag!

You GO Girl!

Toast, there are some musts for 1st timers to the area. Depending on which way you approach. From the west you can stop in kicking horse canyon and do something close to the road and then keep going and not lose a day of just driving. Ditto if you come from the south (Gibralter wall). Or hit one on the way in and one on the way out. If you begin from the west, stop in Field and do Guiness Gully if safe. Go all the way to very top for a fun day. Maybe do a harder pillar for 2 days in field. Stop in Lake Louise and stay at hostle. From there you can do Louise Falls (harder than it looks) and socialize with fur laden babes. Or you could make a day trip to Murchison Falls for an "alpine" ice climb (bring snowshoes). I think you must drive the icefields parkway and get on the weeping wall and look at Polar Circus to get pumped for future trips. For 2 days up there, stay a night at Rampart Creek hostle. Then if you want to venture down to Banff/Canmore (Canmore hotel or Alpine club) you got a fun day in Johnston Canyon (really steep top-roping and beautiful to boot). Gotto canyon is an easy "rest" day. Professors is a classic, fun climb with walk off descent and good views to the trophy wall. I recommend Prof. way over Cascade (dangerous). All this will keep you busy for a week, present challenging, fun climbing and help you get a feel for how the whole area lays out. You'll be BAAAAAACK!! Arnold Why is this thread so wide?

So what I want to know is where do all these films go after the BMFF road show? Do they disappear into some vault? Seems if you don't want to suffer through the bad to see the good or can't make it to your city's screening, you should be able to find them somewhere else. Why would anyone make a film for such a limited audience?

I did the west ridge of Constance this year. Fortunately we left the guide book description at home and we had an excellent, straight forward adventure. Upon return I read the description and I did not think it even came close to being a good description. I think it was more confusing than helpful. I'd be willing to add my $.02 if you want. It's probably popular enough that you already have it figured out. Along those lines, I also find the descriptions to the finger traverse and the routes on Mt. Washington confusing. Maybe I'm just a gumby. BTW, if you are seeking photos, I have some.

So when does the tour hit Seattle? Usually in December sometime.

Dryad, you're not moving into that new tent are you? Where ya goin'?

The older BD slider leash sucked ass. You know, the one with the little aluminum tube that (didn't) slide up and down to make the wrist loop tight. I just cut apart the leash where it doubled up, removed the slidey thing, sewed on a pull loop and then double backed the bottom/end of the leash around the main leash and sewed it back tight onto the wrist loop. Voila, instant lock down leash. Works great. BTW, I went to my local shoe repair guy with the beefy sewing machine and it cost me 10 bucks. Photos available upon request.

I-rock WAS very dry, but probably plastered with snow now. Doubt there is much ice. Good luck getting onto NF now. You missed it. A day late and a dollar short! Wouldn't hold out much hope for Yocum now either. Was this a troll? I think I bit!

Along these lines, I nominate the Pope. A paradigm shift within the Catholic church towards birthcontrol would be simply........HUGE! The first nation in the world to attain zero population growth was Italy. Furthermore, catholic population is quite low compared to other world religions. Hmm, Erock, I don't know where you get your stats, but I wasn't aware of any country with zero growth over a time period in excess of a year. While Italy is certainly mostly Catholic, the Catholic religion extends far beyond Italy. Italy is also western Europe where to the chagrin of the Pope, they are willing to use birth contol anyway. Still, the majority of Catholics as a whole do not use birthcontrol. You must look south to Mexico, Central and South America for the evidence. I'm not picking on Catholics exlusively. In the US, i think the Mormons are worse than the Catholics as far as procreation goes. Still if you could choose one person who has extensive control over an issue, the pope is pretty darn powerful. I'm not aware of other religions that have one single person who could affect so many people.

Gotta admit, you win. But wait, what if the earth was flying aimlessly through space. Maybe there wouldn't be life, but what does the planet care?

Along these lines, I nominate the Pope. A paradigm shift within the Catholic church towards birthcontrol would be simply........HUGE!

I don't think the focus is necessarily a desire to be normal, but a desire to not be considered "abnormal" for wanting to do something that IS normal.

I can see an all womans group as a good thing for a lot of women. That doesn't mean all women need a "womans group" to get started. Minx and Muffy and Michelle and Fern and others have all been climbing for awhile in a sport that has more men as participants. They are comfortable with being around men in the climbing arena. The issue isn't so much the fact woman can't feel comfortable climbing with men. It has more to do with social conditioning. Climbing is one of a few sports where it might not be considered "normal" for a woman to participate. By normal I mean in the sense of the bigger picture; the general public's viewpoint. A woman in her office building talking with colleagues, both men and woman might announce she wants to try rock climbing. While this is perfectly "normal" in her eyes, it wouldn't be unlikely for her to get reactions such as "huh?" or "really?" accompanied by quizzical looks. In the United States, a woman expressing an interest in Hockey might recieve the same reaction. No doubt title IX has made big steps in eroding this gender gap, but it still exists much as racism still exists in our society. So for women wanting to "break out" and try climbing, a womans group may be very appealing initially. As she gets more comfortable, confident and possibly less self conscious, she will "break out" again and start climbing with men. The gender thing isn't necessarily self imposed, but more imposed by society, justified or not.

This event could be enhanced with male cheerleaders on the sideline. Who's in?

You guys didn't hit it hard enough! Carbonation not needed. I agree about the glass quality being less these days. I drink beer anyways.

For ICE CLIMBING: Chicks with picks (girls group) Pricks with dicks (boys group)

For the most part, this is true. It's still good to keep track of what happens now for consideration all season long. Much more important to keep track in the Rockies from Utah to Jasper! Thank god for avalanche info being on the internet.

For cleaning urine and other similar stinky stuff (vomit) you need an enzyme cleaner. The enzymes eat and destroy the source. I have a bottle under the sink at home, but I bet "enzyme cleaner" in google will work. I kill cats that spray urine! That is the worst smell in the world!

aint no tool better than a long board for ripping powder. skis are so preindustrial. one board. one world. Until it's time to hike uphill! "Actually, I am a pussy!"

I thought it would be better if I introduced her to Fred! She didn't know of him, so his reputation won't be preceeding him.

I lost a bet once while traveling in Europe. A very large German named Helmut bet me he could open a bottle of wine without using a corkscrew, breaking the bottle or pushing the cork into the bottle. I accepted and he proceeded to smack the butt of the bottle repeatedly with a very large and powerful hand. The cork slowly inched it's way out until it protruded enough for Helmut to grab it and pull it out. Later, while skiing on a glacier we had the same dilemma. With gloved hands we tried to repeat Helmut's stunt, but it hurt too much. I think we used a sneaker and smacked it with that until the cork came out enough for us to grab it.

One point everyone seems to be missing: A good Tr might not inspire any sort of written response at all. If no one responds, it slowy drifts down the ladder and disappears on subsequent pages. At least replys, good or bad, keep it alive for awhile.

http://www.shutterfly.com/os.jsp?i=67b0de21b355119945b2&open=1 Chainsaws and Mary-Ann I’m having a nightmare. I’m sleeping in my car and my alarm doesn’t go off at 4:00 am. Where the fuck is Thomas? (pronounced Toe-Moss). He said to just park across from the Chevron station at Government Camp. This town definitely isn’t big enough for 2 Chevron Stations. Certainly he didn’t mean directly across, along the side of the highway. I’m across Hwy 26 in a small clearing in the woods. It seemed quieter here. But Thomas can’t find me and he doesn’t have a cell phone. My cell phone rings. Groggily I reach for it. “Where the fuck are you?” He’s obviously found a payphone. The first words of the day are as crisp as the morning air. “I’m across the road. Look for a gravel road heading into the woods. You’ll see me.” A minute later, Thomas’ headlights are blaring in my car window. Quickly I get up and stuff my sleeping bag while Thomas transfers his pack and other personal effects into my car. We park his car across from the Chevron where I was supposed to be sleeping. “Certainly you didn’t mean here did you,” I query. Actually he did, he claims, quipping “I thought you were a hardman.” “Actually, I’m a pussy”, I retort. Forty minutes later we meet Mark in a campground on the way to the Cooper Spur road. He is already brewing coffee on his tailgate and offers us some. We caravan to the turn- off to the head up the spur and park his Ford F-250. He joins us in the Subaru and we begin the 10 mile drive up to Cloud Cap. We are jabbering and getting excited when suddenly in front of us there is a large tree blocking the road. I slam on the brakes and skid to a stop. “Oh, shit,” we say simultaneously. We get out and survey the situation in the light of the headlights. The tree is big, but the top is broken off. We begin throwing branches aside to see if there is room the get by. There is a tree on the edge of the road in line with the fallen tree and the fallen tree is about 14 inches in diameter. There isn’t enough room to get through. I retrieve my ice axe and begin chopping. The tree is dead and the wood is hard. The adze barely makes a dent, bouncing more than cutting. Mark retrieves his ice axe and hacks too. Slowly the chips begin to fly. 10 minutes later we have removed another section about a foot long. I ease the Forester forward and my friends guide me. The road falls away to the left and my fear is if my wheels go off the edge, the car will tilt and hit the standing tree. With some tricky maneuvering, we squeak through. We are relieved because although nobody said it, we knew we weren’t up to hiking an extra five miles. Fifteen minutes later we are putting on our boots by head lamp. We hit the trail a few minutes past 6:00. The snow is shallow, yet crispy. Even in the dark, we can see the skies are clear. Eventually we break out of the woods as the first deep orange and blue ribbons begins to paint the horizon. Mt. Hood and our route loom above, far away up the massive cirque carved by the Eliot glacier. As we drop off the moraine, the first pink glow of sunrise hits the face. We take photos and remark at the many ice climbs on the cliffs off the shoulder of the Copper Spur. It would worthy of the approach just to climb those. We make it as far as we can on the glacier in crunchy snow from the previous days snow/rain. The snow level had been pretty high. Eventually we reach exposed ice. “Time for the cling-ons” I say. Thomas and Mark give me a funny look. "Huh?" We put on our harnesses and crampons, eat some food and move up again. At the base of the first pitch we break out the ropes. The left gully start looks more difficult and appealing, but we stick to the right. I round a corner and the first ice step is short and steep. I put in a screw at the base and clamber over. A bit of hard snow and I reach more ice to make a belay. Two screws, a reverso and my new Trango Alpine Equalizer from the Rope-up raffle and I bring Mark and Thomas up simultaneously on two ropes. I like the set up a lot. Thomas and Mark continue past, up to the next ice step. It’s longer, but not vertical and Thomas dispenses with it as I climb up to Mark. I coil one of the ropes and put it in my pack. Mark ties onto a loop 20 feet from the end and we climb the next pitch together. Above is the long slog up the 45 degree gully. Mark ties into the middle of the rope and leads up. Thomas and I climb side by side. Mark tries to put in a screw for a running belay, but Thomas and I reach him by the time he futzes around. We just simul-climb the rest. We are talking, laughing, thoroughly enjoying ourselves. The view is incredible with Rainier, Adams and St. Helens looming in the distance. Temperatures are perfect, no wind, blue skies. An ice chunk hits me in the arm. The momentary pains snaps me back to reality. We are not using pro, but our crampons bite the hard neve/ice perfectly and we feel secure. We mostly use our tools as canes, only occasionally making regular swings on small bulges. It’s much longer than it looks to the base of the final ice step. Our calves are feeling it. We are sweating when we arrive. Thomas leads off with Mark still tied to the middle and me on the other end. It’s steep and technical, but goes with 2 screws close to the bottom. Thomas likes to run it out when he gets near the top. We can’t hear him, but the rope is taut on Mark. From above comes something about a “shitty belay.” I tell Mark I’ll belay him too, as if he’s leading. He back clips the pro and adds another screw near the top. I clean the belay and follow. It’s easy slopes from there up to a notch. Mark leads and Thomas unties while I just follow the rope. At the notch we coil the rope and Mark stuffs it in his pack. It’s all beautiful rime ice now and it’s like climbing on Styrofoam. We solo up through the rocks and I wonder how shitty this would be if everything wasn’t frozen. But it is and it’s just really fun with some exposure. We meander and then suddenly we are on top in the Sunshine! We woop and laugh and take photos. We eat and then we have to decide. Which way down? The night before I visited Charlie’s Tavern in Government Camp. It was there that I met Mary-Ann. She was a total babe. We talked about skiing. We talked about really old equipment, leather boots, alberg bindings, long thongs, wooden skis with screw-on metal edges. We discussed the various techniques; counter-rotation, ski racing. She had been a professional instructor and had actually tried out for the Olympics. We laughed about us both starting our skiing at places with no lifts, camps with no heat or running water, hanging the toilet seat by the pot belly stove so it was warm when you went out to the out-house. She was single, easy to talk to and I secretly wondered if she would invite me home that night. She asked me what I was doing in Government camp. I told her I was here to climb the mountain. It was my first time. She seemed concerned. I told her we were planning on coming up the north side and back down the south side to here. She asked me to call her when I arrived. All I had to do was come into Charlies and they could call her and she’d come down. I promised that I’d call her. The discussion on the summit revolved around the log in the road. If we went down Sunshine it wouldn’t be fun. But we knew we could sneak by the log again. If we went down through Pearly Gates and Palmer to Timberline we would need to drive back around. We would need a chainsaw to get Mark’s truck through to get back to my car. Where would we find a chainsaw? “Mary-Ann”, I announced. “Who the fuck is Mary-Ann?” they both asked. “She owns the water company in Government Camp. She’s got to have a chain saw or know some one who does.” We went down the south side which was really quite pleasant. Some balling of crampons, but warm in the sun. We arrived at Timberline at 4:00. Car to bar: 10 hours. At Charlie’s, I called Mary-Ann. “Hi”, I said. “I’m at Charlie’s” “It’s so good to hear your voice.” She said. “I’ve been thinking about you all day.” “Can you come down. I’ll buy you a drink.” “I’d love to.” “Oh, and Mary-Ann, I have a peculiar request. Can you bring a chain saw?” Mary-Ann wasn’t sure if her chainsaw worked. But she knew everyone in the bar and they knew her. After all she’d lived in Government Camp since 1932. We sorted our gear in the bar and had a few pints of Ice Axe amber. Mary Ann secured a chainsaw from Craig. Thomas drove him to his house to pick it up. I said my goodbyes to Mary-Ann and asked her if I could look her up if I ever came through again. She said she’d like that. She’s 82. I hope she’ll be there. Back at the log an hour later, someone had already cut a path through. We didn’t need the chainsaw after all. It was going to be a long drive back to Seattle, but I was already re-living some very fond memories. A great mountain, a great route, some great conditions, great weather, great partners. What more could I ask for? Oh yeah……Mary-Ann!